Alienware WTH is up with ur pricing

2 days ago I configured a m17x system with a total price around 3050 euro's.

Today I was willing to order the system with the same specs and I noticed that it costs 3116 euro's. So I checked the euro-dollar price and I noticed that in the last 2 days the euro became even more stronger.

What is up with that? They just boosting the price on european customers? While US customers already can buy the thing for less than nothing. We already pay 500 euro's more for it. Sorry alienware but this is just it.

When I check a site like Dell for the m1730, it just becomes cheaper and cheaper or the price stays at a steady amount. It doesnt become more expensive.

I know it just 50 euro's on a 3k price, but it's pissing me off that they consider us Europeans as the milkcows of the planet. They are owned by the Dell company, so if Dell can keep a steady price, why cant Alienware?

It doesnt create alot of goodwill and i'm now considering to buy from another brand. First of all I will get the same specs for less money (read 500 euro's). Okay it will not look as cool as a alienware, but I wont have the feeling that im ripped off. I know u have to pay for the Alienware looks, but boosting 50 euro's in 2 days on hardware wich is getting replaced in the next month (9800m gtx and montevina) is just $@!#@!.

 

europians are on a rampage!

you're making a HUGE STINK about a 66 euro difference on a 3000 euro computer?

Did you ever think that they might have a logistics cost that went up? (the oil prices are on the rise, if you havn't noticed)... so parts which are probably shipped overseas, are costing them more to move them to europe. and as the oil prices increase, the cost of logistics increases and they have to raise the price as a result.

I mean, c'mon. it's only logical.

 

mate, calm down... the european price always fluctuates. it always varies by about 50 euros. don't know why, couldn't care less. just wait for it to be "low", then order. no need to get upset about it.

 

@Mystik, I think their parts are made in china, so it would be actually closer and cheaper to ship to Europe .

 

assembly's in ireland and miami, right? maybe the price of some things (battery etc) is based off the availability or something...

 

I am actually curious and would like to ask European customers like MrDJ, were your machines shipped from US? or AW have factory in euro?

 

except gas prices in europe are still higher than in north america.

 

I don't wanna go off topic, but well, you probably don't know, the cargo ships usually refill in china due to dirt cheap gas prices.

 

damn, really? maybe I should refill in china.

 

Its not the price, it's the principal. And if logistic prices went up, shouldnt that be a increase on shipping costs and not on the hardware? Also the fact that Dell and other brands arent fluctuating with their prices is a strange thing. So it cant be the fact that prices increased. I know all US and Canada customers dont care bout this, cause they stil can get the m17x very cheap without price fluctuatings. I checked the other european sites and i find it odd that it varies. French and German people can get it 50 euro's cheaper than Swedish and Belgium customers. Very strange if u ask me.

 

Like I said before:

When a company [like Alienware] is selling an exclusive model, they can charge whatever they want.

That is why I always recommend to do your research about what you want/need and see if there are any alternatives that you can fit those needs (especially if you have a budget or want to save money).

 

absolutely not. every country has a different VAT (value added tax). which results in different prices.

i repeat, the fluctuation is normal for the european sites. just wait for a "low" day when you order.

 

Okay, its normal for Alienware. This doesnt make it normal in general. Every other hardware brand can give me a fixxed price wich stays fixxed and doesnt fluctuate over days.

It isnt very customer friendly cause it gives me the feeling that buying a notebook is the same as buying stocks. That feels like work I dont want to do on weekends.

 

not if it's shipping costs FOR the hardware.

y'see, in business, the cost of the product is the cost of not only what you paid for the product, but what it cost to get it to you. the shipping costs YOU SEE are for the final unit, not for the individual components. if the cost of shipping goes up on the components, then you'd have a discrepency in the cost of the unit itself, not the shipping (as you see it).

It's a pretty simple business principle...

they keep the price fixed because the company eats the extra costs that are fluctuating.... the downside is that when costs decrease for the company, you see no savings. not so much with AW, seems they adjust their prices in real-time according to market costs... so any fluctuation downwards in cost, and you see a savings, upwards, you see extra cost.

honestly, wait for the prices to drop again, and you'll probably get a better deal than most

 

i see my name mentioned and i wake up
my machine was made and shipped from the guinness capitol of the world ireland to be sure to be sure
actually it is in athlone co. westmeath ireland. or thats where i sent it back to anyway. thats most probably why we do not have access to the AW forum or the roswell crew.

