Why Alienware, Alienware fanatics?

The GT60 is just plain gaudy. MSI's gaming notebook line is definitely on the too-loud-and-mugly-side of things in my opinion. And there's something about their logo I just don't like.

 

I'm not too concerned buying refurbished. What's the worst that could happen? If there's a problem a calm phone call should do the trick, right? I doubt dell would want to send replacements out over and over. I know I wouldn't. If need be I can get the girl at the zippo kiosk at the mall to engrave the nameplate for a couple bucks. Smaller font for my name and handle to boot.

I just have to wait a while for my savings account to get to a comfortable level... just in case something ELSE in my car breaks so I have some cushion. Computers are big purchases no matter what kind of deal you get. Hopefully the VA gets my checks out on time to help cushion my bank account and the outlet still has an m17x r4 with a 7970m. Anything else would either be an added bonus or something easily upgraded at home.

If this is a cult I'll be happy to drink the cool-aide.

 

Ok so who do you haggle with? Where are these amazing discounts people speak of?

 

From my understanding you have to order by phone and keep calling until you get one willing to give you a good deal. Have your price quotes emailed and compare offers. From the sounds of things, they'll work with you because they get a commission.

If you have a good experience refer other people to the rep you ordered with. Maybe even tell their supervisor how pleased you were with your experience.

Being polite also helps in any customer-employee interaction. This is all based on what I've read of course. I haven't yet put it into practice.

 

send me a link of where you read this I'm intrigued

 

I did a Google search on the subject which ultimately led me here when I joined.

I'm working with a rather "old" smartphone converted to a PDA and posting using tapatalk. Loading the full size forum just isn't feasible... lol. My girlfriend currently has the only laptop between us and she's using it to watch True Blood... :\

I'll give a few links a shot.

 

I love sport/muscle cars. Specifically Camaros. AW laptops give off the same feel imo. And since I will probably never be able to afford a camaro I might as well get the next best thing .

 

This is the popular advice thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html

I also shaved well off a thousand and more off my 'list price' via my local configurator by simply inquiring with a Dell representative.

 

Agreed. I like the edges and just overall design of the laptops. I'd prefer smaller desktops, though.

Anyone have anything to say on the stock thermal paste? This is something I'm certainly not comfortable upgrading myself.

 

I am not a fanatic but I can tell you this. There is only one company in all the computing that I am aware of that offers a GTX680 with a 3d screen. That is alienware. So while they may not be of the best value sometimes you have to make major sacrifices to get the 120 hz screen combined with power that you want. So in essense they are the only game in town on some configurations.

Also its not worth comparing apples to oranges, the OP compares a 14 inch class laptop to a 15 inch. There are not alot of options that combine the power of the m14x with how portable it is, it strikes a pretty good balance.

In exchange for hitting certain niches right alienware charges high prices and the sky is the limit for upgrades. But alot of people may have no choice. Its really too bad because if alienware was more resonable on their prices then I think they could be a smash hit. And if they were more reasonable on upgrades I think alot of people would be much happier long term as they were willing to get the upgrades that really make a difference like SSDs.

 

Alienware already makes up the bulk of the gaming laptop market, but yeah, if they upfront lowered their prices some instead of making you have to haggle over the phone like your in a Mexican marketplace, I think they would have even more customers.

 

But how many non gaming laptop sales are people who wanted a gaming laptop but just found it to ridiculous to buy or did not know about options? Also how many desktop users wouldnt mind a laptop but just cant justify the huge increase in expense? Thats the whole point, alot of times if you lower the price you increase sales alot, and that results in more word of mouth sales. Basically the statisics arent going to tell the real story.

 

If I build a desktop configured with roughly the equivalent specs as my M18x and a good quality tower case the price is not that much less than the M18x. If I build a desktop that is significantly less expensive the components are not powerful enough and my M18x will outperform it.

 

^^ That's not true. You can definitely build a desktop significantly cheaper than what you spent on your m18x and it would probably outperform it 2x if not more.

 

Computer performance can only go so far until the human eye alone can't tell the difference. Granted movies can get away with lower frames per second due to motion blur. For video games I'm pretty sure anything above about 70 frames can't be distinguished without some kind of measuring tool or software.

Read/write times and data transfer excluded, I'm under the impression that after a certain point added PC performance becomes unnecessary. Visual quality has come a long way in a short time, but I'm starting to feel that its beginning to hit a plateau.

A desktop gpu may be able to crank out more fps than a mobile one. Can you actually see it, though?

Ah. Maybe I'm just simple. The last PC game I played regularly was Morrowind. Its been a while for me.

