Laptop HELP!!!!

[Pittbull32]

Alright Guys. I keep getting conflicting information. I'm trying to buy a new High Power Laptop. I'm trying to get the most for my money at 3G's.

The best system I've found so far is an Alienware Area 51 with 3.6 ghz P4, 2 GB of Ram and 80 gigs of Harddrive with the ATI Radeon 7700 256 mb graphics card. For me this is going to be a desktop replacement PC. I'm going to be using it extensively at work and at home for Gaming applications. It's actually the cheapest system I've found with the fastest processor, ram, and decent harddrive for just under 3 grand. And from what I hear Alienware uses high end components.

Because it's going to be used for work I do need the system to be reliable. I dropped into the local computer store in the mall to try and get advice(I know bad idea cuz he's just going to want to sell me what he's got). But he kept saying how high performance laptops are no good because of the amount of heat they fry themselves up and that it'll be a waste in 1 year. If anyone can give me a hand with my trouble I'll greatly appreciate it.

[GroundZero3]

i have had a laptop and gamed on it for over 3 years with no problems

As for the frying part, that is what the warranty is for. Sounds like someone doesnt know what they are talking about

[Pittbull32]

They claimed it was that the Pentium 4 Processor runs "so hot that there is no way to dissipate that much heat without frying the circuits".

Now from what I heard the Alienwares do run pretty hot but do they really run hot enough to fry a processor?

[GroundZero3]

heat is a concern with laptops, but if 3 grand laptops were frying themselves and becoming a paper weight after a year people wouldnt buy those laptops.


Alienware is known for thier computers, and preformance wise i havent heard any complaints. Again the guy doesnt know what he is talking about.

[Pittbull32]

Thanks for the input. Any way you know of to help deal with the heat? Do the cooling pads really work?

[Sixpac_XP]

Those suckers get very hot... my 1.7 P4m gets very hot.. anything near the side vented fan heats up nicely. I put my coffee mug next to it to keep it warm. I can't imagine what a 3.6 P$ in a laptop is like! YIKES!..

Probably get close to no battery life on the thing.

I play UY2004 on my IBM thinkpad with 1 GB of Ram and a ATI 9200 vid card.. works good enough for me at 1024x768...

ARe you sure its a 7700 ATI card in that laptop? Sounds a little old to me???? Not sure.

Whats the model of the laptop you were looking at?

[Pittbull32]

It's not a Radeon 7700(My bad tried to do it from memory) It's a Radeon X800. It's the Alienware Area 51m 7700. Battery life is not really that big of a deal for me. I'm looking for something I can use at home, toss in a pack and use at work(I work in Car Sales and I need it to run up tracking software.) I'm looking for speed over battery life (mainly for at home applications).

It'll run for .5 to 1 hour processing and 1.5 hours DVD I beleave.

[Sixpac_XP]

Bet you get 30 mins on that thing tops!

[Sixpac_XP]

Impressive laptop for sure!

Features and Specifications:

• Brand new PCI-Express Technology
• Multimedia entertainment mobile system
• 17” inch Widescreen XGA or SXGA+ Entertainment LCD
• Intel Desktop 915 PCI-Express chipset
• Intel Desktop P4 processor power
• Best performance Mobile GFX with 256MB DDR
• Best performance built-in Mobile Audio with Digital out
• User-Removable GFX module (ATI or NVIDIA)
• Brand new Dual-channel DDR2 memory support
• Dual Hard drives with RAID 0 or 1 support
• Dual Optical drive slots
• 7 in 1 Media card reader
• Most memory expandability (4 memory slots)
• Built-in instant-on AudioDJ with Mp3 support
• High-performance dedicated component cooling system
• 802-11g and Bluetooth wireless support option
• Full size keyboard with numpad keys
• Built-in Four speakers with Subwoofer
• SRS WOW Support


Bet it weighs a ton.

[Pittbull32]

That's cool for me though. i don't care if I have to stay stuck 10 feet to a power source. If I "REALLY" need to I'll buy an external battery(charge both. Laptop runs on external battery when that dries up it switches to the laptops battery). I just want speed and the biggest factors involved there are processing speed and RAM.