Laptop for photography, video & gaming

[fWord]

If you decide on the Alienware, you should directly call Dell Sales and haggle with them. You will get some extra discounts. Don't upgrade the RAM on the Dell website if you are looking at the base model. It is much cheaper to get it from a store. You can add up to 32GB. 8GB(2x4GB) should not cost you more than $40-$50.

Thanks for the advice. If I went for the Alienware, the plan was to get pretty much the base model and only upgrade the video card to AMD 7970M and possibly upgrade to the blu-ray drive, plus a carry bag and 3 year extended warranty. From what I've read, the other specs in the base model would be more than sufficient for most users.

I've been reading this a lot...that it's possible to get discounts through calling Dell and haggling. What level of discount do people usually get? Would it be 5%? 10% or more? I understand this is where negotiation skills come in, but just interested to know a ballpark figure.

[idiot101]

Feedback mentions anything between 10 and 15%. Some have cycled through several representatives until they could get a decent discount. Please look around for more information. You could use this
AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$

[fWord]

The games you listed - apart from Diablo III - would be no challenge.

I would suggest looking at the performance of the Quadro 1000 and Quadro 2000.

NVIDIA Quadro 1000M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

The minnimum graphics cards supported by Diablo III are: NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ X1950 Pro or better

The GeForce 7800 gets a PCMark 06 score of around 3,200; the Radeon X1950 around 4,200

The Quadro 1000M gets 8,300 on 3DMark06, and the 2000M gets 11,600.

Now, the AMD Radeon HD 6990M card (which I assume is in your m17x):

AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

...gets a whopping 21,300.

But frankly, your games don't seem GPU-bound. It's one of the reasons the W520 is a good choice, because you're getting (i) durability, (ii) an excellent screen, and (iii) is massively over-engineered.

Don't get me wrong, the M17xr3 is a great machine. It's just not nearly as good for photos.

If you were buying in the USA, a Dell M6600 or HP 8760w would be your obvious choices. You could get a very powerful machine plus a full 10-bit IPS display - one of the best displays around (see some of Bokeh's pictures here).

Thanks for your response, really appreciate the detail. I'm currently looking to see if it'd be easy to get the W520 locally and at what price and warranty. There is one going on Gumtree AU, which is like a free local classifieds, at AU$2400 or so (well within budget, although getting close to the price of strong gaming systems with their bells and whistles) although buying off an individual is not the way I wish to go for any computer. With cameras at least I'm quite well-versed with testing and usually get cameras second hand (great since I always get a huge discount off original RRP).

On this website, which I believe is in Australia (and ships free within Aus) lists the price at only AU$2169, an even better price if I don't need to pay import tax and the 10% GST already included:

Notebook & laptop computers | ThinkPad W series | W520 | Lenovo Australia

When you say the W520 is 'overengineered', that means 'fantastic build quality'? My first laptop was an IBM Thinkpad, bland design (which I don't mind, since I don't care for 'cool', I just want something that works well) but very well made. It worked flawlessly for over 10 years (other than the time I let water into the keyboard), and only in the last two years did the screen cease to work altogether. Very impressed!

The Dell M6600 looks absolutely fantastic, I was wow'ed with the screen. Couldn't interpret the 'gamut' sections of it since I don't delve that deeply into that area of photography, however the lifelike rendition is impressive. It's available locally, but starting at a crazy AU$4199! Wish I won the lottery last night (AU$70 million!!), then I'd buy this one, and a separate computer for gaming...

...AND a huge house in a nice area.

[orphyn09]

Yeah AW really isn't that overpriced and don't let anyone tell you otherwise..

Though quite honestly as a graphic designer myself, as you're considering it as mainly a desktop replacement, depending on just how often you will be travelling I couldn't imagine doing design without an external monitor. Laptop monitors just are never as good size-wise or with the color reproduction sadly, which bugs the heck out of me. Though if you do lots of print work, depending on whether or not you outsource it, it may be a slight learning curve but I believe you'll be able to compensate with colors and blacks with about any monitor given enough time.

[zsero]

Don't forget that the W520 has perfect eGPU support! Just buy the Quadro 1000M model and an $79 dollar eGPU card + a Geforce 560 Ti or whatever is the best deal from the GeForce 600 family! And of course the amazing FHD screen.

