Does anyone own a m5500? or Questions on "gaming" laptops

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Duo_Maxwell

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I'm operating on a budget unfortunately (like $1600-1700 max or so). I know that if I really want to be serious about playing PC games I shouldn't bother with a laptop, but the catch is I'm not that serious about PC games. The old rig at home isn't getting the job done though for anything new and having the portability of a laptop seems nice. I don't need a high end 13 lb desktop replacement laptop either because like I said I'm just not serious of a PC gamer. For Pc I normally don't play the bigtime graphics hog games like Battlefield 2 or FEAR. I mostly stick to RTS, adventure games, and some RPGs. I would like to be able to run something like Civ 4, Battle for Middle Earth II, or maybe even D&D Stormreach on pretty high settings though.

With all that in mind I've been looking around at laptops that fit my needs. THe Alienware M5500 has really caught my attention because they have a nice promo going on now for it and you can customize it with a PCIe GeForce Go 6600 in it which is nice too. I can get a nicely equipped m5500 for about $1650 with a 128mb Go 6600 in there (I could go up to 256mb for about $75 more). But should I? I know nothing about Alienware and while some of the reviews seem positive I've heard mixed things about them from some so I'm looking for more opinions (especially from those who own a m5500). Also I can get a pretty nice discount on some ATI Radeon cards from work (like an X800 for about $155 shipped), so is it possible to just just put one in there later myself or do laptops like a m5500 take specially sized/designed PCIe cards? Will intergrated graphics get me by or will the 128mb Go 6600 even be enough? Are there any other options I'm overlooking besides Alienware in a similar price range?

Any help, input, suggestions, and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you have access to Dell's EPP you can get a loaded core duo w/ a 256MB Go 7800 in your price range. I just spec'ed out the following for $1463 /w tax & delivered:

Inspiron E1705
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800
60GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Primary Battery 80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
 
[quote name='AFStealth']If you want to play BFME2, then you can't use integrated graphics cards, that's for certain.

The Go 6600 is also a nice choice for the amount of gaming you'll do, but you could probably even go down a notch. Also, I don't think you can upgrade video cards in laptops, so what you're stuck with what you get.

[/QUOTE]


Some laptops nowadays actually allow you to upgrade video cards. Of course the process isn't as easy as that of a desktop, but it is very possible if you have instruction, small screw drivers, and patience. Some companies emphasize on upgradability of their laptops. Heck, even Dell video cards are upgradable (although they don't tell you that), but oddly you can buy laptop parts from Dell's site.
 
Thanks for the info so far guys, even though I forgot about his thread for a couple days, I am still weighing my options on this. It looks like even though I've found some upgradeable video laptops I'll just go with ordering a higher powered one because my computer knowledge is far too minimal to think about doing it myself it seems (big thnaks to AFstealth for article on notebook video btw).

Have a couple more questions though. Still looking to see if anyone has any feedback on Area 51 m5500 model, but does anyone also know how is Alienware's support and service? Also I like the ibuyPower looks but feedback on their serivce and warranty support seems pretty rough and the fact that you can't finance it is sort of a turnoff, but I'll keep it in mind. So the floor is obviously open to anymore suggestions/comments.
 
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