Can anyone here vouch for the Alienware brands? : Othor Games

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:08 pm

I had a strange but very distinct reason for choosing Alienware over Sager, MSi, Asus or Origin.

Splash protection on the 3 year warranty. I am moving aboard a sailboat, water will be a part of my life, water protection for my laptop was essential and not offered on the protection plans of Alienware's competitors. Also the look did not hurt either. The Sager is a big chunky laptop, an Alienware is smexy.

Alexis
*smiles*

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:38 am

Origin PC or Maingear IMO.

OP should look at the Maingear Titan....

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:59 am

Anyone who says Alienware is too expensive, I challenge you to find a pre-built LAPTOP with the same specs as this and post a link showing you can get it cheaper!

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Video Card: NVIDIA? GeForce? GT540M graphics with 2.0GB Video Memory and Optimus
Processor: Intel? Core? i7 2617M 1.5GHz(2.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
External Optics Drive (for CDs): Dell 8X External Optical Drive: Super Multi DVD±RW Drive
Personalized Laptop color
Built in LED lights to light up keyboard at night

This all comes out to $1,249.00 for a M11x Alienware laptop, what I'm currently using to play Skyrim and many other games.

here is a site with a whole bunch of Laptop Gaming machines that are equal if no better than Alienware and more Affordable to.

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=7

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:24 am

here is a site with a whole bunch of Laptop Gaming machines that are equal if no better than Alienware and more Affordable to.

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=7

That's a Sager/Clevo reseller. Doesn't look any cheaper to me but I only spent 5 minutes on the site after reading a few reviews. Warranty's don't look great either.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:16 am

Had a m17x r2.. dual gtx 260s sli.. overheated all the time. Had the cards replaced twice. Wouldn't buy from them again, more so now that Dell is in charge.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:55 pm

I have used alienware for years, I have also built computers. I have worked in the IT industry (helped install the 911 network along the east coast, have a degree in fine arts majoring in game design and have done contract work in that industry, and have owned my own IT consulting company). Just wanted to give you a little background so you know I am not speaking with no experience to back it up. That being said I recommend Alienware.... however do it the smart way. Go to the Outlet store for Dell (outlet.dell.com) and buy one there.

One of the things people do not realize is a top of the line XPS or Alienware PC use a seperate customer support. When you call you get good support. Also if you buy parts from a company and build your own, you will generally have a 30 day warrenty. When you buy a prebuilt machine from companies like Dell you get anywhere from 1 to 3 years support, not to mention my support promises to replace or fix my computer within 4 hours. I have used the support, and yes a truck arrived with a tech at my house within 4 hours of my call.

I got a top of the line PC from Dell's outlet a few years back before i7s existed. I paid $2500 for it. I priced it out on Newegg and it came to $4200. If I would have bought it from Dell and not the outlet... i would have paid over 5 grand.

My current PC is an Alienware, I paid $2500 for it as well. It is 2 years old and smokes games still.

My conclusion.... Alienware's price is justified and the product is solid. To get an equal machine from another company you will pay close or even more... and that is with only a 30 day warrenty.

ROFL!! Alienware's prices can only be justified by those with either an obvious bias or far too much money, they are a rip off, plain and simple. Customers of Alienware are paying through the nose for a cheap little badge, because Alienware pc's contain the exact same, identical components as any other pc.

Other firms only have 30 day warranties and cost more? Are you on drugs?

Ignore this guy, he hasn't a clue what he's talking about. Just had a quick look at the Alienware site and a pc with the same specs as the one I am typing on would be roughly ￡2000.....it cost me ￡700, nuff said. Also because I bought my parts separately I have a 3 year warranty on my CPU, lifetime on my ram, 5 years on the GFX card and PSU e.t.c.

Alienware is for morons with more money than sense, it's painful but 100% true. There are literally hundreds of cheaper alternatives, most with better customer support and longer warranties.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:18 am

just to mix it up a bit:

Sony do some decent mid to high end laptops. If you are travelling a lot, then a 12.1inch Z-series is beautiful, very slim, with sufficient cooling and with up to 7 hours battery life (not when gaming ofc). My year and a half old one copes with most modern games fine, and that is with a crappy 330M nVidia GPU. The new Zs have much better gfx cards, and are with better power technology.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:23 am

ROFL!! Alienware's prices can only be justified by those with either an obvious bias or far too much money, they are a rip off, plain and simple. Customers of Alienware are paying through the nose for a cheap little badge, because Alienware pc's contain the exact same, identical components as any other pc.

