Alienware or Cyberpower

Xyion · 01-10-2010, 12:37 AM

It will be soon time for me to get a new laptop. I would like to get a nice laptop with some power in it so I can play some high-end games on it. I am looking at an Alienware and a few laptops on CyberpowerPC.com (Which is what my new desktop is.) The ones I am looking at are pretty close in specs and price, so if I could have some opinions that might make the decision easier for me. Thanks in advance for the advice.

***the Octopus*** · 01-10-2010, 03:18 AM

I'd be more interested in the graphics chipset, processor, RAM, and harddrive seek time than brand if I were trying to find something worth gaming on. Alienware is by default going to be geared towards gaming, but you might be wasting a pile of cash on it when you could get similar results on a less-hyped brand.

In the PC world, you get what you pay for but the step up is like EXP in a videogame - the cost to performance rises considerable amounts as you push for that extra little bit of juice from your system. Don't waste your money on the best of the best unless you've got a ton of extra cash burning a hole in your pocket. Buy a system that can give you decent performance on today's games, and save the remainder of what money you might have for buying your next when it's time to upgrade.

Xyion · 01-10-2010, 03:47 AM

Basically both laptops I'm looking at are about 2200, and I pretty much want it for school stuff, mmorpgs, rts/tbs games, and devil may cry style games. The Alienware has duel nVidia GTX 260's1gig, intel core quad, 4 gigs of ram. The one from cyberpower has a 1 gig nVidia GTX 280/90, intel i7, 4 gigs of ram and can upgrade to a bluray player for $150. Both have Windows 7 on them. I've used both Dell and my desktop gaming rig is a Cyberpower, so I have used and trust both companies.

***the Octopus*** · 01-10-2010, 04:30 AM

Well, multi-layer processors still aren't having a huge effect on gaming yet, so that's a starter. We're going to start seeing game developers taking advantage of multiple cores, but you want to look at some comparison benchmarks for your processor. If you're only considering Intel CPU's and not AMD's Phenom II line, and the Intel processors are from the same line, you want a higher clock speed more than you need extra layers - those are for general application use.

Can you copy-paste the specs here from their respective sites? You're not citing the information I'd need to know to make a good comparison, aside from the difference in video card models. The GTX 280 or 290 is inevitably going to give you a performance boost for graphics over the 260, at least.

Xyion · 01-17-2010, 12:50 AM

Here are the specs for the laptop from Cyberpower:

*BASE_PRICE: [+2139]
ADAPTER: Universal AC-DC Adapter (W870)
BATTERY: Polymer Smart Lithium-Ion 42.18WH Battery Pack (W870)
BAGS: Free Deluxe Carrying Bag for 15.6 Inch Notebook
BLUETOOTH: Built-in Bluetooth? V2.1+EDR Module
CD: 2X Blu-Ray Internal Player Drive (NB-335-BLURAY) [+140]
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor 1.60 GHz 6M L3 Cache PGA988
FLASHMEDIA: Built-In 3in1 Media Reader
HDD: 320GB 5400RPM SATA300 Hard Drive
HDMI: Built-in HDMI Port
INVERTER: None
KEYBOARD: BUILT-IN KEYBOARD
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse [+5]
MODEM: BUILT-IN 56K V.92 FAX MODEM
MOTHERBOARD: Intel® PM55 Chipset Mainboard
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-1333 SODIMM Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
NOTEBOOK: Clevo W870 Notebook 17.3' FHD TFT LCD Display 1920x1080 Pixels w/ ATI® NVIDIA GTX280M 1GB GDDR3 VRAM, 2.0 Megapixels Webcam, Built-in Bluetooth, HDMI Port, Support Intel i7 rPGA988 Mobile Processors, Fingerprint Sensor, & Supports PCI-Express mini card
NOTEBOOK_COVER: Clevo W870 Notebook Cover
NETWORK: Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Network Card
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SOFT1: Free 60 Days Microsoft® Office® 2007 (Words, Excel, Access, Power Point, Outlook + More) - Microsoft Windows OS Required
SERVICE: STANDARD 1-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY AND LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SECURITY: Built-in Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
SOUND: BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND
SPEAKERS: Built-in Stereo Speakers System
TVRC: None
USB: 3 x USB2.0 Port Connectors
USBHD: None
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX280M 1GB GDDR3 VRAM PCIe Video (NB-335-VC1)
VIDEOCAMERA1: Built-in 2.0 Mega Pixel Webcam
WNC: Intel WiFi Link 5300 a/b/g/n Wireless Adapter

It comes together to about $2300, and needs to be paid in full to order. I will get the Alienware specs soon.

