Ask Alienware's General Manager, Frank Azor, Anything on AWA! - Part Two!!

I think he got the NP9752-S with 980M or so...

 

Who did you talk to? I would like their number/info. I would love parts only service for my Alienware 17, my LCD has developed a weird backlighting problem. I have always been denied parts only service in the past.

 

He will be sending me am email I will pm you his contact info once I get it.

 

The best part is it took me all of 15 minutes on the phone

 

Yeah, Tom is correct... Got the NP9752-S. Upgraded the CPU to the 4790k @ (+$50 over the 4790), the GPU to the 980M (8GB), and the network card to the Killer™ Wireless-N AC 1525. My favorite thing about this system is the entire thing is user-upgradeable.

Spoiler: Images

HTWingNut's review and gameplay videos have pretty much convinced me that it's the best 15.6" laptop on the market, regarding price for performance. And it has 7 heat pipes keeping the CPU below 90C in all benchmarks, and the GPU around 60C.

Spoiler: BF4 & Fire Strike (Ultra & Extreme) Benchmarks.

Hope it is a good machine. Didn't extend the warranty because after a year I'm planning to upgrade to the 1080M. But seeing as I don't have a main PC now, I couldn't stand waiting until 2016 to purchase one. Let's just hope Pascal is still MXM 3.0b. My plan is to use the stock Micron M600 M.2 SSD for games, and toss in a Samsung 850 PRO as my primary OS drive. Requested no OS to be installed to avoid bloatware.

 

You joke, but this may be the direction we're heading in. Instead of going for more power, portability and stylishness seem to be the dominant factors.

 

unleash the mini beast

 

Still waiting for it to ship. Patrick from XoticPC says it should be processed Monday or Tuesday.

 

Joking, because sometimes you have to laugh to avoid crying, puking or messing your pants... but, painfully aware of the potentially horrible future ahead of us. The direction things seem to be going has never been this pathetic. So sad when stupidity en masse washes everyone into the sewers. Style over substance seems to be the order of the day. Technology is going the same way furniture has with particle board, compressed paperboard and twist-lock fasteners... looks great on display at the store, but when you take it home and start using it, rapidly becomes weak, broken, useless and unfixable... worthless, disposable garbage and landfill fodder.

 

Even how bad a Gigabyte laptop is, it has in any case a separate software for fan control. See what AnandTech writes in final words...

Still, Gigabyte has done a lot of things right to make such a thin gaming laptop with as much performance as they have available, and under load, the P35X delivers impressive results. The cooling system, although loud, does a great job or removing spent heat and keeping the system temperatures in check. Being able to manually adjust the fan speeds is also a great feature that should be standard on all gaming laptops. You get a ton of ports, lots of expansion, real memory slots, and a lot of the things that have been going away on many devices these days. Although this is not a device for everyone, for those looking for a powerful but thin gaming laptop that is relatively light, the Gigabyte P35X v3 deserves some consideration.

Dell just continue as before with crippled fan profiles also on the new AW laptop's .. Nobody will upgrade to newer bios on the new AW laptops because fan profiles just gets worse and worse the more recent bios Dell launches. Dell must also follow this trend if Alienware Laptop's shall be as thin as they come to be.

 

Somebody try tweeting this to the dell owner and say that it's making a negative image on his business.
Not that I think he cares, but it's worth a shot.

 

More of what the AnandTech writes about fan software ....
You can choose one of four settings for the fan speed, and honestly other manufacturers should add something similar to all gaming laptops. Stealth is the lowest setting, and would be the one I would use in any scenario other than gaming. Auto High is claimed to offer 95% of the cooling of the Max Fan option, and I tried gaming for several hours on Auto High and I would agree. This mode does allow the fans to run at maximum. For situations that warrant it, end users can enable the fans at maximum cooling as well, and although the when the fans are spun up the system is very loud, cooling is quite impressive. Being able to set the fan at maximum is a setting every gaming system needs to incorporate. Sometimes it is better to put these decisions into the hands of the end user, since they know when they need it.

 

Could this be any worse? Even in 3Dmark11... This is the new direction from Dell ienware in collaboration with Intel...

 

Hmmm Dying Light engine is total crap and DAI too but Far Cry 4 should work good as 3dmark11 too. Strange.

