Good deal? Should I bite or look elsewhere?

[kayodoc]

Hey LTT Peeps! I recently made a post asking for gaming ultrabook suggestions as I need something lightweight, with good build quality, long battery life (~6 hours), and some umf to handle gaming on the go. Thanks for all the advice in that post... I really appreciate it! I've done extensive research and after considering options from Dell, Razer, MSI, Sager, Apple, Origin, and many more, I've settled on the Alienware 13.
Just got off the phone with Dell after haggling a bit, and the deal they can give me is the following. Let me know what you think as I'll be making my decision tomorrow. Total price including California sales tax and shipped to my door is $1608.

Alienware 13

Windows 8.1 (64Bit)

13 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 350-nits Display

Intel® Core™ i7-5500U Processor (Dual-Core, 4MB Cache, up to 3.0GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5

16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz (2x 8GB)

512GB M.2 SSD

Killer 1525 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1

 

[dadasmithywinkle]

$1608 for a 960M? Shop elsewhere. I believe Lenovo has a 960M laptop for around $1,000.

[Suffokation]

Okay, so this machine is fine spec for spec. Alienware build quality has improved a lot since it's early days. However, my one gripe with this system is this: A dual core i7 in a gaming machine isn't enough at all. 960M's are fine cards, but for gaming a dual core, will NOT cut it. And for this one reason, this laptop is not worth it at all.

[GodSpoon]

Get the quad core cpu in it 

 

Other than that it looks like a solid choice

[hawaiims]

Hey LTT Peeps! I recently made a post asking for gaming ultrabook suggestions as I need something lightweight, with good build quality, long battery life (~6 hours), and some umf to handle gaming on the go. Thanks for all the advice in that post... I really appreciate it! I've done extensive research and after considering options from Dell, Razer, MSI, Sager, Apple, Origin, and many more, I've settled on the Alienware 13.

Just got off the phone with Dell after haggling a bit, and the deal they can give me is the following. Let me know what you think as I'll be making my decision tomorrow. Total price including California sales tax and shipped to my door is $1608

 

 

 

There is a gigantic difference between the 970m and the 960m performance wise. For that price I'm sure you can find 970m laptops and that would be a much better idea, since after all you cannot upgrade your graphics card later down the line with a laptop so it's wise to pick a very good laptop GPU. 

 

Don't let the haggling trick you, dell probably sold the laptop for less in the past, they always try to pass things off as a good deal even when they're not necessarily. Only way to know is to compare to previous prices on the same laptop you see on sites like slickdeals. 

[thekeemo]

Take a look at the eurocom x3 very customizable

[kayodoc]

$1608 for a 960M? Shop elsewhere. I believe Lenovo has a 960M laptop for around $1,000.

I think you're referring to the Y50 with the gtx860m.

 

Get the quad core cpu in it 

 

Other than that it looks like a solid choice

Dual core i7 is the only option unfortunately.

 

There is a gigantic difference between the 970m and the 960m performance wise. For that price I'm sure you can find 970m laptops and that would be a much better idea, since after all you cannot upgrade your graphics card later down the line with a laptop so it's wise to pick a very good laptop GPU. 

 

Don't let the haggling trick you, dell probably sold the laptop for less in the past, they always try to pass things off as a good deal even when they're not necessarily. Only way to know is to compare to previous prices on the same laptop you see on sites like slickdeals. 

I hear ya; but the only gtx 970m laptop that fits the form factor I want and has the battery life to back it up is the 2015 Razer Blade at $2200 after taxes. I wanna exhaust all of my other options before resorting to a $2200 laptop.

 

Take a look at the eurocom x3 very customizable

Thanks, took a look at it and it's much too large for what I'm looking for. I'd prefer something thin and around 4 lbs.

I didn't know the 960m was that weak of a card considering it was released this morning as a card to fill the gap between the 970m and 860m (according to NVIDIA). Is the dual core i7 really that large of a bottleneck? What other laptops with similar form factor, build quality, and battery life would you guys suggest if not this one?

Once again, infinite thanks to all the advice. It really is invaluable to me!

[dadasmithywinkle]

I think you're referring to the Y50 with the gtx860m.

 

Dual core i7 is the only option unfortunately.

 

I hear ya; but the only gtx 970m laptop that fits the form factor I want and has the battery life to back it up is the 2015 Razer Blade at $2200 after taxes. I wanna exhaust all of my other options before resorting to a $2200 laptop.

 

Thanks, took a look at it and it's much too large for what I'm looking for. I'd prefer something thin and around 4 lbs.

I didn't know the 960m was that weak of a card considering it was released this morning as a card to fill the gap between the 970m and 860m (according to NVIDIA). Is the dual core i7 really that large of a bottleneck? What other laptops with similar form factor, build quality, and battery life would you guys suggest if not this one?

Once again, infinite thanks to all the advice. It really is invaluable to me!

Yeah but the refreshed Y50 with the 960m is coming out soon.

[hawaiims]

I think you're referring to the Y50 with the gtx860m.

 

Dual core i7 is the only option unfortunately.

 

I hear ya; but the only gtx 970m laptop that fits the form factor I want and has the battery life to back it up is the 2015 Razer Blade at $2200 after taxes. I wanna exhaust all of my other options before resorting to a $2200 laptop.

 

Thanks, took a look at it and it's much too large for what I'm looking for. I'd prefer something thin and around 4 lbs.

I didn't know the 960m was that weak of a card considering it was released this morning as a card to fill the gap between the 970m and 860m (according to NVIDIA). Is the dual core i7 really that large of a bottleneck? What other laptops with similar form factor, build quality, and battery life would you guys suggest if not this one?

Once again, infinite thanks to all the advice. It really is invaluable to me!

Frankly I think you're asking too much.

 

You either go for thin, light, long battery life.

 

or you go for heavy, powerful and large screen.

 

It's kind of a paradox to ask for a very powerful gaming laptop in a portable form factor.

 

In my opinion it's a much better idea to get a laptop that does one thing best. So either a very light, very thin laptop for school use etc.. or a very powerful, very big laptop that will be perfect for at home use and going to friend's houses from time to time. By looking at something that's in betwen these two you end up with something that's mediocre in both terms. It's not light or thin enough to be truly portable like an ultrabook, and not a good value performance wise to be a good gaming laptop. 

[kayodoc]

-snip-

 

I completely understand. I'm not going for a gaming powerhouse here (didn't meant to come off as looking for one), but rather something thin, light, with good build quality, and good battery life that can game at decent settings. Last resort being I shell out the $2200 for the new Razer Blade which gets me everything + powerhouse of a machine at the cost of running hot (due to thinness).

[Swndlr]

no, you can get a 970M notebook for like $1500-$1600

 

but i must say, that notebook is so pretty :3

[hawaiims]

I completely understand. I'm not going for a gaming powerhouse here (didn't meant to come off as looking for one), but rather something thin, light, with good build quality, and good battery life that can game at decent settings. Last resort being I shell out the $2200 for the new Razer Blade which gets me everything + powerhouse of a machine at the cost of running hot (due to thinness).

Is there any reason you really want a gaming laptop?

 

For the $1600 dell is offering you, you could easily get both an ultrabook and a very powerful desktop with an r9 290 or GTX 970. You would get two machines as well.

 

Here's an idea of what you could get for $700. You can easily get a GTX 970 at that price including an SSD and the whole shabang. Keep in mind that the dekstop 970 is a lot faster than a laptop. 

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wjcpJx

 

if your concern is bringing your computer to friend's houses and whatnot, then you could easily get a very small itx build in an ML07B for not much more than the build above. 

[1Scotty1]

Why Alienware? WHY?? WHYYYYY :wacko: 1600 bucks for a 13inch "laptop"... and those specs...960M... oh good Gaben

[kayodoc]

-snip-

Thanks! I'll be looking into this as well as a few more options that have come up. I'll update here on what ends up happening tomorrow!

[KaminKevCrew]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152656&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Gaming+Laptops-_-N82E16834152656&gclid=Cj0KEQjwlYqoBRDajuaTvsyq1PQBEiQAEhSjnL8tA2RQranpY52nWMoMWvln8qe8siLGnsTs6GQUh6QaAh5d8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Why not this? It's pretty much exactly what you're looking for, but it's only ~$160 above the Dell.

 

It has a quad core i7, and a 970m. The only thing that it's lacking is 16GB of RAM (It has 12), and I'm pretty sure that would be an easy upgrade.

[kayodoc]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152656&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Gaming+Laptops-_-N82E16834152656&gclid=Cj0KEQjwlYqoBRDajuaTvsyq1PQBEiQAEhSjnL8tA2RQranpY52nWMoMWvln8qe8siLGnsTs6GQUh6QaAh5d8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Why not this? It's pretty much exactly what you're looking for, but it's only ~$160 above the Dell.

 

It has a quad core i7, and a 970m. The only thing that it's lacking is 16GB of RAM (It has 12), and I'm pretty sure that would be an easy upgrade.

 

I'd seen that a bit earlier...unfortunately the battery only goes for about 2.5 hours.

[KaminKevCrew]

I'd seen that a bit earlier...unfortunately the battery only goes for about 2.5 hours.

Even with the Nvidia Optimus Technology on? I would think that it would last a lot longer with just the integrated graphics running. On PC Mag, they said that the laptop got a little over 3 hours, but that's with a 3k screen (the one I linked is 1080p, which will extend battery life on its own.) and if you're just going to be doing stuff like typing, rather than watching videos, I'm sure you'll get much more, especially with how well Optimus Technology is supposed to work.

[ShadowCaptain]

I hear ya; but the only gtx 970m laptop that fits the form factor I want and has the battery life to back it up is the 2015 Razer Blade at $2200 after taxes

Speaking as an Alienware fan, there are alternative thin light laptops, that cost less and are thinner and lighter

 

I love the alienware 13 but honestly its still thick and heavy, however I do love its build quality and aesthetics

 

I would try and get a 970m though, its about 40% faster, and will last you MUCH longer, thats is what I am looking at myself personally, I need a thin light 13" 970m gaming laptop

 

Aorus X3? 

Gigabyte p34? 

GS60 Ghost?

sager np7339?

 

960m review

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-960M-Review.137893.0.html

 

The differences are also huge in gaming benchmarks. If you look at all the tested titles you can see that the GTX 960M is more than 60% behind the GTX 970M and more than 100% behind the GTX 980M in the Ultra-preset

 

That 2 GB video memory is not really sufficient anymore is apparent when you want to play

 

Speaking of the highest settings: As expected, the performance of the GTX 960M is not always sufficient for the maximum details

 

p34w -14" 1080p matte i7, 970m, $1551 

http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p34wv3cf2-p-7617.html?wconfigure=yes

[-TesseracT-]

 

Dual core i7 is the only option unfortunately.

 

I've never heard of a modern i7 with only two cores lol. I wouldn't get it.

[EpicAdom]

Even with the Nvidia Optimus Technology on? I would think that it would last a lot longer with just the integrated graphics running. On PC Mag, they said that the laptop got a little over 3 hours, but that's with a 3k screen (the one I linked is 1080p, which will extend battery life on its own.) and if you're just going to be doing stuff like typing, rather than watching videos, I'm sure you'll get much more, especially with how well Optimus Technology is supposed to work.

Optimus doesn't work THAT well to extend battery life. Optimus just makes switching between integrated and discrete graphics more seamless. You're not gonna get 6hrs out of an alienware.

[Brandon Cassie]

Might as well look into getting the Y50 from Lenovo, price is pretty decent for what you get, better CPU (either the i5 or i7 variant) should provide a greater overall balance in performance with the current 860M

Or, you could wait until they release their 960M model

[KaminKevCrew]

Optimus doesn't work THAT well to extend battery life. Optimus just makes switching between integrated and discrete graphics more seamless. You're not gonna get 6hrs out of an alienware.

Interesting. One of my buddies has a 2012-ish macbook pro, and for him the optimus technology makes a huge difference in his battery life...

[Aniallation]

Alienware and "Good deal" don't go together.

 

Optimus doesn't work THAT well to extend battery life. Optimus just makes switching between integrated and discrete graphics more seamless. You're not gonna get 6hrs out of an alienware.

This. My boyfriend has an Alienware 14 (4700MQ, 765M, 1080p) and even with the dedicated GPU completely disabled (not even Optimus, it's running on integrated 100% of the time) it still struggles to get 3 hours of battery life. 

[Aniallation]

Even with the Nvidia Optimus Technology on? I would think that it would last a lot longer with just the integrated graphics running. On PC Mag, they said that the laptop got a little over 3 hours, but that's with a 3k screen (the one I linked is 1080p, which will extend battery life on its own.) and if you're just going to be doing stuff like typing, rather than watching videos, I'm sure you'll get much more, especially with how well Optimus Technology is supposed to work.

No. Between using dedicated GPU 100% of the time and using integrated 100% of the time (manual switch), there is less then an hour of battery life difference on the Alienware 14 (~2hr vs ~3hr web browsing). Optimus isn't nearly as good as forcing integrated graphics, so no, Optimus doesn't make a huge difference, at least on Alienware.

[Aniallation]

Might as well look into getting the Y50 from Lenovo, price is pretty decent for what you get, better CPU (either the i5 or i7 variant) should provide a greater overall balance in performance with the current 860M

Or, you could wait until they release their 960M model

It's not just the GPU but the newer Y50 will have a vastly improved screen, a much needed improvement from the old Y50 which had a garbage screen in comparison to other competing gaming notebooks.