Its a DELL!!! Isn't that all you need to hear? Not that I really have anything bad to say about Dell but why buy Alienware, just get a standard Dell machine if you want that hardware. I would build my own personally.
Build your own, stay away from Alienware....overpriced and poor customer service.
It's ok if you've never built your own system. If you can replace RAM, you most likely can build your own system. It's really not much more difficult that that. Add to that a little research will go a long way to making you proficient enough to build your own.
Sites like newegg.com spell out things for you so that it's difficult to buy mismatched parts and you can always come here and throw some ideas around, ask questions about your possible build, etc.
The above post is your salvation, OP.
Building your own machine is the way to go, not from just a pricing standpoint... the knowledge you gain from building your own gives you FREEDOMMMMMMMM!!!
Look at some of the horror stories above regarding service. Of course, you're going to call customer service when something breaks and they're gonna say, "send us the box". If you built your own machine and something goes bad, you know that machine better and will likely be able to fix the problem yourself with minimal downtime.
In the case of the cooling system failure post above, you'd know from INSTALLING that cooling system, what you'd have to do to get your machine up and running again, ON YOUR OWN. You'd know what parts you might need, and be able to get them from a local business or a good online store like Newegg.
Vid card dies on the machine you built, you buy a new one, a better one. Or you send your store bought machine back to Alienware, get it back in 3 weeks with a refurbed version of the same card you had before.
Building your own machine isn't as difficult as it looks. Just give yourself plenty of clean workspace, get a grounding strap and a precision toolset from Radio Shack. Get really spiffy and get yourself a LED lamp that straps to your head to see better. 10-20 bucks worth of stuff. There are TONS of online resources for advice, for beginners and pros, alike.
In the end, you'll have a machine with the exact case and lighting you want, the exact mobo, vid card, hard drive(or use your old one)... EVERYTHING, your own unique machine, likely for much less than one of thousands of Alienware PC's.
Whether someone has money or not, they're stupid for buying it. People who buy it are gamers who don't have any confidence to build their own. The thing is......a retard can build it. And it doesn't matter if you save a little money going with companies like ibuypower or Cyber PC. You build it and you know your machine. And chances are that if some goes haywire, you can pinpoint the issue and just replace that part. Save yourself the money and don't waste it on dumb @#$%.
Ever try to build an alienware comp online, just for shts and giggles? I think i got mine to reach near $9k without a monitor.
For the same rig you could spend a whole lot less on newegg.
Looking to spend $1.1k? Yould get an underpowerd system with snazzy lights and graphics on the case going alien ware.
I spend $700 on a intel 2.4ghz quad core with a gtx 260 and 8mb dd2 ram (was on sale w/e i know its too much) and a 1440x900 resolution monitor, with it i can run AoC on near max setting (i turn down draw distances and lowerd shadows) around 30-60 fps (21-30fps in cities). Also i was able to run both AoC and Aion at the same time (used less than 4 gigs of ram)
Dont be a sucker and spend $1100 on a system that youll end up having to replace the crappy graphics card and buy a new powersupply to play wow or w/e on max settings
Remember a gaming computer needs #1: graphics card (with a decent power supply which isnt cheap) #2: processor power (more cores if you want to alt+tab out your game and do other stuff on the fly, no less than 2 cores regardless) #3 at least 3gigs of ram (need a 64bit OS to do more than 2gigs) and it doesnt have to be super fast RAM, getting ddr3 will only make your load screens and initial load up time slightly faster.
Dont be afraid of building your own system, and if you use newegg youll have supurb customer support. Hell newegg has prebuilt systems that blow away alienware when comparing price to gaming power. Just make sure you have a running computer with the internet, TONS of computer geeks trolling forums waiting to help explain how to install various system parts and how to trouble shoot.
I have all my new parts coming from NewEgg this Monday. Built a decent one for about $600. So yeah building your own is they way to go. I only have 2GB of DDR3 1333 RAM but it WILL hold out on 64 until I can fork out out some more $ for the other stick.
