Your opinion on a laptop please

I used to keep on top of all these things but old age and young babies turn your life upside down. Anyway, my current laptop is giving such low fps no matter what I do that I am considering upgrading to something else and gifting this one to my mom lol.

I see an Alienware 14 at Costco for $1,300, is that a reasonable price and a system which will allow me to play at around 30 fps? Would there be a better alternative in same price range?

A desktop is really not an option at the moment since I am super tight for space... We really need to move lol.

Thanks for your help!

There are different configurations for an alienware 14.

I suppose it's this one: http://www.costco.com/Alienware-14-L...100082391.html

It has a GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, which is okay. My laptop(Lenovo y510p) has two of them, when I'm running one of them I have to lower some setting so it feels smooth at 1080p.

This configuration is more expensive, however it should be smooth at high laptop settings (1080p) since the video card(GTX 765M) is nearly twice as powerful.
http://www.costco.com/Alienware-14-L...100082390.html

I'm sure there are better alternatives. I might take a look.

Personally I would look for a laptop with a 860M GPU, it's based on maxwell architecture that's more efficient.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e%20GTX%20860M

Any reason you wouldn't consider a PS4. Attach a keyboard and mouse to it and it will work great. At $400 for the PS4 and maybe $20-$80 for mouse and keyboard, you would still have like $800 left for your TV or monitor of your choice. And FFXIV runs nicely and looks good on a PS4.

And the PS4 is small enough and light enough to stick in a laptop bag without problems. Bring and HDMI cable with you, and I can game at the in-laws place (I monopolize their TV) when I have to go visit.

I have a PS4 but really can't get into it. Bought a new laptop in January and love it. I also use a Logitec G600 mouse and it works fantastically.

http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/ASUS_ROG_G750JW/

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/pro...o-gaming-mouse

I'd say the razer blade is pretty amazing (what I've been playing on mostly), but that's unfortunately well over your price range. I play on it with usually around 45-60 fps everywhere.
however there's a new razer blade coming out soon, which means people (such as myself >.>) will likely be selling there gently used razer blades (4 month old <.<) for much less.

the alienwares are good to but their basically...giant bricks. you seriously could bludgeon someone to death with it.

#edit*
just looked up the current razer blade and its down 1499 on amazon, new

The thing with Alienware is they are gaming laptops therefore cost more, now I'm not in US so I have no idea about pricing, but you could just get a general high performance laptop and hit 30+ fps for a cheaper price, try looking around manufacturer websites, and possibly sites that will custom build laptops for you, I personally have a new one on order from a UK custom building website that cost me £924 (that's GBP) that should suffice for FFXIV.

I would not recommend a Alienware. After Dell bought up Alienware the price went up while the quality went down. I had to have my Alienware serviced 3 months after I bought it with a complete hard drive failure in 1 1/2 yrs after original purchase and build date.

I am a big supporter of Asus due to the quality of the product. Also, MSI and Cyberpower offer alternatives if you are on a budget.

Well, at least at end of 1.0, friend's new Alienware 14 constantly crashing (due to Nvidia Optimus) while my one year old ASUS G55 works much better (at cheaper price too).
I'll say go with ASUS G750
MSI GS60 or MSI GT60

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Delsai

I have a PS4 but really can't get into it. Bought a new laptop in January and love it. I also use a Logitec G600 mouse and it works fantastically.

http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/ASUS_ROG_G750JW/

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/pro...o-gaming-mouse

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What don't you like about the PS4? The PS4 can be setup just like a PC as it can use all the same controls (keyboard/mouse) and you are able to use the G600 with the buttons on PS4 also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834313742

Got this recently and used it when I'm on the road. You can play at standard or high setting with this and have good fps (45-60 fps avg). Only downside is the lack of an optical drive and plus it does get hot, but really good cheap laptop :D

I've been looking at the MSI ones lately.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152558
http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GE70_2....html#overview

http://www.msi.com/pic/product/five_...20183046_g.png

I play on a Sony Vaio C series notebook
Core i5 2.60 GHz - 6 GB RAM, 1GB 6630m Radeon card
I get 30-40 FPS and all setting on medium

Thanks guys, I'd looked at the Razer Blade as well since it is on sale at Amazon.

I was not considering a PS4 because we don't watch TV so I'd need to find a place for a TV as well and then explain to the kids what it is, etc which sounds like a pain lol.

My only concern with the Razer Blade was that it has no ethernet port and I like to be wired when gaming. If you have experienced no problems with that maybe I can get over it too.

Good to know that there had been problems with that nvidia card, I'll try to look for something a little higher end then.

Thanks for all the input, it is greatly appreciated!

PS4 cannot use MMO mice or keyboards or any MMO peripherals as far as I know. That's the main reason I will be sticking with PC/laptop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Billzey

PS4 cannot use MMO mice or keyboards or any MMO peripherals as far as I know. That's the main reason I will be sticking with PC/laptop.

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gaming keyboards no but the G600 gaming mouse from logitech can and does work with the PS4

if you can go with 860M, you should pick that one. 860M I heard is closer to 750 TI desktop one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tooka

...
I was not considering a PS4 because we don't watch TV so I'd need to find a place for a TV as well and then explain to the kids what it is, etc which sounds like a pain lol.
...

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You don't have to use a TV, you can connect to a monitor. Monitors need to have either HDMI ports or you can get a cheap DVI-to-HDMI adapter. You can even get a cheap 22"-24" TV from place like Costco for $160 or less that can be used as monitor. So you can use the PS4 just like a PC, except no windows software compatibility. There is really no significant difference between a TV and monitor as far as the LCD panel is concerned. The rest is all about connectivity. TV are just monitors/LCD panels with HD tuners and guaranteed to have speaker built-in.

I was just thinking about that last night but I just have trouble thinking on spending $400 for one game since I just don't have time to play anything else.

While the laptop might b pricier, I can gift the older one to mom who needs a new one and get a better laptop for myself since I use it for work as well ^^.

Plays best on ALIENWARE!

/troll