***the Octopus*** · 01-17-2010, 01:48 AM

You should be able to game on that no problem, if that's all you're asking. To make a comparison, I'd need other specs. Considering the price, you could look around to see if you can get similar features from another manufacturer, but that sounds about right for that hardware.

In recent years, the video industry has been making lateral shifts in technology, which doesn't make newer games unplayable on older cards, but prevents older cards from running all of the effects the games are promoted as having - whether or not those cards can work faster than their peers that were released in the same generation. So getting a faster card will get you better performance now, but it won't make you "future-safe". If the stats are similar on the Alienware and it's significantly cheaper, or has more impressive features (some more RAM would be nice for a $2000+ PC), you probably won't take a huge performance hit if you go with the GTX 260.

After looking at what you said in the first instance, though, the Alienware doesn't sound much better with the Core Quad and the same amount of RAM. With the older processor model, you could end up using your battery life to sustain a more power-hungry processor architecture and getting no more oomph for it, while the i7 will likely get better performance for less power consumption. That would explain the difference between the video cards - the Cyberpower laptop, with lesser power requirements in the area of the processor, could have more resources available to power the heftier requirements of the 280 as opposed to the 260.

If you can change out any elements, I'd suggest investigating what kind of hard-disk drives are available as alternatives. Try and find out the model of the the hard disk (just stats won't help) and I'll search up comparison benchmarks for you.

If anyone else wants to help this guy out, or I'm missing something, feel free to be my guest and say something.

Lurch1982 · 01-17-2010, 01:16 PM

I know it isn't really helpful to the discussion (which I can't really comment on until I see the other specs), but if you want to seriously game you shouldn't be doing it on a laptop. Gaming laptops tend to burn out quicker than standard laptops in my experience, mainly due to heat issues. Yeah you could go bleeding edge on it, but odds are the thing won't last long enough to go outdated.

Plus the whole "gaming laptops weigh 10-15 pounds" deal and are generally much larger. They lose the portability aspect.

Plus IMO gaming on the PC hit a wall. You're still fine going with an nVidia 9xxx at this point, and I haven't even seen anything that would push a dual core processor, let alone a quad core.

I have a laptop that can run some games (but isn't bleeding edge) and a gaming desktop (selfbuilt).

In terms of other laptops to look at, compare the Dell XPS line to the Alienware laptops. They're usually close in power/features, but don't have the Alienware markup. HP's high performance laptops aren't bad, but I'm not really a fan of HP in general. Their Voodoo PC line is basically the same as Alienware. Voodoo PC's Envy laptop isn't bad, but its a bit overpriced IMO.

If you have like 5 grand to burn, Falcon-NW is amazing.

Whatever you get, spring for whatever warranty coverage they have that covers accidents and the LCD screen. Most of them give you a standard warranty on parts failure, but it gets dicey on the screen itself.

Xyion · 01-19-2010, 11:14 AM

Ok, here are the specs for the Alienware:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan
In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually in 1 or 2 business days following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
HARD DRIVE 320GB SATAII 7,200RPM
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
BATTERY OPTIONS Primary - 6-cell (56Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery

I don't care about battery life, so it isn't a problem for me. All in all that one comes around to about 2000, that includes shipping and such. Also, I do have a gaming desktop that I just got for Christmas which I am very happy and impressed with, the only problem is I can't take it out to school or to my summer camp to play LAN games with my friends.

