Opinions on Alienware

Hi nbr.

When I was researching about the Alienware PCs, I came across many who say they rip you off, and it's not worth the money, and the support sux.

I'm wondering, why do they keep saying that. I have yet to experience an Alienware. Are they just Mac fanboyz or something? I'm guessing most of you enjoy your Alienware machines.

 

there is no simple answer to this as it mostly depends on your point of view

 

There are so many different factors that go into deciding the value of something vs the amount it costs. Yes, it's true that 90% of the time Alienware PCs are overpriced. But with that you have to remember that you have the warranty and all of the fancy, flashy lights and cool case design unique to Alienware. You have to decide whether or not the extra cash is equally as valuable as these features. Each person views the value of every feature differently than the next, it is a very personal thing. I will say, however, that if you are looking at their laptops, they are great value if you care about aesthetics. You can buy really ugly boxes of glossy plastic that perform just as well if not better than Alienware's M15x, but they don't look nearly as good doing it. They often also have poorer cooling and warranties than Alienware systems. To me, these things are much more valuable than the extra price you pay for the lights and "Alienware" name. If that makes any sense.

 

Considering that this is a forum dedicated to Alienware computers the responses you'll find here will probably be biased.

I was a huge Mac fan for the past few years but the company has grown into a real monster and I am disgusted by Steve Jobs and his behavior. Alienware (or Dell, rather) has their downsides too, just as any company does. My experience with Dell's customer service department almost made me cancel my $2,800 purchase. That is one area Dell REALLY needs to improve.

In addition, if you take a deep look around here you will see various common issues that people have had constant problems with. Throttling, Stealth Mode, Lack of Updates, BIOS Issues, Power Problems, etc. To be fair, if you look hard enough you'll find outstanding problems with most manufactured computers regardless of company. Make no mistake, even Apple has had it's share of ignored major issues too.

As far as the 'overpriced' issue, you'll find this comes up a lot with most premium computers. Typically the people who preach Alienware, Apple as overpriced build their own computers. What they neglect to mention is they usually take a cheap processor and overclock it as much as possible. Further, many pirate software such as Microsoft Windows - illegally obtaining a 'free' product. Of course that is cheaper. Part for part, you'll most often find that building a computer yourself isn't that much cheaper than buying one from a manufacturer. This is especially true with high end systems where a single graphics card will cost you upwards of a few hundred.

You have to look at the big picture. I'm at the point in my life where I have a good job and lack of free time. Buying a high end computer which comes to me in a box ready to plug in and use immediately is a lot more appealing. I get to choose exactly what I want and best of all I have at least a one-year warranty on the whole damn thing. If I have any problems someone else worries about it. I don't have to rip the thing apart piece by piece trying to find out what's wrong.

Don't get me wrong. I work as a Network Administrator for a school district. I can easily troubleshoot the entire system, but I repeat: I don't want to. My free time is valuable and I want it spent playing games. That is what is important to me.

So, I guess this was pretty long winded and honestly granyte in the post above really hit the nail on the head. It really does depend on your point of view and what your personal preferences are. Don't let anyone else try to make up your mind for you.

 

Alienware is a premium product and so you do pay a larger margin for the equivalent hardware. The premium is for the bling factor, design, innovation, software, and service/support (though it is just dell). Interestingly my M11x only came with a 1 year warranty while the Dell business class notebooks come with 3 years.

Their desktops are very expensive, but they cater to people who want a premade system that has lights, the active vents, brand, fancy cooling, and etc. The brand name goes both ways, some think its cool, others think people who buy them are foolish as they overpaid and didn't just do it themselves.

For the laptop side its a bit different since you can't really build your own laptop. In the past though people still has reason to hate on Alienware laptops because some were just rebadged Clevos (or Sagers) with a paint job and a huge mark up. That has since changed though as Dell took over and can manufacture basically whatever Alienware designs.

 

Well, compare an Alienware M15x to a Sager laptop. Once you get over the $1600 mark they both average out... Sager might have a slight edge over Alienware, but I'd gladly pay more for Alienwares awesome form factor and smeckz appeal.

 

I see all your opinions but the thing i really don't get is others really HATING Alienware.