Other firms only have 30 day warranties and cost more? Are you on drugs?

Ignore this guy, he hasn't a clue what he's talking about. Just had a quick look at the Alienware site and a pc with the same specs as the one I am typing on would be roughly ￡2000.....it cost me ￡700, nuff said. Also because I bought my parts separately I have a 3 year warranty on my CPU, lifetime on my ram, 5 years on the GFX card and PSU e.t.c.

Alienware is for morons with more money than sense, it's painful but 100% true. There are literally hundreds of cheaper alternatives, most with better customer support and longer warranties.

We are not talking about Desktop PC's in this thread you may notice.

In the case of Desktops I would never buy any pre-made system. Why would you when you can order exactly what you want and assemble it yourself in a couple of hours, even with next to no experience. It's satisfying, cheaper, and you get a better product in the end as it's built exactly how YOU want it. I agree that you'd be mad to order a DESKTOP off Alienware.

However, we are talking about Gaming Laptops in this thread, and in my view Sager and Alienware are the only two horses in the race. I would not try and build my own high-spec Laptop as heat is always going to be the main issue in such a tight package. You could spend thousands of dollars only to find it overheating. Somebody above posted that their m17x was overheating. At least with Alienware you can just send it back. Or do a bit of research before you buy and see that the M17x has always been prone to that particular problem.

You bring up money and the price, as many have in this thread. I'll repeat it again - a high-end Gaming Laptop is going to cost you. If you want to play the latest games on ultra settings on a Laptop it is not going to be cheap. It is going to cost thousands of dollars. They aren't systems for school kiddies or people with money concerns.

If you had a spare $5,000 and could ONLY buy a Gaming Laptop with it, what would you get? You cannot use the money for anything else, and you receive no change. Try and look at it from that point of view if you want to be of any use at all in this thread.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:41 am

I got a friend who has run the local PC repair/PC build shop for 15 yrs so he aint going no where, and All of his products are bought from one of the larghest Wholesalers in Aus, that being Synnex, of the one problem I have had (motherboard Died) It was under warrenty, they sent it off and I got a brand new one in about 4 days. I get 10% off the prices he charges as i have know him since i was 10 (I'm now 29) I have never paid more than $1300 for any custom built pc that i have bought through him.

Of the 6 pc's I have built all of them were with gaming in mind (and within my budget) so custom built will always be cheaper than pre built PC's, as whena pre-built PC has a problem you have to send the whole thing away to be repaired, where as custom built one like mine I can go to PC store with my PC show them whats wrong and they can replace the part (sometimes) on the spot mostly when it's CPU/Ram/GPU/Mobo, If i have a special PSu ordered and it dies then it may talke a few days to get the custom parts in ie I have a Thermaltke Toughepower 850W PSU( they don't normally stock this PSU) so in the even it died i would have to get a tempory Stock brand 850W replacement.

PS: I agree with all the above posts, stating that Alienware are over priced and you pay $X amount just for the name Alienware and it ain't worth it, unless ya have money to throw away, in which case it would be better spent as a donation to a charity of your choice.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:00 am

sadly it will always be quite difficult to have a rational arugment whenever anyone mentions ALIENWARE.

it will merely bring out the I-MAKE-MY-OWN-RIGS-FROM-SCRATCH crowd against those who like to purchase PRE-ASSEMBLED.

which really equates to THOSE-THAT-LIKE-CHOICE to THOSE-THAT-JUST-WANT-A-COMPUTER

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:30 am

Alienware and all of the rest of the high end boutique makers such as Falcon Northwest overcharge by at least 2000 bucks.

Why anyone would buy from them has always confounded me. :brokencomputer: :brokencomputer:

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:11 pm

I got a friend who has run the local PC repair/PC build shop for 15 yrs so he aint going no where, and All of his products are bought from one of the larghest Wholesalers in Aus, that being Synnex, of the one problem I have had (motherboard Died) It was under warrenty, they sent it off and I got a brand new one in about 4 days. I get 10% off the prices he charges as i have know him since i was 10 (I'm now 29) I have never paid more than $1300 for any custom built pc that i have bought through him.

Of the 6 pc's I have built all of them were with gaming in mind (and within my budget) so custom built will always be cheaper than pre built PC's, as whena pre-built PC has a problem you have to send the whole thing away to be repaired, where as custom built one like mine I can go to PC store with my PC show them whats wrong and they can replace the part (sometimes) on the spot mostly when it's CPU/Ram/GPU/Mobo, If i have a special PSu ordered and it dies then it may talke a few days to get the custom parts in ie I have a Thermaltke Toughepower 850W PSU( they don't normally stock this PSU) so in the even it died i would have to get a tempory Stock brand 850W replacement.

