HIDevolution

http://www.hidevolution.com/
Anyone tried ordering from these guys?
Apparently they can order Alienware/Dell laptops from US and ship it to non US citizens. And as an extra bonus, i checked out the M17x R3 and you get to customize it anyway you like and they will even repaste the CPU/GPU for you, install new RAM and put in new better SSDs like Intel 510 or Crucial that is much better than the Samsung SSDs Alienware deliever.

Sounds very good because you get everything done and you get the whole laptop delievered to you complete

 

Never heard of them. Rest assured that if they offer a unique service, plus parts and labor, you're going to see it on your end when you go to pay for it.

 

Alienware M17x R.3 R3 non-3D Custom Built to Order

System Color
Soft Touch Stealth Black
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB ...
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Thermal Paste - Lower temps and extend life of system!
IC Diamond on CPU + GPU - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Video Card
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M
LCD Panel
17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Memory
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS) - 1600MHz not supported on 2630QM - installed by HIDevolution
Hard Drive
Intel 510 Series 120GB SSD SATA III - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution
2nd Hard Drive Bay (installed by HIDevolution)
NONE / NOT APPLICABLE if RAID is chosen
Internal Optical Drive
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Battery Options
85 WHr 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Power Adapter
240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord
Wireless Cards
Wireless 802.11 g/n
Warranty and Service (Dell warranties are valid worldwide with service tag transfer request)
1 Year Basic Service Plan
Office Software
None
Security Software
None
AlienFX Color (Color can be changed later to any color using supplied AlienFX software)
Quasar Blue
Avatars and Wallpapers
Alien Cyborg

Grand Total: $2,724.00

 

I have ordered from them they gave me free FedEx shipping last time. Though the drawback is, they're very hard to reach after they've got your money. Am happy with the current machine I got from them (M15x) but I do have a warranty issue that they have refused to fix.

Kept asking me to contact Dell directly. sigh.. Speaking of which, can anyone aid me in restoring the warranty?

 

I tried to order an r2 through them 2 weeks ago. They say they have direct contact to reps with Dell. There communication could be better but they gave good rep on eBay.

 

Same goes for directly ordering from their website. They claim to have "several" employees assisting purchase via chat, but the only guy I've chat with is "Ted"

 

It seems they sell the Dell Warranty and they transfer it to you, or is that not the case?

One of the best reasons for getting an XPS or Alienware is the warranty. Getting less of a warranty would destroy any reason to order through these guys for me.

 

I ordered an HP HDX 20" laptop about 3 years back from them. Mint machine i had no problems with them at all . shipped to the u.s. address for me and i brought it back over myself.

 

In my case, the service tag provided for my machine is invalid. I've asked them to aid me, but their responses took forever. They claimed that even a one year warranty is transferable, but what good is it if I can't even check my warranty status?

 

I ordered from them - and I live in the UK. I think they are a one man band (you have to speak to a guy called Ted over chat to get any answers). They are pretty good and will ship anywhere. If you do order then make sure you fill out a transfer of ownership/warranty on the Dell website. There are threads on the forum telling you how to do this. Be warned they add a significant markup to the final price so if you are ordering from another country (not the US) then careful consideration needs to be taken on the final price. Also you will have to pay for FedEx and any import tax if applicable.

 

Ok.
I like the idea that you get to customize the laptop anyway you like with stuff Alienware doesn`t include, and get it delievered to you complete. But at the same time i have to be 100% certain that the people working there knows their stuff and do the repaste correctly and not tampering with it with messy hands, forgetting to put in the screws etc. That is probably a good reason to do it yourself, but not everyone knows how.

 

Just ordered from HID, just the standerd 3D R3, it has more then I will ever use. The reason I ordered is the huge price difference between Holland and the USA. Paid 1340 euro, excl. shipping. The price in Holland would be about 2500 euro excl. shipping. A huge price difference. At first I was looking at the new XPS but as I can get the Alienware with much better specs and look the choice is easy.

I had a chat with Ted who I think is the owner, he will transfer the warrenty to me using the service tag transfer form from Dell and he is throwing in a adapter for the euro sockets.

Now I need to wait for about 4 weeks. Cant wait!

 

I ordered one too but with 6970 and yes, cant wait too

 

Hello everybody,

does anybody have any experience with HIDevolution.com ?