 

Some tests of new AW15 and Aw17R2. Not exactly top scores. AW17R2 http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-17-R2.139485.0.html
Aw15 http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-15.137077.0.html

 

THis is why i moved on to a desktop and i will stick with a laptop with a 14 inch screen and a 755m. the 755m is good enough for me on the "go". if i want to play something on the computer, i can make do with a 5820k and 970 sli on a 4k screen. i sold my alienware for parts, with it i 75% funded the desktop build. i wont miss alienware.

 

Made by Dell... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...2-owners-lounge.770314/page-120#post-10022183
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...u-throttling-to-800-mhz.777144/#post-10022736
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...2-owners-lounge.770314/page-122#post-10022538

 

On a serious point there might be something to the GPU amplifier idea in principal. At home is where I'll be playing games and an external GPU would suit such needs quite well. There is also sometimes/often a need to be portable and in this function I don't really care about how good the GPU is for gaming etc... I can see how this approach makes sense, in theory.

Of course there is a fair comment to be made that this approach gives the worst of both worlds - since it isn't as good as a desktop when tethered to the amplifier and it's not an über ultrabook when mobile, either.

I'm probably rambling...

 

Bennni, I can't speak for everyone but I don't mind the existence of the Alienware Graphics Amplifier (AGA, eGPU, GPU amplifier, whatever you want to call it). I think it can be useful in the right usage scenarios and for the right user. The AGA is a fine upgrade path or even a fine peripheral for the right person.

What some (me included) object to is:
1. The fact that the internal socket-able components were eliminated: main processor and main graphics processor(s) … and to a lesser extent the optical disk drive.
2. The fact that the second GPU capability (NVIDIA SLI or AMD Crossfire) was eliminated in the flagship model.
3. Overclocking doesn't seem achievable without the AGA. And even with the AGA CPU overclock, the tweaking and manual adjustments appear to not be possible.

I tried to keep my responses to the "graphics front" (war metaphor) and as related to the AGA. I think had Alienware kept the MXM 3.0b sockets for the GPU and kept the SLI in the flagship model, and kept the overbuilt cooling design and TDP limits high, some of the complaints might have gone down.


However, the other problems (prior to Oct 2014) or so would still be here. Chiefly for me, is what was Alienware thinking with locked down BIOS (system BIOS and vBIOS) they give us in the 2013-2014 models? AW either needs to demand better of its vendors (Intel? NVIDIA?) or just write their own if the vendor won't or can't. A tweakable/advanced BIOS should be a given. For a computer that is marketed as a high end gaming computer and "the most power computer in the world" we expect more.

Why solder the internal CPU and GPU? Leave them socket-able and give us the choice! Also why the TDP limitations in a high end gaming computer? From an engineering and a marketing standpoint I really _*FAIL*_ to grasp what Alienware (and Dell, NVIDIA, and Intel) are doing here. What I took away from Mr. Frank Azor's "Ask Me Anything" thread was that: 1. Intel was forcing the BGA components on mobile parts and (soon) desktop parts so everything will be soldered. 2. We knew BGA would cause an uproar (I don't believe he is it stupid. He appears to be very intelligent and aware.). 3. He was hoping to pitch the AGA as a "useful compromise" to BGA for most users. 4. He thought we would appreciate thin/light more than we did. 5. The focus was on gaming and gaming upgrades and balanced gaming performance rather than "the most powerful computer in the world." 6. Despite being AW General Manager, his hands are tied (with Parent company Dell, and with Intel and NVIDIA).

And Mr. Azor or Mr. Kahn can correct me if I am wrong. I really should be using citations or exact quotations rather than relying on memory.

Also Bennni my comments aren't directed at you nor am I criticizing what you wrote. I, too, am probably rambling ….

I think my "post-mortem" on my Alienware 18 is I probably should have bought the Dell mobile Precision M6800 instead. I really though the Alienware computer was going to be the more flexible option.

 

I don't claim to be business savvy but the steps taken appear to be placing the Alienware range out of the market sector that it previously appealed to. The obvious hypthesis being that this market sector just doesn't make financial sense and hence moving to a less enthusiast-orientated audience. The alternative hypothesis must assume that Dell are making a huge mistake by alienating their previous target audience and will suffer as a result. Seeing how Dell have survived for some time I'm inclined to accept the first hypothesis. This hypothesis would imply that Dell have done the sums and looked at what consumers want and have decided that they can better supply those paying consumers by offering a different product. Of course, if the latter hypothesis is right then Dell will pay heavily as a result and their share prices will fall - nothing to be done but see what happens. Again, I'm not employed for my financial accumen so it should be taken as mere musing at best.

