Which to choose? Alienware vs Asus.

I'm currently having an issue on which gaming laptop I should buy. I am debating on buying an Alienware 18 or an asus but I read so many reviews saying Alienware 18 is worthless and that its just and expencive box. My budget is around 2000 or less and I need to know which asus is better then Alienware 18 or if Alienware is actually not that bad.

 

With a budget of 2000 what would you have in the Alienware 18? I don't think you can even afford sli in it. Also what Asus are you looking at? There are better gaming laptops. You should look at the Sager NP8652 or the Gigabyte P35X. Those are more reasonably priced with 980ms inside.

 

The Asus that I was looking at was a G750JM. My budget of 2000 was the max that I could go and I wasn't planning to go over so I don't know exactly what I would include in the alienware. Is the sager and the gigabyte better laptops then the alienware and asus?

 

I was thinking maybe you guys could have told me what laptop is worth it and which is best.

 

I wouldn't get either one. I'd get a Clevo with SLI and a Haswell Extreme mobile or desktop CPU. But, given those two options and excluding any better options, it would be the Alienware 18, hands down. Honestly, I wouldn't touch an ASUS laptop with a 10 foot pole. Whatever you land on, make sure it's not a BGA turd. Get one with a socketed CPU and generic MXM modules, no disposable proprietary trash that cannot be upgraded.

 

While i agree with this, i dont believe a budget of $2000 is enough to land an alienware with decent specs, let alone an 18 with good internals. I would recommend the clevo route as Mr Fox has said, especially the new ones with a desktop cpu and g-sync they seem to be a compelling value.

 

You can pick up and AW 18's or 18r2's for under 2k now if you want a AW. The looks, build and quality is unmatched by anyone. You are just limited on future upgrading. It would have to be used anyway since AW doesn't make them anymore. Like a few here I'll have my r2 till it's worth nothing just because. But AW is not in my future for new purchases.
Comparing though if your dead set on a mac like all inclusive system I'd say Msi over Asus or AW for what is offered today. I'd like an Aorus sli system but they run way way to hot for my personal taste.
I am in fear manufacturers hands will be tied in the next couple years with no mxm modules being produced by Nvidia and have to weld everything down.

 

Best solution is to not waste any money on a "gaming" laptop. Just buy a throw-away $300 Dell or Acer notebook or Chromebook for web surfing and email and build a desktop. A year ago I never would have said this, but notebooks are headed in the wrong direction and as @pathfindercod said, in the near future there is a possibility nothing will be sold except for worthless BGA trash that cannot be upgraded.

Do the right thing and vote "no" by refusing to buy anything labeled "gaming" or "high performance" that uses BGA CPU and/or GPU. The only way we will get the attention of Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, and the OEMs peddling trash is by causing serious financial harm to the industry through a massive boycott of the technology. Since the PC world is dominated by ignorant losers that either don't know, don't care, or both, our chances of having an impact are slim, but together we can make a difference.

 

Well, Dell is still selling their leftover 18's (clearance, so they're at least new). There's the pre-made configuration I linked and a somewhat customizable one. Even then, it's out of the OP's budget.

 

I have an Aw17 while my friends have Asus G751JY (all of them!). They buy Asus cause better price/perfomance ratio. I think Asus wins over all aspect. Also Dell made some mistake recently like the 180w PSU on GX980m (Asus ship a 230w PSU instead).

 

I wouldn't buy any laptop from this point onwards due to the crippled BGA specs. Get a small light laptop for portability and build yourself a decent desktop that you can upgrade slowly

after owning 4 ASUS laptops...I would never buy an ASUS laptop again...

Never had an Alienware before because of its high price. I had 3 ASUS Gaming laptops, G73Sw, G75VW, and G750JX

After being frustrated with ASUS's bad driver support, and lack of official drivers for Windows 7, I sold my G750JX and got this Alienware.

Now I know why they cost an arm and a leg

1) much better build quality, it's like you bought a Mercedes as opposed to a honda civic

2) Warranty is much better, if the laptop spoils, they will come to your house and fix it at your home the next business day. When my G750JX stopped booting within 6 months of owning it, I had to drive to the service center which is very far, and it took them 7 days to replace the motherboard

3) I wanted a bigger screen and ASUS only have 17.3' screens. This 18.4' screen is a dream to play and surf on

4) I didn't ask for it, but I got a freebie dual GeForce GTX 770M so my performance has never been better

5) I love the lighting effects of Alienware

6) Their audio and KLIPSCH speakers blow the ASUS G750JX out of the water in terms of loudness and quality although both use a Realtek Chipset, but the speakers are better and the Alienware comes with the Dolby Home Theater which improves the audio quality by a great mile

7) All ASUS laptops has a problem with the left USB 3.0 Ports. You plug in a USB 3.0 HDD to the left top or left bottom ports and it will randomly keep disconnecting. That is for all G750 series, JX,JW,JH,JZ,JavaScript, you name it. don't believe me, just hang around on the ROG forums and see the jokes of problems they have. pathetic for the amount of money you pay. problems with screens,m auto dimming problem, contrast problem.