Back to the subject at hand, I plan on buying Alienware because its the only attractive laptop that offers a nice gpu for a good price (the gpu anyway), a place for an mSATA SSD for me to fill later and install windows to, two hard drive bays for the two 750gb hdds I'll be getting (also a little later). I know there are other brands that offer the same, but I don't like the way they look.

I can compare specs all day long, but when it comes down to it, I don't get excited about buying parts to put into a different computer. I do get stoked when it comes to getting an aggressive looking machine, play around with the idea of giving it a unique look, and doing upgrades myself.

Mine would be leaving my apartment frequently. I care about how it looks. I'm sure those aspiring screen play writers at Starbucks bought their Macs for the same reason. I'm sure they're great, but like many other brands, it just doesn't speak to me or fill me with envy on the very rare occasion that I see one.

TL: R - AWs accommodate the same hardware, but they're also pretty.

 

How did you come up with 70FPS? You think if a bunch of scientist got into a room and discovered it was 70FPS they would just screw up and set the standard for all LCDs to 60FPS? 10 short for what? No one knows what the human eye can see but I can tell you from personal experience I can use way more than 60 or 70 everything we do with computers is a trick to try to convince people low fps is acceptable.

Games are tweaked to deal with the hardware that is currently out, if you give a game dev 10x the power of a desktop GTX680 trust me will will gladly use it up. More GPU power means you get to set your graphics to a higher level and still churn out the FPS you can live with. Right now already I crave ultra settings BF3 at 120 FPS without microstutter that means no SLI. So far nothing can deliver on the desktop or laptop.

The point is yes some day we will hit a point where you can be immersed in a game and be unable to distinguish it from real life but we are nothing close to there yet. And I wont get into all the other limitations we have due to GPU / CPU limitations. Like we cant have destructable worlds, you cant do something like minecraft / terraria with the graphical level of BF3. We are not at diminished returns either we are just stuck in a console bottle necked situation waiting for a new engine to blow us away.

 

Pretty sure you meant 60ghz, not fps. All I'm saying is my eyes aren't super human and to me a fluid motion is a fluid motion.

Now, I'd probably be able to appreciate it much more on my big tv, but considering I don't have any usable computers laptop comes first.

I'm sorry if I came off as being abrasive in my last post. I didn't mean to, but the fact remains... I'm not super human. Lol.

 

No I specifically meant FPS which is interchangeable with Hz not Ghz for monitors.

 

a desktop 690 could probably do that...

 

Its an SLI card though.

 

Hmmm... I don't know, if I put a 3770K together with a pair of GTX 670s, I don't think that M18x is going to anywhere as fast. And it'd be nowhere near as expensive.

Edit:
My desktop cost me $4,000 in my currency - that's around US$3,200. If I had topped up the graphics card (instead of buying an interim step to hold on for a GK110 card), to, say, a GTX 580, or maybe even bought a GTX 680/670 now, or even simply added an extra GTX 560Ti, it'd probably be around as much as your M18x in USD.
But, then, it would score more than twice as much in anything. Especially processor performance.

 

Ooooh. Gotcha.

I like getting corrected, though. If something I think I know is wrong, please do tell me. lol

But let's all go back to the "why Alienware" discussion, huh?

 

Been using Dell & Sager notebooks for many years, no real complaints with Sager other than the fact that I had to deal with resellers out of the country. The price was slightly more expensive, and that the machine had to be sent back to the resellers to be fixed. So there was transit time to consider. The notebooks were good, professional looking but the warranty bit always bothered me. I was always worried about sending the machine back, wondering how long it would take, if the machine would sustain damage in transit, etc. As for Dell, after sales service/warranty has been fantastic. On site support the very next business day along with whatever part replacements and once complete cover was available, it added a lot more peace of mind.

Alienware was out of the question at that time because it was also available via the resellers and for a higher premium price. Also, at that time I didn't quite appreciate the lights, and figured the higher price was due to that perhaps.

So lately, I was due for an upgrade and I started looking around again. Alienware have been in the market for the past few years now and are officially sold by Dell and although there's no M18x for sale, they still have the M15x and the M17x. So I had my machine configured, and I spoke to a Dell sales person who gave me a decent discount for it, I say decent because we don't get the type of discounts you get over in the US or wherever else. A $400 discount here is considered a miracle

Love what I got for the price, and I love the lights and the laptop build. It was even more amazing once I had the machine in my hands. The screen could have been less reflective but you won't find me complaining too much about that. I happen to like the machine more and more each day and great that it's so highly customisable. Most Dell machines can be opened up and upgraded (desktops mostly) but knowing that you can upgrade the CPU/GPU on the Alienware is also nice (I will probably upgrade the laptop in 3 years or so to something brand new so that's not going to be too much of an issue)

I have a SSD and a bunch of RAM on order and I have Windows 7 Ultimate waiting to be installed on the SSD once it arrives.

