Which of these gaming laptops should I choose?

[adelialaurent]

I'm torn between an Alienware mx17 and 18. And yes, I know that alot of people dislike alienware, but I've been very happy with my previous, and I just want to upgrade and stick to what I know. I plan to use to game, obviously, but basically I want to be able to run most games on max graphics settings, and specifically Skyrim with about 150+ graphics mods. So the specs are as follows:

Mx17
PROCESSOR: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
OPERATING SYSTEM : Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
MEMORY: 24GB (2 X 4GB, 2 X 8GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
HARD DRIVE: 1.5 TB RAID 0 (2x 750GB) 7200RPM
VIDEO CARD: 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
WIRELESS CARD: Intel® Advanced-N WiFi Link 6250 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology with WiMax and Bluetooth 4.0
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE: Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Mx18

PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
MEMORY 16GB (4 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 1.5 TB RAID 0 (2x 750GB) 7200RPM
VIDEO CARD Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - SLI® Enabled
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Something I'm keeping in mind is the Mx18 is about $500 more expensive than the other, but I'm very torn between the two.
Thanks

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

imo, if you're getting an M18, get a better card than the 675m.
actually, even if you're getting an M17, try to get the 680M or the ATI option (i think it was 7970), basically the 675M is a rebranded 580M, which is a year older, so with the 675M you're be getting a card that uses ~4 year old technology, which isn;t fantastic.

if you do want the 675M or don't have another option, it's still a capable card, and i'd say you should get the M17 since it's cheaper and you're not really utilizing any higher performance components that are available to the M18.

another thing you should keep in mind, the m18 is slightly bigger, and will allow for better cooling (afaik), as the fans are probably bigger (you might wanna check on that) and the components won't be as crammed together.

 

[Alienware_ALX_R4]

If I were you I would go with the M17, and get a single powerful card. You could take the difference of $500, and save that to put towards a second card to run SLI, or do what I did and buy yourself
(2) 500GB SSD's and put them in Raid 0. I do not recommend the AMD Card though, because my AMD M290X seems to run VERY hot. Whatever choice you make, you won't go wrong with an Alienware! Good luck to you

I did have one more question..Is there a reason you not buying the Alienware 17 or Alienware 18 instead of the last Gen Laptop?