Question about "Alienware S-cks" Horror Stories

Hi. I ordered my m9700 last night, and am excited by the prospect of going from 64M to 512M graphics memory (I selected dual 256s). I am a gamer, though not hardcore. I don't overclock or look for the most graphic intense game out there. Currently, I'm happy chilling in WoW. I still have to play Half-Life 2.

Regardless, I've read all the 9700 reviews I can find and all sounds extremely promising, but then I encountered a load of Alienware horror stories and I became nervous about my $2400 investment. I did notice none of the stories involved new models and was wondering what you may have to say about these stories.

Did or does Alienware have customer support problems? Should I be worried if something does goes wrong with my new rig?

Any feedback would be helpful and appreciated.

Thanks.

 

First let me say that any company you read about will have horror stories. Some of the Alienware horror stories stem because we pay TOP dollar for an awesome system and name brand, and with that most people expect to be treated above and beyond. With all that said as long as you pick up the extra warranty coverage you should be fine...if you dont, dont expect to be covered after the first year...unless your comfortable with fixing the system yoruself.

And lastly...

did you look into the m9750 at all? Just wondering.

 

I don't think you have that much to worry about my friend . . . there are a lot of satisfied Alienware customers on these forums (# satisfied >> # dissatisfied). As OblastSRT4 stated (which I agree with), Alienware hypes themselves up a bit too much and people in turn expect too much and when one little thing goes wrong, people get upset to a higher degree than they would had something gone wrong if they ordered a Dell. I've personally reviewed several Alienware products and found them to be of excellent quality. I think you will enjoy your M9700, it is a great machine for the money.

What kind of specifications did you get?

 

Alienware horror stories come from the bad models, the 9700 is an awesome build.
Just a pointer: Youre not getting 512mb of video memory, its still 256mb cuz the data in the RAM has to be the same (SLi doesn't make the cards work together, it just splits the work in half)

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm receiving the email offers for the extended warranty, and am still deciding whether to go with the 2 or 3 year deal.

I'm enclosing my specs below. I wanted to keep an eye on cost while customizing. I could have easily built a $3000+ rig, but since we just bought a new car, I don't think I could have run that by the wife without the potential for bodily harm.

::EDIT::

Here's a question, the 9700 is Bluetooth capable. Motorola is coming out with wireless Bluetooth headphones. Would I be able to use these headphones with this laptop?
________________
[1] Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML37 2.0GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD with Clearview Technology - Cyborg Green
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service

 

Your configuration looks fine to me; I think going with WinXP was a wise move.

In the future you should upgrade that hard drive to a 7,200RPM model to get the best performance.

How much are the 2- and 3-year warranty upgrades from the 1-year you have now?

I would think so.

 

This may be narrow minded of me, but Vista sorta strikes me as another Windows98, in that there's no reason for it. WindowsXP seems to be working just fine.

I was eyeing the 7,200RPM HD, but again, I wanted to keep the initial cost close to $2000. I'm sure I'll upgrade in the future.

The warranty upgrades seem steep to me; $200 for 2 year, $300 for 3 year. I'll probably go for the 3 year just to be on the safe side.

 

Windows XP is best for gaming right now and probably will remain so for a while. It's a good thing you ordered XP because SLI dual GPU configurations are not supported under Vista (officially) yet.

I'd spend no more than 10 - 15% of the laptop's total price on warranties. In this situation $300 for three years would be fine. It is a bit steep, but if something goes wrong in one year and one day you'll regret it.

I just ordered a new Lenovo ThinkPad tablet PC that cost me $2,207 and I got the three-year on it to be safe. A four-figure investment is worth protecting.

 

That's basically what it comes down to.

 

It seems you receive a bit of a discount taking the extended warranty after ordering the machine. The 3 year extension was $300 when customizing, but the email offer following my order was for $265. I took it.

 

Very cool, congratulations on the notebook again.

Make sure you fully tune-up that beast when you get it. Windows XP can be tweaked significantly.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=5787

 

Wow. Thanks. That thread gets its own Favorites entry, as I have spent many several occasions looking at my processes list wondering if I need it all running but afraid of disabling anything, figuring my next start up will be a black screen and a dead computer....It happened once in the past with an old computer. I deleted too much. Oops.