Give me your $1100 and I'll build you a computer from parts off of NewEgg that will be much better then $1100 given to any computer building company. My Computer is almost a year old now and cost me $700 to build and I'd put it against a $1100 system from newegg today.
Building your own may seem daunting, but it's pretty damn fool proof. Like putting a puzzle together, the parts only fit in one spot and there really aren't that many pieces. Most people that do build their own, learned by doing just that. I did pay for my very first computer, then I bought more RAM to add to it (went from 32 to 64MB) and that was as easy as it could be. Next I upgraded the processor (300 to 450Mhz). Again a piece of cake. Since then I have build all of my own computers as well as everyone in my family and tons for friend and family. I've saved every one of them money over what they were going to spend from Dell or HP or Gateway or ....etc.
As for Alienware or any of the other companies that build game rigs, they all use pretty much the same hardware. So if you get a DOA from one, you can get it just the same from another. They aren't building the motherboards, video cards, RAM, CPUS...etc at their place, they are just putting it all together. As with any business the people who have had bad experiences are 10x more vocal then the ones happy with their experience. I have a guild mate who had more money then he knows what to do with. He doesn't give a rats ass what he does with so he buys a brand new top of the line Alienware every year and has now for the past 6 years. All 6 computers are still running and he hasn't had one issue with any of them. Does that mean that all of their computers will work fine? No, but in his experience and from his view they are awesome computers that he'll continue to pay for. Yet he doesn't go around praising them. Talk to any business and they are more afraid of 1 person having a bad experience then anything else as they know that 1 person will lose more business for them then 10 of their happy customers.
Alienware has it's own horror stories (what company doesn't though) but what really ticks me off about Alienware is how overpriced it is. You are paying for both a high end machine AND the brand name and that really adds to the price. The only time i would consider Alienware is if i wanted a gaming laptop and even then i can get a custom built one from the US for a much cheaper price.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I bought one back in the early 2000s before they were actually aquired by Dell. Back then the company was good, the computer wasn't any more than one I could pick up in a store. However since the merger, there quality has dropped quite a bit. I used to work for a major electronics retailer and we sold Alienwares off the shelf. However, they were only out of the store for a couple days before the consumer brought them back due to various technical or mechanical problems. One person even said that his video card burnt out within the time frame. I think in the long run, it's better to build your own PC (I just recently have done this). That way when you need to upgrade, you already know your system specifications
I used to own an alienware a few years back. For the first few months the machine was a beast. Super fast, great gaming experience and could handle any game i threw at it. Towards the end of my year with it, shit started to happen to the hardware. Black screen of death, problems with my motherboard and some other stuff. So I called customer service and they were the absolute worst I've ever encountered. After many phone calls, and I even sent my computer back, it was never the same. I trashed the computer and just built my own HP computer.
Moral of the story is dont ever buy an alienware. My good friend had the same problems, and from reading other responses here it seems we werent alone. Their a company that hustles a shitty product. But the worst issue with them is thier customer service. Its abmissmal.
I've goofed around with Digital Storm builds on their site a bit, and I have to say, they offer some of the absolute best customizations I've seen in a pre-built system. Full liquid cooling options and individual component overclocking depending ont he cooling you've chosen. Then it's all covered under warranty.
I used to dream of buying a top-of-the-line Alienware system, but now that I found Digital Storm, Alienware pales in comparison. There are only 3 reasons why I'd buy a pre-built versus building it myself (which I have many many times). I'm scared to death of doing liquid cooling on my own. Same with overclocking. This place does both in extreme fashion, and you don't have to worry about it at all because if something goes wrong, you're covered by warranty.
