Work/Gaming/Blender PC

[TheKrita]

Hi everyone!

First day on here and first post. Excited to hear what everyone has to say.

Ok, so if I have $2,500.00 to spend on a laptop that I'll use everyday, plugged in 99% of the time, for work and gaming mostly and then the occasional Blender project what should I get?

I've been eyeing up the Alienware M17 R3 but not sure if that's the right way to go or not. I'm not a fan of the Zephyrus line for the moment as I don't like having to add a camera. That's just silly!

I currently have a Zephyrus G GU502DU. I bought it on a whim at the beginning of the pandemic since we needed an extra pc in the house to support our family of six working and schooling from home. It handles work just fine and games mostly but I've decided to give it to my 13 year old son so he can give back the school's very very slow chrome book. AND I'm going to upgrade.

So what do you think. What should I get and why?

 

[Brian Boru]

$2,500.00 to spend on a laptop that I'll use everyday, plugged in 99% of the time

I'd go for a desktop in that situation. You should get better performance from a $2K desktop than a $2.5K laptop, and still have $500 for a backup laptop for your rare trips or when one of the six other machines breaks down.

Alienware M17 R3

I had an Alienware M17 R2 for a couple of years as a desktop replacement while traveling. The two graphics cards & extra SSD/HD expandability meant it could handle anything comfortably once I hooked it up with proper I/O—ie KB, mouse & screens. Great machine, my GF used it for a few more years after I settled again.

You're paying a premium though for the brand name—I got mine second hand and it was still dearer than any desktop I would've built from new parts.

I can't recommend beyond that, I know nothing about current laptops.