Hey internet creatures , I'm trying to fulfill my childhood dreams of becoming a video game developer (we all had that thought as kids c;) . . .

And I'll be off to college this year , not sure when , complications with me being 17 ,

But what i do know is I havnt spent the slightest bit of time figuring out anything about computers . which was stupid on my part .

(and I really don't want you guys to go straight to "just build a computer" , I don't want to end up buying incompatible parts , I don't want to set everything up , I don't want to accidentally break something and have to pay more money, I'm perfectly ok with spending the extra bit for a prebuilt system.)

I want to get two computers. A damn good desktop that can run three monitors with perfect resolution . any I7 processor , and an ssd and hdd harddrive. and one of those ssd laptops that uses cloud storage , for my school work , ,

i was thinking of getting the $1,699 option here , (im in love with the chassis (not the looks) the fact that it can hold many harddrives , three graphics cards , and such )

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?ref=PD_OC

and i have no idea what laptop, i heard the ssd drive ones can run really smooth and just store all the files in clouds )

my problem is, am i spending too much ? im just paying all this off monthly , (and yes im 100% sure i can pay this off without a sweat)

its just , i cant really spend money on much else if i do .

so my questions , should i get this desktop and a cheap ssd laptop? do you guys have better options for me ? am i doing wayy too much ? not enough ?

And I know, I'm not gonna make any advanced games and all that I knowwwww . But I'm also going to be playing a lot of high end pc games (especially the ones i couldn't run before) and i really want something that can last me for some years and many upgrades . but still perform for everything i need out of the box .

(side question , im using an outdated pc monitor from like . windows vista . should i also get a new monitor for my new pc ?)

EDIT: or the $1,299 option here

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r5-desktop/pd

But I'm also going to be playing a lot of high end pc games (especially the ones i couldn't run before) and i really want something that can last me for some years and many upgrades

Then let this be your deciding factor.

Modern computers are amazing creations. Nearly any off-the-shelf computer these days is more than enough for development to get you through your degree.

A computer that can play your high end games is far more than necessary for developing projects and hobby games at school.

A well-known secret is that many professional game developers have computers that are far below their own ideal spec. They are fast enough for general gameplay and that is usually good enough. All the effects and features are generally turned down to low and the game is run at lower resolutions. Only a few developers in the office are blessed with the high-end cutting-edge graphics cards and high-end processors, especially considering the developers need them several months before the game is released to the public and those high-end cards are generally still new and expensive at game release time.