I bought an Alienware machine back in 2008. A couple of hours after hooking it up, the lighting system on the case went screwy. I called up their support department which informed me that I'd need to send the machine back in order for it to be fixed. There was no way I was sending it back after just opening it, especially considering that it'd take between two weeks and a month (or more) for them to return it. Since the case lighting wasn't going to kill my gaming experience, I stuck with it until two months later when the cooling system stopped working properly and the machine overheated whenever I tried to do...well, anything. Again I was told I would have to send the system back, so I figured this would be a good time to get the lighting fixed as well. I put in a support order to have both issues handled, shipped it out to them, and received it back 3 weeks later with a working cooling system...and lights that were still busted. Whatever, I wasn't going to go another 3 weeks without my primary machine. Fast forward about 6 months and the motherboard began to give me issues where it wouldn't post. This became a recurring problem and I found myself having to reset the CMOS about once every few months. Eventually it became a monthly issue. Around September last year, it became a daily issue. At that point I said screw it, bought a new machine through ibuypower.com (which was much, much cheaper than what I paid for Alienware), and its been running smooth ever since. Well, aside from the video cards that I took out of my Alienware machine and put into the new one going bad. I think I left out the whole corrupted RAM issue from the Alienware machine as well, huh? Moral of the story: Alienware, to me, is nothing but overpriced glitchy hardware and poor customer service. Don't pay for a fancy name when all they are doing is building a machine out of things other people made.
You can find posts exactly like this for pretty much any brand or clone PC out there.Its a fact of life computers are made up of Hardware manufactured by people and therefore issues can abound.I have friends that paid for Alienwares and had awesome luck with them.I had a Sony Vaio once before I started building my own and had to send it back for repair,but they sent me a new PC 1st,then I shipped the broken PC back to them in a return box sent with the new PC.I guess Alienware does not support its customers as well anymore.IMO your best bet is to Buy and build your own PC,if you do not have the Knowhow then find a place that can build it for you and let you buy all the parts.If you go to Pricewatch.com you can build a new PC for dirt cheap and have one as good as any Alienware except maybe the optimizations they do.
Just wanted to chip in and say that if you just take it slow and easy, anyone who can read a manual can build their own computer. Now you said you had about 1500 bucks to spend? Look what i found: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-core-i7,2582.html
Allienware is for. A. people that have way to much money to waste or B. people who dont know any better and do not realize they can build the same machine themselves for 1000 less.l
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
Allienware is for. A. people that have way to much money to waste or B. people who dont know any better and do not realize they can build the same machine themselves for 1000 less.l
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
lol!you havent tried ms in a long time !i can tell you w7 serie is that shit men!it works good out of the box i wish all the stuff around worked as good!my only beef right now is the fact that techno has advanced so much lot of other techno dont mix that well but for a noob like the vast majority of us its unknown!my beef its the fact microsoft tell user to use ide instead of acpi if we re not sure the techno is compatible with x,y,z stuff come on a little help here!can you ms huys at least read speedguide.net or kadaitcha.cx see the main info often asked for gamer .how can i know this feature should be enabled if im a gamer but disabled if im a streamer on youtube !thats the pasrt i have issue with the average of ms is always on the low side and it always take a while to discover the stuff gamer related tweak windows hide .but window 7 64 bit is actually very good from out of the box .it probably autoset lot of stuff but its hard to know since ms doesnt talk about that.but they ll show you how to access desktop!(grrr)sorry for the rambling !
Allienware is for. A. people that have way to much money to waste or B. people who dont know any better and do not realize they can build the same machine themselves for 1000 less.l
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
lol!you havent tried ms in a long time !i can tell you w7 serie is that shit men!it works good out of the box i wish all the stuff around worked as good!my only beef right now is the fact that techno has advanced so much lot of other techno dont mix that well but for a noob like the vast majority of us its unknown!my beef its the fact microsoft tell user to use ide instead of acpi if we re not sure the techno is compatible with x,y,z stuff come on a little help here!can you ms huys at least read speedguide.net or kadaitcha.cx see the main info often asked for gamer .how can i know this feature should be enabled if im a gamer but disabled if im a streamer on youtube !thats the pasrt i have issue with the average of ms is always on the low side and it always take a while to discover the stuff gamer related tweak windows hide .but window 7 64 bit is actually very good from out of the box .it probably autoset lot of stuff but its hard to know since ms doesnt talk about that.but they ll show you how to access desktop!(grrr)sorry for the rambling !
