I was thinking of buying an Alienware M14x or a ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D but since i know next to nothing about high end gaming computers i thought i'd ask CG first.

The laptop will need to be able to run current games, graphic design programs and i will be using it for uni so it needs a decent battery life. The more portable it is the better, i use a gaming monitor when im at home anyway.

Thoughts?

have a browse on http://www.centrecom.com.au/

why not get a 1500 desktop and 500 dollar laptop ?

I don't have room in my house to setup a desktop.

ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D

How does one not have enough room, it's like 1-3 metres or something.

www.ebay.com.au/itm/ASUS-GAMING-FULL-HD-G74SX-LAPTOP-17-3-2nd-Gen-i7-2-93Ghz-16GB-nVIDIA-560M-/360421333145?pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item53eac91899#ht_7276wt_1305

I just purchased that bad boy for SGL

tbh the msi gt780R is my preferred choice over the asus just because their keyboard is SO much better than the asus. Not sure what gpu the asus has but the msi has 560m i think. Worth looking into.

this here.

I'll probably go with the MSi GT780R over the ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D, the MSi is cheaper and has a better graphics card. Correct me if im wrong, thats the only difference i can see in the specs.

They should both have the same graphics card, the Asus model has a 120hz screen

the G74 will serve you better imo.

Are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M and 560M cards much different ?

Yes there is a noticable difference. use google, its your friend!