Blake · 01-19-2010, 10:58 PM

Personally I don't really see the necessity of getting a quad core processor because unless I am mistaken, you have to be running a lot of programs to even take advantage of them. The graphics and the monitor are definitely a large step up compared to my laptop, however it makes me wonder if that alone can justify paying an additional thousand dollars. Aside from the processor, graphics card and monitor I seem to have similar specs including the same amount (and probably same speed) of ram and a 500gb hard drive.

If it's manageable in your budget I suppose it's worth buying either of them.

***the Octopus*** · 02-12-2010, 01:00 PM

Well, after seeing the Alienware specs, the Cyberpower system is probably going to have a legup in performance. Not really worth an extra couple hundred bucks, though, so if you're dead set on one or the other, I'd say stick with the cheaper one (so long as there isn't a feature you're just dying to have on the other).

My one beef with Alienware besides their priciness is their utter lack of competitive features. They'll give you a pretty case, but honestly it doesn't justify the dollars. Cyberpower is at least offering some serious top-of-the-line stats, although the low hdd capacity is shameful. Low power HDD's are on the market now for desktop systems, and at the densities they're offering, I'd expect to get a terabyte on a cutting-edge system, minimum.

Metal Man · 02-13-2010, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurch1982

I know it isn't really helpful to the discussion (which I can't really comment on until I see the other specs), but if you want to seriously game you shouldn't be doing it on a laptop. Gaming laptops tend to burn out quicker than standard laptops in my experience, mainly due to heat issues. Yeah you could go bleeding edge on it, but odds are the thing won't last long enough to go outdated.

Tell me about it, I had a laptop which was cutting edge with a non-mobile P4 chip in it at 3 GHz.

Lasted a year before it melted the hard drive.

*Slaps forehead at the idiocy*

01-10-2010, 12:37 AM	#1
Xyion Newbie Join Date: Dec 2009 Gender: Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Alienware or Cyberpower It will be soon time for me to get a new laptop. I would like to get a nice laptop with some power in it so I can play some high-end games on it. I am looking at an Alienware and a few laptops on CyberpowerPC.com (Which is what my new desktop is.) The ones I am looking at are pretty close in specs and price, so if I could have some opinions that might make the decision easier for me. Thanks in advance for the advice.

01-17-2010, 01:48 AM	#6
*the Octopus* THE PRESIDENT OF FUN Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 27,481 Thanks: 1,974 Thanked 5,121 Times in 2,320 Posts	You should be able to game on that no problem, if that's all you're asking. To make a comparison, I'd need other specs. Considering the price, you could look around to see if you can get similar features from another manufacturer, but that sounds about right for that hardware. In recent years, the video industry has been making lateral shifts in technology, which doesn't make newer games unplayable on older cards, but prevents older cards from running all of the effects the games are promoted as having - whether or not those cards can work faster than their peers that were released in the same generation. So getting a faster card will get you better performance now, but it won't make you "future-safe". If the stats are similar on the Alienware and it's significantly cheaper, or has more impressive features (some more RAM would be nice for a $2000+ PC), you probably won't take a huge performance hit if you go with the GTX 260. After looking at what you said in the first instance, though, the Alienware doesn't sound much better with the Core Quad and the same amount of RAM. With the older processor model, you could end up using your battery life to sustain a more power-hungry processor architecture and getting no more oomph for it, while the i7 will likely get better performance for less power consumption. That would explain the difference between the video cards - the Cyberpower laptop, with lesser power requirements in the area of the processor, could have more resources available to power the heftier requirements of the 280 as opposed to the 260. If you can change out any elements, I'd suggest investigating what kind of hard-disk drives are available as alternatives. Try and find out the model of the the hard disk (just stats won't help) and I'll search up comparison benchmarks for you. If anyone else wants to help this guy out, or I'm missing something, feel free to be my guest and say something. Last edited by the Octopus; 01-17-2010 at 02:11 AM.

