Come on, Draug, the nipple is your friend : )

How very p-p-p-puny of you, abgemacht. ;-)

I'm going to post this again since it seems to have been lost among the talk about corvettes, which is, completely acceptable. Encouraged even.

Hey guys, glad to see a lively discussion.

So heres what I'm doing. I travel a lot, spending most of my summers and breaks at various locations, on top of that I have very little trust in the safety of a roommate I have yet to meet or be assigned, and don't want to leave a large target for things to get spilled on. Happened to my last desktop, why my current one is an inspiron in my room behind a locked cabinet door, haha. Also there is the whole parental concern, which given my immense respect for my parents I don't like doing things they expressly forbid. (They being reasonable, mostly, it isn't much)

So what I'm doing is ordering the Malibal computer either tonight or in a month depending on whether I can get access to the money I need before my next paycheck. They have a 30 day full money back policy, and extremely helpful customer service reps who I've spent the past hour speaking with. I'm going to test it out, see if I have any problems and then either return or keep it accordingly.

But. But. But, this is the only time I will or would by a gaming laptop over a desktop, due to the circumstances, so rest assured nay-sayers, after this computer, hopefully several years from now, I will be building a desktop and buying a light use notebook.

Thanks for the input guys, I needed the counterbalance to truly consider this, it was helpful, and I'm am quite sure this is the right decision at this time for me.

Also if theres any interest I'll post my thoughts on this company's product.

Those are all reasonable concerns, imho.

Let me take a look at that Malibal to see if I agree it's the best laptop you can get.

I carry a mouse (a logitech with the tiny USB nub that I can just leave in forever,) but I love a huge multi-touch trackpad for true-mobile use (ie walking, standing, quick-need, tc.) I keep a MB Air around just for this reason. I hate the nipple. Absolutely hate it.

Urgh, I really dislike track-pads. Mine's always disabled.

abge, its the lotus 150, with the 6mb cache I7, second option down, currently the site wont load due to my slow connection, 8 gig ram, 500 gig harddrive, upgraded coolant, upgraded wireless card, windows 7

Also the price is not exorbitant, the company's reps have impressed me, and I can find literally nothing but good words about them

Definitely all good reasons to go laptop over desktop. I've never used a Malibal (because I use <2kg machines,) but if you get to use it for 30 days before having to commit to it, then it sounds good.

I find the trackball nice as I have a bad habit of brushing the touchpad with the bottom of my palm (what's that part right below the thumb called) and accidentally moving the mouse or clicking off whatever text I'm currently working on. When I plug in the trackball, I have set the system to disable the internal mouse drivers so they stop functioning. And the trackball doesn't require any significant deskspace so I can work at a cramped conference room table with several other developers or even at a small high-top table in a hotel bar/lounge and still have room for my dinner when I'm on the road.

@puddle, be certain to get Windows 7 64-bit or that extra RAM will do you no good whatsoever.

Actually, I'd consider ibuypower's Battalion 101 over that machine. Mostly because you can get the same parts for much cheaper, but also because you get the NVIDIA 540 over the 460. Use the saved money to buy an SSD!

A question:

Does Win7x86 support 8GB or are you getting Win7x64?

@Draug

Great minds think alike!

LOL From the specs:

"W/A/S/D Gaming Key"

Do they make keyboards without those keys?

Yes, I'm getting 64-bit

I noticed they only offer W7x64 on the site. I would recommend spending the extra and get Ultimate. Of course, if you are studying IT, you could spend the money and get an MSDN subscription which includes all of the OSs, but that will costs you $800 for VS Pro with MSDN (although they may have a student/academic price you can take advantage of).

@Draug

Just talked to my roommate. He said it was 320 HP stock and with a few mods, he's got it up to 350HP

I disagree, Draug, it doesn't sound like he'll need to do anything that professional can't handle.

@Puddle

What's the final price?

Im not studying IT, what else would be the benefit to Ultimate?

@Puddle

I can't think of any reason why you'd want to pay more for Ultimate. You're getting Professional, right?

I was thinking Premium?

I believe Pro doesn't come with all the media stuff... Just double check on microsoft.com and compare version.

@abge - Impossible on the stock HP. The 85 only came with one engine option, 240 HP TPI.

@Abge, even my 93 only had 300 HP stock.

@Draug

I'm meeting up with him in an hour. I'll ask him about it.

You're right, though, that does seem too high to be stock; the first owner must have done something.

The first non-ZR1 Corvette to have more than 300 HP (modern HP numbers) was the 96 LT4 at 330 stock HP. The first of the C4s to have that would have been a 90 ZR1 with the Mercury Marine motor rated at 375 HP that got boosted to 405 in 93, but there were less than 7000 built between 1990 and 1995.

Any version of 7 can be unlocked to another version. =P
Wait to see what deals your school offers on software before dropping more money.
Plus we could be beta testing 8 sometime this summer!