Couldn't be happier because I know the warranty from Dell is amazing. I know that if something goes wrong, I'll have someone over the next day to look into the issue. It's not a matter of whether I can fix it on my own, or obtain the spare parts from Ebay or whatever. It's that I know that Dell is capable of getting a technician to me the next business day to fix my issues and that's one of the reasons I went with the Alienware.

I don't quite know how to explain it, but having the Alienware feels different from all the other machines I've ever owned (including the usual Dell Inspirons and XPS ones). It's a good feeling.

 

I didn't get an Alienware because I was a fanboy. In fact I had a terrible experience with them when they were independent in 2002. However, for my recent laptop, I was getting it because I needed a desktop level computer to bring overseas. Any notebook was going to be a downgrade anyway, but I set out to get the closest I could get. The Alienware had the best cooling solution in the 17inch notebook space, allows OC of 4 bins on 3720, and offered 680M. With their promotions, all said and done the Alienware was not overpriced compared to the MSI or Sager, and is a vastly superior machine. If you factor in the 4 extra bins on the CPU its no contest. It is also easy to tear down and put back together. I don't really have any brand loyalties, so every round I try to do the research and give every brand a fair shot again, and Alienware won out this time. Not saying the M17X doesn't have its own quirks, but compared to the MSI or Sager (the only two major Ivy/Kepler 17inch choices) I don't really have any regrets at all.

 

Prices and warranties aside, people buy Alienware because of it's cosmetics.

I could build a comparable system on HP for $500+ less that can do what the majority of AW owners need it to do. Warranty is still a Dell warranty. I had the same technician have to come out twice to replace the same GPU. That was before all the time wasted over the phone.

Alienware is far from a quality product. Like Incontro said, it's a cult following. Nothing more.

 

You cant build the same system on HP because HP does not produce systems that compete with alienware at the top end.

Does HP have a laptop with 120hz screen combined with a 680M or 7970M? The only way I know of to get those options is to get an HP elite book and get ready to drop 4k on that and way over pay for workstation gpus.

Alienwares might look nice and if you think purely about value they might not be the best option if you are buying a mid level gaming rig with a standard 60hz screen. But if you want the best of the best for laptops alienware is the only computer maker that delivers many times.

 

__________

 

I'll argue that they do. Look at the specs below for a second:

HP dv7
•3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor
•17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display(1920x1080)
•NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory
•8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
•1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
•Blu-ray writer & SuperMulti DVD burner
•Backlit Keyboard
•Included 2 Year Warranty


This dv7 system costs $1189.99 (before tax). See how close you can get to that with an AW and get back to me.

As I've mentioned, the service is nothing special. That's from my experience. Having a technician do the work in your home doesn't mean anything if they don't get it right the first time.

The 18 inch model is unique to AW. But we also have nothing to compare it to so we can't say it's the best model since it's the only model.

I still think the only reason we buy Alienware is more because it's a cult following than quality or anything else mentioned.

 

Funny you should mention that laptop it is nearly the exact same config a coworker just purchased so I am very familiar with it.

It has a 650M, and is a 17 inch laptop. The Alienware 17 inch comes with a standard 660M which is a good jump in performance and goes up to a 680M which will CRUSH a 650M. We are talking about a completely different league there is nothing to argue about here. Come back to me with a HP system that has either a 7970M or a 680M or a K5000. As I stated HP does not even produce gaming laptops any more. The competition for alienware resides solely in Asian laptop makers. Clevo, Asus, Samsung, MSI and none of them even offer a 7970M or a 680M combined with a 120hz screen. If alienware is over priced they have earned it by offering the top of the line product that no one else is willing or capable of bringing to market.

If you want to compete with that your only option is to jump into professional laptops like precision / elitebook and pay over $1000 just for a the GPU.

I have no bias and I challenge you to find such a high end product, because I am all ears I am looking for any options and so far there aren't any. If Clevo ever gets off their lazy behind and brings a 120hz display to market you will have an argument.

 

That is rather humorous, and it is not equivalent unless you purchase some of the lowest spec Alienware CPU and GPU available. Doing that would be rather pointless. As pubfiction stated, HP does not offer an equivalent machine. They just don't... Even their flagship "high performance" products are unmistakably inferior in terms of performance. They also have extremely proprietary features that make performance component upgrades difficult, if not impossible, due to incompatibilities.