01-19-2010, 11:14 AM	#8
Xyion Newbie Join Date: Dec 2009 Gender: Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Ok, here are the specs for the Alienware: PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually in 1 or 2 business days following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated. VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz HARD DRIVE 320GB SATAII 7,200RPM INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) BATTERY OPTIONS Primary - 6-cell (56Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery I don't care about battery life, so it isn't a problem for me. All in all that one comes around to about 2000, that includes shipping and such. Also, I do have a gaming desktop that I just got for Christmas which I am very happy and impressed with, the only problem is I can't take it out to school or to my summer camp to play LAN games with my friends. Last edited by Xyion; 01-19-2010 at 11:21 AM.

01-10-2010, 03:18 AM	#2
*the Octopus* THE PRESIDENT OF FUN Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 27,481 Thanks: 1,974 Thanked 5,121 Times in 2,320 Posts	I'd be more interested in the graphics chipset, processor, RAM, and harddrive seek time than brand if I were trying to find something worth gaming on. Alienware is by default going to be geared towards gaming, but you might be wasting a pile of cash on it when you could get similar results on a less-hyped brand. In the PC world, you get what you pay for but the step up is like EXP in a videogame - the cost to performance rises considerable amounts as you push for that extra little bit of juice from your system. Don't waste your money on the best of the best unless you've got a ton of extra cash burning a hole in your pocket. Buy a system that can give you decent performance on today's games, and save the remainder of what money you might have for buying your next when it's time to upgrade.

01-10-2010, 03:47 AM	#3
Xyion Newbie Join Date: Dec 2009 Gender: Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Basically both laptops I'm looking at are about 2200, and I pretty much want it for school stuff, mmorpgs, rts/tbs games, and devil may cry style games. The Alienware has duel nVidia GTX 260's1gig, intel core quad, 4 gigs of ram. The one from cyberpower has a 1 gig nVidia GTX 280/90, intel i7, 4 gigs of ram and can upgrade to a bluray player for $150. Both have Windows 7 on them. I've used both Dell and my desktop gaming rig is a Cyberpower, so I have used and trust both companies.

01-10-2010, 04:30 AM	#4
*the Octopus* THE PRESIDENT OF FUN Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 27,481 Thanks: 1,974 Thanked 5,121 Times in 2,320 Posts	Well, multi-layer processors still aren't having a huge effect on gaming yet, so that's a starter. We're going to start seeing game developers taking advantage of multiple cores, but you want to look at some comparison benchmarks for your processor. If you're only considering Intel CPU's and not AMD's Phenom II line, and the Intel processors are from the same line, you want a higher clock speed more than you need extra layers - those are for general application use. Can you copy-paste the specs here from their respective sites? You're not citing the information I'd need to know to make a good comparison, aside from the difference in video card models. The GTX 280 or 290 is inevitably going to give you a performance boost for graphics over the 260, at least.

01-17-2010, 12:50 AM	#5
Xyion Newbie Join Date: Dec 2009 Gender: Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Here are the specs for the laptop from Cyberpower: *BASE_PRICE: [+2139] ADAPTER: Universal AC-DC Adapter (W870) BATTERY: Polymer Smart Lithium-Ion 42.18WH Battery Pack (W870) BAGS: Free Deluxe Carrying Bag for 15.6 Inch Notebook BLUETOOTH: Built-in Bluetooth? V2.1+EDR Module CD: 2X Blu-Ray Internal Player Drive (NB-335-BLURAY) [+140] CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor 1.60 GHz 6M L3 Cache PGA988 FLASHMEDIA: Built-In 3in1 Media Reader HDD: 320GB 5400RPM SATA300 Hard Drive HDMI: Built-in HDMI Port INVERTER: None KEYBOARD: BUILT-IN KEYBOARD MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse [+5] MODEM: BUILT-IN 56K V.92 FAX MODEM MOTHERBOARD: Intel® PM55 Chipset Mainboard MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-1333 SODIMM Memory (Corsair or Major Brand) NOTEBOOK: Clevo W870 Notebook 17.3' FHD TFT LCD Display 1920x1080 Pixels w/ ATI® NVIDIA GTX280M 1GB GDDR3 VRAM, 2.0 Megapixels Webcam, Built-in Bluetooth, HDMI Port, Support Intel i7 rPGA988 Mobile Processors, Fingerprint Sensor, & Supports PCI-Express mini card NOTEBOOK_COVER: Clevo W870 Notebook Cover NETWORK: Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Network Card OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition) PRINTER: None PRINTER_CABLE: None RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS SOFT1: Free 60 Days Microsoft® Office® 2007 (Words, Excel, Access, Power Point, Outlook + More) - Microsoft Windows OS Required SERVICE: STANDARD 1-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY AND LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT SECURITY: Built-in Biometric Fingerprint Sensor SOUND: BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND SPEAKERS: Built-in Stereo Speakers System TVRC: None USB: 3 x USB2.0 Port Connectors USBHD: None VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX280M 1GB GDDR3 VRAM PCIe Video (NB-335-VC1) VIDEOCAMERA1: Built-in 2.0 Mega Pixel Webcam WNC: Intel WiFi Link 5300 a/b/g/n Wireless Adapter It comes together to about $2300, and needs to be paid in full to order. I will get the Alienware specs soon.