I do understand the frustration though - it's not unlike that felt by car enthusiasts who see the previous era of v8 widowmakers increasingly becoming the Audi TT and other more profitable (Safe?) models.

 

Wow, what absolute garbage these HQ processors are...

 

Test after test now show that Dell messed up with testing and development of the new Aw laptop models, a huge mistake to use a weak 180w power supply on the new AW15 and 17r2 models. The engineers at Dell (Alienware) should have been fired from job after this big mistake... It does not matter if you bought a laptop with Nvidia Aw or Amd graphics, i7-4710 / 4720 or i7-4980Bga processors. Even Aw 15 should have received a free upgrade to 240W power supply. Not only those who bought a Aw17R2. Everyone who bought AW15 and 17R2should have received a upgraded 240w power supply, wherever they live in this world. It is deeply unfair that all Aw laptop buyers outside the United States and Canada do not have the same rights regardless of whether the rules are different in other countries. Dell must obtain a new certification / verification for approval of a 240W power supply with all 2015 model Aw 15 and 17r2 laptops in all continents that sell these Crippled laptops. It is not enough to offer laptop customers, a crippled "modern" hybrid bios.
A new test of Aw 15 and now with Amd graphics. New review dated13.06.2015... http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Alienware-15-R9-M295X-Notebook.144446.0.html This is so tragic. Dell what have you done with the "brand" Alienware ? Now a crippled brand ala Packard Bell(Dell)... Even worse for sure now; Because Alienware was a better brand, known for better hardware, design and performance. Now a mediocre brand... Packard Bell was not known to deliver raw performance and was known as a cheap brand(now is Aw, Packard Bell and Acer at the same level).

 

I am a actually hoping that with the crap they are pulling lately, their sales plummet and someone will buy Alienware from Dell at a discounted price and get back to their roots. Right now it's just embarrassing. I don't think I have ever seen an elite brand completely and utterly neutered and destroyed like what Dell has done to Alienate in any industry. Maybe it's happened before but I can't think of anything like this. You know, say what you want about MS but I kinda wish they would buy Alienate. They have resources, money to burn and a vested interest in PC gaming. At this point, they can't do any worse.

 

Well, that would be one way of getting rid of the Alienware brand forever. The decision-making executive imbeciles at Micro$haft basically ruin everything they touch, including their own stuff. Unless you think an Alienware Lumia Surface by Nokia, featuring XBOX Live sounds exciting, then maybe that is a good idea. The only reason they are interested in gaming is to sell more XBOX consoles and Live subscriptions. They don't give a rat's butt about PC gamers and they obviously hate performance PC enthusiasts based on their actions. The acquisition would make sense as a special measure to kill off more overclockers and performance enthusiasts. If they have their way we will become extinct because there will no longer be any suitable hardware or operating system to support anything we care about. But, OMG, we will be so safe... no fear of the digital boogie-man, Micro$haft is here.... we will be as snug as a bug in a DRM rug, LOL.

 

Don't forget Cortana will be there to support you too!

 

Well, you're right on one thing. Alienware laptop sales have plummeted thanks to the CPU throttle bug. And it's bad.
Long story short, a Dell community forum member brought the bug multiple times and suggested people to return or cancel their 15 / 17 R2 laptop orders. It was on his last thread (before he made a new account) that action was made. A BIOS was supposed to be made after it had gotten out-of-hand, until the OP became more passive aggressive (he wasn't always, but he was usually). Said thread ended being deleted because of how the OP acted (making claims how it was impossible to fix when it was fixable, implying legal threats, wanting some thanks because he mentioned the problem, etc.).
So he comes back with a new thread (well, two of them, but one is abandoned) and posts images of what appears to be PMs for one of the admins. He said he didn't like how the OP treated Dell on suggesting to fix the problem. And in said PM, it was noted that Dell lost more than 5000 customers. And that number is going to increase if Dell doesn't fix it and people spread this news (incidentally, I feel like a hypocrite stating all of this, but NBR knows the throttle bug as well as AWA). To put it to perspective, at the best case scenario, if the amount of cancelled 15s and 17 R2s were the same and, then Dell/Alienware lost about 7 million dollars.
Whether this is a wake up call or not for Alienware to not screw up is one thing, but another thing is that the people who are making the BIOS aren't getting paid enough. So... they're in a corner.