Figured I'd add my horror story to this post. I bought an alienware a few years back. 1 month after arrival, the harddrives were dead and the video cards fried. I sent it back, got it returned a month later. Another month in and both video cards were dead again. I sent it back, waited... waited... waited.. called them a dozen times only to be told they were working on the problem. NOTE: This is replacing 2 video cards, it actually takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to do. 1 month in, they were still working on it.
I wrote a letter to the CEO of Dell, who had just bought out Alienware. A week later Alienware calls me up and informs me of the situation, apparently someone had got my letter and they were very eager to be of assistance at this point (I can only imagine they were terrified Dell was looking to trim some fat in their newly purchased company).
So the situation explained to me was this: They had my computer for over a month sitting around because they did not have the video card of the same model to replace mine, they had no plans of ever getting the video card back in stock as they were changing over to the new model. They had no intention of doing anything with my computer, it was literally going to sit there for the rest of eternity as they would never have said video card in stock and never be able to replace them.
After 5 weeks of waiting for something that should have taken 2 mins + shipping, they now agreed that they would upgrade my video cards to the latest model, they tried to spin as if they were doing me a favor. So add another week shipping and I finally get my computer back. I would also like to add, I live 45 minutes away from AW and the facility they build/repair their systems at. It took 2 days for shipping (not their fault of course) and 5 days for them to actually process the system once recieved or pack it to ship.
Since then I've had numerous problems with my AW, I never sent it back to them, now it gets a good kick when it acts up and has all their crappy plastic casing removed and both side panels removed so it doesn't over heat. It fails to post 50-75% of the time and loves to lock up and crash, even when doing nothing more then playing a video or surfing the web.
Anyways, that's my experience with Alienware and I can honestly say, the only worse experience I've ever had with a product, PC or otherwise, has been with Dell. Who now own Alienware! lol. As far as the Dell goes, after around 100 hours (over a 2 yr period) of phone time, I got a full refund for my system after every part was replaced, including the mobo 3 times! and they sent me a replacement PC that was 1/2 the cost and performance of the one it was replacing. Now I'm back to building my own off newegg and various other sites, half the cost and half the headache. I do not however look forward to replacing defective parts out of pocket =.
If you are afraid of putting a computer together yourself, get a local small business to do it. Most small computer businesses will assemble a computer for you for between $100-$120 (tax where applicable). Call one and find out what they charge, then order your components. Sometimes if you let them order the stuff for you, they will give you a discount or an extra warranty.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
My shop repairs more dells than any other brand. Im serious.. its like a staggering degree of dells. Any given month 100 dells, if not more, get repaired.
Your local computer shop will probably be more than eager for your business and will build you a quality machine.
My shop does custom build 7 days a week. We use quality parts because we want your return business. For us, your satisfaction in our computers will earn us more money in the future.
Dell soesnt give a shit about you, neither does alien ware. Your local shop will atleast t ry to earn your trust.
B. people who dont know any better and do not realize they can build the same machine themselves for 1000 less.l
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
You are incorrect sir.
Alienware is more like Mac. It caters to a niche market who likes to over spend on computer hardware.
B. people who dont know any better and do not realize they can build the same machine themselves for 1000 less.l
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
You are incorrect sir.
Alienware is more like Mac. It caters to a niche market who likes to over spend on computer hardware.
Dell is more like Microsoft.
Heh yeah see what you're getting at, but isn't Alienware owned by Dell. lol Yeah AW computers are retarded expensive same with mac. Its just funny that you can pay 1k for a laptop and the only thing differen't you get is an OS that cost 30 bucks compared to 110 or so with Win7. I wish people would bitch about only being able to get OS X on mac, but I guess Apple is too lazy to support a tons of different hardware like windows does, oh and the fact that nobody really makes games for mac.
IMO mac is for people with to much money and don't know how to use a PC. I haven't have a virus in 2 years you just have to be smart and know the tricks of the trade and most likely you'll never get a virus. I make music fine without having to restart my computer all the time and no BSOD either. I spent 600 bones on a computer almost 2 years ago if it were a mac it would have probably been 2 times the amount and I would have gotten a computer that could have done less.