 

That´s a invite from AW to you to buy in another store for better and cheaper stuff.

European $$ fluctuation is thievery. Since there is no excuse for it (hardware from china, logistic at Ireland etc).

At this time, buying the m17X is foolish, since it is a outdated technology and too expensive (considering that a 17" notebook is more a desktop replacement that for mobility).

 

thank you for your opinion.

Please don't delude yourself into thinking it's anything more than just an opinion.

I hope noone else deludes themself into thinking it's anything more either.

Frankly, I disagree. there's more reason to buy a laptop than "outdated technology"... there are notebooks on the market selling with T5550 processors still, now, two generations old, yet still selling. the newest and best is not always the driving factor for buying a machine.

+ the 8800M GTX is still on par for the most powerful GPU
+ montevina computers hold very little advantage over Santa Rosa Refresh

- 233Mhz FSB for the CPU and 133Mhz on RAM speed and DDR3, is not a big gap.​

thank you for your expression, but that's all it is.

 

don't forget that AW notebooks are very pleasing to the eye, contrary to, shall we say, "other manufacturers" models...

 

True, except those rigs are dirt cheap, the most expensive I can think of is gateway p6860fx, which cost $1099. For paying $3-5K, don't you want the newest? It's like some people willing to pay $50K tuning to squeeze out extra 20 horsepower on top of 600 on their Ferrari.

 

touché good sir. but I pose you this question: what good is the newest and best if it crashes constantly? sometimes the not-quite-top-of-the-line-but-still-good wins out in the end due to reliability... this is why I got the T9300 and the 8700M GT. rather than the x9000 and 8800M GTX (look at what happened to those who did get that combination)

 

I was talking about centrino 1 vs centrino 2, old vs new. not sure why you bought T9300/8700m vs. X9000/8800m up. But in your case, the centrino 2 should help the heat issues since they generate less heat, and smaller size of mobo, which means more room for cooler system.
edit: I think you misread my previous post, I meant people deserve the newest technology for paying that much, even just a slightly improvement. it's different case of why you chose T9300/8700 over X9000/8800m. the only reason why AW is not updating it is that they can save few extra bucks.

 

I remember when People seid ddr2 was better then ddr. But the ture fact was that ddr was better then ddr2 when ddr2 frist came out. It took about 6 month to a year for ddr2 had better preformance of ddr. I wonder if ddr3 will suffer the same Fate?

Same thing with P4 vs PIII. The P4 was newer but PIII was faster. It took a year for P4 to be faster. Oh let not forget the Intel Northwood vs Intel Presscott. I stayed with a Clevo with a Intel 3.4 EE Northwood for it ran better and cooler then the Presscott.

So it shows that Newer is not Better.

 

Newer is not always better. However, the 5796 with new platform showed better benchmark compare to 5793, how'd you like that?

 

I've noticed price fluctuations on alienware, dell and various others here in the states as well. Just try to time it right.

 

Yes prices do fluctuate with AW's UK configurator.

Same scenario happened to me, when I ordered my m15x the total price was 2,124 euros. Two days after I placed my order, I played around with the configurator and noticed that the same specs now cost 2,160+ euros.

I checked each item's price one by one and found out that the main source of the increase was the almost 40 euro increase in the price of the smart bay battery.

So I'm guessing it's more of a supply/demand thing.

 

I'd have to disagree with that. It's just plain unreasonable to change the components of a system (especially one as elaborate as the m15x) mid-way through the lifecycle of the product.

The various complications and problems are unpredictable, and the technology is unproven. I think we can all agree that AW has had enough problems with their recent models of laptops... So changing components to gratify a very small percentile of elitists is definately not worth the potential risk, problems and just plain bad PR from all the possible issues.

This is aside from mentioning that the chipsets aren't likely electronically compatable, and thus the entire motherboard would need to be re-made.

