Curse my changing mind! The switch to Vista.

So I ordered my m15x (T9300, 8800GTX, 2GB, 120GB, XP) on the 14th of April. It hit phase 4 after going through the credit card rigmarole and sat there for quite a while.

Yesterday I decided to change my order. Called Alienware and asked to change to Vista. I got a response I didn't expect - I had to cancel my order and place a new one.

Also it seems that my m15x had just hit phase 5 yesterday so I'm a little bit gutted about starting from scratch again.

Given that I was heading back to phase 1 I decided to cut back to 1GB of ram and get the Crucial 4GB pack from OCUK and the Turbo Cache and a larger hard drive while I was at it.

So no real foul here, I'm just a little annoyed that I had to cancel that and start again. Is there a reason other than company policy why they would have to cancel the order to change to Vista?

The final specs for my pet beast are:

Display: 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Lime
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Graphics Processor : 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 8800M GTX
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 512MB
Turbo Cache Memory: Intel Turbo Cache Memory 1GB – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 200GB 7200 RPM with Free Fall Protection
Smart Bay: None
CD/DVD/RW: 8x Dual Layer Writer (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Sound Hardware: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with surround sound
Keypad: Alienware® Area-51 m15x AlienFX® Keyboard - English
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
AlienContact: Added Bonus with any AlienSupport Selection
AlienContact - Remote Alienware Support
Monitor: (None)
Mobile Transport: Alienware® Odyssey Backpack
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Personalised Nameplate
Alienware Extras: Custom Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Keyboard Diagram Overlay
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Smooth Mylar Touchpad
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Protective Cloth Sleeve
Avatar: Alienhead 3D
Window Style: Default Vista Window Style
Mouse Pointers: Standard Mouse Pointers
Power Plan: Balanced
Automatic Updates: Automatic Updates On
Time Zones: (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

 

the reason is that you don't have a laptop sitting on someone's desk being built for you---it's a manufacturing process which means it is going through dozens of hands and tracking your laptop down and swapping OSs would be very difficult.

Instead of thinking about assembling a computer like you would, think of it going into a big machine and then coming out the other side...you cannot crawl into the machine to make a change once it enters

 

I thought Alienware's were hand assembled - personal service and hence the pricetag - are they not?

 

They are a subsidiary of dell, they need numbers so I'd assume that at least some of the main bits are not hand assembled by a single person. The HD, RAM, alien FX, probably the optical drive too. They are all probably done assembly line style on certain days in the AW factory. The CPU and GPU installation must be done more carefully and so they are most likely taken off the speedy assembly line to dedicated stations for installation. The pricetag is mostly the shell and the name badge these days :/

 

Technically all laptops are "hand assembled". If you take a look at the videos for the manufacturing factories (Asus had one out), the stuff flows around a conveyor belt and everyone adds a piece to the machine.

It's not possible to give you special treatment since everything is barcode controlled. They would have to find your laptop, take it out of the system, correct it, put it back into the system, and continue it on its way. That's analogous to stopping the presses at a newspaper factory.

 

You can buy Vista and put it on afterwards. Vista drivers for the m15x will also be made available in "Your Hive" for later uses. All up to you.

 

That's a big part of the theory I was operating under. There would be a job somewhere in the system with my name on it and they would pull it out from whichever station it was in, amend the order, and put it back on the end of the queue.

I didn't think Alienware would produce enough units to justify the sort of assembly that Dell or Asus use, so it was likely that it would be possible to amend one item.

At the very least they have to be able to track every order as all laptops they produce are according to the customer's specifications.

Apparently I wasn't thinking clearly (or at all) otherwise I might have done this. Though aftermarket Vista seems prohibitively expensive to me.