My current laptop is getting old and I'd like to buy a new one.
I'd like to buy one from Dell because the XPS 17 series haven't disappointed me so far and they offer what I want: the ability to do gaming and (school)work.
For gaming I mean: the ability to play all the games between now and a couple of years. I know it is much cheaper to buy a desktop for that and a notebook for the work, but I move around a lot and it isn't possible to drag along the desktop all the time.

However, when I do a preliminary configuration of the XPS 17 on the dell website (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndokq1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=xps-l702x), I'm unsure what the best options are.

To be more specific:
What would be the best price/quality processor?
How much RAM should I pick? I don't do any graphic design/video editing and the RAM should be purely for gaming.
Video card: At a total loss here at what I should pick. I don't need a TV tuner, but is the extra video memory worth the price?
I was thinking of leaving all the other options in the default position. Is there something extra I should get? (for example, the display, should I get one with 1080p? is the extra cost worth the better battery?)

Also, just to have a general idea, how powerful would this potential laptop be? Playing everything today (bar a few exceptions) on highest or rather more mid range?

which games do you want to run?

And what is your total budget?

In addition to the Dell, I'd suggest taking a look at some of the Sager notebooks. Not only are they generally a much better value than brands like Alienware, Asus, etc., but they are designed and assembled with upgrade potential in mind.

The NP8150 line has just been refreshed with the brand new NVIDIA 560m

base price for 15" http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8150-clevo-p150hm-p-2972.html?wconfigure=yes is $1279 as assembled by xoticpc.com

base price for 17" http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8170-clevo-p170hm-p-2971.html?wconfigure=yes is $1268 as assembled by xoticpc.com


for gaming on a laptop, regardless of the brand, I would make sure about the following criteria

• Display resolution no lower than 1600x900. 1920x1080 display is ideal.
  
  
• Minimum level of GPU needed to deliver decent frame rates for recent games at 1920x1080 resolution is 1GB NVIDIA 460m or AMD 5830m. Get one with video card at least equal or better than this.
  
  
• try to get quad core Sandy Bridge CPU if possible

If you are considering any laptop with display of 1600x900, you might consider dropping your video card requirements down a step or two from the 460m, to the NVIDIA 555m, or something similar. Personally I would not recommend any gaming on a 1366x768 display or worse, simply because you would be missing out on a huge part of the visual experience of recent games.

This.

Stupid, forgot the most important part: the budget. Not really sure about this one, but let's say that 1400-1500$ is the upper limit and I'd prefer around 1200-1300$ or less of course.

Which games I want to run can vary a lot. From Crysis 2 to The Witcher 2 to Starcraft 2, to oldies like Deus Ex(but that shouldn't be a problem). So basically every genre.
But I'm also looking ahead to future games. I don't expect to be able to play those on highest settings, but I'd like to be able to play them in the very least.

Thanks for the Sager notebooks suggestions, but unless they have a hugely better option, I'd prefer Dell. They have offered excellent customer support in the past and due to a couple of other factors I'd really prefer them.

My current XPS M1530 has a resolution of 1680x1050 which is enough. Of course if there is a 1920x1080 display for not much more, I'd prefer that.

Thanks for the help so far.

I checked the link for the Dell configuration page you provided.

It seems the best video card offered is the NVIDIA 555m. This card is not quite as fast as the 460M, which I would consider around the minimum standard to run most games at 1920x1080 at 30+fps, but it seems to be pretty close according to notebookcheck.

I believe the 1600x900 option for the screen would not be high enough resolution on a 17" screen, so if you must choose this laptop, my suggestion would be to go with the 1080p, but you might need to reduce detail settings for some games or even lower the in-game resolution to 1600x900. Really demanding games like Metro 2033, of course, you have to forget about high settings.

There are some people who vehemently oppose playing any game at other than native display resolution, but personally as long as the aspect ratio is the same as your native display I think you would be alright. Obviously it's not going to look quite as nice as it does at 1080p, and IMHO if you really want a decent gaming laptop, for that budget you can find one with a more powerful GPU that will get higher fps at 1080p.

In terms of the other options for the Dell, I'd suggest
- 6GB RAM should be more than enough
- unless you plan to play lots of CPU intensive games, go with the i7-2630QM
- 3GB 555m (IMO the 3GB VRAM option is a complete gimmick, but there is no 1GB 555m option on the Dell config page)
-1080p display with no multi-touch or facial recognition
-750GB 7200RPM drive

Hmmm, don't mean to be diffcult but you are making me doubt my Dell choice. I've explored the xoticpc site somewhat better and used notebookcheck to compare video cards.
I've also realised that I'd rather go for a 15 inch screen instead of 17, because I will need to carry the laptop around a lot in a bag. Also, my current one is 15 which is big enough for me.

If I look at the XPS 15 video card selection, they are even weaker than the 555M. Also, it is 1366x768 or 1920x1080. The one is too low for gaming, the other too high for the video card.
This XPS 15 would cost $1,233.99 and it wouldn't be good enough for long enough I think.

So back to your suggestion for the Sager NP8150.
First question: why is the 15 inch one much more expensive than the 17 one? 17 has 8gig ram, while that is an additional price for the 15.
Edit: Odd, suddenly the price for the NP8170 has jumped to $1376. So nevermind.
The same for a couple of other options (like the hard disk and such).
Second: Office is more expensive than I thought. However, there are open source alternatives available with compatibility no? (like Open Office).
Third: Any additional options I should consider? Like the thermal compound. Is overheating a problem?

