Advise on 17 R2 Purchase

Im from Canada and planning to purchase my first AW 17 with following spec

i7-4980HQ
16GB Ram
GTX 980
512GB M.2 SSD (Boot) + 1TB 5400RPM
After haggling with sales agent im getting at CAD $3877

Currently im using Asus N55S its about 4-5 years old laptop on i7 2630 8GB RAM GT555M 2GB
the laptop was up to my expectation for only about 2 years then i regret as almost all games i need to play on Low settings and still getting FPS hit

The investment on the AW can i expect it to delivery the performance for the next 5 years? I dont want to buy a expensive machine then i have to change it again in 3 years or end up running games in Low Graphics again

Some advise is really appreciated and will be helpful in my purchase
Thanks again

 

I'd honestly say more or less, forget the SSD for now. Try to source an SSD for cheaper. That's the main huge jump in price you have. You should be able to find a decent m.2 SSD for $300 CAD or so for a 512 gb one.

No laptop is going to last you for 5 years. Not even an SLI beast. GPUs are aged out quickly, games progress so fast these days the graphics power needed is increasing a lot. Don't expect any laptop to last 5 years and play games in anything but low settings.

Most of the time expect a top of the line machine to be mid spec a year later, then another year later mid-low spec. Then by the 3rd year expect low settings.

Now the laptop does allow use of the graphics amplifier to help extend the life of the laptop, if you're interested in that since you can use desktop cards.

I'm gonna send you a PM and see if I can help you save a bit on the price you have with some advice, that seems a little high to me still. (See the top right corner of the forum to see PMs)

 

thanks alot for the advised, replied your PM
The GA really convinced me in this case i agree

 

Or, for a whole lot less money...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/fs-alienware-17-r1.772895/

Just saying.

 

Given that he told me he has 4 years accidental damage and 4 years of the hardware warranty, I think he wants something from Dell so he can maintain that.

 

Ah, true. Didn't know that.

 

Thank you guys, After having a conversation with bnosam he gave me some good tips (thanks to him again) i contacted the sales again few times and haggled a good price, My Initial setup with following spec

i7-4980HQ
16GB Ram
GTX 980
512GB M.2 SSD (Boot) + 1TB 5400RPM
Recovery Disk
4 years enhanced warranty
4 years Accidental warranty

CAD $4377

AW has a offer until 20th March which bring down the price to CAD $4137
after haggling with few agent best i could settle is CAD $3610, i accepted at this point as kinda tired of talking to many agent and the offer is about to expire tomorrow as well, also getting the dell 5% rewards which is another saving

estimate ship date is 27th March, can't wait for my first AW

 

Congrats! That's a decent enough discount, I'm glad I could help you out. I hope you enjoy the machine when you get it. Until then, feel free to drop by some of the threads on this forum and read up on how some people have their configured (power wise, drivers etc) and get a good idea of framerates and benchmarks.

And most important of all....Don't forget to tell Dell/Alienware you want a 240W power suppy, none of the 180W foolishness!

 

About the power supply i did read bunch of a thread here and each agent i spoke with i insisted to have the 240watts, however they said there is no way/option for them to choose that when placing a order, and they advised to make a request once i received the laptop

 

That is more or less true. Just call when you get the order and tell them.

 

will do, thanks again

 

I called on a monday, got a call back the same day asking me for a shipping address and that they are sorry I wasn't happy with the 180W PSU, and got the 240W PSU the very next day at 9AM.

It was very quick for me and I was incredibly grateful for that