Frankly, with the amount of changes that would need to be made in order for the existing models (m15x and m17x) to support montevina... AW might as well just release a new machine...

who knows? maybe that's what they're planning.... (breed is coming)...

Would it hurt to mention that this computer was available... what? December 2007? I'd like to see another laptop that's been on the market for as long, using the latest and greatest technologies...

and while everyone is sitting around with their thumb up their behinds waiting for montevina, I was playing crysis on my m15x. to me, that was worth the cost of, after 6 months, not having the BEST and BOLDEST machine on the market. 'cause honestly, I've beat Crysis, and I plan on buying the sequel... and I'll play that on my m15x too.

I don't want to be hostile here, but, the cost isn't going to change much, and when I bought the m15x, I was hard pressed to find a computer loaded with a T9300 chip. (nevermind the x9000)... when I found the m15x, I was more than pleased to pay the money for it. and I got exactly what I wanted.

 

Considering a 17" as a desktop replacement (as stated on my previous post), it is foolish to buy a m17x, and even more foolish to accept a price fluctuation up (instead of down) simple because is looks cool.

New tech, may not be powerful or astonish, but it is NEW. Starting with the Core2quad, passing the DDR3 platform, and ending with the 9800GTX (august) so bye bye 8800GTX superiority.

And price fluctuation is thievery, since mostly if the USD is going down the hill the AW.COM prices should go higher, not the Europe ones (except UK their aren't in the EURO), since with a strong Euro you can buy far more from china.

I fail to see why expend 3k euro and accept a price fluctuation up on a 17"notebook that will be beaten in less that a month be cheaper ones, not considering the 9800GTX (which will make the 8800 eat dust), since the 9800GT is insignificantly better that the 8800GTX.

@Mystik
Thanks for your m15x experience share, but we are talking about 17" notebooks. And in today standards, not last year ones.

 

in case you forgot, the m15x and the m17x were SUPPOSED to be released much closer together... at least, so it seemed when they were announcing the models. I believe it was only because of the problems with the 8800M GTX downclocking that they reconsidered the launch date of the m17x (trying to eliminate problems before they begin)...

I can't blame anyone for not wanting to shell out the cash for a machine that will be out of date in 2 weeks... especially if you're an elitist striving for the best gaming performance.

My point is, that everyone is looking for something different. and if you're looking for no price fluctuation, the latest and fastest CPU, RAM and Video technologies, then maybe these computers aren't for you.

For those of us that like the aesthetic, and are looking for GOOD performance (though it might not be the absolute cutting edge)... then we'll stick with Alienware.

I'm not sure why so many feel the need to come here and make a big stink about how AW's computers are not the best.

I don't go onto other manufacturers forums and complain about how their computers have flaws...

 

then there ya go....buy from them then....

 

BTW, every country wich has the euro has the same tax. Thats why I can just go out to Germany and buy something and it wouldnt be illegal if I brought it to the Netherlands. So there is no single way AW can give a logical reason for having the same piece of hardware cost more in another EU country.

And im starting to wonder if they boost the prices on weekends cause they get probably more orders on weekends than on week days.

 

Actually AW didn't realize there was a downclocking issue until 1-2 months after m15x's release

I don't see any inflation with sager newest models??

why don't you just say so at the beginning so the rest of us can save a breath? It makes every tech related arguments pointless.

 

@Mystik

First, i am not a AW hater, but also i am not a biased fan. AW m17x lost the train and now sit in the station. That´s fact. Had it been launched 6 months ago, this topic wouldn't even exist.

Second, i think ppl should buy the notebook they want, but also been informed that there are other opportunities (especially in Germany or any other First world country) which are BETTER, CHEAPER but don't have the looks of a AW.

Third, price fluctuation is thievery, that´s fact. Or do you really believe that AW only buys hardware "on demand"? And, EVEN if they do, hardware prices for EUROPE are going DOWN with the strong EURO. That´s basic economy theory = strong currency = favorable import, and MOST hardware isn't manufactured in Europe or USA, but in Taiwan/China. Even here, in god forsaken Brazil prices are going down. If they buy the hardware from the US and transfers them to EU, them they should eat that cost, not the end user.