The reason i'm considering buying from them and not from Dell is because i'm currently working in Qatar, and Dell doesn't ship internationally whereas hidevolution do, so that would save me the bother of having to ship the R3 to an american adress first and then to Qatar, and more importantly i won't have to pay taxes that are added when shipping to an american adress, well at least that's the way it should be, and here in Qatar there are no taxes on imports.

So what do you guys think? How reliable are they and are there any privileges i would lose from not buying directly from Dell?

Thanks in advance

 

I just ordered an R3 from HIDevolution and so far I've found the speed of customer service to be great.

I'll post updates when I know more.

BTW The price in USD of the laptop in the USA was the price in GBP in the UK

The exchange rate is 1 USD to 1.6 GBP!

 

Excellent at least I'm not alone!

My M17X R3 is on its way!

 

Is it just me, or is hidevolution.com isn't responding?

 

They are closed at the moment, see their opening hours on the top right of their website, they open in 3 hours

 

To you 3 lucky guys that are waiting for the M17 R3, please get back to this thread and tell us about your experience with HIDevolution once you get it. It would be helpful for a lot of people i think

 

What I meant was;



is everyone getting what i'm getting?

 

No idea, works for me...

 

Works for me too.

 

now this is weird. how am I supposed to get an R3 now? Does Ted reply often on HID's eBay account?

 

Maybe it is your browser giving you a hard time. Tried changing?

 

Yea, this is where I'm going to buy it as well.

 

What kind of markup is added to the price on the website? I can see the M17 R3 (customised) from $1499, but how much do you end up paying on top of that?

 

Yep normally within 2 hours

 

If you live in the USA there is not much of a price difference between Dell and HID. HID offers the 3D model for the same price Dell does, even the upgrade's cost the same. HID is really attractive for people living outside the USA because of the huugggee price difference most country's have compared to the USA.

If you buy from HID you will pay the 1499 if you keep the config as it is plus shipping.

PS: I used the chat function on the HID site to ask my questions to Ted.

 

Yeah i too am interested about that added value thing, because the prices are exactly the same as Dell whatever same customisation you choose, except you have even more options than Dell offers, and for us outside the USA we even won't pay the taxes we would have paid if we were in the US, but i'm interested in knowing if it takes longer than ordering through Dell or not...

 

Hi all,
lurk around these parts quite a bit, jusy thought i'd chip in here. I bought an m17x r2, fully loaded, from HID this time last year ( i live in the uk). Never had any issues at all with them, transfered the 3 year warranty no probs, Had a long wait for the machine and Ted always kept me upto date with my order and what was going on. I'd use them again in a snap.

 

Hahaha - that statement in itself speaks volumes. Personally, I wouldnt trust any company/firm/individual who doesnt respond after they had your hard earned cash......maybe im just "old school" though.....

 

Guys you should be fine. I used them and they delivered no problems. If you want to know the price you can send them (Ted) a specced up R2/R3 and he will get back to you with a quote - usually within 24hrs. Remember on top of your quote you have to apply the FedEx costs and any import tax to your country. Deliveries are slightly slower than buying directly from Dell - because Dell will ship to their offices in California and they then need to ship it to you.

The best way to find out about your order is to speak to Ted over the websites chat interface. He does have a lot of other customers chat windows open at the same time so he will be slow to respond, BUT he should get back to you. Once when I was speaking to me he told me he was having 10 other conversations at the same time lol

 

Why make it more difficult? Just go to the website and make your own configuration and you will know exactly how much it will cost, and for the shipping just go to the checkout page and put your country and your zip code and you will know the shipping expenses, so all you need to do after that is add your country's taxes and that would be the final price you will have to pay.

 

You can only find out the markup if you get a quote. They are not going to sell you the laptop at Dell prices.

 

I called yesterday and they clearly told me that the price of the configuration on their website is the price you pay, and I asked how to order and was told to configure the laptop on the website and fill out the required information as it's the easiest and clearest way to order.

 

On the HID website or the Dell website?
What I mean is if you spec a machine on the Dell website they will order that machine for you and then add their markup. I think the confusion here is you are referring to HID prebuilt Alienware laptops?

 

Oh, in that case I think you're not aware that there's a configuration page on HIDeovlution's website for the R3 where you can even add options not available on Dell's website which HID will install for you themselves, so you can see the price straight away, order, pay and checkout all without having to contact them.