Just build your own, Its not hard at all, it just takes a bit of research on which parts are compatable and just learn a bit about computers. Open case, screw mobo to case, install PSU, processor, graphics card and ram, then the DVD drive, hard drive and your set. Take maybe a half hour at most, I don't remember how long it took me to put my first computer together, but I tell you its easy as pie.
My previous threads have all been about trying to find a solid gaming pc for around $1100, but I looked around scraped together about another $400. So I've been looking around and I've always wanted an Alienware, but when I googled Alienware Good or Bad I found a lot of horror stories so is this a good brand to do this custom order
If you want to pay way too much money for a cool case that few people will see, then buy an Alienware. Honestly, if you want a good gaming rig, build one- you'll get more satisfaction out of it.
Comments
Build your own. With Alienware you are paying for the name.
get an alienware comp if you like however you could probly a build alot better comp your self with the price youl buy a alienware one
Its a DELL!!! Isn't that all you need to hear? Not that I really have anything bad to say about Dell but why buy Alienware, just get a standard Dell machine if you want that hardware. I would build my own personally.
Lol I still remember the DELL guy, that got busted for smoking weed...
The above post is your salvation, OP.
Building your own machine is the way to go, not from just a pricing standpoint... the knowledge you gain from building your own gives you FREEDOMMMMMMMM!!!
Look at some of the horror stories above regarding service. Of course, you're going to call customer service when something breaks and they're gonna say, "send us the box". If you built your own machine and something goes bad, you know that machine better and will likely be able to fix the problem yourself with minimal downtime.
In the case of the cooling system failure post above, you'd know from INSTALLING that cooling system, what you'd have to do to get your machine up and running again, ON YOUR OWN. You'd know what parts you might need, and be able to get them from a local business or a good online store like Newegg.
Vid card dies on the machine you built, you buy a new one, a better one. Or you send your store bought machine back to Alienware, get it back in 3 weeks with a refurbed version of the same card you had before.
Building your own machine isn't as difficult as it looks. Just give yourself plenty of clean workspace, get a grounding strap and a precision toolset from Radio Shack. Get really spiffy and get yourself a LED lamp that straps to your head to see better. 10-20 bucks worth of stuff. There are TONS of online resources for advice, for beginners and pros, alike.
In the end, you'll have a machine with the exact case and lighting you want, the exact mobo, vid card, hard drive(or use your old one)... EVERYTHING, your own unique machine, likely for much less than one of thousands of Alienware PC's.
Whether someone has money or not, they're stupid for buying it. People who buy it are gamers who don't have any confidence to build their own. The thing is......a retard can build it. And it doesn't matter if you save a little money going with companies like ibuypower or Cyber PC. You build it and you know your machine. And chances are that if some goes haywire, you can pinpoint the issue and just replace that part. Save yourself the money and don't waste it on dumb @#$%.
Getting too old for this $&17!
Ever try to build an alienware comp online, just for shts and giggles? I think i got mine to reach near $9k without a monitor.
For the same rig you could spend a whole lot less on newegg.
Looking to spend $1.1k? Yould get an underpowerd system with snazzy lights and graphics on the case going alien ware.
I spend $700 on a intel 2.4ghz quad core with a gtx 260 and 8mb dd2 ram (was on sale w/e i know its too much) and a 1440x900 resolution monitor, with it i can run AoC on near max setting (i turn down draw distances and lowerd shadows) around 30-60 fps (21-30fps in cities). Also i was able to run both AoC and Aion at the same time (used less than 4 gigs of ram)
Dont be a sucker and spend $1100 on a system that youll end up having to replace the crappy graphics card and buy a new powersupply to play wow or w/e on max settings
Remember a gaming computer needs #1: graphics card (with a decent power supply which isnt cheap) #2: processor power (more cores if you want to alt+tab out your game and do other stuff on the fly, no less than 2 cores regardless) #3 at least 3gigs of ram (need a 64bit OS to do more than 2gigs) and it doesnt have to be super fast RAM, getting ddr3 will only make your load screens and initial load up time slightly faster.