And last, what would you buy:

a 17" WUXGA full HD higline display, 4 GB ram +4 GB turbo cache, 9800mGTX SLI, x9100 processor overclocked (3,06), 160 GB (7200 rpm), + wlan + bluetooth + blue ray + vista home + 3 year european warranty = 4383,67EURO (VAT included 19%) (the CX1739 Cizmo -www.mycizmo.com)

or​

a 17" WUXGA+, 4G ram + 1 GB turbo cache, with 8800GTX SLI, x9000 (2,8), 160GB (7.200rpm), + wlan + bluetooth + blue ray + vista home + 3 year AW warranty + AW free extras + alienFX keyboard= 4.122,16 EURO (alienware.de - m17x)

Not including shipping on both?

A good forum is a fair one, and only fanboys can defend that AW prices on the m17x are "fine" and "fluctuation up" is fair.

Buy me the flight ticket and i would gladly go , even with the 50% import tax here in Brazil i would get a cheaper and better notebook that the one offered here.

 

who cares, if its too much for anyone just dont buy it, so simple, if you think its thievery just dont buy it so that way no one its stealing you anything. I mean there isnt a monopoly about notebooks, there are a lot of brands to choose from.
I think it will sound lame but its like comparing mc donalds and carls jr (or bk or whatever) I mean if you have 2 options Mcdonalds and another, and suddenly Mcdonalds increases its Bigmac for 1 dollar you wont go like telling everyone not to go to there because they risen the prices, you just go to the competition.



yeah I can see several responses for this saying "aw will lose customers" but still the % of loss its minimum and they will still operating the way they want, anyone that really wants an AW already knows the high prices and will still buy a notebook from them.

 

Yes, that is was most ppl would do, but isn´t the point here.

The point here is: you and a friend are going to eat something, you have the Mcdonald with a kind of burger lottery and you have the burger king with a standard price. Both are the same hamburger and the difference will always be at least 1 USD more expensive (if you are unlucky on the "timing" it could be more expensive). Which one would you go eat?

 

I'm going to eat whatever I like. Not whatever the daily special is

 

Just so you know processors and a lot of other hardware are produced in Japan and the US not China.

 

i will make you a deal....

get me a sexy, attractive, and educated brazilian wife and i will....
i heard you can get better wives there then they offer in the states....

 

Has anyone considered that if the price fluctated around lets say 2000 - 2500 euro, AW lets the price fluctuate depending on a whole lot of different reasons that no one of us have any idea of, so it is just pointless to discuss it because neither defenders or attackers of this fact has no idea why it is happening.

Other companies on the other hand just set the base price at 2500, or they set it at 2250. Independantly how much you hate AW and bash it, ALL profit-run companies will try and maximise profit or shareholders wealth. You can sit here all you want try and convince yourself that other companies are "nice" and are not after your money and eating up the loss of profit when prices for hardware go up...however that is a lie cause companies are profit run and has no incentive to lose profit because they want to be nice to you? (I hope someone else also hears the irony of thinking companies WANTS to be nice to you...lol they are only nice to u as long as they can profit from it, if they can profit from kicking ur ass they would gladly do so)

AW is not much different from any other company out there, sure you can sit there in ur bubble and focus your hate and frustration on AW and be blind to all the other companies in the world who are after your money and are making huge profits. Ignorance is bliss right?

 

I am behind such a women too. Brazilian women are hot, but the qualities you are searching is like winning in the Lottery.

@Zombo
Even if they are build in the South Africa, with a strong euro Imports are way cheaper in Europe.

Isn't a forum suppose to be a place of Enlightenment?

Where do you read that the "others company" are "nice"? Where you read that AW is a philanthropic company or any other? Anyone pointed out from where AW takes out their fluctuation criteria?

Really strange, most ppl on this support the "money extractor policy from AW", but bash the ones who said that there are way more BETTER and CHEAPER options...

I fail to see why someone should pay 50 or even 1EURO more for a already expensive notebook, without knowing the reason. And also, i fail to see why someone would get an m17x in such conditions, if there are better choices around. And this last sentence, ISN'T bashing or hating, it is a fact.

Maybe it´s because i live in a overpriced country (macbook pro = 6k USD only as an example) or don't have a money tree...