 

Alienware Desktops and Laptops

I have built many desktops over the years - price pointing on newegg, etc, building it from scratch, making it look good with a nice case, nice accessories, etc. I would always find myself looking at Alienware and Voodoo and Falcon and all the other boutique PC makers and thinking "Damn, my stuff does not look as good as that".
For Desktops, the price point of a boutique brand of PC is way too high to justify me going out and buying one. At the end of the day, the SAME exact system minus aesthetics and overall warranty on the box can be had for way less $$$. This thing is going to sit in your room, probably near the floor, who is going to compliment your AlienFX or OpenView Chassis with neon glowing liquid cooling? All of your LAN buddies? lol. I felt that I needed the core insides to play games and do all the stuff I wanted to online, the aesthetics of a desktop machine did not really matter to me.

On the Laptop side, there is not a big market for aftermarket products. It is not simple like it is for a desktop. Therefore, I would consider a boutique brand for a laptop, in this case, especially an Alienware. I cannot "make" a laptop for substantially less $$$, so the choice then becomes which Laptop make to go with. Dollar for Dollar, Alienware is more expensive than a equal spec'd laptop from another non-boutique company, but since this is a laptop, I can move it around, bring it places, and actually show people how well designed it is. I think all the $$$ Alienware puts into R&D on a laptop is worth the price of admission.

 

Well I just had support and I'll say that support doesn't suck. I just had a blu-ray drive replaced and it was replaced the next day after I called them. In fact, I called them at night 9pm and the new drive was put in at 4:45 the next day. Also, you can get some great deals if you look in the outlet or look on the buy and sell forum here. I got a beautiful M17xR1 from a member here and it is gorgeous and I payed an excellent price for it. I wouldn't trade my two alienware computers.

 

also remember that you het good buildquality but that doesnt mean that hardware failure is gone. its the same hardware as any other maybe even more fragile because its high end.

 

seeing a 4.2k laptop when you can't even afort 500 bick to build your self a decent computer would make anyone go insane

 

I'm going to say my $.02 worth here- I own 3 AW laptops- My first being an Area-51 m5500 (which still works great after 4.5 years), then the M11X r1 (which has had no issues whatsoever), and finally the M15X which I bought last month to replace my Dell Studio XPS 1640 (The M15X is such a massive improvement from the heat issues of the XPS 1640). All 3 of them are awesome and I couldn't be happier with the build quality and reliability.

Every brand of computer on the market has 'haters' and AW is definitely no exception, but in my experience I've been very loyal to AW not only for the performance but also for the build quality.

 

And this is my first AW the m17X R1

I had / used /seen many laptops over the years and this by far is the best built laptop I have seen period.

it has been designed as a high End Gaming laptop and from that perspective it fits the bill.

It is perfect....no, but Dell has been aking the fixes, and when needed has replaced units.

Problem as I see it is that some of the people who have had issues had had varying levels of support / and resolution, and some have not been happy with that.

What you get back from dell really depends on your rep, and it can take several attempts to get things resolved to your satisfaction.

Sure there are other choices that are less money and may well do the job, but AW is the Best overall.

 

those who hate alienware are probably jealous =p or maybe they had bad experiences.

although i never had an alienware before dell took over, i can so my experiences with alienware laptops so far(m17x r1 and r2) are rather good except for the problems like dpc latency for the r1.

Dell's customer service is not exactly that bad. in fact i must say it is quite good. if you have a simple breakdown/damaged part, all you have to do is call and they will send a tech down to replace or fix the part asap(ususally the next day if parts are available)

its only when you face problems that are related to their hardware design or something they cant reproduce that will cause a headache(like the r1 dpc latency due to nvidia chipset and prolly now the r2 ssd problem). dell will take very long to fix it and youll end up stuck with tech support or customer service for quite a long time because no one will know what your talking about.

 

Most Alienware haters are just jealous. The rest are probably just sore from the problems faced in the last generation, which have all been resolved in the current generation.

 

Mithril Build Quality, Outstanding Cooling and Unique Looks - make AW shine above the rest.

** Service and Support sux everywhere but Dell' warranty rocks

 

I have built and sold thousands and thousands of machines, desktop and otherwise.

