If you want a computer for games buy a stationary PC.
Also Alienware is overrated and their stuff is overpriced.

Well then don't look for a laptop judging by it's brand.
Judge it by it's specifications!

That's hardly technical knowledge, but as I said Alienware laptops are overpriced for what they have.
Any brand besides the overpriced Alienware, Razor, Apple or the low quality Toshiba are good.
So I recommend you look up some Acer, Asus, Dell, HP or Samsung laptops.

Depends on how much you're willing to pay.

With that you could get a laptop with a i5 or i7 processor, 4-8Gb of RAM, 500-750Gb of HDD, but here's the tricky part.
Look for one which either has Intel HD 4400 or above (4600, 5000, 5200, etc.) or one with NVIDIA GeForce GT740M or GT750M.

I bought one a few years ago before I knew much about PC's and honestly, I do not believe they deserve as much hate as they receive, yes they are "overpriced" but every single pre-built out there is compared to building your own. Now, as you say your are on a low(er) budget, I recommend Acer or ASUS based off of my previous experience with them.

I'll look into finding a Laptop for around 500 USD, along with this, I am guessing you are from the U.S. (not trying to be a creep, but different websites sell to different countries).



EDIT: as one last question, do you have a laptop screen size preference or no?

Good god do not buy alienware. You're paying for a fancy case and that little alien logo. The price for that being about $1000.
If you must buy prebuilt, go for Samsung or Asus. (Two brand's I've never have problems with, I use laptops due to no room too.) Dell-Built to break, unless you know how to maintain them very well. Acer-Cheapcheapcheap parts, very overpriced for what you get. Lenovo-Anything to low-mid is cheap, anything past that is expensive.

Hope this helps

If there is any way for you to make space for a desktop you should definitely get one, if not I still wouldn't recommend it you're basically overpaying hundreds and hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollar just because of the brand name, there are much better laptops for a MUCH lower price.

hey I'am having the exact same problem as you are. One of my friends has an alienware and he lives on a boat. So that means salt air (which electronics do not do good in) spills and drops even though i know he hasn't droped it or spilled somthing on it stuff happens. He has had his for 5 years now and its still going. Now if i understand you are getting a laptop so therefore you need the biggest video card and lots of RAM/memory. But also they are around 6 pounds and kind of bulky but their's alot of power packing in it so overall its worth. I can't really help you out with desktops but i have heard that lots of complaints with their desktops but don't take my word for it. I hope this helps. If you do get a laptop me know how it works because i am going to get one but not for a little while. good luck also if you want to play amne the dark descent make sure you DO NOT HAVE A INTEL VIDEO/GRAPHICS CARD cause it doesn't work.

When it comes to gaming laptops, this is a hard topic to talk about!

With the little options available for gaming laptops out there, the most obvious option is to go with an Alienware, Razor laptop as they have specs aimed for enthusiast gamers and for people wanting performance in games!

Then there are people who dont like these brands as you do basically pay for their "label" even though you still get great performance from the components that these brand throw into their laptops and such!

Your only other option is to try and find a different brand of laptop that has comparable specs to these gaming laptops and go with that choice if you don't want to go along with being "branded" with a "gaming" laptop!

If it was me, I would try my best to find a better or equivalent laptop that isn't a "gaming branded" one! However, I may become lazy or it may become too hard to find a different brand of laptop and then I would personally buy a "gaming branded" laptop!

I mean, it really isn't that bad to own one but for some reason people have a thing with them (me included)! XD

My advice would be:

If you are too lazy to hunt around for different computers with the same or better specs, go with a gaming pc! If you need help on finding a gaming laptop that meets your needs, pms me and I will be happy to help you!

If you aren't lazy and are not wanting to buy a "gaming" laptop, then look at various other laptops and find specs that compare to the Alienware or Razer etc laptops!

This is just my opinion anyway! If you need any additional help, don't be afraid to pms me with any further questions

Thanks!

Kblender

EDIT: Just saw your budget was 500... As that is the case, your only option is to try your best and find a good speced laptop! If you are finding it hard, pms me and I will be happy to help you out!

As far as I know from what I heard its not worth all the money, you can build your own for less is what I hear from a lot of people, if you have the money and cant be bothered building your own then yeah go for it

Alienware is overpriced and overrated.

Alienware is great, but very expensive