[msjgriffiths]

Thanks for your response, really appreciate the detail. I'm currently looking to see if it'd be easy to get the W520 locally and at what price and warranty. There is one going on Gumtree AU, which is like a free local classifieds, at AU$2400 or so (well within budget, although getting close to the price of strong gaming systems with their bells and whistles) although buying off an individual is not the way I wish to go for any computer. With cameras at least I'm quite well-versed with testing and usually get cameras second hand (great since I always get a huge discount off original RRP).

On this website, which I believe is in Australia (and ships free within Aus) lists the price at only AU$2169, an even better price if I don't need to pay import tax and the 10% GST already included:

Notebook & laptop computers | ThinkPad W series | W520 | Lenovo Australia

I saw that, but Jesus ing Christ it's so much more expensive.

I mean, I feel (some of) your pain myself: I'm an Oz citizen and have a boatload of family over there, so I'm acquainted with some of pricing issues when buying gifts and the like.

But frankly I've had 3 family members come over and buy laptops in the USA and then tote them back (and you'd have to ask them if they paid import tax...). Just because it's so much cheaper in the USA.

Also, if it's this machine I'd totally jump on it:

The most powerfull 15" laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad W520 | Laptops | Gumtree Australia Melbourne City - Melbourne CBD

It has a Intel Quad Core i7-2960XM. That's a >$1,000 upgrade in the USA! it's a AU$1,430.00 upgrade from the W520 Elite on Lenovo's Australian website, which starts at $3,000!

Edit: Not that you need the CPU upgrade (probably not, anyway). The graphics card performance probably matters more to your gameplaying, which makes the Alienware a good contender.

When you say the W520 is 'overengineered', that means 'fantastic build quality'? My first laptop was an IBM Thinkpad, bland design (which I don't mind, since I don't care for 'cool', I just want something that works well) but very well made. It worked flawlessly for over 10 years (other than the time I let water into the keyboard), and only in the last two years did the screen cease to work altogether. Very impressed!

Good build quality - though I haven't seen a W520 in person, so I'm not 100% authoritative - but I mainly mean that workstation-line laptops are built to be reliable. Period. There's a trade off between that and performance, but hey - it's one I make.

The Dell M6600 looks absolutely fantastic, I was wow'ed with the screen. Couldn't interpret the 'gamut' sections of it since I don't delve that deeply into that area of photography, however the lifelike rendition is impressive. It's available locally, but starting at a crazy AU$4199! Wish I won the lottery last night (AU$70 million!!), then I'd buy this one, and a separate computer for gaming...

I sort of wish I'd splurged on the screen upgrade for mine now (another $400, haha). In comparison, I paid USD$2,500 for my machine (including warranty + accidental damage), then purchased the memory aftermarket ($100).

[fWord]

Yeah AW really isn't that overpriced and don't let anyone tell you otherwise..

Though quite honestly as a graphic designer myself, as you're considering it as mainly a desktop replacement, depending on just how often you will be travelling I couldn't imagine doing design without an external monitor. Laptop monitors just are never as good size-wise or with the color reproduction sadly, which bugs the heck out of me. Though if you do lots of print work, depending on whether or not you outsource it, it may be a slight learning curve but I believe you'll be able to compensate with colors and blacks with about any monitor given enough time.

Definitely agree with you regarding external monitors. Fortunately my photo-processing needs at the moment are all for amateur use (ie. I don't get paid for the work I do for friends and family, it's a gift in that sense), therefore I've gotten away with the use of the 15 inch screen on my (now dead) MacBook Pro. Interestingly, based on prints (which I get a local printer to do), the screen reproduces colours, sharpness, contrast etc pretty well...never had an issue with a print looking vastly different to the one on my Mac screen.

If I were to go with the Alienware which has a glossy screen, then I might need to look out for a nice second-hand external monitor somewhere. For a period of time when Borders was going under over here, they were selling everything but the kitchen sink, and cheap, including their large monitors which were used instore. How dumb of me not to have bought it then.