PS: I agree with all the above posts, stating that Alienware are over priced and you pay $X amount just for the name Alienware and it ain't worth it, unless ya have money to throw away, in which case it would be better spent as a donation to a charity of your choice.

Again, we are not talking about Desktops in this thread. Read it before posting.

sadly it will always be quite difficult to have a rational arugment whenever anyone mentions ALIENWARE.

it will merely bring out the I-MAKE-MY-OWN-RIGS-FROM-SCRATCH crowd against those who like to purchase PRE-ASSEMBLED.

which really equates to THOSE-THAT-LIKE-CHOICE to THOSE-THAT-JUST-WANT-A-COMPUTER

I don't believe it merely brings out those two groups. For example I would never buy a Pre-Built Desktop, I always make my own with the exact parts I want. I quite enjoy the process of putting it all together too. But would I do that with a Laptop? Nope. Cooling is too much of an issue. They can also be temperamental and I want coverage for spills, dropping etc considering the places i'll be using it. Not simply for hardware failure like warranty's for parts cover.

So please direct me to somewhere other than Alienware where I can get all of this and still put two high-end video cards in it.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:46 am

I have an Alienware desktop. Its a good computer...but I do think that it is definitely overrated for the price. Next time around, I believe I will get something built custom locally. I cannot say as to the quality of the laptops. Just remember now though, that if you are buying an Alienware you are essentially buying a really expensive Dell.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:53 am

As a proud owner of an M17x R3, I can say that they are definitely viable gaming laptops. All of my games run very well on mine, with great frame rates and beautiful quality. I bought my laptop since I need to travel occasionally for work, and for this purpose it's ideal!

The brand is somewhat controversial with gamers, but the controversy is based on subjective opinion, mostly over the cost of their systems. Quite honestly, the value isn't really as bad as some people say it is with Alienware. Yes, you can build a computer for a lot cheaper, but that's besides the point. The reason many people buy Alienware is for the experience. The brand has a lot of history in the PC gaming industry, and while there has been some ups and downs in it's popularity, the brand has managed to remain very consistent over the years in terms of quality (even after their merger with Dell).

Their rigs are very capable, but you do have to pay a little more for them... Just like you end up paying more for a pair of Nike's than a pair of Timberland shoes.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:55 pm

As a proud owner of an M17x R3, I can say that they are definitely viable gaming laptops. All of my games run very well on mine, with great frame rates and beautiful quality. I bought my laptop since I need to travel occasionally for work, and for this purpose it's ideal!

The brand is somewhat controversial with gamers, but the controversy is based on subjective opinion, mostly over the cost of their systems. Quite honestly, the value isn't really as bad as some people say it is with Alienware. Yes, you can build a computer for a lot cheaper, but that's besides the point. The reason many people buy Alienware is for the experience. The brand has a lot of history in the PC gaming industry, and while there has been some ups and downs in it's popularity, the brand has managed to remain very consistent over the years in terms of quality (even after their merger with Dell).

Their rigs are very capable, but you do have to pay a little more for them... Just like you end up paying more for a pair of Nike's than a pair of Timberland shoes.

You know I am not going to say you guys are lying with all these glowing reviews I've seen regarding Alienware but ever since I came across this website [ http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Alienware ], all I've seen is bad review after bad review. Most regarding negligence to warranty parts and customer service being a piece of [censored].

I was really hyped but that site made me quite miserable to be honest. I am thinking of going Sager or Malibal after all since they have way better customer feedback.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:41 am

I purchased a dell xps gaming laptop a few years ago before they took alienware. Before my warranty expired the hard drive broke. They replaced the whole rig with the m17x free of charge.

I have no problems recommending the alienware gaming laptops.

Skyrim - runs on high settings, no CTD's, no BSOD's, no game breaking issues as of yet. I guess I am lucky....

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:06 am

So you have had the machine with minimal to no problems for a year? Amazing. For a laptop (and a gaming laptop no less) I would consider that pretty damn good.

I guess I will start saving up as I'm in no hurry to purchase one off the bat. For me I have always being more of a "quality for more cost" kind of person anyway. I am really hoping for an earlier release for the newer M19x model just so the m18x drops down in price drastically because that's the machine I have my eye on (with the m11/14x on the side).

