Oh, and while my primary goal with this computer is gaming, my fiancé will be looking to do graphic design with it using Adobe CS products, if that changes anything.

Looking to upgrade my 3 year old Sony Vaio Laptop to something new. I'd love an AIO Win 8 Machine, but to get one of those with a reasonable graphics card would be insane. I'm still tossed up on whether or not I want to go with a mini-tower desktop or a laptop. Anyways, SimCity and Civ games are the bulk of my PC gaming (racing and FPS type games are for Xbox) so with that in mind, which of the machines below would be better?

#1: Alienware X51, 6GB DDR3 (up to 16GB), 3rd Gen i5 3.1-3.5 GHz, GTX 660 (1.5 GB), 1 TB HD (7200 RPM) - $999.99 + Monitor

Best Buy Item # 6912556

#2: ASUS 17.3" Laptop, 8GB DDR3 (up to 32 GB), 3rd Gen i7 2.4-3.4 GHz, GTX 670MX (3 GB), 1 TB HD (5400 RPM) - 1,249.99

Best Buy Item # 7674057

To me, the 3GB graphics card sounds better, but I'm sure its not that simple as the 2 GB ATi in my current laptop is a POS only capable of running SimCity on low graphics settings. Also, should the i7 be a lot better than the i5? I'm confused on that. Only other thing is the laptop has a slower hard drive speed.

So which one will last me a longer time and perform best with my type of games?

So I just picked up a new 4GB slim, (finally had to get rid of my launch day 20GB), plugged the old 20GB hard drive into the expansion drive and all is well, except my play and charge kit does not charge the batteries on my controller. Are the front ports on the 360S not powered?

Any other ideas?

Ok, I want a new game. I've got a PS3 with only borrowed games at this point, and a 8 hour empty time slot at school that needs to be filled by a PC game.

So what game should I get?? Here's what I would like:

NHL 10 (PS3) - Dying to get the Wild third jerseys, but man, its still $60 and not $60 better than 09.

Uncharted 1 - Demo seemed decent, albeit extremely challenging. I'm the kind of person who only plays through story modes once, so will I like this game? Is there anything to do after the story?

Dark Siders (PS3) - Seems like a decent enough game, but again, just a one run through and done sort of deal?

Dragon Age:Origins (PC) - Rave reviews for sure but I've never been able to get into fantasy RPGs. Is this one different? Some say it is.

Any other suggestions for me? What else do I need to play on the PS3? I've tried:

Infamous - Not bad, but not terrific. Kind of boring and repetitive after a while.

MGS4 (Demo) - Just not really my style, although I am a slow and strategic gamer.

Rachet and Clank (Demos) - Loved them on PS2, but maybe they're a little too familiar now, or something? Didn't fall in love all over again.

Bayonetta (Demo) - Little too linear, and a bit of a button masher. Plus the whole witch, Japanese-ish feeling style isn't my deal.

So I don't know. I'm like this because I'm not crazy about any of them, but I need something!

This on has an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157061&cm_re=hp_pavilion_laptop-_-34-157-061-_-Product

This one has an AMD Turion II M520

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157046

From what I've found Intel is the way to go, But the Intel has fewer reviews??

[QUOTE="JJS29"]

How about the Dell Studio 15 with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400? Could that run L4D on low settings? The Studio 15 got a pretty good review @ cnet, plus there's tons of options. Its only $699.

ChubbyGuy40

Dells are PoS. Go with HP

What is it about Dells? I haven't had one in quite some time. My coworker just got one of the XPS models and after he got a second unit since the first one's back-light didn't work, its been fine.