I wouldn't use an ASUS laptop anymore even if they gave it to me for free! cheap Taiwanese crap!

Did I forget to mention...

their implementation of Optimus is messed up...it is very tricky to force games to use your nVIDIA GPU unless you do a lot of settings and even then users on their forums complain that the freakin' games are using the Intel HD Graphics! LOL! horrible!

with Alienware, there are no such mishaps...you press FN + F5 and the laptop reboots activating the nVIDIA GPUs and it's stuck like that until you press FN + F5. no room for error of a gaming even seeing your Intel HD Graphics!

you want Testimony ? Please take the time to read this:

why ASUS? because people who buy ASUS cannot afford Alienware, no other reason on earth...that's a fact...I am one of them...

First laptop, 2 years ago..

G73Sw:

bought it and ran home like a little child wanting to see my lights in the chiclet keyboards....ooops...no lights...tried all driver updates..BIOS update...nope..

Called ASUS, they told me to bring it to the service center it's an easy fix!! whaaaat?? I buy a 2000 USD laptop and go to the service center next day? oh well..I did and they activated it with their BIOS tweak utility that they don't give to customers! great quality control Taiwanese Engineers! send out laptops for sale that don't work properly as advertised...

after 1 week...the screen started giving me fuzzy images...closing/opening the screen lid fixed the problem....wow!! what did I buy? a 1990 Toyotal Corolla or a brand new gaming laptop??

They said they need to replace my screen! wow!! the laptop can't last a week without being repaired! i fought for a refund and got it after a long hassle...

next laptop...

ASUS G75VW,

ASUS decided to remove their awesome creative sound blaster audio chipset and put some cheap VIA audio chipset which made the subwoofer act like a center speaker rather than a subwoofer..

also..I only had the option to get the matte screen...oh well...people say matte is good...right? NOPE! not on ASUS! the ASUS matte screens look as if someone spilled grease all over them. very grainy image especially if you look at a white screen such as these forums or Google..if you look close..you can see the pixels of colorful rainbows! again shocked in awe for this cheap crap!

So I called ASUS complaining about the quality of the screen, they offered to change it to the 3D screen not coz I want 3D, but only because that is the only screen they have that is Glossy..

took the laptop...2 days..I get a call...sorry sir, we changed your screen, but fried your motherboard....we have no spare motherboards...so if you pay $500 USD we can give you a G750JX instead or you can wait till god knows when till we get a motherboard from Taiwan...

so I got the G750JX...

very bad driver support....ASUS released the win 8.1 drivers after 6 months of win 8.1 was released...anyone who upgraded while having the old drivers either got a non booting laptop after the upgrade due to outdated bluetooth/wifi drivers or had horrible problems....

next comes the 2D performance of their GTX770M....there is something not right about it! 3D was fine and performed as it should...but 2D was glitchy and choppy...imagine even a simple game of solitaire..the motion of the cards wasn't fluid...I used to get jealouse when I see my friends' Intel HD Graphics perform so smoothly in the Windows environment while my brand new gaming laptop cries in 2D...opening tabs in firefox...wow..another plethora of jerkiness / slow motion

next...they put cheap Atheros WLAN chipsets which cannot connect above 72 MBPS!! wow! had to pay 50 USD and get a Bigfoot Wireless N-Killer from the US and pay customs just to have a laptop perform like a normal computer

next.... USB 3.0 problems..

basically, I had to connect my USB drives to the right ports and the left ones were kept for my mouse and printer? why? because ASUS cannot produce a piece of hardware that functions right! they claim all ports are USB 3.0 and they are all in blue color...BIG LIE! it wasn't only me, I posted this on the ROG forums and every single one of the members verified the same!

I can't find my thread that I started, but here are 2 examples I quickly grabbed:

Asus G750 USB 3.0 Ports not working with some things

and

Is it normal that the top left USB port is very slow?

ASUS? HELLL NO!!

Worst case scenario, save some money and wait, then get a real gaming laptop from Alienware and be happy for life! rather than bite your fingers after you buy your ASUS

A quick Google search on the G750JX presents exactly what I experienced! I've probably formatted that laptop over 200 times twice daily just trying to make it work but every time some quirk happens...

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1783800/usb-sooooo-slow-asus-g750.html

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38918-USB-problems-G750-JX

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...-G750JX-and-with-it-a-whole-suite-of-problems.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35565-Asus-ROG-G750JX-RB71-Screen-Ghosting.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/727019-big-green-float-g750jx-screen.html

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/a...x-cheap-display-horizontal-lines-4331824.html

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...g750jx-rb71-has-been-crashing-repeatedly.html

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?34676-G750JX-1day-old-Black-Screen-and-not-Booting
=========================================================
Update:

I would never buy a laptop from a company that has these kinds of issues in these new thread I've found.... I know every laptop might have a problem, but these are way too serious and general (as in, not pertaining to just one bad lemon):

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54313-G751-Imbalanced-Sound-Problem-OFFICIAL-SUPPORT-THREAD