 

BIOS support has sucked for every system since the end of the M18X R2 days.
8 months to release a BIOS for the A51 R2
Many months to fix the 2015 15/17s. In addition to late BIOS fixes, dell isn't going to include Broadwell CPUs?
Zero support for the 18 after Frank's AMA. And no dual GPU notebook monster in the foreseeable future.
Disaster.

 

@Game7a1 - I don't know about any of those financial figures, whether they are accurate, or us discussing those figures is appropriate in light of the fact that we cannot validate them. But, they are sobering numbers, and what I do know, beyond the shadow of any doubt, is that I do want Alienware to fail. I love the company for what it has been in the past, but I do want them to learn from their mistakes, regroup and come back with at least one amazing product for the hardcore performance enthusiast.

What I also know is that signs of serious problems looming on the horizon began to surface a generation before the latest mainstream BGA junk was released. It was very bad for customers, and evidence of poor judgment, that they locked down the Alienware 17 and 18 BIOS and made it to where it was crippled to the point that we could not fix it ourselves. The power handling limit imposed on the 18 was also really bad. It was good that the 17 could use the 330W AC adapter sold with the 18. It should have been offered on the 17 and something more adequate provided for the 18. Even their approach to crippling fan speeds and introducing latency in the fan tables to help make those machines quieter than their predecessors was an ill-conceived and erroneous business decision that reflected a huge disconnect between the company and the customer. Fast forward to 2014 BGA turd machines with wimpy 180W AC adapters, artificially induced performance deficits, and BIOS crippling on steroids, and it seems evident they had an agenda that did not sync up well with customer expectations.

They don't necessarily need to undo all of what they did with the new models if they are trying to appeal to a broader audience that includes the less robust and less expensive jokebook fan base, but they do need to not lose sight of what made them successful if they don't want to lose a huge customer following. If I can be so bold, here are the take-away lessons they need to burn all of their calories on fixing if the brand is to survive and flourish.

• Lesson #1 - Get rid of Secure Flash, anything conceptually similar to it, and let us have full ownership rights to "unlock" the BIOS if you are not going to give us full menu access... cease and desist from any type of engineering that imposes limits to firmware mods or any other abilities to achieve performance beyond factory specs
• Lesson #2 - Bring back a 17" or 18" dual GPU beast with a dual AC adapter (or single 660W brick) that allows Alienware to compete with Clevo... the former only requires an adapter box, so not a big deal as long as the motherboard is not crippled with a 330W power handling limit
• Lesson #3 - Get rid of BGA or offer at least one dual-GPU capable system with CPU socket and MXM slots in a 17" minimum form factor... can be sold with single or dual GPU instead of offering two products if need be... if you have to use fully unlocked desktop K and X CPU to get the job done, suck it up and do it... no more excuses based on what you might have tried in some clandestine laboratory at some point in the past... the proof of concept has been proven successful by Clevo, so either get with the program or get out of the business
• Lesson #4 - Remove all limits on what customers can do if you want people willing to spend big bucks on a high end laptop to stay with your brand. Imposing limits on ownership rights are unacceptable to most people that are willing to spend more to get more
• Lesson #5 - The eGPU was nifty, but it doesn't make up for a crippled base product... to add value the underlying product needs to be a fully functional and wicked, fully unlocked and capable beast without any help from a peripheral accessory

If they can pay attention here and learn from their recent mistakes, there is still an opportunity for a happy ending. If they cannot do that, it may end in tragedy. Some of us are not willing to compromise our requirements for the sake of brand appreciation. If they cannot do this, then my desire for them to be wildly successful is futile, irrelevant, perhaps even stupid on my part, and maybe they ultimately deserve to fail for not meeting our expectations. If they cannot meet our expectations it is time to move on... build a desktop with generic parts, no lock-downs or artificially imposed limitions, so that we can run and operate the machines the way we see fit as the end users. This is the price of admission for future success.

 

I was just making an educated calculation on the money lost since the 5000+ numbers is a number said. But I won't discuss it further.
I'm not going to comment on the rest of your post. I just wanted to bring up the situation Alienware could possibly be in, a corner.