Dont be afraid of building your own system, and if you use newegg youll have supurb customer support. Hell newegg has prebuilt systems that blow away alienware when comparing price to gaming power. Just make sure you have a running computer with the internet, TONS of computer geeks trolling forums waiting to help explain how to install various system parts and how to trouble shoot.
I have all my new parts coming from NewEgg this Monday. Built a decent one for about $600. So yeah building your own is they way to go. I only have 2GB of DDR3 1333 RAM but it WILL hold out on 64 until I can fork out out some more $ for the other stick.
Getting too old for this $&17!
Give me your $1100 and I'll build you a computer from parts off of NewEgg that will be much better then $1100 given to any computer building company. My Computer is almost a year old now and cost me $700 to build and I'd put it against a $1100 system from newegg today.
Building your own may seem daunting, but it's pretty damn fool proof. Like putting a puzzle together, the parts only fit in one spot and there really aren't that many pieces. Most people that do build their own, learned by doing just that. I did pay for my very first computer, then I bought more RAM to add to it (went from 32 to 64MB) and that was as easy as it could be. Next I upgraded the processor (300 to 450Mhz). Again a piece of cake. Since then I have build all of my own computers as well as everyone in my family and tons for friend and family. I've saved every one of them money over what they were going to spend from Dell or HP or Gateway or ....etc.
As for Alienware or any of the other companies that build game rigs, they all use pretty much the same hardware. So if you get a DOA from one, you can get it just the same from another. They aren't building the motherboards, video cards, RAM, CPUS...etc at their place, they are just putting it all together. As with any business the people who have had bad experiences are 10x more vocal then the ones happy with their experience. I have a guild mate who had more money then he knows what to do with. He doesn't give a rats ass what he does with so he buys a brand new top of the line Alienware every year and has now for the past 6 years. All 6 computers are still running and he hasn't had one issue with any of them. Does that mean that all of their computers will work fine? No, but in his experience and from his view they are awesome computers that he'll continue to pay for. Yet he doesn't go around praising them. Talk to any business and they are more afraid of 1 person having a bad experience then anything else as they know that 1 person will lose more business for them then 10 of their happy customers.
Alienware has it's own horror stories (what company doesn't though) but what really ticks me off about Alienware is how overpriced it is. You are paying for both a high end machine AND the brand name and that really adds to the price. The only time i would consider Alienware is if i wanted a gaming laptop and even then i can get a custom built one from the US for a much cheaper price.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I bought one back in the early 2000s before they were actually aquired by Dell. Back then the company was good, the computer wasn't any more than one I could pick up in a store. However since the merger, there quality has dropped quite a bit. I used to work for a major electronics retailer and we sold Alienwares off the shelf. However, they were only out of the store for a couple days before the consumer brought them back due to various technical or mechanical problems. One person even said that his video card burnt out within the time frame. I think in the long run, it's better to build your own PC (I just recently have done this). That way when you need to upgrade, you already know your system specifications
I used to own an alienware a few years back. For the first few months the machine was a beast. Super fast, great gaming experience and could handle any game i threw at it. Towards the end of my year with it, shit started to happen to the hardware. Black screen of death, problems with my motherboard and some other stuff. So I called customer service and they were the absolute worst I've ever encountered. After many phone calls, and I even sent my computer back, it was never the same. I trashed the computer and just built my own HP computer.
Moral of the story is dont ever buy an alienware. My good friend had the same problems, and from reading other responses here it seems we werent alone. Their a company that hustles a shitty product. But the worst issue with them is thier customer service. Its abmissmal.
I've goofed around with Digital Storm builds on their site a bit, and I have to say, they offer some of the absolute best customizations I've seen in a pre-built system. Full liquid cooling options and individual component overclocking depending ont he cooling you've chosen. Then it's all covered under warranty.
