Gaming Laptop

[StarsMine]

I'd recommend checking out Asus laptops. You can find them on Newegg or at Best Buy - which is a good place to go to get a feel for different brands/models anyways, unless your Best Buy sucks. They're usually well-rated and a good price for what you get. They tend to be configured to lean towards gamers, which means they're not the lightest things, have poor battery life, and can get pretty warm under load. If you're using your laptop like a desktop replacement (it sounds like you are), none of those things are major issues. If you do use it on the go, though, you might have to consider other options.

Here's an example of what $1k gets you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220696

As for Alienware... if you want to get far less power for your $ and an 11.6" screen for gaming, cheers to you. An M11x "similarly configured" (slower) to that Asus is almost $1300. Alienware has a reputation for having the same failings as Asus - naturally, since they're both geared towards gamers. Although, with an 11" laptop, I bet it's not too heavy! I've also known 2 Alienware laptop owners, who owned 3 Alienware laptops, and all 3 had to be repaired within the first couple years...

Don't buy an HP or Gateway.

I'm not a fan of Dell either, I've known people that had problems with theirs. I have heard good things about some of their new Studio laptops... I'd have to research that, but I'm too lazy.

The m11x is better for gaming that that computer. it has a much more powerfull GPU(just no dx11). An I7 is silly if your trying to get a cheep gaming computer as there are few games that even use 4 cores let alone hyperthreading. that asus is also heavy. A laptop is ment to be portable, it needs to be light and have alot of battery. M11x beats it in that (~8 hours when not gaming ~2 hours when on something like L4D). the only thing you would be missing would be HDD space and I guess screen size on the m11x but you can always hook it up to a big moniter at home.

While I agree that alienware desktops are a waist of money they really build amazing laptops