Question about alienware.

Ok I have been searching and maybe I am just doing it wrong. That is why I am here to ask you guys a little history on alienware. I know they started in 1996 and I am wondering what was the first few computers they made? I've searched and searched and cannot seem to find it. If anyone can help me this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Alienware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/8/Alienware-Corporation.html

 

I've read that before and has no information to what I asked.

 

It's pretty cut-and-dry, they started making the Area-51 line, adding the Aurora and ALX versions eventually. Then Dell bought them out and expanded their product line.

What is interesting though is Origin PC was actually founded by the former executives of Dell who didn't like the direction they were taking with their company, and wanted to focus on creating extremely high-end products (which are unbelievably expensive and don't even look that great IMO).

Edit: Wow, that second link had a whole lot of information!

 

Ah when I first replied I don't believe that second link was there, but Thank you so much akari and inap.

 

hmmmm didnt see any information on the units themselves, many AW laptops were rebrands of Clevo and other OEM/ODM's. My AW 9750 for example is a flextronics machine in disguise.

 

I believe that the Area 51 M17x and 15x were the only AW machines that were exlcusive to AW and didnt have a Clevo, White book, etc equivelant

 

also many Alienware models were made by Arima. Arima was bought by Flextronics recently. The last being the M17 aka Arima 840 DI.

and...

Alienware didn't made any computer. They are not an ODM.

 

They had a broader product line before Dell bought them. They used to have MP3 players, Audioboxes, and more.

 

Alienwares used to be high end boutique items.

Now they are mass produced Dells that everyone is able to afford.

 

SO because they where made affordable, this makes them not as good??

 

Then, what does Alienware do? Just distributing and selling computers? Does your statement apply to the present Dell Alienware or pre-Dell Alienware?

 

Most of the time, Dell just buys a design, like almost everybody else, from 5(iirc) major Taiwanese companies. Most of those companies have plants in mainland China.

Dell does have their old XPS design team (doesn't make EVERY XPS design,iirc), and AFAIK, Alienware never designed their own laptops from the ground up until Dell came in, they used to customize laptops from a Taiwanese ODM/OEM. The m11x *shoud* be (along with the rest of the All Powerful series) the works of the XPS team, though I, like most people, don't know specifics.
Most companies have one of their own special designs, and everything else is designed, parted, and made by another company, with the logo simply slapped over it.

 

Affordable?

If you call 3k affordable for most, then I believe you are badly mistaken. Now sure, you can go buy the one for 1799, the base model, but you would be wasting your time as it would have an inferior processor, video card, etc. You would essentially be paying for the name.

You could spend the same amount of money on a Toshiba Qosmio and have the best video card, processor, etc. that you can get pretty much. So I don't think you could call it affordable if you configure it right.

The Qosmio is the best buy currently among gaming laptops in my opinion. GTX 460M , Core I7, SSD, etc. for 2k. Screen not being LED is the largest downfall of the Qosmio.

 

Dell/Alienware has its own team of engineers (both in Miami and Round Rock) that directed the design of the All Powerful Series. The actual components are built by Flextronics in China and they have their own set of engineers. Dell brought in an outside team of industrial designers to create the All Powerful look that we all enjoy with the M11x/M15x/M17x, created the specs for it and then passed it on to Flextronics. This is more or less what I was told by one of the lead Alienware engineers when I went to their HQ in Florida. The design is 100% owned by Dell, it's not some run of the mill generic design that you can buy from any ODM. All major notebook makers do pretty much the same thing except for Clevo. I think even Asus outsources the manufacturing of it's laptops now.

 

I wonder if those old P4 Area 51 laptops will be a collector's item...

 

They do make their own at least now. Dell's Alienware subsidiary also manufactures PCs in an Athlone, Ireland plant. Construction of EMF4 in Łódź, Poland has started: Dell started production there in autumn 2007.
I did read they may be closing the Athlone plant, but from what Ive seen Alienware does build the current systems.

 

My legacy machines are wayyyyy better then the newer Dell/alienware machines. I still have an area51 laptop and area51 desktop and they are awesome.. even the stuff that came with was wayyyyyy better. ive had two M15X's and a M11x R1 and R2.. The R1 and R2 both i like but they are still not the same as older legacy machines.. Both my 15x were crap.. just bad luck but hated them...

 

The legacy systems were made of plastics and were basically just rebranded clevo's. At least today as Joker pointed out, AW owns the design and offers something unique to the mobile gaming community.

 

i think the quality control was better. I also found the old machines were more personal with the user.. the person who made it signed the inside. it was more about you and the computer.. when you booted it up for the first time you had a DOC with all your stats, and performance tests.. now the person who builds it has no idea who you are. etc etc.. if you want to change something in your order you need to cancel your order. before you could change everything anytime.. it was really cool. loved it. im sure the person who made it before also had no idea who you were, but i like the idea that they signed it..

 

If I am not mistaken, the user manual for pre-Dell Alienware contains a card stating the customer's name. You can get a sense of personal touch back then.

 

you are correct to some extent but Dell takeover was sweet and sour at the same time for alienware laptops... earlier the prices were extremely high atleast in the UK... area 51 m17x could very easily hit £4k -5k.... and area 51 m15x hits £2.5k to 3k... now its ~£3k and £1.5k- 2k respectively... I was actually surprised to see the price difference when they came out 2 years back... but with that came the horror stories of tech/customer support... It was a breeze for me to get my old area 51 m15x refunded but they made me jump through hoops before they gave my money back for the M15x which was sanctioned by the alienware for refund 2months before the actual refund was processed... If you are lucky enough to get a proper working laptop then you should be very happy and spread the joy ... but if not then well get ready for some heart aches and have a lot of patience (again atleast in UK)...

Still I prefer the present Dell- alienware to old one... great design, superb built quality (a51 m15x hinge issue remember??), cheaper prices (compared to old alienware systems) and ownership change over + international warranty where dell functions ie almost every major country on the globe...

 

true!, i got a couple of those.. things like this matter!!
im not going go back and forth saying who is better cause this can go on forever.. I just really liked how alienware was.. they made the customers feel important... dell just wants to sell their computers and dont care who you are..

 

Why Alienware No Longer Exists

Area 51 Nvidia GTX 580 System?

I know, the arguement can get quite heaten up. If it is possible, let's have a sensible discussion on comparing between the pre-Dell Alienware and the current Dell Alienware. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but let's respect each one's perspective. I hope that in the very end, we can genuinely learn about the advantages and disadvantages of having the Dell Alienware, as compared to the pre-Dell Alienware.

One particular interesting thing is about Origin PC, which was setup by former employees of Alienware.