Dude...you should upgrade your RAM. :awesome

 

No shit Sherlock. But 6 TB of memory? Does not compute.

 

Beg pardon. 6TB of disk space.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KgL

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KgL
Part price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KgL/by_merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($170.99 @ Office Depot)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Video Card ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Raidmax 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer S211HLbd 21.5" Monitor ($127.95 @ Mac Connection)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech 920-000914 Wired Slim Keyboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G700 Wireless Laser Mouse ($79.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1391.81
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2011-11-30 22:09 EST-0500)


Don't know if I should feel ripped off or happy for my first self-assembled computer.

 

I got my hands on an ASUS G73SW Laptop. Specs are as follow

Processor:Intel® Core™ i7 2630QM
Chipset:Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
Memory: 16G DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM
Storage: 500GB 5400rpm/7200rpm
500GB 7200rpm SSH
Optical Drive:Blu-Ray DVD Combo

 

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555
Ram: 4gb
HD space: 2.5tb
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD 6850
Optical: Dvd burner

 

Skyrim (among others), 1920 x 1080, max settings or as close to as possible. Yay or Nay?

Not purchased yet, but will in about 1 week. Soon.

 

That's literally all the lizard porn in the world.

 

I don't think that you've looked hard or deep enough.

 

Quad-core AMD A8-3500M processor
6GB memory
1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6620G graphics
Windows 7.

Got it today.

 

Probably Yay.

How much do you know about that PSU? Is it a decent model? Nothing else stands out much.

 

Bugger. All. Recommended for spec by Teresoul

 

I didn't feel like bumping an older "help me buy a laptop" thread, so I figured this would be a good place. If it is that egregious an error, ill simply start a new thread or ask a mod to move it.

I'll be using the laptop as a general purpose device, with a focus on gaming. Mainly to waste time at work, but also to do homework. I mainly play WoW right now, and maybe some LoL or HoN eventually. TF2 may come onto it eventually, but probably only at my fiance's house where she has a good internet connection. Any gaming at work will be offline, and probably involve hooking up the adapter to my car to charge it as I play, so battery life isn't a major.concern.

My main criteria are that it can play WoW on at least a medium setting. It should be able to get wireless internet -not that I havent seen any that can't automatically- and be good for at least the next 2 years. I don't play many newer games, so I'm not worried about getting a ridiculously expensive graphics card or anything like that. Other things I think about is durable it is, and what kind of equipment or measures I should take to play it outside.

Another question I have is how badly does Alienware rip you off? I'm not exactly strapped for cash atm, and could afford to wait a little to get a laptop with awesome visuals like the alienware, or an equivalent laptop maker. I am aware I would be paying a lot glowing lights, but I think that being visually impressive is important. Are any other companies doing the same type of thing and aren't as famous?

My ideal budget is between $700 and $800 but since it may take me some time to get the money together, I'd say the only absolute cap is $1000.

 

Fixed.

Alienware will significantly rip you off. Both in terms of price and hardware balance. Last time I checked their site they had a $1500 laptop with 4GB of RAM, an i7, and a 5770. The main problem is that at the lower end you're paying almost 50% of your laptop's cost for the lights. At the higher end (>$1500) you're paying most of your budget towards an unbalanced light show.

Your best bet for aesthetics is to do some modding. It's not real difficult - there's plenty of guides - and you can gain some experience. If you don't feel comfortable modding and are willing to pay exorbitant prices for lights, Alienware is hard to beat. There are quite a few laptop models with an "understated" elegance, such as the Acer Aspire, HP Elitebook, or Samsung Series 9, but they aren't really gaming laptops, or if they aren't they aren't exactly within your budget.

ASUS strikes a decent balance between aesthetics and performance in my opinion, but the MSI GT683 has some lights in it. It's out of your price range unless you can spend a few hundred extra though.

Basically, I recommend going with ASUS for a balance between aesthetics and performance, Acer for more performance than aesthetics, and Alienware for aesthetics over performance.

 

Is it worth it to customize a computer directly (i.e. on the Lenovo website or is it better to try and find a good deal from another place, such as newegg -or its competition, who I don't know about-). I am a notorious miser in terms of data storage, excluding the games I have on my pc, I don't think I have a whole gig or personal data. In cases like that, will it be efficient and prudent to customize a chassis or even if I get a bigger HDD the savings from getting one premade are worth it?

I'm only asking such possibly obvious questions because UBS never had a laptop before, or built one, and I can't use the builders from my phone and I am at work.

Edit: didn't see the post above me. My only hangup with acer is that my sister had a bad experience with one, and it left a hanging mark against the company. I'm not particularly inclined to sacrifice preformance for asthetics but if it was a reasonable sacrifice I would have liked it.

 

Don't judge a company based off of one person's experience with it. I got my Acer Laptop in 2005 and the only problem I've had with it was replacing the hard drive. Go by the overall reviews for specific models.