Is a 3 year warranty really necessary?

nothing to do with what Alienware "makes", since they don't "make" anything, they just assemble someone elses' "stuff"..

if you are gonna keep it for more than 3 years, then it makes sense to get the warranty...after all, how can Alienware know what will happen to someone else's Hard drive, or cd drive a few years from now???

You can always upgrade your RAM later. If you want peace of mind then get the warranty.

another thing to consider when getting the warranty is that Alienware will allow you to do upgrades, they will do them for you at no charge and all you do is pay their cost on the upgrade item plus shipping one way. To me thats quite a bargain since as we all know computer hardware is outdated before it even becomes available to the public. Also knowing that if any item on your system should fail in the warranty period they will replace it free of charge. To me thats worth alot more than an extra memory stick, besides you can always get the memory, you only have a limited time to get the warranty.

It's worth it if you need it...

Depends on your risks and appetite for funds: Getting the computer fixed under warranty during school when you need it is no easy thing. Getting it fixed without warranty during school is more difficult, and if you're at school you're probably not earning enough to want to buy another laptop out of the box. That was my thought when I only bought the one-year warranty. (That, and I only had one year of school left.) Six months later, I'm staring at a blank white screen and wondering why the depot's telling me they need to reformat the hard drive in order to resolve a dud video card. Notebooks fail. They're more likely to fail at school, especially if you carry the machine around to class.) And the fact that it's got "ALIENWARE" stamped on the front in pretty letters does nothing to avoid this, as the folks waiting to get their notebooks back from depot can attest. I'd say the warranty is the better deal: you can always buy memory later. An even better investment is a backup system.

Hazuki - the 3 year warranty is a good idea, no matter which brand you are buying, if you can't readily afford a large repair bill or a new laptop. You can save quite a bit on RAM by ordering the minimum from AW and then ordering your 2GB from some place like Newegg. If that's the route you go, you can check back here to verify you are ordering the right RAM.

trickey - your experience is a valid example of why the warranty is a good idea, but interesting that you downplayed the value of anecdotal evidence in the other thread discussing AW service...

Shazza:

(Anecdotal evidence --> this risk is common) is a logically bad statement.

(Anecdotal evidence --> this risk exists) is a logically good one.

If I wanted to use the boards here to show that warranty service was more necessary w/ Alienware than anyone else, I'd say I was being silly. But to tell the questioner that the risk still exists and the warranty is useful? No problem.

Well said...and I agree 100 percent. I actually came back here to edit my post, because I didn't want you to think I was baiting you...

Hazuki - that's a nice setup you have configured. You should have no problems running Oblivion at medium+ settings. You've chosen the lowest display res option - which will give you good performance for gaming (you wouldn't be playing Oblivion at much higher res than that anyway), but many people prefer more resolution on the 17" displays.

Just to make the decision tougher, I'll ask why you are going for the m5700 over the m5500? If you want/need the larger display - then the m5700 is great. If you've picked the m5700 because you think it will handle games like Oblivion better, you're right - but you might also want to consider the m5500 with the ATI x1600 video card...it's a very good performer in gaming. The other advantage to the m5500 is obviously a bit smaller, and easier to carry around.

I have the m5500 with the 256MB go6600 nVidia card, and I'm surprised at how well it handles games. I play Guild Wars maxed out at 1680x1050 res, and it handles Oblvion fine on medium settings.

Not trying to talk you out of the m5700- lots of very happy owners with that system, just bringing up another option (just what you need, right?)

Hazuki,

That's a nice configuration - but I'm biased, as it is similar to mine. I chose the 160GB HD - even at 5400RPM, it seems just as fast to me as the 80GB 7200RPM HD I have in the Dell XPS2. I also got the 1680x1050 display - but it does take some getting used to the smaller font size. I like it for photoshop, but for gaming and office apps/surfing, 1280x800 is probably a better size.

While you can order it with the minimum RAM - then order 2GB from Newegg for about $170, 1GB is probably ample.

And, as you saw when you configured it - you can save several hundred dollars by choosing the 256MB go6600 card...that's what I have. BUT, if I were ordering now, I'd get the x1600 card even though it's more expensive. For comparison purposes, here are some relative 3DMark05 Benchmarks for the various cards:

128MB go6600...........2100
256MB go6600...........2700
256MB go6800...........3500 (note - I see scores from 3100 - 3700 in the review section)
256MB x1600.............4100

Disclaimer: these scores have been collected by looking at reviews of systems with the 2.0GHz Pentium M (and no overclocking)from reviews by users primarily here at NBF. The only one I can attest to personally is the 256MB go6600. 3DMark05 doesn't directly correlate to gaming performance, but it gives you an idea of the relative performance of the cards.

Good luck with your decision process!

Hazuki_Sensei:

You don't mind me asking, but are you a law/graduate student by any chance? (Sensei==lawyer in Japanese, among other things.)

If so, the only piece of advice I'd give is: consider buying a small laptop like a Sentia* and spend the excess money buying a really nice desktop. Not only are desktops easier to upgrade so they don't go totally out of date (so maybe you can play Elder Scrolls V), but look at the weight on a laptop that size. You will kill your back.

I say this only because I ignored such advice in my first year and bought a Dell 8500. Great machine, the monitor looks brilliant but man is it heavy. And it weighs in at a lot less than CNET said the 5500 did. After two years, I came to regret it and bought the Sentia.

*Of course, if you asked if I recommended the Sentia, I'd give you a different response, but you've chosen Alienware.

No problem, Hazuki. Glad to help. Hopefully you've read the reviews in the review section as well, and that will give you some more ideas on this notebook. I'm very happy with mine, and use it daily.

I agree with tricky that the optimum combination is a desktop and a small laptop. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for everyone. Many people carry the 17 inchers around, as well as the 15 inch notebooks. I carry mine when I travel, and really don't have an issue with it...it's all about trading display/performance for convenience if you can't go with the best of both worlds...