In terms of Alienware haters, its usually because of the price. If not, its because they have a bad experience from a desktop.

I will be totally and brutally honest - Alienware desktop chassis are CHEAPLY BUILT and nasty underneath all the plastic, the parts they use are usually stripped down and generally, the desktops are gaudy.
Just not nice at all and DEFINATELY not worth the money.

Alienware laptops are a totally different story.

The build quality is truly absolutely excellent. They are solid, rigid, and tough.
Noise wise, alienware prefer to have loud fans during heavy load instead of quiet fans and dead graphics cards.
The fans in an alienware notebook run probably higher than they need to, but its part of the way they are designed.

Basically, you get what you pay for. If you want the best notebook in the world, you have 2 options.

M17xr2 with HD5870 crossfire
Sager with Dual gtx480 (not available yet)

Build quality on the sager is not as nice as the alienware, and the alienware has a metal shell with very durable paint (bonus points for that).

As for driver support, dell/alienware is waaaaaaay slow for that kind of stuff, as you will see from a cursory look around.
Thats really the only negative I can see to my own personal experience.

You get what you pay for basically, and I have never been happier with the purchase of a machine.

-Ash

 

I think they are extremely good when judged against their peers, solid (extremely) build quality, and excellent performance and cooling. Quite often they are put down because we expect so much from them, not because they are a bad machine in themselves.

That said they do trip up a bit. I think Dell/AW sometimes lose sight of just what a price premium these machines carry, and just allow certain problems to sit unaddressed, or bad quality control to go out the door.

Touchpads (a $10 part) shouldn't be malfunctioning on a 4k laptop.
Video cards must not ever arrive "disconnected" or DOA. Never.
Drivers should never be locked out - given that the target market for these premium machines rely heavily on drivers to keep their machines running.


Those detractions aside, these machines are solid. After years, when many other machines have failed, these machines are still running. What's almost harsh, is that you may, several years down the road, WISH the machine would die just to give you the excuse to buy another. But no, that machine will keep on ticking.

Top that all off with performance that other machines measure themselves against, and you have a winning platform. There are some bumps but Dell is getting better and better at making sure they never happen. Great machines

 

The reason why some HATE Alienware is because Dell took over, they are expensive, they are not as versatile as say a HP or Sony, and the fact that some just like other vendors. My advice is to buy one and see for yourself!!!!

Keep in mind that these high performance machines are dedicated to PC gaming!! I use mine for Graphic Design, Game art & Design as well as Animation and Media Arts.

 

Every manufacturer has haters. Mostly because of price, bad experiences and just plain old jealousy. For example, you have your fair share of mac haters.

But to actually answer the question in the OP. The reason why some people REALLY hate AW is because of price and because most still remember the horrid build quality from the older models.

 

LOL WUTTTTT even older models have a great build qualitie the area 51 m15x was a lemon but other then that i can't really figure a alienware that really failed the qualitie bar

how ever the pre dell alienware.uk was a pain for suport and spawned many haters

 

^^ I guess I was referring to the infamous hinge problem, but ya, I think you get the point.

 

Well I can chime in on this I just bought a Sager NP8760 it is a fast and nice laptop but I just am board with the look of it looks just like anyother laptop. So I bought 2 Alienwares and sending the sager back.

 

Alienware is an awesome brand. They have amazing build quality and they are upgradeable. You can change and upgrade the video card. That is amazing cause you can pay the same price and get a macbook with similar build quality but it wont be near as upgradeable.

 

Be careful Ken, the video card does not always upgrade. It is unlikely that the current R2's will take anything beside the 5870's.

 

only GREAT thing about mac...(my gf owns one) is that you can always walk in to any APPLE location and they will fix whatever. All you do is a make an appointment and show up. You do not have to transfer from rep to rep trying to get them to replace things.

I'm a proud alienware m11x owner if that matters.

 

I agree with most of what you said except for the bolded part. I've built my own desktop computers ever since the 286 and it's always been cheaper part for part; no overclocking, no pirating any software. The reason I choose to do that is I have more control over the quality of the parts being used. The parts you use usually have warranties too, so as long as I can isolate the problem to the part I can have it repaired or replaced.

