Thinking of buying alienware

Question for all is it worth One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifteen of my hard earn't pounds?

Spec is

1920x1200 screen
T9600 CPU
4Gb 1333 Mhz Ram
Normal DVD/CD Burner
2x 260M GTX VGA cards
1x 160Gb HDD (will be upgraded once system arrives to Raid 0)

I could simply get a normal laptop which dont play games or this lovely system.

I need to know how well it will perform as a main system 2-3 years down the line as I could buy a monster PC for that money.

Reasons I want this now are its damn cool, it will hopefully run every current game well? I'm moving home for a while and can't have a desktop pc. I always want the best....


Soooo guys im sitting here with a proformer and the cash, shall I buy or save money?

 

The specs are pretty good and should last easily 2 years at least. That said, if you dont need the portability of a laptop go for a desktop since as you said with that kind of money you can build a monster pc which will be far better than a laptop. Not to mention, upgradeable...

It's an easy choice to be honest depending on your needs. Laptop -> more portability less power, desktop -> more power, 0 portability

 

That laptop will last a heck of a last longer than 2 years.... My Alienware ALX 7500 is 5 years old and still plays any games... Only thing I swapped is my original SLI 7800 for a single 8800GTX.

 

if you based in the uk get a m980nu for the same money with 2 x 280's in it much better machine and service then you will ever get with Dell/aw europe

 

Way uglier too ;-)

 

Is that the novatech machine? Its massive!!! lol

Its the style as well with the alienware...... ahh i dont knows...

 

I would be lying if said 'liking the looks' of the Alienware didn't effect my decision. That and I always wanted one since I first saw them years ago.
I wouldn't worry about it lasting 2 -3 years. It will be fine. It just comes down to your money situation. I love Alienware, but I rarely recomend them if cost is an issue.

 

I read that the the 280's are only 10-15% faster than the 260's, so I would say go for the Alienware with dual 260's. I absolutely love mine and no issues at all so far.

PS: I agree with Pacman though, the stories coming out of Alienware Europe have been less than stellar, even compared to other horror stories about Alienware service of the past.

 

Well I have the sli 260's and I would recommend getting the 280's, especially if you want to keep the system for a while. I'm not sure how much it is in the UK but the price isn't that much higher here in AU for the upgrade. I'f your spending so much just go that bit further.

The processor you chose is good it can be overclocked a fair bit.

I'd also go for a blu ray drive or burner if you can afford it also make sure you get the longest warranty available 4 years if possible

I've made these recommendations because these parts are extremely expensive to upgrade later and they will be a significant improvement to your system.

hdd and ram can easily be upgraded later but the video cards and warrany will be very expesive to buy after you purchase.

 

get one, its the best laptop ive had.

 

Agree with issey.

This is by far the best laptop in the world in terms of hardware and craftsmanship. The casing of the laptop, the screen, the keyboard, its all the best I've ever used on a laptop. The whole experience from the time you open the box, and setup everything for the first time, is just wonderful.

Just know, that there are some technical problems with the M17x (and M15x I think), they can sometimes stutter audio/video randomly at any time. Word on this forum is that Alienware is working to fix the problem, but i have not heard any official word from Dell/Alienware on the subject.

I for one, have the problem. But it only stutters once in a while, maybe once or twice an hour. I can still play games SUPER fast. It doesn't slow down the system when its not actually happeing, and it only stuters for a second at a time.

If you uninstall the GPU drivers, the stuttering doesn't happen. If you turn off PowerMizer on the GPU drivers the sutter doesn't happen. It seems to stutter when the GPU downclocks to save power.

I just thought you should know before you buy it. So far, I have not seen an Alienware laptop, that doesn't have the problem. Some users don't "see" the problem, but I'd bet that they still have the problem if they did a DPC test. You should read the forum posts that are covering these problems.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=410440

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=408300

Its still the best laptop, but Alienware hasn't worked out all the kinks yet.

Draekz

 

2 or 3 years? i was planning for 5 years period minimum for my m17x all powerfull with the update for graphic cards and upgrading some of the component.. =)

For me, its worth the money.. ^^ , But the final choice is yours to pick anyways =) we only can give u suggestion

 

You've actually put me off of buying one now... I don't want stuttering

 

Had mine for 2.5 months:

Q9000
4gb RAM
500gb
1x 260
1920xwhatever screen

I can say it lived up to my expectations and is doing everything that I want it to do. The Q9000 is fast enough for me, although some would say I should've held out for the i5/i7, however I can say it does not matter to me, per my uses.

Reason for Q9000 is that I multi-task a lot, and my old T7200 (2.0ghz dual core) couldn't keep up and it was constantly maxed out 90-100%. And now with this I have to actually TRY to cap it. Only time it did cap was when Windows Update freaked out and my machine went nuts. I have found it so far to be far more superior, and this is with it running at 1.6ghz instead of 2.0ghz - thanks to the performance settings (balance). I haven't even needed or begun to set it to 2.0ghz yet.

I don't go out of my way to benchmark/try to push the machine to the ceiling, I can safely say I'm somewhat of a casual user.

Benefits of this machine/why I chose:

design -- heat is a major issue, so with this laptop which effectively goes and fixes this, along with my laptop cooler, greatly helps the cooling in my opinion

dual cards -- the onboard and dedicated. i love having the ability to switch/flick them on and off. kinda enhances the life of them in my opinion, or if one fails then i still have 1 as back up. i.e. i play a MMORPG that really isn't dependant on the GFX card, but yet for other games I will switch it on.

alienware ftw, a stealth looking machine, i'm proud of it

I expect this laptop to last me 2 years maximum, by then I would've saved up for another laptop and I will "upgrade".

 

I've been on these forums awhile and I'm going to recommend not buying an Alienware. If I were you I'd buy a Clevo / Sager from one of the more reputable vendors that has good tech support. Since you're on a budget I think that will help you get a much better computer for the amount of money you spend.