I used to buy HP products almost exclusively, but they went south about 4 or 5 years ago. And, their warranty sucks, too... which was one of the main reasons I wrote them off. Their computers failed frequently and they never wanted to take care of anything. It was like wrestling with a greased pig with rabies. When they finally caved in and chose to provide assistance with fixing their trash, they responded at a snail's pace.

 

Your argument would suggest the only reason you have an Alienware is because of the GPU options. Is that the case?

The 650M is a card that would do what the majority of AW users need it to do, IMO. If you told AW buyers they could save $400-$600 by sacraficing some graphic performance, would they consider buying the HP?

 

What is the point of your posts? I don't understand what it is you're trying to accomplish in this thread, Snake. You realize your opinions are yours and not those of the greater audience, right?

People that are true performance enthusiasts will not be interested in sacrificing performance to save $400-600. That would be ludicrous, and you would no longer qualify as an enthusiast. You would be a bargain hunter that's willing to live with compromise. Different market altogether... you're comparing two completely different customers... square peg/round hole.

 

I am explaining my reasoning to those responding to my opinion.

 

Well, fair enough. Some of what you are saying doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That's OK, though.

So what happened that makes you think all Alienware owners only buy for looks and we're all part of a cult? Bad experience of some kind, or just looking to save some money by compromising on the performance?

 

Answers to those questions: No...and...No.

 

The reason anyone buys a GAMING laptop is so that they DON'T have to sacrifice gaming performance on the go.
There are a lot of people willing to pay a premium for that.
If I wasn't, I would just buy an XPS or other slightly above average consumer laptop, or I would stick to being a console peasant.

 

Well the GPU and the Screen, it is the combination of the 2 that is completely absent from all competition. It is similar to how only apple produces an ultra high resolution laptop. (And BTW I know a number of Windows guys who bought the MBPR because of this) Anyone else may be able to beat them on performance per dollar but you wont get the crisp high resolution IPS display. For that they can command a premium price.

About the 650M, this is a gaming oriented laptop company the 650M is the bare minimum and you wont be playing BF3 at 60FPS with that card unless you drop the settings to low. Compare equal systems.

Now you may be willing to compromise but other people are not. And you can view it any way you want. 1 way to view it would be that alienware understands their customers well enough to offer the product and give their customers the premium experience a high end GPU and a high end 120hz display. And to many customers that is worth the extra money. They also have made a couple of good decisions like the graphics switching that others dropped the ball on. Or you can look at it as pure incompetence on the part of the competition. Why on earth samsung decided to drop the ball on the series 7 gamer 3D and release it with a 7870 is pure stupidity, obviously Samsung execs are to full of them selves to understand their customers. Why does clevo ship a garbage keyboard and no 120hz option in systems that are clearly oriented to gamers and should have total flexibility in screen options. Why do half these guys including ASUS not offer the 680M.

And if they did offer such laptops how much would they cost?

So the point is simply alienware delivers others trip over their own feet. For that alienware wins and is able to command a premium for their good looking even if gaudy and top performing machines that are well thought out in just about all ways but the junky keyboard.

 

Let me know how it goes the next time you HP fans decide to upgrade your 3 year old computer with a new video card, or the next time you pick up that new 3920 from Ebay and make the swap with your 3610. Alienware makes it easy to do both......HP, not so much.

 

1 TB 5400 RPM?
GT 650M on a 17 Inch Laptop?

I could fit a 7970M on our Alienware M17x and it will devour that thing and I'll only spend $1,800 for that.

Alienware M17X R4 Gaming Laptop ATI Radeon 7970M 2gb +1080P FULLHD 1920x1080 NEW | eBay <- Only for $1,798


Spending an additional $600 more, makes your laptop much more futureproof and it makes the performance way way better.

Let me quote this from someone on the NBR, and I can't agree more.

 

All manufacturer laptops are overpriced and that's how they make money. pay wages to the incompetent tech support and getting big bonus at the end of the year as top level management.

They all use the most subpar quality parts possible and expect it work until your factory warranty expires.

why Alienware ? because I am paying so much money and The manufacturer cannot even make a good looking chassis that come with the laptop ? and Alienware is actually trying to improve its design every few years to make it looks alluring ?!

