I ordered it from HP instead of just picking up your basic box store laptop. I added every bell, whistle, and upgrade I could except for a touchscreen.
I ended up with a laptop that was better than the upper mid range alienware for $1650. For reference, the laptop I started with on the order screen was only $850, so I did some serious upgrades. It delivered in 10 days, about 12 days earlier than promised.
So far it's been a remarkable laptop with no issues. I"ve had it for a little over a year and it still runs anything I throw at it without any issues. In fact I'm about to test it out on Civ Beyond Earth in a few minutes.
Search the HP site well though if you go with HP. I tried starting with their best laptop and upgrading it, but found a slightly "lesser" laptop that I could put a faster CPU and better video card in.
If you order a custom laptop go for the biggest bang for your buck. If you are over thinking a $100 in upgrades, just do the upgrade. It will be worth it when you fire up that game.
i7 4900MQ cpu @ 2.80 GHz
16 GB Ram
Nvidia GTX 650 (This was the only place AW beat the PC, they had one with same ram and cpu, but the 670 card. of course I would have paid $3400 to get that rig)
Hope it helps.
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