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Hi I'm looking for some opinions and advice on a new laptop. Looking for something about 15 inches or so and good with gaming. Price range about 1k. I've looked at Alienware m14x, Lenovo y series, and the HP Envy. thanks for any input.
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According to a dictionary I read -> . Capable of withstanding wear and tear or decay: a durable fabric.
While I can question why you would subject these fragile things to wear and tear beyond what we have to, there are only a few durable laptops made today. The most common is the Panasonic Toughbook.
Do you really mean durable?
Bob
Where do we set the bar for you?
If we look at the Dell Inspiron, Lattitude and XPS you see a little better, stiffer more dollars as you go up.
Your budget may dictate your choice. But we have a few Inspirons at the office and they are no worse than anything else and are aging well.
Bob
I have an old dell inspiron and I agree they do age pretty well but I've had to replace the battery twice and the charger 3 times and currently need a new charger again. Not too big of a deal but it has been annoying. Have you gamed on any of those devices?
The battery is a big portion of the laptop costs so they fit 300 cycle batteries. My continued advice is to never use the battery when there is AC available.
We've yet to lose a charger in over a decade but then again we know when a battery running time drops to less than an hour it's time to remove the battery as it can stress the power supply or toast the main board.
My Inspiron has some ATI GPU so games do play.
Bob
I decided to go with the m14x and even ended up getting 16% off it too 
cant wait to use it. Thanks for your input. Is there any accessories or anything I should consider?
In a few months some canned air to begin the usual maintenance and maybe a cooling pad.
Bob
I own 5 Alienware laptops. One Alienware / Sager m7700 D900T (before Dell days), 3 Alienware m17x-R2, and one Alienware m15x. I bought the last 4 from Alienware after they had been "rolled" into Dell.
I think Alienware is one of the best high-performance laptops on the planet. I think they were better before Dell's acquisition. I had a horrible experience with an m17x, that never got resolved, and after 5 months of messing with it, I gave up. It was a warranty issue with a motherboard and I had to look to ZTronics for a solution.
I will continue to buy Alienware, but I sincerely recommend using eBay to buy parts from a reputable dealer for the simple stuff and a professional, well-established Alienware specialist for anything else. Alienware is a great brand, but Dell has grown too large to give personalized service, like the Alienware of old.
Alienware in general is more expensive than almost anyone else, but worth it. I paid more than $1,000 for the m15x, which I gave to my daughter, but a current m14x starts around $1,000 and with EVERYTHING is about $2,500, and you can get a very nice one for much less. My m17x's were close to $5,000 each, but they are "overkill"...
Happy hunting!
Frazier
I really am leaning towards the m14x r2 but my only concern and deal breaker is the glossy screen. I've yet to see one in person so could you give me your opinion of the glossy screen. Is it too glossy to use enjoyably?
Thanks
I have used almost exclusively Alienware over the last 4 years and I have been very satisfied with the screens on all of my new generation Alienware laptops. Now I have, and still do, owned a Dell Latitude, two Dell XPS, a Sony Viao desktop, a Compaq desktop, and even an old Macintosh Powerbook 5300c. My wife has a current Macintosh Powerbook G4. I would put my later model Alienware machines against any of these machines.
Now, that being said, I am not a graphic designer or video editor. I spend most of my time in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, FrontPage, Expression Studio, on the web, and downloaded movies. I also travel extensively. If your time is spent in these areas, I think you will be very happy with an Alienware.
Best wishes!
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