Computer died and getting a new one...need some advice

[Hellsfury99]

So my desktop gave out and I need to get a new machine. A friend told me that laptops had almost caught up to desktops as far as gaming goes. Is this true? I play on a small desk in the corner of the family room. I would love to be able to have a laptop instead of a bulky desktop. Below is what I have on the way. Is this a big fall off from a desktop? Will it be able to play the newest games on the market and anything new that comes out for the next few years? I am no computer wiz so the build it yourself stuff won't work for me because if anything goes wrong I wouldn't know what the hell to do. Let me know if this machine is effective and desktop replaceable...and yes I know Alienware is not a fan favorite. Thanks in advance good people.

Quantity Item Number Description
1 210-AFFV Alienware 17
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1 370-ACLR 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 2133MHz (8GBx2)
1 580-ACWN English Keyboard
1 583-BCQG Alienware 6 programmable Macro module keys
1 490-BCLJ NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5
1 555-BCRW Killer Wireless 1535 Driver
1 400-AKWC 128GB M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
1 619-AHCY Windows 10 Home (64bit) English
1 555-BCRM Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
1 450-AAGO US Power Cord
1 340-AGUD Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French)
1 801-2185 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Initial Year
1 801-2232 Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year
1 338-BHXB Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HK (Quad-Core, 8MB Cache, Dynamically Overclocked up to 4.1GHz)
1 391-BCMX 17.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 300-nits Display
1 750-AALQ No Controller
1 451-BBMW 8 Cell 92W Hour Battery
1 340-ACQQ No Option Included
1 450-AAJI 240W AC Adapter
1 332-1530 Dell.com Order
1 332-1530 Dell.com Order
1 658-BCUO Additional Software
1 525-0016 Dropbox, Digital Delivery, 20GB for 1 year Promotion
1 340-AAPP Directship Info Mod
1 340-ATTO Alienware 17 R2 Shipping box
1 332-1286 US Order
1 631-AATV Intel Driver
1 340-ASNH Placemat (English,French,BRPT,Spanish)
1 817-BBBB No FGA
1 800-BBKV FREE game with purchase of a GeForce GTX 700 GPU-powered desktop
1 389-BHPD Regulatory Label
1 658-BCSC Microsoft Office Software Image
1 817-BBBP None Included
1 389-BHGE Intel Core i7 Processor Label

 

[<BoB>-Sapper[CL]]

i7, 16GB of Ram, and a nice Nvidia Card? This machine should kick some booty

 

[Gerhard]

You should look into building one, it's not terribly difficult since the industry is really standardized, and no matter what you choose it'll be dramatically cheaper (and you'll know exactly where everything is when you want to upgrade/repair)

 

[Capt. Canada]

Guys, let's pause for a moment and think deeply about something. Hellsfury has been decimating us (mostly me) for years on an old computer.

And now he is upgrading.

 

[SucceededKiller]

Guys, let's pause for a moment and think deeply about something. Hellsfury has been decimating us (mostly me) for years on an old computer.

And now he is upgrading.

But if he switches over to a laptop he will have to do some adjusting. And as it is more portable he can play in areas with more distractions.

Back to the main topic...

Building one isn't necessarily difficult and there are more than enough guides out there if you wanted to go that route. That laptop looks fine though and you should be able to play the latest games for a while.

You can input the information into http://www.game-debate.com if you want to check it against some games you plan on playing to give you some sort of idea.

Overall it looks good. Latest generation i7 CPU, latest generation Nvidia graphics card and 16GB of DDR4 RAM should do you just fine. You might fill up the SSD fast though so just remember to move anything that wont need the speed of an SSD to the normal HDD.

Not sure how much it matters to you, but you might want to look into this:

1 800-BBKV FREE game with purchase of a GeForce GTX 700 GPU-powered desktop

You are not buying a desktop pc or a 700 series GPU...maybe they have just messed up the wording or I'm interpreting it wrong though...

 

[TonyB]

I have been using my own built computers for years. One of my kids uses a bought-and-paid-for machine and he has had problems. We just replaced the power supply. Mine has been running non-stop for at least four years. I turn it off when I take trips or have extended times away from home. Runs like a Honda.

I like building because it costs less and I can get more bang for the buck. Obviously, when you get it assembled and you punch the power button, you just keep your fingers crossed that it will fire up.

I'm ok with a gaming laptop so long as you can get air flowing to it to keep it cool. Hook it up to a 36" monitor and you are off to the races.

 

[Capt. Canada]

Glad to see you playing against last night, and thanks for letting me kill you that ONE time. Yes, it was in the back while you were reloading and were dealing with some serious screen resolution issues, but I feel that makes us pretty close to evenly matched at that point.

 

[Hellsfury99]

Ok...The laptop is running to hot and lags here and there. I am returning it. Compared to the specs on the laptop above how does this desktop compare? Anything I need to add that I don't have? Thank you for putting up with me being clueless on this subject.


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Memory 1 x 16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR4-2400 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card 1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - 4GB - Single Card
Motherboard 1 x ASUS X99-A -- 3x PCIe x16, 6x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0
Power Supply 1 x 500 Watt - Standard 80 PLUS Bronze - *Free Upgrade to 600W Standard 80 PLUS Bronze
Advance Cabling Options 1 x Standard Default Cables
Primary Hard Drive 1 x 128 GB SanDisk Z400S SSD -- Read: 546MB/s, Write: 342MB/s - Single Drive *Free Upgrade to 256GB SanDisk Z400S SSD* (Single Drive Only)
Data Hard Drive 1 x 1 TB Hard Drive -- 32MB Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Optical Drive 1 x 24x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW - Black -- Free Upgrade to 14X LG Blu-ray Re-writer
Media Card Reader / Writer 1 x 12-In-1 Internal Media Card Reader/Writer - Black
Sound Card 1 x 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card 1 x Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Operating System 1 x Windows 10 Home + Office 365 Trial [Free 30-Day !!!] - (64-bit) *Newest Microsoft Windows*
Keyboard 1 x iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
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Warranty 1 x 3 Year Standard Warranty Service