Total price would be: $1464. Non default options: 6GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive, Windows 7 Premium.
Close to the price limit. But this laptop should outclass the possible Dell one right?
Will it play every present day game on full settings (barring some exceptions) and will be powerful enough to play games in 2-4 years time?

Yes, you can use OpenOffice.org (though LibreOffice is the way to go right now, a fork of OpenOffice.org). You can also usually get MS Office for real cheap with a student discount.

Overheating will always be a problem with laptops, especially gaming laptops.

Assuming the graphics card and CPU are the same as what BootySweat linked, yeah, shouldn't have an issue. As for 2-4 years down the road... more than likely the laptop will be dead in 4 years time. Gaming laptops have a low MTBF.

Also note: definitely won't be gaming on the battery. In fact, if possible it'd always be best to take the battery out and just straight-up run on AC when gaming.

Thank you for the feedback. True that laptops don't have a long life, but still, I'd like it to make at least 2 years in relativly good health. The current one is also 2 or 3 years old, but it can't play some recent games anymore. (256MB video memory).
I'd like to still be able to play games ( on low settings I realize) in 3 years time on the new laptop.

I knowI'll need almost a permanent connection to the AC when I'm gaming. However, I've never heard that you best take out the battery when gaming. Why is that? I've heard that it is a good idea to let the battery run down and charge back up completely once a month, but that battery tip I haven't heard yet.

The worst thing for a battery is heat, the worst thing for your computer parts is also heat. Charging your battery when all your parts are running at maximum load will produce even more heat than under other circumstances.

First question: why is the 15 inch one much more expensive than the 17 one? 17 has 8gig ram, while that is an additional price for the 15.
-you have to disable some options or reduce them from the default - the RAM has a "free 6GB or 8GB upgrade" option you can get if you don't mind waiting a couple days

same goes for the 17" - if you pick all the lowest options possible, then the base price is $1268 for the 17" and $1279 for the 15" (you have to unclick the option for second HDD on the 17" as well)



Second: Office is more expensive than I thought. However, there are open source alternatives available with compatibility no? (like Open Office).
Depends on what you use it for, I need to be able to redline documents and MS word was necessary for me - you might consider some combination of Open Office + MS Word only or there is some cheaper variation of Office that only has Word and Excel but no Outlook and use Gmail instead of Outlook (much faster IMO).

Third: Any additional options I should consider? Like the thermal compound. Is overheating a problem?
I've never purchased anything from XoticPC, but I have taken apart other brand new laptops to find the thermal paste poorly applied by the manufacturer.
the thermal compound seems like a nice, inexpensive addition IMO.


Total price would be: $1464. Non default options: 6GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive, Windows 7 Premium.

Close to the price limit. But this laptop should outclass the possible Dell one right?
Yes


Will it play every present day game on full settings (barring some exceptions) and will be powerful enough to play games in 2-4 years time?
Definitely will be lower fps for Metro 2033 and Witcher 2 you have to disable Ubersampling mode, but IMO the 560m will be powerful enough to get at least 30+fps for most games maxed out at 1080p for the next few years. To give you an example, I've been getting playable frame rates at 1080p for most games with all settings maxed except Anti Aliasing for almost 2 years with my Envy 15 laptop which has the much weaker 5830M.

If you want a super beast, you have to pay a little more to get the 485M or 6970M, or something like the Clevo desktop replacement with dual SLI 485M or Crossfire 6970Ms but I think that is outside of your budget and the result is a giant bulky machine that you can't carry around anywhere, which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop.

At any rate, the Sagers assembled by XoticPC.com are designed to be easier for you to upgrade the graphics card if you want to do that in the future. On my laptop, for example (Envy 15), the GPU is glued onto the motherboard in a way that is impossible to upgrade without replacing the motherboard. This is pretty common for laptops. Some manufacturers use proprietary MXM connectors that are also difficult to upgrade.

I'm not 100% sure about this but I remember reading the 500m models have optimums technology while the 400m series doesn't, so if battery life is important to you it may be worth looking into that.



I would also assume that the smaller screen one has to be more compact than the larger laptop, making it more expensive.

That answers almost any questions I have or had. Thanks for the info!
It will most likely be the 15inch Sagers. Bit expensive, but probably cheaper in the long run ( depending on some luck in how long it holds) than the Dell option.

If anybody has some more feedback about xotic itself that would also be appreciated. I haven't bought a laptop through an external (i.e not of the manufacturing company) website before.

The Sager website itself, also offers almost the identical laptop(http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP8150), and includes the Office Starter pack for around the same price.
When I'm only selecting 6GB RAM and 500GB hard disk extra. Now, the xotic website does offer free GB RAM, although I haven't found out what it exactly entails (except extra build time) and is around $50 cheaper, if I don't include anything from Office.

So any feedback from the service at xotic would be appreciated. Especially about that free RAM offer. Any extra suggestions about laptops, things I should surely include,etc etc are also still welcome.

Edit: After some more "research", I think the NP8130 laptop offered may be the best one.http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8130-built-clevo-p151hm1-custom-sager-laptop-p-2973.html?wconfigure=yes
Hardly any difference between them, and the NP8130 is around $100 cheaper (with 8GB ram and more Hard Disk space). It is also somewhat more customizable.
Differences are: The Sager NP8130 does not have upgradeable video card choices, has a matte? screen instead of glossy, has a different case, and has a 120W AC Adapter instead of 180W. It is also somewhat lighter.
I've read that it won't be as good for overclocking, but that shouldn't be a problem. I think this might be a better(cheaper) option. Anything that should make me reconsider?