Alienware = Ripoff Extraordinaire!

Guys, if you are thinking of buying alienware, take a moment to consider this - I recently ordered and configured a 15" laptop from Overclockers UK - the barebones was the Clevo M860TU (a good, solid laptop with brushed aluminium exteriors). It is a beast with great specs, so it ended up being quite expensive: £1,500

Out of curiosity I decided to see how much an Alienware Mx15 would set me back with EXACTLY the same specs (the only difference between the AW config and my own is that my RAM is DDR3, the AW is DDR2! - oh, and I've got the cheaper office - Home and Student, which is not offered by AW). See the config below;

Graphics Processor : 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GT
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9500 2.6GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 2048MB
Turbo Cache Memory: None
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 320GB 7200 RPM SATA with Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives: 2x Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Sound Hardware: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with surround sound
Keypad: Alienware® Exclusively Designed Non-Illuminated Keyboard - English
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Warranty: AlienCare 2-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Office 2007 Small Business - English

IT COMES TO £2,996.90 !!!!
TWICE AS MUCH AS MY SLIGHTLY BETTER, STURDIER SYSTEM.

'nuff said

 

But the Clevo doesn't have an 'Alienware' sticker, and that's worth at least 500mHz

 

Haha most of us have been saying that here. The only exception is the M17 which is very competitively priced.

 

the m17x and m15x you get ripped off on, but the m17 no way.... that thing is awsomely priced for what it is, and OCUK dont even sell the quadcore mobiles yet

 

yes perhaps but this company still does tings like charding £150 extra for 2gb of RAM ... and the quad core will set you back nearly a grand extra

 

I think it depends on what the person use the laptop for. Can most Laptops handle 1tb hard drive space M15X or M17X 1.5tb of hard drive space?. What about battery life some say 7 or more Hours on M15X. Unknown on the M17X.

Most laptops to get this extra space or battery life they have to buy external battery life or hard drives.

 

Ya the Alien head sure is attractive, still remember in old days where all of us stare at Alienware website looking at the high price tag and say "Oh I wish one day I'm rich enough to buy them."

Even now I'm grown up and come to know a lot other brand but I still wish I could own one one day, after I graduate and eventually working. Its like a childhood dream, very special.

 

I don't know who told you 7 hours but they were not well informed. The m15x DOES NOT get that kind of battery life, mine was about 2.5 hours tops.

AW also rips you off on shipping charges. They charged me $67 to ship to me and when I returned the laptop it cost mt $25 directly with Fedex.

 

It should be around 7 hours when your smart bay is insert with alienware battery.

Shipping... I got no comment since I bought my laptop and got it ship half the globe for $249.

 

Just to clear things up a bit. WITH the Smart bay battery and integrated graphics, power saver, lowered LCD brightness. Yes, it is possible! I've done it.

 

Yea honestly I retract one of my statements. The m17x seems like a ripoff however I do think that IF you need the battery life then you should get the m15x because with the 9cell + 6 cell smart bay battery you can net over 8 hours of battery life.

 

The reason why the M15x and the M17x are so expensive is because they are proprietary designs; it's not like they took an existing mass-produced chassis design and made some cosmetic changes.

 

It's all about what you want. If you want to pay the extra money for a certain laptop, why the hell not?

People do it with cars EVERY DAY! They purchase a 60k car, when a 20k car does near the same thing. Get you from point A to B. (Good god I'm sounding like my Father).

It's all about preference. I had the chance to get a WAY better laptop for the price I paid for my M9750, but I wanted an Alienware cause I think they are bad *** computers.

In the end, it's your money, and shouldn't be judged on what you want to buy with it.

 

Actually, with a starting price of $1299, they are becoming more competitivly priced. and if you perfer to have some Kmart brand ed, than you welcome to, but you shouldn't push your generic products here in a forum where people appreciate design and style.

Not to mention smartbay...

 

I am just about to order a gaming laptop here in UK, did some research and I have to agree that m15x and m17x are very expensive comparing to others. But M17 is a whole new story. Here is some price comparison of available at the moment 17" gaming systems for about 2000 quid that I have considered so far:

Dell XPS M1730 (8800M GTX SLI+T9300)+ BR! - aprox 1,700 (with coupon)
Toshiba Qosmio X-300 13W (9800M GTS SLI+QX9300) - 2,250
Alienware M17 (3870 CF+T9400) - 1,764
Toshiba Qosimo X-300 11W (9800M GTX+X9100) - 2,054
Clevo M860TU (9800M GTX+ T9400) - 1,600 - 1,700 (depending on reseller)
Clevo D901C from Kobalt (9800M GTX+E8400+2RAM) - 1,955
Asus G71G (9800M GS+T9400) aprox 1,600 (USA import)

You can see here that Alienware M17 is quite competitive.

As for today I do not consider anything that has GPU under 9800M a gaming system.

Feel free to correct me or to add something to the list

Cheers

 

Clevo m860tu doesn't ship with 9800m-gtx, only -gts IIRC.

 

not to mention, I already had the clevo m860tu, and with it maxed out I was still scoring about 2000 points less than I am with the m15x, 10213 baby.

 

Yes, but the OP said that in order to get this kind of battery time you need to buy an additional battery. Isn't that what the smart bay is?

 

The smart bay is battery, hdd, and dvd player, where as you can have 2 batteris in at once, not to mention Binaryfx, and stealth mode, allowing the m15x to go 4 hours longer than the m860tu even dreamed of.

 

I never consider buying an AW before M17 which drop my jaws by its price.

AW was for people with lots of money to spend and who doesn't care about getting rip off.
The M17 now is for general public.

 

Sorry, I meant M570TU...

Cheers

 

Thing is I dont regret it at all buying an M15X. Out of all the horror stories, my M15X is performing amazingly and much more than I expected. Its NOT as hot as people say because the fans actually come on at the right time and cools things down. When the fan is not on, the laptop is practically silent (SSD helps) and the LIGHTS are AWESOME. People might think they are just stupid or whatever but believe me, once you get the M15X and check the lights, they are just awesome.

I do some djing, LAN and stuff and the lights are just too cool, it just adds to the whole package, and the SKULL CAP design, amazing.

I love my M15X, currently its running off HDMI into a 24 inch monitor and performs like a champ. When i need mobility, just unhook it, take it somewhere. When I need bluray, Just use HDMI again.

Simply, AWESOME. Never would I buy a CLEVO design!

 

yes, that's what the smart bay battery is for. Extra battery life. without it, maximum on integrated would be around 5 hours which is still a heck of a lot of life.