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Torn between MBP or alienware m17x!

P

piazon79

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 30, 2010
7
0
I am torn and need some advice! The only game i am really interested in playing is Modern Warefare 2. I have been currently playing it on a Dell Inspiron 1720 with a Nvidia GeForce 8600m GT. Can the MBP handle this game? Does anyone here own a new MBP and play MW2 on it and if so how does it handle? I don't really want to lug around an alienware but they do look nice. If i get a MBP i plan on dual booting with windows 7. Does anyone do that too?

TIA
 
cool, thanks for the reply. Hows the cooling in the MBP? Will i run into a problem?
 
This is my humble opinion and I've never owned an Alienware product, but I read hundreds of posts from people who have said that AW's customer support is terrible.

If you Google for Alienware and terrible or Alienware and support you get a great number of posts that are flattering to AW.

Now, I'm not sure how much stock you can put into these but I know that I've read enough that I don't think that I'll ever buy an AW product.

I know Apple has some issues but I've always had good support from them.

Again, just my 2 cents. :)

Cheers!

P
 
I'm actually going to be grabbing one of the new Alienware m11x 'gaming netbooks' (they don't use the term), which is supposed to be able to run MW2 and Crysis and L4D at ~50+ FPS or so ... to augment my MBP.
 
Get the Alienware. Don't bother trying to get your mac playing games, even on a windows partition. Alienware's gear is designed for gaming, where as Apple's is not.
 
Huntn said:
If you can only afford one lap top, and you prefer the MacOS, the Mac is the better choice.
Click to expand...

+1 to this!

I have had great success with my 2009 unibody MBP, to the point where my kids now have my Dell XPS m1730 as I just don't use it anymore ... the MBP is a very efficient Mac, and wonderful PC gaming system.
 
well if your gonna buy a laptop that most likely means you will be taking out of your home every know and then and do you really want to be caring around that big, heavy and think 17 inch laptop plus im not so sure about the battery life for the Alien ware. Macbook pro will be fine for MW2 i run it on my white macbook(see sig) very well just not at native resolution
 
I would say get neither. The MBP is likely to be updated soon, so if you got one now, you would be missing out.
As for Alienware quality, I have heard that they have really stepped it up lately. Build-quality is top-notch, and you can't beat Alienware laptop cooling. The MacBook Pro would obviously be more portable than an Alienware, but at the cost of cooling. I actually think the M17x is overkill for what you want. I would recommend the M15x with Core i7 and the GTX 260M. With a three year warranty, that system comes in at about $2,050. A bonus of Alienware/Dell is that they let you haggle the price if you call by phone, so you could probably get that system for about $1,700-$1,800 if you knew what you were doing. Read this thread for more info: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=456885
Either way, you will get a nice computer. :) Have fun! :apple:
 
well, even you said that you are only interested in playing MW2 now. but you never know that you will play more serious games. MBP is not good at handling high gaming performance. just think about it. you pay more than $2000. then you can't set it up all high. this is shame. I recommend you buy Alienware. I am not kidding even though I like mac. but for gaming, you'd better have PC. even when you compare with bootcamp on mac, performance is different. if you don't mind to get mac seriously, get PC. Alienware is the best gaming ever. period.
 
Build a PC and buy a Mac portable for everything else. Neither the MBPro nor Alienware are good gaming solutions for the long run, as both come with a premium price and components limited by mobility.

At $1700, you can build a higher quality quad i7 rig with any GPU of your choice and still have quite a bit of money left over -- and this includes the screen. I've been building my PCs since the 386 days and using them since the XT days. Alienware were overpriced clones when they first showed up on the PC scene and now they're well-dressed -- this is subjective, overpriced clones.

Oh, and regardless, you should wait, since Dell and others have had i7s since last September, so now it's just a matter of when will Apple update their MBPros.
 
Pentad said:
This is my humble opinion and I've never owned an Alienware product, but I read hundreds of posts from people who have said that AW's customer support is terrible.

If you Google for Alienware and terrible or Alienware and support you get a great number of posts that are flattering to AW.

Now, I'm not sure how much stock you can put into these but I know that I've read enough that I don't think that I'll ever buy an AW product.

I know Apple has some issues but I've always had good support from them.

Again, just my 2 cents. :)

Cheers!

P
Click to expand...

I can attest to this. My wife has an alienware that came to them with a crack in the case (that has grown since then) and the A key broke off the keyboard after one year. They spent over $4000 on that computer back in 2005 and paid for a 3 year extended warranty. When we called for my wife's (then girlfriend's) missing A key back in 2007 we were told that while the computer is under warranty the keyboard is no longer in stock so they have no way to fix it. They refused to do anything at all about the fact that they paid $300 for a warranty and were unable to get it repaired. AW sucks.