 

I agree with you 100%. They are in a corner. I wish they were not, but they are responsible for putting themselves there. It was predictable that they would find themselves in such an undesirable situation. The disgruntled customer that created a ruckus at Dell Community Forum did what should have been done in multiple forums, and to a fairly great extent was, but they only paid attention to the noise in their own forum. They stifled it there, and they either ignored, or pretended to ignore, the noise here, at Tech|Inferno and other places.

This approach does not work, and I hope they can come to grips with it and meet our expectations... soon.

 

It is two years since Aw17r1 and 18 were launched for sale, still is not the fan profile in these laptops fixed... Now, exactly the same happened with the new Aw models. Both previous and existing Alienware model has also crippled bios with broken power settings. Software engineers at Dell does not doing their job. Dell engineers could created an app in the ACC for manual control of the fans long time ago like other laptop manufacturers have started with now. Then had both old and new Alienware Laptops begun to function as they should... It should not be so that Alienware laptop owners have to use third-party software so that their laptop is working properly. How far down should the sale be before something happens? Dell has messed up total. The trust of this laptop brand is soon completely destroyed. How can you expect that the new Aw models operate correctly when the previous model has not yet been fixed?

 

I will give you a fix. Buy a Clevo. I am not a reseller, of laptops (at least not yet), but I got a discount code for anyone wanting one. I have had Alienware's for year's They started charging more, and more, and giving less and less quality. It greatly upsets me.

 

Yes, it's very sad to me also. I still appreciate their old machines and I will not soon forget about the amazing experience they have provided to me. I am grateful to their excellent North American Technical Support and Social Media teams that have treated me and others so well. There were times that the Tech Support road had some bumps, but the end result has always been fair and reasonable for me. Regrettably, it seems we have reached a point where separation has become unavoidable due to divergent interests. I find it impossible to sustain any level of excitement with such anemic product offerings.

If you're OK with trading smaller and lighter for a throttled and crippled BGA CPU and GPU, an Alienware machine is probably as good or better than the same kind of junk in another brand. The eGPU and warranty are valid selling points for those customers, but some of us are all about the specs and performance. The eGPU and superior warranty alone just ain't gonna cut it for us.

On a positive note, Clevo has apparently noticed the untapped enthusiast market that they abandoned. Unless the deal has ended already, Eurocom is offering Alienware owners in this forum a 15% discount if they wish to switch to Clevo. Clevo machines are not perfect, and no machine is flawless, but they have a couple of models that are much closer to the "old" Alienware products than the new ones are, especially in terms of configuration and performance capacity, as well as having all of the bells and whistles that Alienware decided none of us need any more... things like eSATA, ExpressCard, Firewire, etc., etc. USB 3.0 is nice enough, but it is not a replacement for everything else. You can even buy a dual-980M monster with an unlocked BIOS, socketed Extreme mobile or desktop hexacore CPU and dual 330W AC adapter setup like I had to build from scratch for my M18xR1/R2.

Edit: Found my email from Mark on their sales team. The offer is good through June 30th. Use discount code AW150630EURO15ALL for the 15% discount. Enter this code into "configuration instructions" box when placing the order along your AW model and its service tag.

 

What a brilliant move by Clevo. It's reassuring to see they've their finger on the pulse and I hope they can fully exploit the gaping big hole in the enthusiast market.
As far as I'm concerned whatever Alienware does now is too little,too late.
We have given them every opportunity through feedback to fix problems, continue supporting their older platforms and they've clearly chosen to ignore the people that got them to where they are for short term sales at the expense of tarnishing the brand. They can live with their choices and see how far that gets them.
Go Clevo!

 

I don't see why AW resist unlocking the bios/firmware to allow fan adjustment easier and or release a app. Very silly on their part.

The cello discount is through eurocom?

 

They never said you couldn't combine the codes either. So combine mine with Fox's and get what 25% off. An additional 10% if your government in any way too. lol.
I don't see the point in Eurocom giving me a 10% code to offer people if they gave another person a 15% code to offer people. I can not remember the last time someone made fun of me this way...if ever, hahah

Go direct, 40% off any Clevo laptop : Contact Bert with [email protected]

 

I think this interview might be interesting to read through. Maybe not the VR stuff, but there are some things that are good to know.