That is correct good sir. My laptop, as far as I can remember, has NEVER crashed. (In reality it may have once or twice, but it wasn't a repeatable offense I guess, and I think it really was just stupid windows updates, cuz nothing comes to mind at the moment) the only problem I've had with it that has bugged me to no end, is for some reason I cannot make a backup disk off the recovery drive. Granted this isn't a HUGE deal as the laptop came with a bootable disk already, but anyways, it was traced back to a fault with the alienware software (which I found out, is a seperate from the warranty you receive on the laptop, which covers hardware ONLY, and calling about the software issue as the CS says it is, will cost money, so I said screw it). Other than this, my laptop has worked great.

On a side note, I haven't noticed heating being an issue, but I NEVER play this laptop on my lap, always on a desk or flat surface, which I firmly believe helps with ventilation and heat and prolongs the lifespan. Now the arguement appears well why don't you just use a desktop then? and I have to repeat the fact that I can TAKE my laptop with me to hotels and friends houses at least, my home computer I cannot. At least until they invent a transformable computer >:D

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:25 am

You know I am not going to say you guys are lying with all these glowing reviews I've seen regarding Alienware but ever since I came across this website [ http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Alienware ], all I've seen is bad review after bad review. Most regarding negligence to warranty parts and customer service being a piece of [censored].

I was really hyped but that site made me quite miserable to be honest. I am thinking of going Sager or Malibal after all since they have way better customer feedback.

Which is what I mentioned in my original reply to this topic. Stupid Dell ruined everything.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:02 pm

You know I am not going to say you guys are lying with all these glowing reviews I've seen regarding Alienware but ever since I came across this website [ http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Alienware ], all I've seen is bad review after bad review. Most regarding negligence to warranty parts and customer service being a piece of [censored].

I was really hyped but that site made me quite miserable to be honest. I am thinking of going Sager or Malibal after all since they have way better customer feedback.

Lol. It's pretty hard to trust any review site these days, especially when you can't see how many reviews somebody has done. The review sites where you can see a post count you'll notice it's almost always 1 for really negative reviews. You have to remember that somebody who's had a bad experience is 1000x more likely to post a review. For example after my annoyance with HIDevolution I went straight online and posted 2 negative reviews on the first 2 sites that popped up when I searched "HIDevolution review". I have not posted one positive review anywhere on Alienware, despite absolutely loving my M18x. Why? Because it's a waste of time. I'm happy with the product and would rather spend the time gaming on it. But when you're angry and helpless you will hit back in whatever way you can. Human nature.

Honestly I would go off what people have said in this thread about Alienware. The good and the bad. Nobody in this thread is a 1 post wonder, or not that i've noticed. So you can take what's being said here with a few thousand less grains of salt than some review spam site. This forum is full of gamers. And of those who've actually posted in this thread that they've bought an Alienware Gaming Laptop I can only remember 1 being negative? That speaks for itself I think.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:10 pm

how about moving this APPLES vs ORANGES argument to STACK EXCHANGE as it has absolutely nothing to do with SKYRIM PC PROBLEMS FORUM

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:38 am

how about moving this APPLES vs ORANGES argument to STACK EXCHANGE as it has absolutely nothing to do with SKYRIM PC PROBLEMS FORUM

Perhaps he posted his question here so as to know if anyone playing Skyrim on these machines has any issues? If you don't want to read it then guess what? Don't read it. I know forums can be complicated, but if you don't click on the big writing describing the topic you don't want to read, you wont have to.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:35 pm

Perhaps he posted his question here so as to know if anyone playing Skyrim on these machines has any issues? If you don't want to read it then guess what? Don't read it. I know forums can be complicated, but if you don't click on the big writing describing the topic you don't want to read, you wont have to.

you can always spot the f.an b.oys

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:37 am

you can always spot the f.an b.oys

Just as you can always spot the pedantic little trolls

.

Stop trying to derail the thread, i'm interested in what the OP eventually buys. All i've done is give my opinion, the decision is his and i'm interested in it. I may have shot down a few people talking about Alienware Desktops but guess what? This isn't an Alienware Desktop thread

.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:05 am

Has the OP mentioned what he'd be using the laptop for (kind of just skimmed through, might have missed it)? Because, unless you're doing some serious traveling (via bus/plane and staying in hotels more than a night a week kind of traveling), I think you'd be far better off buying a cheap laptop for basic usage and then getting a gaming desktop along with it. More than likely it'll still be cheaper than a "gaming" laptop.

Of course, if money is not an issue, and the portability is that important, then more power to you I suppose.