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?55207-Gt751-JT-not-booting-up-after-windows-update

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54444-g751jt-backlight-bleed

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...ports-(left-side)-and-external-HD-anyone-else (This USB 3.0 Problem has been there since the G75VW, G750JX, and now on to the new model! insane!)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?55158-G751-AC-WLAN-only-at-7-MB-per-sec! (This is due to the crappy WLAN cards they use even though it's a premium gaming laptop)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...3-weeks-frequent-display-not-responding-error

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54360-G751-JY-keyboard-slugghish!-(and-other-issues)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54982-ASUS-G751-one-of-the-worst-purchases-I-ever-made

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54990-G751JT-bricked-my-Corsair-GS-240GB-SSD

 

Get a Clevo P7xxZM/ G-sync also available now, that's it !! end of the story

Spoiler: OR

You still want an AW coz of it's quality & warranty try to buy one from Dell reputed store AW18 (EOL now as no more SLI machines from this new AW) / AW17 2013-14 versions (both have downsides over Clevo - NvRAMBIOS / Upgradabilty issues to maxwell GPUs), they are the last of Alienwares that carry the enthusiast DNA tbh & I'm afraid you can't find one now...
If you can't find that AW18 then get a Clevo P377SM-A if you need an SLI machine badly asap Or Wait for that P7xxZM / P377SM-A SLI successor, which should come from Clevo to fill the gap / timeframe release.

 

I was in a similar boat. I wanted to wait & see if the 2015 systems (from any manufacturer) were worth getting/waiting for. Other than Clevo, the answer appears to be NO. I wanted the Alienware 17 R2 to work out for me (for home and work) but I cannot buy into this BGA soldered CPU and GPU platforms. Sorry.

For home, I found an Alienware 18 with nVidia 880m SLI. It's not perfect, but this system works for me.

For work, I have a Dell Precision M6800 with AMD FirePro M6100 on-order. It should be here the third week of next month (July).

Normally I buy Lenovo Thinkpads for home and work use. My last 2 notebooks were ASUS. But as of late, I do not like the way Lenovo (or most vendors) are going. This BGA soldered-everything-ultrabook-craze is getting out of hand !!!

 

For some, a desktop is not an option. While I would rather have a desktop, I would never get to use it (hence why I sold my custom rig a while ago).

As to the OP - I'd say see if you can get a used, previous-gen AW for a really good price, and hold on to that for a few months, see what happens in the laptop world.

If you really want a brand-new machine now, Clevo P750ZM is a good choice - desktop CPU and MXM GPU.

 

This in spades. If you're going to buy a notebook then buy either the cheapest thing you can find for light work and use the rest of the budget for a proper tower, or go with a full-on luggable desktop replacement. And I strongly urge prospective buyers not make major investments in computers with national brand logos on them. In addition to locking down the hardware controls the brands are using those same controls to lock out what little third-party hardware can be swapped in. I don't know that Asus or Dell are doing this yet but Lenovo is a big offender.

 

Dell is to a certain degree. For example, I believe certain LCD panels are simply not compatible, even if the connectors all line up properly on Alienware machines.

Really, if you truly want to fiddle with your laptop like you would a desktop, I think Clevo machines are the last bastion. You can mostly do whatever you want, there's a lot of community-made content (custom modded BIOS,VBIOS and GPU drivers) and some of their machines still come with full sockets.

 

It was never an option for me either. Still isn't a good one, and the thought of being tethered to a desk simply makes me want to puke. Going to desktop is like the lesser of two evils option. I'm just not going to waste any money on disposable BGA trash that cannot be serviced, upgraded, modded.... whatever I want to do... or has firmware lock-downs... all of which are over-reaching ethical violations that deprive me of having complete ownership rights of my private property. For now, Clevo offers the only viable options with sockets and slots, extreme mobile and fully unlocked desktop CPU options in a new machine. If and when that option vaporizes, there are no viable options left other than buying something older second-hand. Since Alienware systems seem to have reached the end of their upgrade paths to the latest and greatest GPUs due to new vBIOS and/or NVIDIA driver compatibility problems, even those options are vaporizing.

 

That's not what I meant but it still counts.
I was on about hardware signature checks. They're supposed to be used to detect tampering that might lead to OS compromises. This is part of UEFI secure boot. Lenovo uses the same hardware signature checks to lock out third party hardware.

It's not necessarily about fiddling. It's about being able to replace components that fail rather than replacing the whole thing. More generically, it's about owning a computer vs. owning an appliance that has a computer inside it.

 

This is also what I meant. Dell has hard-coded LCD panel ID's into the BIOS, so unless your panel is on that list, it just won't boot.

Agreed. It's what I love about building desktops - I have (almost) complete control over it. Their modular nature means you do what you please.

 

Yeah, that filth is pure garbage. They are peddling planned obsolescence and exercising upgrade control, but spinning it off as a "security" measure. The choices are simple... let Skynet own you and become part of the Cyberdyne Systems family, or join the resistance. " There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

 

For me Dell/Alienware warranty is not an option.