Hey guys I'm PLANNING on buying an Alienware Aurora™ m9700 laptop ( http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/aurora_m9700.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AURORA-M-9700&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT ) SOON and I posted on some other websites and a lot of people say bad things about Alienware. So my question is..

If buy this computer am I being ripped off?Well, I personally wouldn't pay $1600 for those specs. About two years ago, I paid $1500 for an HP laptop with slightly better specs than this. Now, that same laptop goes for maybe $800-900. With Alienware, you pay more for the look, name, and reputation. I wouldn't necessarily say you're getting ripped off, but you could pay a bit less for a similar computer with a different brand name.I agree with CBMatt on this one. Basically, you're buying the brand AlienWare, which is expensive on itself. You are able to buy a different brand with the same specs, or even higher. Thats true, but I can never FIND a place cheaper. Can one of you show me where?eBay is always worth a shot. Hewlett Packard tends to make reliable, inexpensive computers (in my opinion). Home Shopping Network is another good place to look. My sister got a pretty decent laptop (with specs similar to the above Alienware) bundled with a bunch of software for about $1000. They've actually surprised me a few times with some of their deals. There are other good PLACES out there, but these are usually the first three places I look.