01-17-2010, 01:16 PM	#7
Lurch1982 Senior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: DenCo Gender: Posts: 9,850 Thanks: 127 Thanked 365 Times in 192 Posts	I know it isn't really helpful to the discussion (which I can't really comment on until I see the other specs), but if you want to seriously game you shouldn't be doing it on a laptop. Gaming laptops tend to burn out quicker than standard laptops in my experience, mainly due to heat issues. Yeah you could go bleeding edge on it, but odds are the thing won't last long enough to go outdated. Plus the whole "gaming laptops weigh 10-15 pounds" deal and are generally much larger. They lose the portability aspect. Plus IMO gaming on the PC hit a wall. You're still fine going with an nVidia 9xxx at this point, and I haven't even seen anything that would push a dual core processor, let alone a quad core. I have a laptop that can run some games (but isn't bleeding edge) and a gaming desktop (selfbuilt). In terms of other laptops to look at, compare the Dell XPS line to the Alienware laptops. They're usually close in power/features, but don't have the Alienware markup. HP's high performance laptops aren't bad, but I'm not really a fan of HP in general. Their Voodoo PC line is basically the same as Alienware. Voodoo PC's Envy laptop isn't bad, but its a bit overpriced IMO. If you have like 5 grand to burn, Falcon-NW is amazing. Whatever you get, spring for whatever warranty coverage they have that covers accidents and the LCD screen. Most of them give you a standard warranty on parts failure, but it gets dicey on the screen itself.

01-19-2010, 10:58 PM	#9
Blake Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: A generic place such as a house Gender: Posts: 4,564 Thanks: 1,425 Thanked 204 Times in 146 Posts	Personally I don't really see the necessity of getting a quad core processor because unless I am mistaken, you have to be running a lot of programs to even take advantage of them. The graphics and the monitor are definitely a large step up compared to my laptop, however it makes me wonder if that alone can justify paying an additional thousand dollars. Aside from the processor, graphics card and monitor I seem to have similar specs including the same amount (and probably same speed) of ram and a 500gb hard drive. If it's manageable in your budget I suppose it's worth buying either of them.

02-12-2010, 01:00 PM	#10
*the Octopus* THE PRESIDENT OF FUN Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 27,481 Thanks: 1,974 Thanked 5,121 Times in 2,320 Posts	Well, after seeing the Alienware specs, the Cyberpower system is probably going to have a legup in performance. Not really worth an extra couple hundred bucks, though, so if you're dead set on one or the other, I'd say stick with the cheaper one (so long as there isn't a feature you're just dying to have on the other). My one beef with Alienware besides their priciness is their utter lack of competitive features. They'll give you a pretty case, but honestly it doesn't justify the dollars. Cyberpower is at least offering some serious top-of-the-line stats, although the low hdd capacity is shameful. Low power HDD's are on the market now for desktop systems, and at the densities they're offering, I'd expect to get a terabyte on a cutting-edge system, minimum.