unreal25

Hey, I have the same router. I had no issues with setting up port forwarding, this is the setup I have on my router and cable modem. My cable model literally just serves as a model (I disabled all routing functionality).

Hey, Both laptops can with a WiFi adapter, so I'm not sure why you think Expresscard slot for that. You do need it for the eGPU interface, though. Thinkpads are really great and I guess the difference comes down whether you want smaller or bigger (X220 also optionally comes with IPS screen). Also, from what I remember there was a line of X220 with that couldn't really handle i7 CPU and was overheating (>= 95 C). I don't know about the BIOS.

Well, I have none of these issues in Win 7. On the other hand, I felt Win8 UI is highly detrimental to everything I work on the computer when I am not gaming (for the same reason I can't work on a smartphone).

The 1366x768 IPS panel on Thinkpad X220/X230 is quite good actually.

I love the links, very informative with lots of techy stuff (keep in mind that in this community this is like posting porn).

Note the original date on this thread.

Still, I don't see any possible way I could play the games I usually play (Guild Wars 2, League of Legends) with a controller instead of a keyboard + mouse.

I loved the deadpool vs Gangnam style too

Do you want surround? I would avoid Steelseries due to the fact that you have to pay for shipping even with the warranty (at least in the US). The Siberia headset were quite comfortable however. Razer is hit and miss, but well... more miss than hit. Way more. I used Logitech G35 but can't say I was blown away by anything except maybe the looks. They're OK. The wireless version of this headset seems to have few quirks and bugs (at least according to newegg reviews). I also used surround Roccat headset. Comfort-wise they were about the same as Logitech G35, but I couldn't really tell the difference between surround and stereo on any headset (maybe the setup was wrong or something). If you don't plan to listen to music (much) I think most of them should do fine. However, pretty much ALL headsets are very much overpriced for what you are getting. Many decent ones are in range of pretty good quality hifi headphones, but produce sound of significantly worse quality. I know you said your budget is $100, but I managed to snag Beyerdynamic dt 770 pro stereo headphones for about $150 on eBay (refurbished but came looking brand new). They are in whole other league compared to gaming headsets (there is just no comparison in sound, comfort and construction), and I use them with a clip-on microphone (works just as fine as the headset mic). I was actually quite suspicious at first about this clip-on mic but works really great imo. The recorded sound quality is even I'd say slightly better than on the Steelseries Siberia headset. And I have a $8 Zalman clip-on mic. That means the one on their headset is really cheap stuff.

... and typically any plexiglass surface. If you repeatedly treat plexiglass with say isopropyl alcohol it will start cracking. We use 60% isopropyl alcohol (in "sprinkling" bottle to sterilize our clean table surface and our cell culture bottles before opening them) all the time in my lab and our clean table hood (which is plexiglass) is cracked all over the place. Other than that, I think alcohol is OK for cleaning electronics; it evaporates really quickly. I use water with a little soap for exterior or plastic parts that are completely removable and have no electronics.

Wow, thanks a lot for great replies! I should have been more detailed why I am asking. I got a Logitech TV Cam HD and wanted to use it on my laptop. I got it for free directly from logitech but with a promise that I'll put up a review. The idea was to put up the review here as well. I love the idea of re-routing it to LVDS but I really still want to use my monitor. But, I just realized it only has an HDMI output (I sort of assumed there will be a USB....). In the worst case I'll send it to my dad in Europe, and I'll test it as a person on the receiving end. We have a decent TV at home.

Hi, Anyone has an idea of how to connect something that requires an HDMI input to a laptop that doesn't have a native HDMI IN port? I was looking at Expresscard solutions on eBay in $100-$150 range, but was hoping for a cheaper solution. Any suggestions? Thanks.

'sup. Tried Dota2, I found it just way too confusing and overly complicated (even though it seems like a really cool game). I'm still playing LoL with my friends on EU West server (the latency is pretty much the same as on the US -.- ).

