what to look for in a laptop.

[riderkid]

yea thats an emachine or ya. they come with cheap components

I had a toshiba laptop that died within a year, mobo and all. i had the Emachine for 3-4 years and it worked way better

[REmaster]

I've had my toshiba for two and a half years now and it still runs pretty good but I still waiting for it nosedive into oblivion any day now
I would much rather have one of those new mac since It's what I was used to working with in college ( I really dig the built in cam ).

[Alexia_Ashford]

I'd recommend a Sony VAIO CR series laptop. They're very expensive, that's a given, but they're brilliant laptops and I've not had a problem with mine yet, runs games beautifully and can load up/shut off in under a minute.

[Member_of_STARS]

4 most important features

1) Cooling and cooling solution. Heat dissipation and heat influence on perfomance goes here. Laptops get hot which in turn makes them suffer from perfomance. Its also going to be the nr1 reason why your lappy dies before it should.

2) Component changeability. That goes especially for GPU. If you run an integrated GPU, your lappy has a limited use-span, in the sense that sooner or later, you wont be able to keep up with times. Youll also have to see how are components powered and if you actually can change hardware; if youre restricted by the power limitations.

3) Construction. Material. Screen.

4) Brand. Only a very few companies give you good cooling, component interchaneability, great materials (magnesium alloy >>>>>>>> plastic, always). Sony Vaio is one of those brands with what you can never go wrong. Unfortunately brand computers cost more. But seriously, you get what you pay for. With lappies, thats 3x the truth.

5) Batteries. Get the best, biggest, maximum. And get another one as a reserve. Theres plenty of cases where laptops that are out of production have their batteries taken out of production aswell.

You do not want a lappy youll have problems with heating (BSODs and CTDs, limited perfomance after first 15 minutes, other issues).
You do not want a lappy that is morally and technologically obselete in one year.
You do not want a lappy that breaks just because youve opened and closed the lid for 100 times.
You do not want a lappy with terribad screen.

AND- Invest in a laptop cooler that goes for about 30 bucks. But know this- 99% of all commercial laptop coolers are rubbish. Theres only a number of them with proper design that allow for proper additional cooling and unrestricted airflow.

And f!ck no! Dont get AlienWare.

Youll find that Vaio series are universally praised, but they cost more. Depending on what youre looking for, theres also a new series of laptops, which are fat, bigger and more powerful (a mixture between a desktop and laptop). Dont know who made those. But Im looking for those at the moment.

Other than that, the same old applies.

Get an Intel for processor (dont listen to fanboys saying otherwise).
Get an nVidia graphics unit (its not as close with ATi as many may thing, nVidia holds the market, for obvious reasons, really)
RAM is cheap, you can always buy more sticks. Dont go too cheap with those, get as good as you can get. Its a critical component.
If youre running Vista, 3.5GBs of RAM is MINUMUM you should strive for, if you want comfortable power-user luxury.

Doing research for a lappy myself right now. My aim is to get one for modern videogaming and video editing. Possibly coding and/or modelling.

[Helegad]

Aren't Alienware the leaders in PCs?

[Member_of_STARS]

Aren't Alienware the leaders in PCs?

Alienware make gamers PCs and laptops. Basically the high-end computers.

Heres the thing. While they were known to be RIDICULOUSLY overpriced (up to 10K and above) they are now known for horrible quality and even worse customer support.

Basically, what Alienware used to be is- slap all the best components into a package and quadriple the price, then sell as a 1337munching uberpwnermachine.

Now they just slap the best parts together thatll break on you and youll have to struggle with customer support that is obviously just a rudimentary Skynet, hellbent on raping you... without the live ammunition.

Dell XPS gaming laptops are no better though, they are notorious for overheating.

Unless its custom built by your peers, with everything thought out the way you need it, Vaio is the way to go. Its universally praised.

I dont think Id have to tell anyone that the extra 50 bucks youll give your pal for compiling a desktop rig for you, are worth it.

Still... AlienWare... lulz. Anyone remember how the early Pentium platforms went for 7 thousand dollars and more? Early 90s, I think?

[The Dude]

Alienware's pretty fun to browse and customise PC's using their website, if anything just to see the price hike higher and higher the more you add onto it.
I think I clocked the highest price at around £9,800 something at one point.