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So here's the deal,

I recently just landed a three term co-op staring in August and an Internship over the summer starting in May. Since both of these positions are going to pay very well for a college student, I have decided to get my first credit card and buy a new laptop since mine pretty much tops out at being able to play COD4. However, I'm stuck between the following:

Dell XPS 17 3D (1080p)
PROCESSOR - 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
OPERATING SYSTEM - Genuine Windows® Home Premium, 64-Bit, English
HD DISPLAY - 17.3" FHD (1080p) 3D Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam
3D GLASSES - NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses (1 pair)
MEMORY - 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
VIDEO CARD - NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 3GB graphics
HARD DRIVE - 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
SERVICE PLAN 1 Year Basic Service Plan
BATTERY OPTIONS - 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 30-Day Trial
TOTAL PRICE - $1534.98

Alienware M15x
SYSTEM COLOR - Alienware M15x, Cosmic Black
PROCESSOR - Intel® Core™ i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache
OPERATING SYSTEM - Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY - 6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3)
VIDEO CARD - 1024 MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5850
HARD DRIVE - 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
LCD PANEL - 15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900 (900p) WLED
WIRELESS CARDS - Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
BATTERY OPTIONS -Primary - 6-cell (56Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE - Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
TOTAL PRICE - $1599.99

FYI The XPS price includes a copy of Battlefield BC2 3D.

Also, yes it needs to be a laptop because i am still in school and need to be portable. I am justifying such high end machines because in engineering I do alot of CAD work and 3D modeling and the performance is a must when working with these programs.

If anyone who knows more about this stuff can give me some honest opinions it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

In your position I'd go for the Dell. The specs are better, the price is better and it's not as likely to get stolen the first time you turn your back on it.

Yeah I was leaning towards the XPS, but I didn't even consider the fact that that Alienware would be gone the first time I turned my back. I like how the XPS looks like a normal laptop at first glance

Yeah they sure do stand out with all their flashing lights and crap.

Yeah, they seem like great machines though. Although from my research they seem over priced and from what I understand the customer service is horrendous. However, it appears like they are owned by Dell now so that could apply to both units...

I'd also get a warranty upgrade to atleast 3 years. At that price range you'll be really upset if it should fail after the first year with just the basic warranty.

O sweet machine.

Keep the laptops in very safe.
Use the clean lotions to clean the screen
Be keep in charge at the first usage times to increase the battery capability
Shutdown the laptop properly
keep the laptop in cool place and work
avoid to format the laptop in many times.

I am comparing 2 laptops and there are a few things im not sure of.

Computer 1:
Processor - Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor B940 Features a 2MB cache and 2.0GHz processor speed.
Networking - Built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T Ethernet LAN with wireless B + G + N
Pointing Device - Touchpad (gesture supported)

Computer 2:
Processor - AMD Phenom II quad-core processor P960 For optimal performance. 1.8GHz
Networking - Built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) with wireless B + G + N
Pointing Device - Touchpad with multigesture support and on/off button

Im not quite sure which has better options. We use a wifi spot as our home connection if that helps and we do not play any high graphic games or anything. We do usually have about 5-10 Chrome tabs open as well as a word processor and even a game like Civilization. Thats about the extent.

Also the brands are HP Pavillion and Sony Vaio, but I wont say which is which as i want to try to get an unbiased opinion.

As far as the touchpad, i trid to research gestures and multiple gestures etc but am confused.

Thanks for all your help!