luciela

I highly recommend getting Civilization V Gold Edition (comes with DLC's and expansion; 50% off till july 22 i think?). Its a turn-based strategy game but it's much more appealing than a TBS game would seem. A lot of my friends who don't play turn-based (or even strategy for that matter) actually enjoyed the game when they decided to give it a chance. The latest expansion (Brave New World) has also been the best release yet IMO, bringing many new features to the table. Of course if you don't like strategy then its a gamble... but you can still download the demo. Also, Amazon is trying to do a summer sale of their own and some of their prices beat steams by a lot. If you type "steam summer sale" in amazon search you will see a few games. If you go to checkout with those games and type the coupon code "gooncave", you will get an additional discount.

You know, one might also be interested in the notepal U3. It has 3 customizable fans and I've heard some great stuff from both forumers and friends alike. As a matter of fact, I plan in trying to buy one just to see how it is (since my brother needs one as he's taking my old M17x R2).

I'd say Alienware as I prefer the following: 1. Cooling (biggest priority for me with laptops) 2. Chassis design (cooling, disassembly, look/feel) 3. Support 4. Buy options, but most manufacturers have pretty good selections.

Can't go wrong with Crucial M4 IMO. Great performance for the price, although if you want better performance I'd recommend the 840 series by Samsung. Currently using the 500 GB model for my new Alienware 18 and had used it for a couple of months in my old m17x R2 and it's worked flawlessly. Can catch some good deals on Newegg with the 840s.

I use the NZXT CRYO cooler as well and it's served me well over the past couple of years.

Since I tend to run dual GPU's nvidia is more favored due to better driver support. Though I do love the low prices of AMD...