All,

Thanks for your help everyone. I've been on the market for a new gaming notebook to replace my 2 year old inspiron 8200 (which has never failed me in its 2 years of service *knock on wood*) however it is old and it's 64 mb nvidia card can no longer play the new cool games coming out, such as far cry (does play ut2004 beautifully though even at 1600x1200 resolution). To make a long story short, i've been hanging around these forums for the past couple of weeks, doing my due diligence and research on dell alternatives (wondering if there was a better alternative, more "cutting edge" retailer out there as far as gaming notebooks go)......

I first researched alienware, having seen all of their ads in the gaming magazines as well as on tv and stuff and thought that they were cutting edge technology. However, that is sadly not the case, their notebooks (AW area 51m) even though they look nice are lagging their competitors by a fair margin i would say as far as the benchmarks that i have seen as well as what you are able to configure from their site. and for all that less than current technology, alienware still charges are high premium..........

in any case, found my way to these forums, and this place has been great. because of this site, i began looking at the clevo based systems from Sager (through pcquote), hypersonic, and voodoo. Sager/hypersonic intrigued me, and i considered buying the sager 8790 from pcquote, i've read great things about pcquote and their service, however i couldn't get over the fact that the 8790 does not come in high resolution (i run my inspiron 8200 at 1600x1200) and i do not think i can ever go back to low res, no matter how big and wide the screen is. also, the sager's fans are supposedly very loud, especially when the final "turbo" fan kicks in. I live in a small apt and like to watch tv while gaming, and i don't want a loud fan to annoy me. I looked at hypersonic as well, but considering it's basically a higher priced better customized version of the 8790 i couldn't justify its cost (and they charge sales tax for me since they're located in new york and i live in new york- this was an extra 400 plus dollars on tax alone just to go with them ). I briefly considered voodoo, BRIEFLY mind you, only because they had an AMD 64 processor notebook and i was torn between intel/AMD. Reason why i ultimately decided against AMD 64 based notebook is that these notebooks seem to lack the "bells and whistles" of their intel counterparts. For example, wifi and bluetooth. Also, i don't think microsoft will come out with their longhorn operating system to support 64 bit processors until sometime in 2006 (more like fall or winter of 2006). Some say they will release in the fall, but given msft's track record, i highly doubt it. In another 2 years time when 64 bit processing and related apps are more mainstream i will upgrade notebooks again, and probably go with a 64 bit processor, be that intel or AMD. Back to my story though, Voodoo, was a no go, especially after my configuration came out to be close to $5,000. They've gotta be nuts.

Finally, back to no other than Dell. Even though i've heard that the XPS is an ugly monster, i remembered that people were saying that about the inspiron 8200 when it first came out. Yes, Dell's customer support leaves a lot to be desired, yes Dell's customer "support" can be sort of an oxymoron, and yes you can begin to learn a foreign language by talking to them.............but in my experience through all of the dell products that i have owned in the past, they do "eventually" make good. You just may have to call and pester them more than a customer should (that's a whole different thread) but ultimately i think dell does make good in the end, though the journey can be a real biatch.

In any case i configured my new inspiron xps as follows: intel 3.4 ht, 15.4 " wuxga, 1024 dual channel ram, 60 gb 7200 rpm ultra ATA, truemobile 1450 a/b/g, truemobile 300 bluetooth module, ati 9700 128 mb, win xp professional, no other software selected, 2 year onsite warranty.........

granted the dell did not have the fancy shmancy 7-1 card reader, raid configuration, or built in camera that the sager/hypersonic/voodoo had, but those were things i didn't need and i just think they are more points of failure than i care about. I just wanted a portable machine to game off of, not engage in some kinky video chat with some strange.......possibly hot gorgeous net gals..........hmmmmm sorry, back to reality.............

what the biggest selling point of the dell was for me is its price...because i purchased today, i was able to take advantage of a 10% discount, plus a $200 mail in rebate, plus free dvd drive upgrade, plus free 3-5 day shipping (though i opted for overnight shipping because i figure the longer the machine is in transit, the more chance something breaks or some guy working for a carrier tosses the box around more leading to some unwanted problems). Total price after discount, rebates, etc. is just under 3K.

Well just wanted to thank you all and welcome myself to the dell xps club........

by the way, if bigger discounts come up before my machine ships, can i call in and have the better discounts applied to me? thanks

Hi,

If bigger discounts come up while shipping or in the 30 day period, just ring your sales rep (name should be on the order) and badger them about it, and usually you'll get them. Of course if you say nothing then you will get nothing, so ring if the price drops in that period. After that period then no price matches will be made.

Apart from that, good luck with the new XPS and let us know how it goes! Cheers,

stu

Diesel, You went through the exact same process for almost the exact same reasons I did.
Funny you mention the $5K Voodoo. How can you justify laying out that kind of jack for a laptop. LOL!
I have also been considering a Sager for some time. The screen actually looks pretty nice in the photos I've seen and the people on the Sager forum literally test those things silly and they are pretty damn fast. But the thing is a beast and I can't imagine dragging it back and forth to work every day and no way I can bust it out in the air. Maybe if I win Lotto some day I'll get one just to have it or something.

bossy, so what did you wind up purchasing? the xps? if so......congrats and welcome to the club

Nope, 8600. I have seen the XPS getting raves all over the place and I was interested. But I need a more mobile machine and the XPS doesn't quite fit the bill.

i hear ya

Diesel,
Sounds just like my life for the past 2 months or so, doing the exact same research on the exact same laptops and coming to the (almost) exact same conclusion. Instead of the XPS, I purchased the 9100 because of budget constraints. It's finally on its way and I'm so excited I feel like hugging myself. So I think I will.

camulus, welcome to the club. From what i hear, the 9100 is pretty much identical to the xps, just a bit cheaper. only difference i know of is that you don't have access to the xps "support" line- bhahahahahaa, good one eh? xps support people are supposedly "gamers", but i guess they count minefield and solitaire as "games"