11.6 Alienware or 13.3 Asus for University?

[The Grim Squeaker]

I'll be starting a new degree next year (psychology + Biology), and I want to buy a good laptop for taking notes and general use (Gaming, music, photography) while i'm in the dorms/university and for general travel.

I'll be travelling between campuses via buses on a daily basis, and I have a proper gaming rig at home, but I still want something that'll let me play games and whatnot during the week/commute.
I plan to buy an external screen for the dorms, so the only question is what laptop.

I'm currently leaning towards the Alienware m11x (11.6 gaming notebook, with the Optimus GPU update) or the Asus u30jc (13.3 heavyish laptop also with Optimus).
The alienware is smaller, but seems overpriced, but I don't see the need for a 13.3 inch screen for writing lecture summaries, and I want to save on weight. On the other hand, price is also a concern.
I have no idea how reliable either company is, i'll be buying the laptop in the USA so warranty is a non issue for me, but mechanical reliability is.
So, tips? Experience with either company? Anything coming up that would be a better deal? (Maybe a 12.1 ultraportable? I haven't found any with a discreete GPU). Budget is 800-1,000 $

[Laughing Mechanicus]

As I think I mentioned in another thread, I have an original M11x system. I'm very happy with it and use it heavily, but if you get one just make sure to disable all the stupid startup functionality - the facial recognition stuff in particular eats up a non-trivial chunk of CPU just when running in the background.

It's gaming performance is very impressive, but don't expect miracles - the CPU is the limiting factor, so any games that are calculation/physics heavy cause it problems. For example Red Faction Guerilla suffers from slow down unless you turn the graphics down; although other unexpected games work really well - Supreme Commander 2 runs well with everything maxed. New ones have a nicer processor than mine though, so performance might be significantly improved.

The price for the M11x is certainly expensive... I bought it only because when it was released there was literally no alternative for a small notebook with good gaming performance and switchable graphics (this was the most important feature to me by far), but this might well have changed in the last few months with other companies introducing similar and possibly cheaper models, I guess that is what the other machine you are talking about is.

As for weight, it is an important consideration; it doesn't matter how awesome the laptop is if you just leave it in your room because you can't be bothered carrying it. The M11x at ~2 kg is at the very limit of what I can comfortably tolerate carrying in my bag for about an hour everyday and I am a fairly big chap, and having just checked it looks like the other laptop you are talking about is 2.2 kg; so they are both lumps.

As a possible alternative, when I was choosing what to get it was between the M11x and the Asus 1201n ION netbook. The 1201n is of course inferior performance wise, but it's also only 1.4 kg and around half the price; search YouTube and you will see it can manage games like Borderlands, Bioshock and Dead Space. Buy one and go through that pile of older unplayed games most gamers have! I have to admit that most of what I end up playing on my M11x would have run fine on the 1201n, so ask yourself seriously what you really want the ability to play, especially as you have a "real" gaming setup too.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Don't be stupid; you don't need a gaming rig for uni; it will just be a distraction anyway, not to mention having to lug it around.

Get a ION or CULV 11 or 12 inch.

[SirNitram]

Having had three ASUS(Newest is a gaming rig), the ASUS is a solid choice. It will serve your needs, be well priced, and is very nicely lightweight. If you absolutely, positively, need to game, it can support several on the lowest settings. But you are not in Uni for LAN parties.

[General Zod]

The Sony Vaio EC series looks solid. 512mb discrete graphics, bluray, core i3 and it's just under $1k. Don't waste your money on alienware anything, they're overpriced pieces of shit.