[fWord]

Don't forget that the W520 has perfect eGPU support! Just buy the Quadro 1000M model and an $79 dollar eGPU card + a Geforce 560 Ti or whatever is the best deal from the GeForce 600 family! And of course the amazing FHD screen.

That's interesting, can you share a little more about eGPU? I did a search and came up with a thread here that talks about hooking up a GPU externally (in an enclosure). Is there a limit to what sort of card I could use through eGPU with the W520? Can I hook up, say, AMD 7970 (which I so love in the newest Alienware M17x and M18x)?

Does it cost a fortune to make this work? This sounds nice, because the GPU is external, it doesn't generate heat inside the laptop chassis itself, no risk of burning anything out. But I presume the external card will need its own cooling?

[fWord]

I saw that, but Jesus ing Christ it's so much more expensive.

I mean, I feel (some of) your pain myself: I'm an Oz citizen and have a boatload of family over there, so I'm acquainted with some of pricing issues when buying gifts and the like.

But frankly I've had 3 family members come over and buy laptops in the USA and then tote them back (and you'd have to ask them if they paid import tax...). Just because it's so much cheaper in the USA.

The import tax is not so difficult, I thought, but I could be wrong. If the item has obviously been taken out of the box and used, and is not going to be for resale, then I would have thought there is no import tax. We're not actually bringing it into the country with the intention of selling for a profit. The challenging thing is the warranty. What if the computer breaks down in Aus? International warranty would help, but is not available on all computers.

Sager is a brand that lots of people here mention and I can see it's great value for money and I don't mind the business-like appearance...but warranty is the issue. The last two computers I had both had an extended 3 year warranty on them and it was quite helpful. The first was a Dell that lost its marbles with the hard disk. Repaired onsite same day. Second was that MacBook Pro where the cooling fans ceased to work, repaired locally also, no cost.

Given the experiencec I've had, I feel compelled to go for something with a solid warranty each time I buy.

Also, if it's this machine I'd totally jump on it:

The most powerfull 15" laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad W520 | Laptops | Gumtree Australia Melbourne City - Melbourne CBD

It has a Intel Quad Core i7-2960XM. That's a >$1,000 upgrade in the USA! it's a AU$1,430.00 upgrade from the W520 Elite on Lenovo's Australian website, which starts at $3,000!

Edit: Not that you need the CPU upgrade (probably not, anyway). The graphics card performance probably matters more to your gameplaying, which makes the Alienware a good contender.

So it's a good deal yeah?

The Alienware attracts me only because of the video card, which the other two on my list didn't have. The MSI GT70 looks like a more well-balanced machine in the sense it's not *just* a hardcore gamer at that price and spec level. It would be very good for the other applications that I do. But maybe I need to take a step back and assess when exactly a computer becomes limiting for my purposes. And in this sense, it's during gaming only. When doing work on photos, even my 4 year old MacBook Pro did pretty well and I had no complaints. Creating a video montage took ages, but usually I just went away for a cup of coffee.

I sort of wish I'd splurged on the screen upgrade for mine now (another $400, haha). In comparison, I paid USD$2,500 for my machine (including warranty + accidental damage), then purchased the memory aftermarket ($100).

That's a really good price actually, considering the AU$ and US$ are pretty much on par. At that price I could have bought a machine with a superb screen and a separate one purely for the games. And the accidental damage is wonderful as well, something they don't have in Aus, and neither do they offer a 'buyback' plan. Sometimes I wish tech-related things were cheaper in Aus, and we had a wider range to choose from...

[zsero]

That's interesting, can you share a little more about eGPU? I did a search and came up with a thread here that talks about hooking up a GPU externally (in an enclosure). Is there a limit to what sort of card I could use through eGPU with the W520? Can I hook up, say, AMD 7970 (which I so love in the newest Alienware M17x and M18x)?

Does it cost a fortune to make this work? This sounds nice, because the GPU is external, it doesn't generate heat inside the laptop chassis itself, no risk of burning anything out. But I presume the external card will need its own cooling?

Hehe, it would cost about $79 + any ATX PSU you may have lying around! Just use the thread DIY eGPU experiences

You can put in any card, but nVidia cards are much better as they implement Optimus compression. Yes, with a W520 + eGPU you can have a laptop what is comparable to a desktop in performance (think about GTX 680!)