Advice on purchase of alienware 15/17

Hey guys, wanted to get some insight into a dillema that i have.

I'm a 3D Animator, i've long since used a beefy desktop PC as my workstation and gaming PC, and i also have a Macbook pro retina 15'' (mid 2012) that i use for working remotely.

I've gotten a job offer to move overseas, and it's a temporary contract position that lasts only 15 months, quite frankly i don't know where i'll be after those 15 months either in that country or my home country. For that reason i dont plan to do all that travelling with a desktop, or a laptop that i can't game properly, so i plan on selling both to buy a good gaming laptop that i can travel easily with.

Alienware 15/17 series really appeal to me, because they have a nice processor that really suits the work software i use (Maya, 3DS Max), and the possibility of using the Graphics Amplifier down the line to upgrade my video cards is really the biggest reason why i chose one of these laptops.

So my plan was to keep my desktop video card (radeon r9 290) which i can pretty much run everything (or almost) maxed, and buy a mid range alienware 15 with a graphics AMP and use that.

However as i researched and asked around, some friends have pointed out to me that saving the money from the graphics amp and selling my r9 290, and just going for the AW15/17 with the 980m might be my best option both financially (not having to buy the graphics amp + selling my desktop card >> adding 980M) and practically, because it'd be easier to travel without the GA, and the performance difference between the 980M and the GA + r9 290 isnt enough right now to justify going that route.

So basically my 2 options are:

1. Buy AW15/17 with GA + use my desktop Radeon r9 290

2. Buy AW15/17 w/980m and forget the GA until new cards come out that offer higher performance increase vs the 980m

sorry for the long post, any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm in a similar situation (desktop PC sitting overseas, gathering dust) - so AW15 it was. Personally, I wouldn't buy the GA unless I'm sited somewhere more permanent - the AW15 is quite a load in itself.

With HBM GPUs around the corner: if the 980m (stock or overclocked) meets your needs, sell your R9 290 first while it's worth more. You will want the i7 model in a AW15, period (4 cores @ 3.5GHz, versus 2 cores for the i5); and since the CPU is limited to which GPU you choose, the only 2 options would be 970/980m.

Summary:
Take option 2, but make sure to get the 240w adapter if you're getting the 980m.

 

As cool as the graphics amplifier sounds, take a look at some youtube videos and see if that is something you could easily travel with. It's pretty large.