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I think laptops are more useful. the are portable and some come with screens just as big as a desktop like the sony vaio aw and the hp hdx 18. The most reliable and well built computers are hp and lenovo but lenovo can be a bit more expensive. ive always liked vaios but most people think there overpriced. look at the both websites and see which laptop fits your needs.

1. Get a desktop for gaming in general, laptops are just not that powerful enough compared to desktop in price. To have a decent gaming laptop it costs nearly twice as much for a similar desktop version. ---------- 2. Don't buy a laptop or desktop from Alienware, unless you really have the money to burn off and like the little glitter and do-da. It's mostly a ripoff, but I suppose you get what you pay for in terms of quality. I suggest you either build your own computer with good components or buy a decent pre-made one from good vendors like 'Ebuyer' or 'Dabs'. ---------- 3. Never played Maple Stpry before, but in general gaming computer requirements are: 2GB RAM, a Dual Core processor or Quad Core, a GTS 250 GFX and around 500+ GB of hard drive space. Optimum specs would be: 4GB RAM, a Quad Core processor, a GTX 460 GFX and around 700+ GB of hard drive space. ---------- 4. Just stick with Windows 7, it beats XP/Vista in terms of performance, plus latest gadgets and drivers don't support XP or Win 2000 due to it being a old platform. Windows 7 is a great OS, assuming to have a semi-decent computer to handle it. ---------- Overall: Get a desktop with 4GB RAM, Quad Core processor, atleast GTS 250 GFX and 500+ GB hard drive space with Windows 7 OS.