 

Alienware CEO: Dell has taken us to a whole new level... Yes this can all see. Right down along with Acer and Packard Bell .

 

Interesting article. It's really odd to see a CEO or any other executive leader using foul language in an interview like that.

I used to be able to do stuff like this using Alienware laptops, but not any more. I guess it must not be important to them like it used to be. *sad face*

Oh well... at least I can do it with a Clevo laptop. http://hwbot.org/benchmark/performancetest/rankings?cores=6#start=0#interval=20

 

Crippled-Crippled-Crippled-Crippled-Crippled-Crippled.............. LoL. Dell you make my day....

 

Here's something to remind us of the "good old days" for Alienware...

 

Good old days ended at the end of the year 2014... Now it is a new era with woeful soldered hardware in thin CrApple similar laptops that love throttling... Thank you very much; Dell.... Dell should should perhaps merge with Acer and Packard Bell... Now .

 

Im not sure I would write these guys off. While Intel and NVidia have made some decisions that are not consistant with what "We" the gaming community are looking for, I still appreciate a number of things AW is trying to do. I still think the AW17 is one of the sickest looking PC Laptops on the market, I think the Graphics Amplifier is ambitious and allows for making their systems a nice hybrid for those that don't necessarily want a desktop but do want some future proofing, and I still think that there are people in AW that continue to innovate despite being lumped in with "Dell."

I think the BGA sockets suck, and that AW could take a long look at using a desktop CPU. I think there is alot of room for AW to do a new 18 or even something bigger and more ambitious (anyone remember the mALX 19" that they did back in 2006?)

I wouldn't write these guys off just yet. I suspect that the AW group could still have something up their sleeve. And we (as a community) would celebrate ambition.

 

@Thrawn

Thing is Alienware wrote us off when the greedy filth stopped supporting our $4000 systems.
They deserve no time or admiration for that.
And it just so happens their new machines suck by any comparative metric so they'll never get a chance to disappoint me again ... Haha

All good , everyone has already written (or going to) AW off and gone to Clevos or non AW Desktops.
I like free market capitalism for this very reason. If I don't like it, I don't buy it. Ill learn from the past too.

@AWFrank
@AWKahn

 

It's still not a reason to destroy this laptop with soldered trottling hardware, weak power supply and "modern" hybrid bios. All the new Aw models is useless as a portable desktop replacement. Total useless.

 

I respect your opinion man, you been on here a while and have had some very insightful posts. I just sense that alot of the decisions getting made by NVidia and Intel is where much of the anger should be directed. Did AW stop supporting your hardware, because if so that is complete BS.

Im going to give the 17 a shot with a GA, and see how it goes (I can always send it back.) I love the Eurocom Panther that Fox and a few others are running, and I can totally understand how the Pro benchers are looking at things at this point. Im just not as big on the aesthetics and price. AW used to build machines that went toe to toe with anything made. And while I would literally overpay for an 18 that had 980 SLI and a desktop CPU (or even BGA for that matter) I think the GA is kind of interesting and offers some future proofing and potential fun to be had.

 

Don't forget that it is Dellienware that determines how crippled bios shall be in their new and old Aw laptops.

 

Yes, they did stop. They no longer support anything but current generation, nothing for EOL machines, including the last generation 17 and 18. Nice, huh?

I'm looking forward to you having a first-hand experience with the throttle-fest on the 17 R2. I hope you are as disappointed as most of us are with the lameness of the new products and come back to post your negative feedback before returning it for a refund. Pay special attention to how severely the CPU malfunctions. They have crippled it intentionally, and they were quite effective in taking their emasculation efforts to the next level.

 

Im on it dude. If it sucks I promise to post my experience and will definitely send it back. Im already planning a 980Ti 2x SLI PC build later this year, so I might just move on to that if things don't work out.

Kinda shocked regarding the Support issue, no wonder there is heat from the fan base.

 

My Alienware 18's warranty ends December 2015 so its still valid. The other day I called them to extend it and said nope, NO CAN DO. Your machine which was the greatest beat last year is now EOL. Really?? My $6000 USD machine is now EOL and you don't want to support it??

I had to call my friend who is the regional manager of DELL EUROPE to get a quotation by force! but for normal customers, bye bye, they are screwed really bad.