 

hidevolution.com - Alienware M17x R.3 R3 3D Custom Built to Order

Just messing about with it but it seems that you can only config with a 460m

 

No there are two different configurations: 3d and non 3d.

http://www.hidevolution.com/alienware-m17x-r-3-custom-built-to-order.html

http://www.hidevolution.com/alienware-m17x-r-3-r3-3d-custom-built-to-order.html

 

LOL

Good spotting - I didnt see the Non 3D link....

 

didn't see your last sentence so updated my previous post with both configurations

 

The price is really nice. The specs are more up to date as well.

2920xm sounds really nice and bluray writer as well. Some SSD are good priced as well.

Although for RAM/bigger hard drive(I want a 1tb drive for storage) your better of upgrading it yourself.

Although I'm comparing this on UK prices


I got like 3dbundle/ 4years advanced/2720xm/4gb ram/320gb hard drive/blu-ray burner/Intel ultimate network card all for $2,573 which is $200 less than the base price for a uk one.


The base price in uk starts at £1,700 without 3d/120 screen. So I can buy my own stuff to improve the machine way under my budget.


I still not ordered it yet...since I'm still thinking if this is worth it. But, I will most likely go for this.

 

Well thats solves it then - I didnt know you could do that. I never looked at the new site

 

Ive just done a side by side comparison with the same spec on a 3D ready R3. One from Dell the other from Hidevolution.

Pretty basic - the only thing I changed was cpu to 2820 and warranty to 4 yr (basic on HID & w/out a/d on Dell) and Intel 6300 on both and Bluray combo on both.

Dell UK price = £3,244.00

Hidevolution price = £1,698.03

Obvioulsy, add shipping and UK duty to that (at 20% rate on total DELIVERED cost) and it seems to work out one heck of alot cheaper.

I would like to know if the warranty offered by them is a Dell warranty or if its a Hidevolution warranty. The main thing that would put me off would be having to RMA to the states from the UK. (mind you, saving THAT much, I could afford to ship it back and forth a fair few times LOL)

 

I did send an e-mail to ask that very question. Along with how much custom is charged.

But someone who already ordered it told me that the custom price which we will pay is around $500 so you have to add that along with delivery price.

Also it's Dell warranty and they tranfer the ownership to you. This was told to me by someone who ordered it already.

Not sure on how they do it yet so I have to wait until they reply back.

 

I asked them that question yesterday, and they told me that everything they install themselves is covered by them, whereas everything else follows Dell's warranty, and normally you should be able to send it to the UK's Dell for repairs and not to the USA.
And yeah, prices outside the USA are just inexplicable! But hey at least we have a way of ordering from the US with the cheap prices, be it more troublesome

 

Well a simple way to work out the duty is just to add the shipping costs to the final value of your purchase and then add 20%. I dont know how much they charge for shipping to the UK or elsewhere but UK HMRC will charge duty at the rate of 20% on the TOTAL cost of the item INCLUDING 20% on the cost of shipping. (which is a major bummer - afterall, its just postage!)

example being:

£1700 for the system
say £100 for shipping (dont know what service but for that much , I would want priority airmail lol)

so, £1800 plus 20% (£360)

Grand total = £2160gbp - still one heck of a saving in comparison to Dell UK.

If its a Dell warranty, have you found out if you have to RMA it to the States or can it be services "in home" in the UK if something goes wrong?

The reason im kinda intrigued now is that I am hoping they will stock the M18x if and when it comes out!!!

EDIT: Also, do these ship with a US power supply or can they do a UK plug? - anyone find that one out? (although, can probably buy the cord that goes to the psu quite cheaply with a UK plug on it. The other IEC end should plug into the psu just the same I imagine.)

 

It should be in home once the tranfer has taken place. Afterall the service is worldwide.


I remember asking the Dell rep about something similar and she said even if it's a basic 1 year warrany it is worldwide and will have someone come at your door to fix it for you. But then again it's hard to trust a sales person.

They sometimes know less than me.

 

To see how much they charge for shipping to the UK just finish customising and click on add to cart, scroll down and you will find a box called Estimate Shipping and Tax, just fill it and click on get a quote

Edit: just filled it, it says $136.6, that's £85

 

Not a bad price for shipping I guess...

Anyone have any info on the PSU question?