Which one
 

would you pick?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=i5160S1&s=dhs
(dell link isn't working right,)
It would have Xp pro, 1 gig at 333 Mhz, 2 Dimms, 64 mb ddr nvida GeForce FX graphics, 60 gig hard drive,and network card
or

http://www.alienware.com/Configurato...KU-PERFORMANCE

Any changes you would make?

Well, It depends on what you plan on using it for. If you want to play a lot of games, go for the Alienware and just upgrade the RAM to 1 gig and HDD to 60GB.
If you dont plan on using it for big gaming, maybe just something that runs faster soyou can play music or work with PS(just examples) than go for the Dell.

Get what really fits what you need and the cost, not worth $3000 if your not gonna be playing games like WoW and D2 and a bunch of others. The Dell is pretty good money wise. I would prolly just upgrade RAM, maybe Processor and the HDD. That way it will be better in the long run, instead of buying a new one in a year or so.

I suggest you build your own computer, because then you won't look like a complete idiot in front of people who build their own computers.

But if you MUST buy a premade one, I'd say Alienware (assuming you have tons and tons of cash between the sofa cushions).

You can build a laptop?

It's been a while since I've been in the Hardware market.

depends on what you are doing like tyrann said, but either way, i would say alienware just because it is better and assuming you have a lot of money

yah, i didn't know you could build laptops, maybe mantra was talking about desktops

Well, for the money part its a graduation present from my parents. They were giving me along with paying my way through college. Yes, it will be used for WoW and the likes so I am going with a 1 gig of ram and a 60 gig hd.

how much can u spend? why get a laptop?

I need a lap top for school aswell, thats the main reason. Because our campus is wireless. Right now somewhere between 2-2,500 or so my dad has told me.

sweet, you can get pretty nice laptops with that money

Get 128 ram, and then the day you get it, go to a best buy or something and buy 2x 512 mb ram sticks (400mhz) and put those in,

Or if the parents dont care about how much is spent, upgrade the laptop at Dell a lot.

Do not buy a laptop from Alienware
 

DO NOT BUY A LAPTOP FROM ALIENWARE.
They have all sorts of issues, and the support system sucks like a black hole. This is the last Alienware laptop I will own; next time I'm going with a company that doesn't strive to make POSs best described by "It breaks, freezes and crashes all the time, but while it's working, it's awesome". Supposedly Dell support is good, and I've been thinking that I'd check out what they've got when I buy my next laptop.

Dell support is good. I only called them a few times though.

Neither, you're paying for someone's overhead when you don't need to.

K, well I found out my dad gets a discount from Ford on Dells, so its going to be a dell. I will have to see if its cheaper to buy the ram seperate or just have dell put it in. Thanks for the help, espcially WW.