Alienware vs Dell/Alienware

There are always people saying Alienware was better when they were independent, not bought by Dell yet. Why? Idk since i went alienware with the M17x R2 but Alienware was already dell at that point. Just curious.

Thanks!

 

Hmm my Alienware Aurora desktop from Alienware when they were based in Ireland broke after 18 months, and the support provided was hopeless, plus I purchased in early December, then once Christmas was over they released the option for SLi which was a little disappointing. Just bought an M17X, had it 4 days and so far so good! Only had to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive, and build quality is very good. So I cannot see any negatives since Dell bought AW, and you don't see them everywhere like Macbooks, yet Dell's advertising and awareness of AW seems to have significantly improved.

 

I would see why people would say that, but I think alienware after dell has been a huge success. Of course, tech has come a long way in the past couple of years and computers overall have become better in everyway then those of the past so it is hard to say if alienware computers would be on the same level as they are today if they were not bought out by dell.

 

I know there are some folks that will disagree, (as there always are,) but it seems like the only people I generally see making those comments are the trolling haters that have never owned a legacy Alienware or a Dell/Alienware product. That, or a bitter soul that had a bad experience and is on a mission to try to settle some personal vendetta for things not going as they should have.

My only experience is with the new Alienware, but I cannot imagine that their service or support was as good as it is with Dell backing up the products. Weak or poor service and support options are what holds back many boutique vendors from achieving greatness. I am very proud of Dell from not destroying Alienware like HP did with VoodooPC... what a shame how that turned out.

 

I recently picked up a older alienware hangar 18, Its nice, but I do not think the quality was very great on it.

The media control buttons were built upside down (play was stop and stop was play) I had to take them all the way apart, and rebuild that. It was not really a user servicable thing so I dont think someone took it apart.
Lots of loose screws (cant really fault alienware for those since the computer is 5 years old)

The case it self was just a standard metal case, it was a modded version of the msi media live case.


I think the big deal that some people have is that with older systems there was more customization. Now its set as packages.
I feel that dell has done good things with the company, prices have gone way way down, quality is up, design is much better now since dell has the power to do what ever they want for design.

 

Howdy,

I have been an Alienware customer since 2002, and was a fan before that . Since then, I have owned 3 (and just ordered my 4th last week) Alienware systems, with the first being before the Dell purchase, the second shortly after the purchase, and the third only a little under 3 years ago. My first purchase was an Area-51 (back then Area-51's were Intel based and Aurora's were AMD based), and I bought it via Best Buy. In 2002, Best Buy had a trial thing going where you could customize and build your Alienware computer in store, pay for it, and have it shipped to your house. When I recieved it (it took around 10 days to get to me :-( ), it was bleeding-edge at the time, and would not run stable for more than about 20 minutes. I had to deal with support right away, and it took about another week for them to get someone to my house to fix it. After that it worked great. The computer was awesome!!! Several years later (I think around 2008, might have been 2007) I purchased an Aurora "Star Wars Edition" computer from the fledgeling Dell/Alienware. As mentioned earlier, Aurora's were AMD based and Area-51s were Intel based, and had 0 problems. I did not have to contact support a single time for it. In fact, I am still using the case and have pretty much gutted it. In 2009, I purchased the still 'newish" M15x, which had a few problems (bad BIOS flash, bad motherboard, bad power supply) over the years, but overall I am pretty happy with the level support provided by the "new" Alienware. I have not seen any decrease in quality of the products, have noticed better prices, and better avialibility of parts since Dell puchased them. The two biggest changes are that tech-suppor is no longer typically someone with a thick Spanish accent (they were based out of Florida), but now it varies. The other thing is that Alienware now has access to parts much quicker than before. Some from my point of view, Dell purchasing Alienware was a good thing. We have great products like the M11x, and M18x due to it. Thanks!

Rich S.

 

Very good points on why its great that Dell acquired Alienware, now i know.

Thanks to all!

 

The only thing that bummed me with Dell's Alienware acquisition was the loss of the mALX. I mean that laptop was the pinnacle of Alienware design. I would be awesome to see that again in the current lineup!

 

What I am about to say next is not really relevant to us Alienware laptop users. Anyway, why did Dell/Alienware choose to discontinue Alienware Area-51 ALX desktop and "replace" it with much inferior Alienware X51 Desktop? After all, the Area-51 ALX desktop is designed to be more powerful than the Aurora ALX desktop.

Thanks for the clarification, guys.

 

Because the amount of people willing to spend that much money on a desktop is much smaller than the amount of people willing to buy a aurora alx or a x51.

Think of it like this, how many cars does ferrari sell? now compair that to VW... VWs are tons cheaper, so more people can buy one and that equals more sales.

 

Hello alvinkhorfire,

Since the difference between an 'Aurora' and an 'Area-51' has traditionally been that 'Aurora' was AMD based, and 'Area-51' was Intel based, the distinction went away when they stopped selling AMD systems. From that viewpoint, the 'Aurora' of today is technically similar tot he 'Area-51' of yore. The current Area-51 is a new product, that (in my opinion) is of the same pedgree as the Falcon NW Fragbox, a small-and light portable desktop, not a new version of the classic Area-51.

Thanks!