Building a laptop is a different story however. I'm not about to try that, even though I know it's techimcally possible. There just isn't enough of a market for there to be any decent amount of parts or competition, whereas a huge company like DELL can work with a premium company like Alienware and produce an excellent laptop that far surpasses anything I would be able to build myself, due to unique engineering of the product as a whole.

 

Well I now that art, thanks though. With most other laptops you can not even replace the video card if it goes bad. But what Im getting at is if the video card goes bad I can get a new one, either a 4870 or a 5870 and I can upgrade to dual GPUs whenever I want. I was quoted about $400 from dell for everything I would need to run a second 5870.

 

Yes you can replace the video cards with any that fit the unit. Either 4870s or 5870s but with a price of 400.00, you're doing well to get the second 5870. You'll love crossfire. I think as time goes on more and more games will be crossfire enabled.

 

I have owned plenty of laptops. I buy desktops for my husband and son, but get laptops for myself and I have never seen any that have the build quality of the alienware. I'm probably going to get my husband the Area 51 eventually. I like the fact that it's water cooled.

 

man I just recived my first of 2 Alienware M17x R2 and let me tell you it is very impressive it is amazing it is sooooo cool get one if you can...

 

I've had 3 Alienware laptops in my possession and 1 more on the way. My first alienware computer was an Area 51 Desktop about 5 years ago. It was fantastic with the only problem being the video card and it was replaced the next day. It is still in working order.

My second Alienware was an m9750 laptop. I had a terrible experience with it. I replaced the video cards 5 times in 1 month yet still had no resolution with the poor performance. I sent it back to them 4 times before they finally offered me a new machine. At the time, the original Area 51 M15x had just come out and they actually offered me that one for my trouble, even though it was a little more expensive than the one I had purchased before hand. I had written a letter to the CEO explaining that I had a laptop for a YEAR that didn't work. The Area 51 M15x had a loose key on the keyboard, which I replaced and since then there hasn't been a single issue. I've loved this laptop for the past 3 years and I'm actually using it now to type this on.

Last week, after reading tons of reviews, I ordered the new M15x. I found out, however, that the computer I ordered had a serious issue with throttling. I don't understand how Alienware can be selling a computer that basically doesn't work. Everyone I've seen on this forum has to launch different throttle modification programs just to make their M15x tolerable. I wanted no part in that and canceled my order yesterday. After that, I did some research on the M17x and it seems like there are no big issues with it and it performs the way that it should: amazingly well. I ordered an incredible M17x with all of the bells and whistles (minus the SSD which I'll put in later) this morning.

I just don't understand how Alienware can be selling the M15x. I just don't. It has an issue with no fix, and they keep selling it.

 

The M15x itself is nearly flawless with one caveat: Do not order it with the 260M. Dell needs to do the right thing and remove the 260M from the configuration page until they release an updated bios. That particular card is problematic and throttles but with the 5850 there is no such issue.

Dodgehemi0, welcome to the cutting edge.

 

My M17X R1 is my first Alienware product. And from my experience so far? I will probably go back to a Macbook. I had a Dell XPS laptop before the Alienware and that worked great. And I had an Apple laptop before that. So I figured I would give Alienware a try. Even just doing homework I have random lockups. I have reloaded it twice and eventually it goes downhill soon afterwards. I don't feel that somebody should have to baby a piece of computer hardware this much.

It got to the point that I had to look here first before updating a driver.

 

@tpatt100
You are practically comparing Mac to Windows, thats not just about Alienware.

 

Wait a minute - you can only put a 4870 or 5870 in the R2? Why? I know that's what they come with "standard" but if I wanted to put an Nvidia card in that fits the slot and power requirements, etc it won't work?

I'm researching for my first laptop after years of desktops and one of the things that attracted me to AW was the seemingly more upgradeable nature of them compared to just about everyone else. I expect to keep whatever machine I buy for 4-5 years. Maybe the stock card would fit my needs for that time but I thought I'd at least have the option of any notebook PCIe card that wouldn't need more power than is available.

 

If you read enough you would've known that throttling only exists with the 260M. All other instances of throttling are rare.