It depends a lot on your personal preferences. For example I don't like small mice (and I small I mean anything that doesn't work well with a palm grip). I tried Logitech G9x (my friend has it) and it's a great mouse its just too small for me. The size and shape of Deathadder is just perfect for me. It's a relatively big mouse.

I really haven't noticed any input lag on either G7 or Mamba. What I did notice is lots of bugs in the firmware and batteries dying out in the worst possible moments. On some mice the cable can be a problem tho (mostly cheap ones in my experience). On Deathadder I can't tell that I am on a cable, but avoiding the batteries really makes all the difference for me. I noticed the very very slight jerky motion even with Deathadder on the maximum DPI (and with all other mice I tried). Some people don't even notice it, but I can't stand it.

Razer Deathadder + Scarab, I think its around 900 or 1000 DPI on 1920x1200 resolution. It's a pretty good mouse (surprisingly, a night and day difference from Mamba...). I don't like high DPI, I can't be as precise as I am now. Also I prefer hard surfaces.

I used both. If anything R3 is more quiet because it doesn't suffer from an R1 bug (still unfixed!!!) where the discrete GPU doesn't turn off most of the time when you switch back to integrated graphics. So the fan stays off until you restart it. When both are under full load on discrete graphics, I couldn't tell if there was any difference in fan noise. The prices vary a bit, I am not sure about Europe, but I sold my R3 (to Michael) for I think $600. It had i7 CPU, 2GB 540M GPU, 8GB RAM and 750GB HD 7.2K RPM. It was also mint condition even though there's a refurb sticker so I don't think it was ever used (I think I also concluded that based on the SMART log from the hard drive). In Europe they are definitely pricier. But, I'll throw another thing at you. Check out the laptops with AMD Trinity APU. They are supposed to be PRETTY good for 3D stuff / gaming.

Build quality (especially M17x) simply does not compare to competition, unless we're talking about business class machines (Thinkpad, Elitebook...). I bought M17x-R2 2-2.5 years ago and it still looks pretty much brand new even though I use it daily. NBD Home service is quite nice in terms of getting parts, but I'd regularly get incompetent contracted tech coming by. (That said, my experience with the depot repair has been even worse, so...) The design is a little subjective thing, but I have to say I love it. That said, I haven't seen most recent gaming notebooks from Acer, Asus, Clevo... so I guess I'm wondering how much they advanced from last time I've checked their stuff?

Keep in my, R3 has a new hinge design (and hinge won't crap out like on R1 and R2), and lots of other improvements like better screen (I compared both R1 and R3 here: http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m11x/1648-m11x-r3-screen-comparisons.html) and a better GPU -- the most important thing for games. As for the laptop you linked, I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole. It looks like crap. (regardless of its low starting price)

Now if only the screen had a 16:10 ratio...

Congrats! It's a nice laptop, and with that screen resolution I'm sure 650M will run anything maxxed out even in following years. P.S. You should get an SSD. The prices are quite good these days. (Also, I think its possible to ditch the optical drive and have a secondary drive installed.)

LOL! Those 32-bit Windows version.... they crack me up.

Oh cool. I have an entry-level DSLR (Canon Rebel XSi) I bought few years ago, with 50mm f1.8 and 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 Sigma. Just recently I bought a male-male macro coupling ring so I mounted a 50mm lens in reverse in 18-200mm lens to be able to take macro shots; just haven't had that much time to play around with it. I did take some photos of the pixels on my Alienware RGB LED screen and I think you can push the resolution to about 30-60 micrometers with this setup. The only trouble is that the focal plane is really narrow so it's best to take photos straight perpendicular to what you're looking at.

I used the same Moster cleaner and worked really well for me. I just ordered Phillips SVC116F LED cleaner (mainly because of good reviews on Amazon) so we'll have how that works. In terms of the other components I clean the fans grills on the bottom of the Alienware with a very small brush (I cleaned them with water once) and I try to brush clean the fans themselves but I haven't had much luck with this. When fans start making weird noise, it seems like it's better just to buy a new one. :-/ On top of that last time I pulled out the GPU fan I broke one of the wires since it was completely jammed in the way it came.