 

its better to get a warranty and be on the safe side and not have the worries at the back of your mind. although alienware are well built systems, there are stills some bad lemons that come out once a while.so yeah, warranties are worth the price. only sad side is alienwarel's warranty is non-transefable, if ever you decide to sell your rig in the future that is.

 

Congrats on your new m9700, Kermittheorc.

I think you made a wise choice on the warranty -- I opted for the extra year my credit card provides instead of paying extra for the AW warranty. I've had my m9700 almost a year, and still loving it - haven't had a single issue (knocking on wood). I seem to upgrade notebooks every 6 months to a year, but even the snappy m9750 isn't tempting me yet, cause the m9700 is handling everything I throw at it.

 

Thanks, shazzoz. I'm fairly excited about it. I checked my status and I'm on Stage 8, quality checking. My given ship date is 2 July. I would be very happy if Alienware manages to move that up a bit.

 

I've been drooling over the m9700 since it came out, specifically, I LOVE its dual heatpipe design and volume control. It is much more powerful than my current computer, yet almost 4 pounds lighter!

I have an Alienware 7700m and I love it. When I received it there were absolutely no issues whatsoever. There was an issue about 2 years into owning it, though it was a defect with the Clevo case/motherboard Alienware used, not something they engineered. Needless to say, Alienware support is very good. I simply needed a new heatsink (to correct the failing temp sensor causing the computer to overheat) and they replaced virtually every core component! Hey, I had no problem with it, it was free with my warranty anyway.

I'm actually typing on the computer right now!

 

Good to hear.

I was thrilled checking my morning email to discover my rig has been shipped! The estimated delivery date is 3 July. Fine by me. The office closes early that day.

Of course, now I'm checking the order status hourly. The freakin' thing is still sitting in Orlando. Come on! Get moving!

Why can't Alienware have a Jersey site? I love when I select normal shipping for Amazon orders and still receive them in 2 days.

 

I love when I select normal shipping on NewEgg and have it the next day.

Heh, well Alienware has two support facilities, one at their Florida home base and one in Memphis, TN. So at least if you have any problems requiring you to send in the computer, shipping will only take 1-2 days there and back, unlike the week long trek mine had to make from Las Vegas (Alienware Warranty only provides a ground shipping label, but free is free).

Enjoy the experience. Please feel free to come back here and tell us what you think of your new computer when it arrives!

 

"On FedEx truck for delivery"

Oh sweet words indeed. Good thing the office closes early today.

 

Kermittheorc,

I really think you will enjoy your new rig. I just bought one very similar to yours, and am very happy with it. I had a 9750 on order but was afraid I would not get it before leaving overseas next week. I canceled my 9750 order mid June and bought a basically new 9700 off ebay. I saved myself $1600 bucks over the 9750, and am very impressed with the 9700. I have been using it for 2 weeks, and have not had a hicup yet. Let me know what you think, when you recieve it. Good luck!

 

Just a comment related to a WAY previous post regarding bluetooth headphones. That is only something you can do if your bluetooth adapter on the computer supports stereo bluetooth, which I am not clear on.

 

that's what i'm wondering. i've only seen a Wired ad for the headphones. i don't know if they're even available yet.

 

I just have to say With all the crap alienware gave me. Due to a faulty mother board. Once the system was running fine Now. I am running 75c in core temp. On Lord of the rings Shadow of Andvar I hope I spelled that right in Windows Vista Buisness. On a 250gb hard disk. The game run great.

Alienware has techs that don't listen. Or it the repairing that starts trouble. I sent my laptop back once and they seid it was the video card and heatsink. I went let try it. After that I keep telling them it was not the heatsink and fan it was the motherboard. It took them 4 repairs to get the laptop running right. I told them the second time the laptop heatsink was not at fualt.

But like any company you tend to get lemons.

They replace the motherboard and this thing flying. Max out on grapics.

So Lord of the rings Here I come.

 

Alright, I'll have a quick go at this one.