 

Nah i think the new nvidia cards will work on the m17x.

 

And also happen in other products, not just Alienware. So practically, its normal.

 

I've had nothing but problems with mine and I payed well over 3 grand for m15x. Really disappointing IMO. Build Quality my haha. If its not the BIOS not showing during start up its something else. You'd expect to have a laptop with no issues whatsoever. Hell my Vaio didn't have a SINGLE hardware flaw I had to deal with and thats saying alot as I despise Sony more then anything. Noone should have to "replug their bios battery" or open the case to do anything to this laptop. IT SHOULD JUST WORK.

Really disappointing. Customer service is total crap as well. It's like their reading out a play to you when you call them. The replies are always the same. Trust me, I'm not an idiot when it comes to computers and I've built my own rigs, but paying 3000 dollars to have troubles on the 2ND DAY of having this darn thing? Somethings up. Also whats up with my SSD, in just a week of owning it my Samsung PM800 went from 7.1 on WEI to 6.8? Don't think for 1 second I'm some idiot who left write caching on or still has my Page File on. I have a SSD on my desktop and I haven't experienced any issues with that. I'm 100% sure they put used parts in this because this is the first time I've seen such a horribly built PC. Even laptops in Best Buy perform better for regular everyday use let alone this beast with an i7 and everything a gamer could dream for only have it ruined by horrible quality control. Also lol @ having to uninstall default symnatic drivers to have a more responsive trackpad. the little things alienware does :3 make you do all the work to have a functioning /responsive laptop

 

That sucks good luck with the laptop..

 

Well I've fixed every problem myself with advice from people on this forum and the only problem left thats really bugging me being the SSD losing its WEI score in 2 days but that I don't care much about anyway, I'm just going to wait till SSD's become more affordable and get whatever new SSD Intel makes.

Oh heres another fun bug. Go into power savings mode on battery with alien fx turned off on the power settings. Then plug your ac adapter back in and put it on high performance so the alien fx turn on themselves. First thing the CPU doesn't switch back to 100%, second thing the keyboard displays weird characters when typing. For example typing / would show an E with the accent on top.

 

How am I comparing Mac to Windows? My two Windows laptops ran great both were from Dell. The first Dell laptop was an XPS M1730 which ran excellent. My second was the M1530 and I loved that one as well. This Alienware one though I have had problems which took Dell almost the duration of a one year warranty to address.

 

they are way over priced considering lots of other manufactures offer quad core, blu-ray, and more ram for $200 to $300 less than the starting price of the m17x. I don't mind paying a premium but alienware's premium can be as much as $1000.00 if you spec to match some of the competitors. I am waiting till the x7200 comes out if alienware comes down in price I will go with alienware if not the hdmi input on the x7200 is vary appealing to me and more than makes up for it not having as nice of aesthetic as the m17x.

 

I hate that the Ontario government put on the HST(Harmonized Sales Tax) of 13% on top of the GST and PST, it makes everything so much more expensive. I would just love to have a M17x, but it is way out of my budget. I am most likely going to get a Asus G73JH. But I would love to get a AW, I have had nothing really wrong with my cust experience with Dell, it is just my Inspiron 2200 which I don't even use anymore, did not come back with a full set of RAM after having its motherboard replaced due to graphics and DVD-RW issues.

Also A&W is a great burger chain, lol, making me hungry.

 

Unfortunately there is a "marketplace" here on NBR and the mods are very strict with soliciting outside of that area. I couldn't care less but I'm just saying.

 

100% correct - thanks for mentioning it.

Making offers outside of the marketplace is not permitted. You want to discuss an offer/sale of an item, have the person post a thread with the item for sale or discuss over PM.

Questions on this can be directed to a moderator via PM.

Thanks.

 

back to the subject this is the best looking computer and best performing computer I have owned...

 

+1 and I am going to add that it is not only the best I've owned, but it is the best I have ever seen. You will NOT be disappointed by the looks or performance (as long as you don't get the 260m) haha.

 

You get very protective over it. My mom tossed a wooden lapdesk to me and it slapped the side of m17x and I nearly flipped. Luckily my llappy is okay