Need advice. First gaming computer.

Hello all. I've been browsing the forums for a few days now and decided to become a member.

I currently have a small netbook which is great for my studies but I want something for gaming.

I'm just learning about all this tech talk but I do learn quickly.

What I want is a m11x. So far the build I did on dell.com is as follows.

Software & Services
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Intel® Core™ i5 520UM (3M Cache, 1.066 GHZ with 1.866 GHz Max Turbo Frequency) - Overclockable
3 Year Advanced Service Plan
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
320GB SATAII 7,200RPM
Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate
No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed

Personalize
Quasar Blue
Alienhead 3D
Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Also Includes
Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Alienware M11x 90W A/C Adapter
Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card

Total cost of the machine is 1,393 according to dell.com.

I mainly will be using it for fps and ff14 when its out. First two games I want to buy is Metro2033 and Crysis.

What can I add or remove from the list? I think 4gb of ram is enough but not sure if 320gb is well suited for steam. I'll be using mainly steam to purchase my games.

I just turned 21 and I think I deserve this monster of a machine

 

happy birthday, if money isn't an issue get i7 instead or i5? thats what i did,
waitinf for my m11x r2 to come pretty much the same things you have but with i7

 

Have a hunt around for some online deals also, should be able to shave off a couple hundred that way.

 

If this is really your first gaming computer you might want a real gaming desktop rather than one of these "gaming notebooks."

Simply because this would be you first and depending on you expectations and whether or not your previous gaming experience is all console based you may be turned off by some of the concessions made regarding performance and some of the inconsistency and troubles that can arise from any number of PC components and drivers and comparability.

Don't get me wrong. I love my Sager and my M11X but I've been messing with PC's since the 80's and actually enjoy the various issues that pop up.

PC gaming is already more involved than concole gaming and the various flavors of gaming notebooks tend to be more involved than their desktop counterparts.

I don't want you picking up an m11x or similar toy and getting frustrated with the various issues and complications and just going back to that Xbox while the M11x collects dust.

Put a disc in a console and it works. Try a game on a PC that worked yesterday and suddenly you get a BSOD or a driver conflict or a missing DLL or your sounds all messed up or your multiplayer component gives you some vague pop up description of why it isn't working and the list goes on. If this is really your first ever endeavor into the world of PC gaming keep that stuff in mind. Will you / can you solve these issues or will you bail on it and give up?

And lastly, the FFXIV benchmarks I've seen on the R2 aren't exactly inspiring confidence. Low res and settings get a barely passing score. Likely you can tweak the final product a bit but there isn't a whole lot of upside to such low scores. Maybe a jump from barely passing minimum playability to solidly passing minimum playability but still far from medium settings playability.

Scale your expectations accordingly.

 

thisguyright here summed it up well. In truth, this isn't quite a gaming computer. It's more like a hybrid between a high end gaming computer and a regular laptop. The M11x is more powerful than any other regular laptop but is not near as powerful as a high end computer. In truth, the M11x is for the gamer on the go. If you are indeed the gamer on the go, the M11x sounds like a good option. Though if your mainly going to be at home, I suggest you just get a desktop.

 

You mentioned "studies". You may also want to check if your school is part of the Dell EPP program:
Your Member Purchase Program | Dell

If you don't know your school's member ID, you can just choose "Higher Education" under the drop-down menu. I saved 10% by doing this.

You may also want to consider buying a Fast Track laptop. They are pre-configured, and ship out in 24 hours, so that you don't have to spend a whole month in agony waiting for your laptop to be built and ship out . A Fast-Tracked Alienware M11x R2 goes for $1050 before shipping (or $945 with a 10% EPP discount).

The only differences between the Fast Track laptop and the laptop that you customized are:
- 250GB hard drive, instead of 320GB
- Comes w/1 Year Standard service plan. You can easily upgrade this to 3-Year Advanced Service plan after you receive the notebook.

So basically, it comes down to: Do you want to give up 70GB of hard drive space, to have your new toy tomorrow? Or do you want to wait a month to get it EXACTLY the way you want it?

 

As far as warranty thing goes, I think you get the best price when you buy the system.

 

Wow! Thanks for all the quick reply's. Well, I am a gamer on the go. I'm rarely home. Usually at work or school. I have a desktop computer collecting dust. I don't use it because I don't like being in a particular room to be on my computer. The net book I currently have now goes everywhere with me. I use it to finish hw at school or when I'm at starbucks chilling.

Yes this is my first gaming laptop but not my first time playing computer games. I had a computer way back then that I used to play a lot of doom 2 on. A few of the games didn't work well or had a sound glitch etc. My dad used to show me how to solve it and begin playing my game again. I tend not to give up on things. If I want something to work or I have a idea on what I want. I'll do what ever it takes to get it done.

So I'm really picking this up based on portability. and yeah I should definitely check out if I get a student discount.

Money is an issue. This is pretty much the max I can go. Is it really worth going to i7? I read that you won't even need it or that games actually work better on the i5. Read it somewhere around here.

 

There was a great deal earlier involving a free upgrade to an i7 processor - not sure if its still going on.

If money is an issue definitely use your EDD discount, and search around the internet for coupons on the like. You should be able to get a few hundred dollars off the price.

If money is tight, the i7 may be worth the extra price. Do you use CPU demanding applications for your schoolwork? If so, then you'll see a benefit. It won't really help much with fps games, those tend to be GPU bound (they are limited by the strength of the graphics card, not the processor). I don't know what is limiting FFXIV - I assume the graphics card, but a processor upgrade might help with it. Not sure.

You'll definitely want the 4 gb RAM upgrade, and maybe bluetooth (up to you on that one, depends if you use it or not). For your hard drive size 160 gb might be fine if you are really tight on money (you can uninstall/reinstall most steam games as many times as you want) and don't have lots of media. Otherwise 250 or 320 is probably adequate. If the m11x was my only computer I personally would need a 500 gb hard drive to store all of my media + programs + games, but that is me.