And you will be out of your laptop for at least 3 weeks to get a chance to be repaired by your favorite non Alienware manufacturers?

flashy lights are for the immature minds are solely your subjective opinion. they may
appears to be flashy but they look amazingly great working in dark environment. all keys are easy to find and bright to see with options to change colors. so, it is illustrating that the flashy lights actually has the best performance in dark environment ?!

the internal design actually has some thought put into it that it is easier to take apart for users to change parts ?!

I am really glad that Alienware actually exists ! I still recalled that it costed over $4000 to get a sager laptop with ati x850 with poor design chassis (and looks bad) and now I can get one for $2000 including warranties and great design ?!

if you would like more enlightenment, I am gladly to assist you.

 

That plays a major role. Think how many manufacturers even carry high end cards, just MSI, Alienware, Clevo based machines. MSI's prevalence in the market is so small compared to Alienware and Clevo based machines, so it comes down to Clevo vs Alienware, and I chose Alienware for my main machine for a couple reasons; Dell's support and part availability being the most key feature. If your machine has 3-4 repairs, you will be considered for a replacement. Alienware still carries parts for awhile, a policy of Dell. You can opt for on-site warranty, accidental damage coverage, good luck with a Clevo reseller on that one. You can also get a 5 year warranty, which most Clevo based machines, their maximum is 3 years. Also upgradability of parts makes a difference.

And most users would be fine with a GT650M? Try playing BF3 on 1920x1200 with a 650M and tell me you enjoy your 2 frames per second, seriously? Sure casual games run fine on a 650M, but nobody playing any modern 3D shooter should be fine with a 650M at high resolution and somewhat high quality settings, try again.

 

M14X-R2 for under $800 shipped...couldn't find a better deal

 

As I was saying in my earlier post - my actual main reasoning for selecting Alienware this time around (despite being one of their many deriders) is the availability of service, on a high end performance system - I've had very awful experiences with both MSI and ASUS support in my country (I just went down to ASUS last week to get a Padfone checked out and that reminded me how bad it was), while Dell offered me a three year global premier warranty with CompleteCover.
Sure, the machine could probably have gotten me a better specced out ASUS or MSI or even a Sager, but at the expense of warranty length and the fact that a Sager would require costly shipping (think US$200 a pop) to get it serviced along with significant downtimes.

So, if Alienware improves their machines, they can probably count on me being a return customer. I've had a so-so experience with their service so far because I can't imagine how it takes so long to investigate a creaking hinge, but their support staff haven't been a horror to talk to.

 

Also, just the fact that its alienware is cool, the "alienwareness " is cool, street cred.

 

.... You just proved one of my points but ok?...

 

Yeah, I'm not sure what that even means.

 

I think TastyChevelle is alluding to the "super cool neon lights" stereotype of Alienware owners. I believe he feels that people buy Alienware simply for the image. Whether or not that stereotype is indeed true is irrelevant. He could've just as easily made a post asking why people pay more money for a macbook.

What he doesn't understand is that Alienware makes the best laptops in certain categories. The m17x r3 was the only 17" gaming laptop that could get 5 hours of battery life for a long time. The m18x r1 was the only 18" laptop you could get with dual 100 watt gpus with intel sandybridge. Heck the m17x r2 still can keep up with an m18x when you replace the 5870s with 7970s.

Personally it was between a m18x, Precision and Elitebook when I was deciding on what laptop to buy. Precisions and Elitebooks are standard when it comes to professional CAD work in industry. But what do you do with a $4000 CAD machine that you buy for yourself. For that same amount of money you can buy an m18x with a motherboard that supports two gpus. It takes me less than an hour to go from dual 6970m's for gaming to a single firepro m8900 for my personal CAD work. There will never be a business grade notebook that can do that. Add to that an unlocked bios, and you got a machine that surpasses a Precision or Elitebook. Though you could always through a quadro and a westmere xeon into a clevo x7200 but you will have to deal with 30 minutes of battery life compared to the m18x's 5 hours.

 

Indeed, in terms of gaming power, the M18x is arguably the best gaming laptop on the planet atm, and arguably one of the most powerful laptops period (by non gaming standards) atm as well.

 

I'm not sure of the intent, but I think it may have started out as being a trolling thread. Fortunately, we enjoy declaring the virtues of the Alienware products as much as the haters enjoy stirring the pot. In the end, the opinions of the haters are unequivocally irrelevant. Those with an open mind will be enlightened, and the rest will remain haters and trolls. To an extent, we are "casting our pearls before swine" by responding, but there's always hope that at least a few will be cured of their mental illness.

 

Personally, I don't see your point. If you are a CAD artist, you will definitely want the Quadro equipped machine for sure. I would have taken a Precision if I could've afforded one.