Of course, I'm sure if you sent your AW back for a case repair (not that she ever did and that crack is bigger) they would not wipe your hard drive like Apple does. For a case repair. Idiots.
 
darkwing said:
Of course, I'm sure if you sent your AW back for a case repair (not that she ever did and that crack is bigger) they would not wipe your hard drive like Apple does. For a case repair. Idiots.
Click to expand...

Apple does not wipe harddrives for case repairs.
 
hmm.im in the process of chosing between the M15x and MBP 15" (Core i7) as a new laptop.

I know the M15x is for hardcore gaming and not as portable but would the MBP 15" (new version i7) be able to play the games that M15x can play? (Using bootcamp windows 7).

I am a average gamer and play games like WoW, HoN, MW2, Battlefield Bad company 2, Napoleon Total war and Mount and blade war band etc. I know it might be a simple answer "oh get alienware" but is it possible to play these on the MBP? (love the OS)


Can someone just give me a short list of the positives and negatives?

(Money is not really a issue as planning to get it around september (Birthday) or christmas!!)

Right now i got a Black MB 13" (really old), desktop (windows 7)
 
Quickly pricing out similarly spec'd out systems:
- 2.66GHz i7
- 8GB RAM
- 500GB 7200RPM HD
- Superdrive (i.e. no blu-ray on Alienware)
- Max res screen
- GT330 for Mac, Radeon 5730 for Alienware

And the Mac was ~$2500 while the Alienware was ~$1900 (with my corporate discount on each of ~10%)

This is really a question of whether you need:
(a) a single computer
(b) Mac OS X

Otherwise the Alienware is a no-brainer
 
Alienware is trash. Go for an ASUS G73 if you want a gaming laptop or a MacBook Pro for the best multi-purpose laptop.
 
JackAxe said:
Alienware were overpriced clones when they first showed up on the PC scene and now they're well-dressed -- this is subjective, overpriced clones.
Click to expand...

Alienware is a good example of over paying for a brand. The first PC I bought custom built was not the top of the line, but it was much faster than a Mac (for gaming). A custom build, it cost me $650. I upgraded the graphic card for $150 and I was good to go. This was in the days of 3.2 Ghz P4.

Although Dells are cheap, I've been told there is a lot of proprietary hardware in them? Should this be a concern?
 
aiqw9182 said:
Alienware is trash. Go for an ASUS G73 if you want a gaming laptop or a MacBook Pro for the best multi-purpose laptop.
Click to expand...

Can't speak for the 15, but the m11x has been absolutely rock solid for me ... one of the better non-Apple builds I've seen in a long time.
 
Alienware has good performance, but you pay a premium as compared to asus. As you are posting in a gaming thread, I would recommend you to go for the alienware PC, as with the macbook pro, even most of the recent games you can only run on medium and you will not stop thinking about how it would look like with graphics maxed. However, you could consider getting a desktop for around 1000, a 13inch MBP and a display for about the same price as either the alienware or mbp and have the best of both worlds.
 
aiqw9182 said:
Alienware is trash. Go for an ASUS G73 if you want a gaming laptop or a MacBook Pro for the best multi-purpose laptop.
Click to expand...

I'd go for an ASUS too if you want a Windows gaming machine. ASUS, if you believe the credibility of a widely reported survey just months ago, is not only the most reliable Windows laptop brand, but more reliable than Apple. Many Apple supporters suspect the credibility of that report, but whatever the case, ASUS certainly has a good reputation and excellent value for what you're paying.
 
The highend 11in alienware has a gt335m gpu. It has 72 shader cores while the macbook pro highend has 48 cores. Not a huge difference but i would say the alienwares gpu is 30% faster. Also mbp has 512vram while alienware has 1024vram. Pointless i think for such a small resolution. The mbp has a better cpu tho. Its all up to you, the mbp with the 330m will already max out that game ( no aa) and get 30+fps.
 
Libertine Lush said:
I'd go for an ASUS too if you want a Windows gaming machine. ASUS, if you believe the credibility of a widely reported survey just months ago, is not only the most reliable Windows laptop brand, but more reliable than Apple. Many Apple supporters suspect the credibility of that report, but whatever the case, ASUS certainly has a good reputation and excellent value for what you're paying.
Click to expand...

I've been a Windows user for 20 years and swapped to Mac about two years ago. Throughout my windows time I always trusted ASUS "components" as the most trustworthy in terms of quality (ie never had a problem - never needed ASUS service). However - recent experiences with a friends ASUS laptop and trying to get decent customer service (in Australia) would put me off buying a full system from them. Absolutely dreadful service. I would still buy components without a doubt but would never buy a full system.

On the decision between a mac or PC laptop, it basically comes down to one question - is the laptop primarily for gaming? If so - forget the mac, at least for a year until the drivers are brought up to par. If you are doing design work or something that the Mac does well + gaming - then go a Mac.

Just my two cents...
 
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