I used to dream of buying a top-of-the-line Alienware system, but now that I found Digital Storm, Alienware pales in comparison. There are only 3 reasons why I'd buy a pre-built versus building it myself (which I have many many times). I'm scared to death of doing liquid cooling on my own. Same with overclocking. This place does both in extreme fashion, and you don't have to worry about it at all because if something goes wrong, you're covered by warranty.
You can find posts exactly like this for pretty much any brand or clone PC out there.Its a fact of life computers are made up of Hardware manufactured by people and therefore issues can abound.I have friends that paid for Alienwares and had awesome luck with them.I had a Sony Vaio once before I started building my own and had to send it back for repair,but they sent me a new PC 1st,then I shipped the broken PC back to them in a return box sent with the new PC.I guess Alienware does not support its customers as well anymore.IMO your best bet is to Buy and build your own PC,if you do not have the Knowhow then find a place that can build it for you and let you buy all the parts.If you go to Pricewatch.com you can build a new PC for dirt cheap and have one as good as any Alienware except maybe the optimizations they do.
Just wanted to chip in and say that if you just take it slow and easy, anyone who can read a manual can build their own computer. Now you said you had about 1500 bucks to spend? Look what i found: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-core-i7,2582.html
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
lol!you havent tried ms in a long time !i can tell you w7 serie is that shit men!it works good out of the box i wish all the stuff around worked as good!my only beef right now is the fact that techno has advanced so much lot of other techno dont mix that well but for a noob like the vast majority of us its unknown!my beef its the fact microsoft tell user to use ide instead of acpi if we re not sure the techno is compatible with x,y,z stuff come on a little help here!can you ms huys at least read speedguide.net or kadaitcha.cx see the main info often asked for gamer .how can i know this feature should be enabled if im a gamer but disabled if im a streamer on youtube !thats the pasrt i have issue with the average of ms is always on the low side and it always take a while to discover the stuff gamer related tweak windows hide .but window 7 64 bit is actually very good from out of the box .it probably autoset lot of stuff but its hard to know since ms doesnt talk about that.but they ll show you how to access desktop!(grrr)sorry for the rambling !
^^ This
Alienware is like Microsoft Windows. Take crap, sprinkle it with gold dust and the lemmings come out of the woodwork going, "Oooooo...Ahhh....let me get my checkbook..."
lol!you havent tried ms in a long time !i can tell you w7 serie is that shit men!it works good out of the box i wish all the stuff around worked as good!my only beef right now is the fact that techno has advanced so much lot of other techno dont mix that well but for a noob like the vast majority of us its unknown!my beef its the fact microsoft tell user to use ide instead of acpi if we re not sure the techno is compatible with x,y,z stuff come on a little help here!can you ms huys at least read speedguide.net or kadaitcha.cx see the main info often asked for gamer .how can i know this feature should be enabled if im a gamer but disabled if im a streamer on youtube !thats the pasrt i have issue with the average of ms is always on the low side and it always take a while to discover the stuff gamer related tweak windows hide .but window 7 64 bit is actually very good from out of the box .it probably autoset lot of stuff but its hard to know since ms doesnt talk about that.but they ll show you how to access desktop!(grrr)sorry for the rambling !
Too much Redbull?
Figured I'd add my horror story to this post. I bought an alienware a few years back. 1 month after arrival, the harddrives were dead and the video cards fried. I sent it back, got it returned a month later. Another month in and both video cards were dead again. I sent it back, waited... waited... waited.. called them a dozen times only to be told they were working on the problem. NOTE: This is replacing 2 video cards, it actually takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to do. 1 month in, they were still working on it.
I wrote a letter to the CEO of Dell, who had just bought out Alienware. A week later Alienware calls me up and informs me of the situation, apparently someone had got my letter and they were very eager to be of assistance at this point (I can only imagine they were terrified Dell was looking to trim some fat in their newly purchased company).
So the situation explained to me was this: They had my computer for over a month sitting around because they did not have the video card of the same model to replace mine, they had no plans of ever getting the video card back in stock as they were changing over to the new model. They had no intention of doing anything with my computer, it was literally going to sit there for the rest of eternity as they would never have said video card in stock and never be able to replace them.