I used to think AW support really sucked because they weren't able to fix my laptop after 4 attempts (it is still not fixed because my desktop is getting fixed right now). After dealing with geeksquad (I had a 3 yr. warranty on my desktop) I <3 AW except for the overseas support (weak).

My desktop was at bestbuy forever, they dropped my computer and tried to place it on me. After 2.5 months with bestbuy, I am receiving a brand new computer from them which isn't that bad at all. However, every time they had to send my computer out, it took a 3 weeks to a month to fix. I paid 250 for a 3 year warranty by the way.

With alienware, they ship the computer to their depot in 2 days which is a lot quicker then bestbuy does. I still hate alienware, but I have come to appreciate their services a bit more, even though the tech support people know NOTHING about computers what so ever.

When I get my new desktop, I will be sending this in for the rest of the summer until it is fixed, which I hope it can be.

Thats all.

--Hope you have a better idea now.

 

Wow. It's been a year since I lasted posted, asking about Alienware horror stories. Maybe I invited bad Karma because now I'm working on my second horror story. Here's a rundown of my experiences with Alienware and it's tech support:

June 2007: Receive my m9700 (AMD 2.0, SLI 256 nVidia 7900). I'm very happy.

Summer 2007: The system begins rebooting for no reason, and locking up while playing WoW, starting up, coming out of stand by, or just sitting there displaying the desktop.

Sept 2007: I return it back to AW. They determine it was a bad Windows install, reinstall Windows and send it back.

Feb-ish 2008: Reboots and lockups are back. I send it back to AW. This time they replace the CPU fan and reinstall the video drivers.

March-April 2008: Reboots and lockups are back. I get to talk to a manager, telling him to either, 'repair, replace or refund!' he's confident he can fix it. I return the system to AW. He reports corrupted BIOS and reinstalls Windows and sends it back. He calls me every couple of weeks to see how it's running. So far. So good.

Note: Through all of these returns, I spoke to tech support first and we usually agreed it sounded like a hardware issue (CPU or motherboard), yet the repairs are always software. Weird.

May 2008: Reboots and lockups are back. I return the laptop to AW. They are going to replace it with a 9750, and upgrade me to Intel Dual Core 2.0, and SLI 512 nVidia 8700s. Very nice. I'm happy.

Friday, 6 June 2008: I receive my nice black 9750. No freezes or reboots. There's no reason for them.
BUT, my display is screwed up. It's not black. It's a whitewashed black, almost bright gray. It's also darker at the top of the monitor and becomes whiter at the bottom. I started the machine in Safe Mode and the transition was extremely apparent in DOS. I showed it to my computer savy neighbor. He discovered the keyboard Brightness and video card Brightness controls work separate from one another, and reducing the keyboard Brightness dulls the entire screen. We worked out the 50% point for the keyboard control and attempted to adjust everything through the card controls but it's still wrong. I'm sitting here looking at my 19" monitor at work and I don't see gray glowing at the bottom or dark oversaturation at the top. WTF? I will be returning the 9750 and expecting it to be fixed. Whatever happens, this is the last time I'm buying AW.

 

Personally, ive never had any "horror Stories" with Alienware, my Lappy even arrived earlier, with no overheating or such things, no scratches, and a very Solid build.

 

They went through the 200 point quality check with you then or did you get lucky?

 

Yeah, I feel sorry for people who got bad laptops. When I got my first laptop which was a toshiba... it was a nightmare and they were just horrible to deal with. My mom had paid $1,200 for it for me as a christmas present and it's terrible that it just didn't work well at all. And when we tried to get it fixed (I think that the processor fans weren't working properly) they refused to get it fixed and whatnot. I'll never buy from them again.

I am still crossing my fingers that my m15x continues to work fine. I haven't had a problem with it yet... I ordered mine on like march 26th and had gotten it by april 9th.

Bad luck, man :-/

 

@Kermit - Sorry to hear your troubles man.

 

same here, sorry to hear of all the problems kermit.
at least youve almost got a brand new system with all the parts theve changed and its still not sorted.
fingers crossed for the next return.

 

@MrDj - Look at the original post date if you haven't already