So I've decided to buy a new laptop. Mainly for University, and personal use. Programming, word processing, gaming, animation creations, pictures, videos, movies. I've researched for laptops that I could use, and compared their specs. I don't want to spend much more than $2000

I don't know if everything is canadian prices (shit)

Mac - $1349.00 (MacBook)
http://store.apple.com/ca/configure/MB403LL/A?mco=NzQ3Njk1
University student discount, rebate on iPod Touch and printer
13 Inch Widescreen
250GB HD 5400 RPM
2GB Memory
Double-layer superDrive
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

HP $1162.99 (dv6700t )
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do
15.4 Inch HD Widescreen
120GB HD 5400 RPM SATA
3GB Memory
SuperMulti 8X DVD Double Layer
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

Dell - $1469.00 (XPS M1530 RED)
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cadhs1&l=en&OC=N15302V_REDF_1E
15.4 Inch widescreen
250 GB HD 5400 RPM
4GB Memory
Double-layer superDrive
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
256 MB nVidia GeForce 8600 GT

Falcon Northwest - $3012.84 (Fragbook TLX))
17 Inch Widescreen
80GB HD 7200 RPM
4GB Memory
Double-layer superDrive
2.0GHz Intel Corer 2 Duo T7300
512 MB nVidia GeForce 8600 GO

Alienware $1599.00 (Area-51 m15x)
http://www.alienware.com/customize/area-51-m15x-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT
15.4 Inch Widescreen
120GB HD 7200 RPM
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz
8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD ± RW, CD-RW)
2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT

Acer $800 - $2000
12.1 Inch Widescreen
250GB HD
4GB Memory
Integrated slot-loaded Super-Multi drive
AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-66 (1024KB L2 cache, 2.3GHz)
ATI Radeon Xpress 1270 graphics

Voodoo $5000??? (ENVY)
http://www.voodoopc.com/
- Can only order by phone?
13.3 inch HD Widescreen LED backlit (1280 x 800)
64 GB Solid Slate or 80GB HDD 4200RPM
2048MB 667MHz, DDR2, maximum 2G

Since I want a computer for programming and gaming, Mac is out of the question. Cheapest customized specs for falcon northwest and voodoo are too much, so those are cut. Don't really care for HP or Dell. Although the price for a Dell laptop is very cheap for some pretty good specs. I wonder why it's like that? The same with HP. Good specs, and low price. There must be a reason for it being cheap. (compared to the others)

I'm very used to the mac computers, and felt like I could just load 3 partitions for mac/linux/windows, but gaming isn't exactly good on macs. So.. bye bye mac! Had good times, and bad times.. Soon it will just be memory.

I haven't had a really good look at the Acer brand laptops, because I can't really find a good site to customize and look at them. Heard they overheat after a bit of gaming, so I don't think that an Acer would be too good of a laptop for me. I find a lot more hate videos on youtube against acer... so that's way out of the question lol.

So it's down to the Alienware m15x which looks VERY nice, and is within my price range. I might be changing a few of the specs to give it more memory, and Harddrive space. But I was thinking that it would be a little cheaper to buy my own harddrive later for a better price? Or should I just get it put in for me?

Is there any other pc brand that I should look at? Recommendations? Thanks.

This will be the first computer that I will own that has windows installed on it. There is an option to have XP installed on it instead of Vista, should I do that? I don't exactly know much about the hardware of pc's, so what parts should I invest my money in?? I could always just get a bigger harddrive, so I'm not too concerned about that. It's the memory, and processor I want to know which option would best suit my needs? Should I get a blu-ray drive? Or just get the one I have listed now and switch it if i need to later?

I will probably be buying it before september if I have enough money for it and my first semester university costs. If not I'll wait until early 2009.

Was told there are some good deals here: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com
Which I'll look at when I have time.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jun 22 2008, 6:20 am by Test.

You seem to have answered most of your own questions, but I'll throw in my two cents.

I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro A300D, which suits me just fine. It can play Company of Heroes on decent settings, and that's all I ask for. The cost would be about $1000 I imagine.

Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 HK-57 (2 cores running at 1.9Ghz each, but be warned that the battery life is poor and it heats up like nothing I've seen)
2GB DDR2 RAM
ATi Radeon X1250 GPU (128MB dedicated, up to 831MB shared). This is much better than the Intel X3100, but not quite as good as nVidia equivalent.
120GB HD (A little on the small side)

It's a decent rig, but don't expect to be playing Assassin's Creed on it or anything.

Some tips for you - You don't need a Blu-Ray drive. If you use torrents or the like, you'll want a big HD. For gaming, investing in memory, a dedicated GPU and a decent processor is a must.

In another topic i reccommended this laptop, and i still do:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220308

ASUS M51 Series M51Sn-X2 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T8300(2.40GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS 1200$

uhh Excalibur Canadians DO NOT have newegg.com
The dell xps has crappy speakers (the other red one is cheaper also) (xps has easy ram changing so you can buy your own ram)
I cannot find the customize place for hp...
Never buy laptops that are smaller then 15.4 they are low end laptops
I also would not recommend Laptops with AMD processors because they are usually more power consuming then Intel mobile processors

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jun 22 2008, 6:15 pm by MasterJohnny.

That Dell looks like it could meet your needs.Although for better gaming Alien ware would win me over.
Oh on your Acer note I have one and using it right now,I find nothing wrong with it,Except the damn graphics card .I believe the videos on Youtube revovle on the Acer travel mates a lot as well so yeah....

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 22 2008, 6:30 pm by Twitch.

That is a VERY good deal. Do you have that laptop?? Lots of bad videos of them on youtube though.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Asus+notebook&search_type=&aq=f

Thanks for the infos. I'll still be researching and thinking about it for another 2 months or so, until I get the money, lol.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 23 2008, 5:33 pm by Test.

someone is forgetting that he is Canadian... and cannot buy from newegg.com

I never said I was going to buy it. I just thought it was a great deal.