After 5 weeks of waiting for something that should have taken 2 mins + shipping, they now agreed that they would upgrade my video cards to the latest model, they tried to spin as if they were doing me a favor. So add another week shipping and I finally get my computer back. I would also like to add, I live 45 minutes away from AW and the facility they build/repair their systems at. It took 2 days for shipping (not their fault of course) and 5 days for them to actually process the system once recieved or pack it to ship.
Since then I've had numerous problems with my AW, I never sent it back to them, now it gets a good kick when it acts up and has all their crappy plastic casing removed and both side panels removed so it doesn't over heat. It fails to post 50-75% of the time and loves to lock up and crash, even when doing nothing more then playing a video or surfing the web.
Anyways, that's my experience with Alienware and I can honestly say, the only worse experience I've ever had with a product, PC or otherwise, has been with Dell. Who now own Alienware! lol. As far as the Dell goes, after around 100 hours (over a 2 yr period) of phone time, I got a full refund for my system after every part was replaced, including the mobo 3 times! and they sent me a replacement PC that was 1/2 the cost and performance of the one it was replacing. Now I'm back to building my own off newegg and various other sites, half the cost and half the headache. I do not however look forward to replacing defective parts out of pocket =.
If you are afraid of putting a computer together yourself, get a local small business to do it. Most small computer businesses will assemble a computer for you for between $100-$120 (tax where applicable). Call one and find out what they charge, then order your components. Sometimes if you let them order the stuff for you, they will give you a discount or an extra warranty.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
My shop repairs more dells than any other brand. Im serious.. its like a staggering degree of dells. Any given month 100 dells, if not more, get repaired.
Your local computer shop will probably be more than eager for your business and will build you a quality machine.
My shop does custom build 7 days a week. We use quality parts because we want your return business. For us, your satisfaction in our computers will earn us more money in the future.
Dell soesnt give a shit about you, neither does alien ware. Your local shop will atleast t ry to earn your trust.
The mobo on my alienware laptop fried and fused everything together. 'Nuff Said
I'll stick with custom building all of my pc's both laptops and desktops.
Wildstar:
Phantazm, Pago(PvP), Exiles
Guild: Socks with Sandals
Playing: Wildstar
Retired/Tried: DCUO. The Secret World, Darkfall UW, Darkfall, Mortal Online, DDO, Rift, Fallen Earth, Aion, APB, EQ, EQ2, PoTBS, WoW, WAR, SWG, CoX, Vangaurd, CO, GW, EVE, DAoC, LotRO, SW:ToR, GW2, Dragon Nest
You are incorrect sir.
Alienware is more like Mac. It caters to a niche market who likes to over spend on computer hardware.
Dell is more like Microsoft.
Heh yeah see what you're getting at, but isn't Alienware owned by Dell. lol Yeah AW computers are retarded expensive same with mac. Its just funny that you can pay 1k for a laptop and the only thing differen't you get is an OS that cost 30 bucks compared to 110 or so with Win7. I wish people would bitch about only being able to get OS X on mac, but I guess Apple is too lazy to support a tons of different hardware like windows does, oh and the fact that nobody really makes games for mac.
IMO mac is for people with to much money and don't know how to use a PC. I haven't have a virus in 2 years you just have to be smart and know the tricks of the trade and most likely you'll never get a virus. I make music fine without having to restart my computer all the time and no BSOD either. I spent 600 bones on a computer almost 2 years ago if it were a mac it would have probably been 2 times the amount and I would have gotten a computer that could have done less.
Just build your own, Its not hard at all, it just takes a bit of research on which parts are compatable and just learn a bit about computers. Open case, screw mobo to case, install PSU, processor, graphics card and ram, then the DVD drive, hard drive and your set. Take maybe a half hour at most, I don't remember how long it took me to put my first computer together, but I tell you its easy as pie.
If you want to pay way too much money for a cool case that few people will see, then buy an Alienware. Honestly, if you want a good gaming rig, build one- you'll get more satisfaction out of it.
www.newegg.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.techforless.com
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire