need help deciding between laptops

[KabuTheFox]

trying to decide between the acer predator 17 g9-793-79pe, and alienware 15 / 17 models

https://us-store.acer.com/predator-17-gaming-laptop-g9-793-79pe
http://deals.dell.com/mpp/productdetail/7km
http://deals.dell.com/mpp/productdetail/7ko

acer predator 17
+ 4 speakers / 2 subs
+ gsync (?) *
+ 17in ips screen
+ bigger sdd 
+longer warranty (2 year)
+dvd drive can be replaced with an extra included internal fan
+16gb ram (the others have 8 by default, and its not worth upgrading less i do it myself)
- horrible gamer aestheic design with red accents (which may or may not be removeable, if anyone can clarify this please do)
- ship in warranty, not on site (2 year)
-left align touchpad
-more expensive ($150-$200 more)
-unsure how good qc or customer support is
-questionable keyboard backlight brightness (anyone know how bright it is in comparision to the AW's? from videos it looks pretty dim but hard to say)

alienware 17
+ 2 speakers / 1 sub
+ 17in ips screen
+ on site warranty ( 1 year)
- no gsync
- left align touchpad

alienware 15

+better cpu (7700hq, the other 2 havethe 6700hq)

+ gysnc
+ slimmer design / form factor
+on site warranty (1 year)
+centered touchpad
- smaller screen
- less macros
-/+ standard stereo speaker setup

technically speaking the acer 17 g9-793 seems to meet all my needs, i just hate the red accents

* am unsure if the display is g-sync or not since theres conflicting sources. also do not know how good the qc or customer support is.

can anyone vouch for or against any of these?

[gtx1060=value]

first of all - alienware is just no - just no - unless you are not going to be moving it around at all then it's a 5 out of 10 - not for performance, but price for performance, it's overpriced and not very slim, light or anything at all - just cross alienware off your list - please

[Brooksie359]

7 minutes ago, KabuTheFox said:

trying to decide between the acer predator 17 g9-793-79pe, and alienware 15 / 17 models

https://us-store.acer.com/predator-17-gaming-laptop-g9-793-79pe
http://deals.dell.com/mpp/productdetail/7km
http://deals.dell.com/mpp/productdetail/7ko

acer predator 17
+ 4 speakers / 2 subs
+ gsync (?) *
+ 17in ips screen
+ bigger sdd 
+longer warranty (2 year)
+dvd drive can be replaced with an extra included internal fan
- horrible gamer aestheic design with red accents (which may or may not be removeable, if anyone can clarify this please do)
- ship in warranty, not on site (2 year)
-left align touchpad
-more expensive ($150-$200 more)
-unsure how good qc or customer support is
-questionable keyboard backlight brightness (anyone know how bright it is in comparision to the AW's? from videos it looks pretty dim but hard to say)

alienware 17
+ 2 speakers / 1 sub
+ 17in ips screen
+ on site warranty ( 1 year)
- no gsync
- left align touchpad

alienware 15

+better cpu (7700hq, the other 2 havethe 6700hq)

+ gysnc
+ slimmer design / form factor
+on site warranty (1 year)
+centered touchpad
- smaller screen
- less macros
-/+ standard stereo speaker setup

technically speaking the acer 17 g9-793 seems to meet all my needs, i just hate the red accents

* am unsure if the display is g-sync or not since theres conflicting sources. also do not know how good the qc or customer support is.

can anyone vouch for or against any of these?

Wait did Alienware stop over pricing the crap out of their laptops?

[KabuTheFox]

7 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Wait did Alienware stop over pricing the crap out of their laptops?

theyre currently on sale + i have a coupon brings both options down to around or below 1300
otherwise the acer is cheaper 

[KabuTheFox]

9 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

first of all - alienware is just no - just no - unless you are not going to be moving it around at all then it's a 5 out of 10 - not for performance, but price for performance, it's overpriced and not very slim, light or anything at all - just cross alienware off your list - please

what exactly is wrong with alienware?

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, KabuTheFox said:

theyre currently on sale + i have a coupon brings both options down to around or below 1300
otherwise the acer is cheaper 

Normally I would stay away from Alienware purely because they are overpriced but if you can get one for that price it isn't a bad deal. 

[gtx1060=value]

1 minute ago, KabuTheFox said:

what exactly is wrong with alienware?

well - main issue is price to performance - then there's build quality of which it gets an ok 7/10 - portability is shit since they weight like 10 pounds compared to the 3 or 4 pounds a razer is - so

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, KabuTheFox said:

what exactly is wrong with alienware?

They have been notorious for pricing their products around 400 dollars more than the competitions prices. 

[KabuTheFox]

2 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

well - main issue is price to performance - then there's build quality of which it gets an ok 7/10 - portability is shit since they weight like 10 pounds compared to the 3 or 4 pounds a razer is - so

 

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

They have been notorious for pricing their products around 400 dollars more than the competitions prices. 

with current sales and dell mailer list coupon both options are fairly cheap, $1300~
125 - 180 gb ssd + 1tb hdd
gtx 1060 gtx 6gb
6700hq (17)  7700hq (15)
gsync (15)
8gb ram (easily upgradable though in after market, though i am aware that most competitive options offer 16gb))

there is always sager/clevo options but i just dont really trust it

i was considering an msi gt as well but there prices are also pretty high

[gtx1060=value]

2 minutes ago, KabuTheFox said:

 

with current sales and dell mailer list coupon both options are fairly cheap, $1300~
125 - 180 gb ssd + 1tb hdd
gtx 1060 gtx 6gb
6700hq (17)  7700hq (15)
gsync (15)
8gb ram (easily upgradable though in after market, though i am aware that most competitive options offer 16gb))

there is always sager/clevo options but i just dont really trust it

i was considering an msi gt as well but there prices are also pretty high

hmmm - have u considered asus rog?

[Brooksie359]

10 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

hmmm - have u considered asus rog?

idk their current laptops with 10 series gpus have bad reviews. i love Asus and would normally recommend them because they make excellent laptops but if the reviews are true then it would be hard to recommend getting one. 

[KabuTheFox]

21 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

idk their current laptops with 10 series gpus have bad reviews. i love Asus and would normally recommend them because they make excellent laptops but if the reviews are true then it would be hard to recommend getting one. 

 

33 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

hmmm - have u considered asus rog?

yea seeing pretty bad reviews on newegg myself of the latest iteration of them

judging from asus's site theres no many options for 1060 or 1070 but judging from amazon theres plenty
but the specs to price comparision is on par with alienware when theyre off sale, how performance is i have no idea. a bit disappointed by how the only option with 7700hq and gtx 1060 was the grey option with no black option at all, but thats just me being nitpicky

[KabuTheFox]

anyone have anything bad to say about the acer predator? havent seen anyone even mention it yet

[Pendragon]

2 hours ago, KabuTheFox said:

anyone have anything bad to say about the acer predator? havent seen anyone even mention it yet

No one buys them because they are objectively worse than those Clevos you don't trust so much. If you want to know more http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/acer.22/

[KabuTheFox]

37 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

No one buys them because they are objectively worse than those Clevos you don't trust so much. If you want to know more http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/acer.22/

i have since been considering this clevo as well
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8176-clevo-p670hp6-g.html

but the lack of OS (meaning i haveto tack on atleast $40 onto the final price) is discouraging considering i am trying to keep price down
spec wise it has everything i would want besides macros and lacks the subwoofer of acer and aw

[KabuTheFox]

If I were to give the clevo the same comparisons as above they would be 

 

Clevo p670hp6

+gsync

+ better cpu  (7700hq)

+ 2x ssd size 

-no macros 

-no OS 

- priciest ($1520 at least,  after buying os) 

-barebones design 

-/+ standard stereo speakers (I think, can't find anything saying otherwise)

 

Granted the 7700hq vs 6700hq is a pretty minimal upgrade from the results I have seen,  roughly 5-10% difference 

The extra space of ssd is nice but not needed (no way to downgrade though for a lower price) 

 

Is that all worth $200 over the price of an Alienware 17? (legit question) 

 

How's the qc of these Clevo / sager?  How's the customer service? 

[Pendragon]

10 hours ago, KabuTheFox said:

Is that all worth $200 over the price of an Alienware 17? (legit question) 

 

Over? no. If you can get an AW for like 1300 (I did as well), and fix it up yourself, it's a nice laptop. Just be ready to pull your hair out when you start taking it apart and realizing how asinine it is. 

[KabuTheFox]

3 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Over? no. If you can get an AW for like 1300 (I did as well), and fix it up yourself, it's a nice laptop. Just be ready to pull your hair out when you start taking it apart and realizing how asinine it is. 

Indeed I can grab the 15 or 17 for 1300, though the 17 doesn't have g-sync. Not that I have ever had anything with g-sync before but screen tearing / clipping has been annoying on previous laptops. 

 

Not sure what I would even want to change or even could change in the AW though 

[Pendragon]

6 hours ago, KabuTheFox said:

Not sure what I would even want to change or even could change in the AW though 

Fix backlight bleed

Fix uneven heatsink
Repaste
Repad

Add Ram

Add Storage

Revert Bios

Get Windows Update Key to Pro

etc.

 

And no GSync is good. Longer battery life. 

[KabuTheFox]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Fix backlight bleed

Fix uneven heatsink
Repaste
Repad

Add Ram

Add Storage

Revert Bios

Get Windows Update Key to Pro

etc.

 

And no GSync is good. Longer battery life. 

wouldnt gsync take care of most/any screen tearing / clipping though? 

[Pendragon]

45 minutes ago, KabuTheFox said:

wouldnt gsync take care of most/any screen tearing / clipping though? 

so would custom settings and learning to use nvidia control panel to be honest. never needed GSync because you can learn to control how intense a game runs. DSR 8x forced stresses out just about everything. I much rather trade for the battery life. And once you have GSync battery life goes to shit unless you have a dedicated MUX switch to allow for switching dGPU and iGPU passthrough.

[KabuTheFox]

57 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

so would custom settings and learning to use nvidia control panel to be honest. never needed GSync because you can learn to control how intense a game runs. DSR 8x forced stresses out just about everything. I much rather trade for the battery life. And once you have GSync battery life goes to shit unless you have a dedicated MUX switch to allow for switching dGPU and iGPU passthrough.

so basically at this point in time, gsync would mainly be better for a desktop as opposed to a laptop to sustain its lifespan? 

also on the topic of screen tearing / clipping , after awhile i ended up having that issue alot on my dell xps. was that just from age (at this point it is 6-7 years old) or just me not using the right settings? even regular videos, especially if i was streaming via hdmi were very clippy.

[Pendragon]

12 hours ago, KabuTheFox said:

so basically at this point in time, gsync would mainly be better for a desktop as opposed to a laptop to sustain its lifespan? 

 

No??? I said no-GSync for battery life. I don't use my laptops to primarily play games so GSync is irrelevant for me. It's nice to have if its your dedicated gaming machine. 

 

If you're getting clipping from watching regular video, that has nothing to do with GSync or not.