<p>I'm going into the engineering/computer science program at NCSU this fall and I'm trying to decide on a laptop. I just had a few quick questions about it.</p>
<p>1- A lot of people say Alienwares are overpriced, but if I don't get too many of the optional upgrades I get a really powerful machine for like $1200. And the build quality is great.</p>
<p>2- Will it be too heavy? It's 6.5 lbs which isn't really huge. I'm a 5' 11" 150 lb guy so I'm not exactly huge. However, Macbook Pros are 5.5 lbs and I never see anyone complain about them being heavy.</p>
<p>3- The styling is a bit over the top. I keep going back and forth on whether that's really that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Since I'll probably be doing a lot of coding I'd probably pick up two monitors that I can hook up to it whenever I'm in my dorm.</p>
<p>I found that no matter how powerful of a laptop you get, unless you dock it, it’s always going to be very uncomfortable coding on it. Even a nice 17" laptop is vastly inferior to a full-sized monitor + keyboard + mouse.</p>
<p>That said, I found it much more usable to optimize it for reliability and portability. When I need a laptop, it needs to work, and it better be there for me. Powerful laptops tend to be large, heavy, and power-hungry, which means less battery life and more of a pain to bring with you everywhere. That gets old extremely fast. Instead, look for something lightweight with long battery life so you’ll always carry it with you and rarely run out of battery with no outlet in sight.</p>
<p>In terms of build quality, the Alienwares cannot compare to that of real business-grade laptop lines such as MacBook Pro, Latitude, and Thinkpad. They’re in a completely different league. A college student’s laptop suffers several times more abuse than a typical laptop by the virtue that they carry it to several places (between classes, etc.) per day. Your standard laptop will likely be falling apart after a single year.</p>
<p>I recommend that you get a netbook and ultrabook and just invest in a desktop from the beginning. This applies even if you are in a cramped dorm room!</p>
<p>Unless the Latitude comes practically/totally free, I’d opt for the other two listed. </p>
<p>Dell has been inconsistent in its build quality…even on the corporate line. </p>
<p>Have two Latitude D610s for nominal shipping cost due to a friend’s company disposing of them due to chronic issues that an IT person like me could fix…but most won’t have the ability or the willingness to put themselves through the aggravation. </p>
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<p>Most Netbooks I’ve tested from friends tended to have really crappy build quality and are too underpowered for most CS majors…even MIS though they require far less power IME. </p>
<p>Desktops are an option, but if your room is excessively cramped…you better be the type to enjoy living in severely confined spaces. Personally, I’d rather have one reliable 14-15" notebook with decent power/battery life and learn to live with its screen size limitations.</p>
<p>The M14x will get 5-6 hrs of battery life if I’m not doing anything too intense. It’s 6.5 lbs so it’s hefty but not overly so. It’s more than powerful enough to be a desktop replacement. Also, Dell has an offer where I’d get a $200 giftcard that I could use to buy a $200 24" monitor they have for sale when I buy my laptop. So I could just hook it up to the monitor if I want a larger screen. If I find that it really is too heavy to take to my classes (which I don’t think it will be) I could just pick up like a $500 laptop later on in the year.</p>
<p>Unless you can afford to toss cash away into the trash, this is a very bad mindset to fall into. </p>
<p>Best to get one laptop that will be reliable and have enough power to last you 4+ years. One reason to always go for quality/value over solely basing notebook price on lowest price or thinking “I’ll just buy another laptop/PC if the first one doesn’t work out.”</p>
<p>If the pricing works, tossing away old computers is an option. That’s one of the largest advantages of netbooks: at $300, you don’t really feel bad if it gets lost, stolen, or destroyed.</p>
<p>Yeah, its power leaves more to be desired, but it does the job. A well-designed CS curriculum will actually require less computer power than arguably most other majors in the sense that you probably won’t even need to open up a word processor. The type of coding projects you typically have means that the difference between netbook and powerful desktop is compiling code in 10sec vs 1sec.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind: 5-6hr battery life is essentially one class plus one group project meeting. It’s a good amount, but there’ll be times you wish you had more.</p>
<p>Considering the pricing and build quality of most netbooks I’ve tested/worked on, I would warn younger cousins starting undergrad away from them…especially if they are doing CS. </p>
<p>They reminded me too much of the low-end laptop my older relatives got me for college in the mid’90s which had two hardware failures in two years*…and many of those netbooks ended up in my office for repairs in the same comparative timespan. </p>
<p>A reason why I prefer to pay more to buy more reliable corporate models…and to avoid some brands entirely(I.e. Dell) unless they are practically dumped/given to me. </p>
<p>Another factor to account for is that unless you’re very well-off financially, spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars for computers every 3 years or less is a good way to get into bad spending habits and rack up huge debts. </p>
<p>Many college classmates of mine and HS classmates are still trying to pay off such debts accumulated during their undergrad years…and we’ve been out of college for more than a decade. </p>
<p>I still get stunned when I hear of fresh college graduates wracking up several thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt from discretionary spending that could have easily been avoided with more prudent planning and less impulse spending. </p>
<p>Ive bought three alienwares. The build quality is not great. USB ports break easily, keys fall off keyboard, they overheat quickly. Not sure why I bought three but I’m not buying any others.</p>
I could not agree with this more. As a computer engineering major, when it comes to banging out code, nothing beats my 24" monitor. Honestly, if you’re into gaming, and I’m assuming you are since you’re interested in an Alienware, you’re probably better off getting a nice reasonably priced desktop with a good graphics card and a fairly cheap lightweight laptop to carry to classes. </p>
<p>If you’re sure you want a laptop, I would also look into some Asus laptops. I know newegg has a few with decent graphics cards that are pretty light and have more conventional styling than the Alienware. And definitely go for the external monitors.</p>
<p>I second RocketSurgeon. You should buy a Sager Laptop in [Gaming</a> Laptops - XOTIC PC - Gaming Notebooks - Custom Laptops - Custom Notebooks](<a href=“http://xoticpc.com%5DGaming”>http://xoticpc.com). If you choose the 6165 model, it is just as powerful as the M14x yet cheaper and lighter. No OS included unless you buy one, but if you install Windows 8 Preview that will work until January, or check out MSDNAA (aka Dreamspark premium)</p>