Rich S.

 

I was a bit skeptical when Dell purchased Alienware but by all indications things have worked out very well.

 

The only bad thing out of the switch over was the loss of Dell's XPS laptops i had a M1730 before my M17x R2. Man was that thing a plastic powerhouse 8800M GTX SLI also pretty sure it still had a 1200p screen nice keyboard and pad.

Other than that its good times all round (except for our wallets)

 

I've got a pre-Dell AW and a post Dell AW system both sitting in front of me. Same rubber finish, similar layout, but the R4's design is actually worthy enough to be called Alien also has better hardware and flashier lights that have more than 3 colors. Honestly the R4 is just as much of an Alienware product as the M17-R1 I'd been using the past four years. I do miss the 16:10 screen though :\

 

I always wondered why they even switched to the new 16:9 aspect ratio standard, when the general consumer consensus always seemed to point to a preference of the 16:10 standard.

 

I've never owned a legacy system, but I think Dell's acquisition of AW has made the brand much, much stronger.

- Significantly better prices
- Top of the line warranty service (best in the industry)

What I miss about the legacy systems are the blue/green colours of the laptop body.

 

Both valid points.

I have owned 3 Alienware computers. 1 Desktops and 1 laptop.

Pre-Dell
-Area-51 WAY back when. I saw one of Alienware's first press releases in a magazine (we're talking pentium, yo *sideways og hat*). 2001 maybe? Geeze I'm getting old. (I think this old thing is still at my Dad's house lol.
-Area-51 some years later. Replaced after some time with my first personally build desktop.
Post-Dell
-Current M14x. Mixed emotions. Has been a good workhorse and can play games pretty well.

-I never needed support on my desktops so I can't speak to the difference in tech support, but as someone who generally tinkers with things until they are fixed, I hate all tech support that I have encountered. Having qualified that, my experience with tech support on my M14x has been nothing short of an extreme exercise in patience.

-I will say that far and away it was a "cooler" process to buy an AW way back when. It was new and novel and while most people would just grab something at the local store or slap together something from frys or pricewatch.com, the Alienwares were quirky and unique. You really could get some crazy colors. It was sort of like buying from Origin was when I got my E-17. I had a marketing lady ask me all excitedly how and where I heard of them and tell me how glad they were to have my custom. (If only the E-15s weren't so bloody thick!)

-Jeebus they were expensive.

On the whole I think people that talk about legacy Alienware are more in a "good ol' days" mindset rather than anything bitter or spiteful. It's the same way old guys talk about old American Muscle, when, while cool, numerically do not stack up to modern examples. It's an emotional thing; nostalgia can be a tempting mistress.

 

@ ejohnson and LinkRS

Thank you for the explanation, guys. It is a pity that we may not get to see the all-powerful Alienware Area-51 ALX desktop again.

I understand your point. If I am not mistaken, the highest wattage of the Alienware Aurora R4 Desktop PSU is 875 Watt. On the other hand, Alienware Area-51 ALX desktop can be configurated to have an 1100 watt Power Supply Unit. So, there is a possibility to install 3 video cards in Area-51 ALX. Having said that, Aurora R4 is not the exact successor of Area-51 ALX.

Anyway, I should stop the discussion of the discrepancy between the aforementioned desktops, as it is inappropriate to be discussed in this laptop forum.

 

Just had a look at the AW mALX.... Honestly, it looks like three pairs of shoes are on the back. Seriously, check it out.



Yea, I like the design they have now personally.

 

LOL I see the shoes. IMO, Alienware's current design looks great, but is a little bulky. If you look at the Razer Blade, Razer managed to fit similar specs of the current Alienware m17x into something the size of a macbook pro... Couldn't Alienware make the cases a tad thinner to improve the looks? >.<

 

The razer blade is a joke. Its nowhere near an m17x in terms of gaming performance. $3000 for a gt555m. Not even as powerful as the m14x. Ridiculous touchpad and buttons that likely do not get used because you are not going to be gaming on a trackpad. Razer needs to chop that price in half, especially if they insist on using a non gtx card.

 

"Alienware" was a small-scale operation. Any legacy owner from the old days will tell you that the support SUCKED. The build quality was fantastic as they were made in smaller more controlled quantities, but they were also the only "custom" manufacturer at the time so they were also extremely overpriced (hence the reputation they still have today, however untrue it may be).

Overall, Alienware is better off post-Dell acquisition IMO. It may have become a little more mainstream, but that means better deals for the consumer's bottom dollar.

 

No, and I hope they don't get any thinner anytime soon. Making it thinner would sacrifice the cooling and the serviceability. The Razer Blade sports a GT series video card, which is really nowhere near the capabilities of GTX cards.

 

AW>razer blade
But just a heads up, the Razer blade is getting an upgrade to the 600 series when the update comes this August-October.

 

I don't really see a disadvantage of Dell buying out Alienware in terms of laptop. Seems that the quality remains the same or has actually increased a bit.

But for the desktops, please dell, stop messing with Alienware's good name and let them actually make proper desktops. The recent Aurora's and Area-51 is just an overpriced LED casing with mainstream components

 

Ya, I don't know anything about how the old Company did business, so have no comment on that. But I always loved their design and colors.