Why Alienware, Alienware fanatics?

A quadro is exactly the same card as a regular geforce why would you par $1000 extra for the exact same card? Now then there is the money issue even if you can afford it maybe its better to save that 1000 and upgrade a year earlier next time around.

The whole point is Alienware has found a niche in the price and performance landscape. They offer a handful of unique products that even people who are not fanatics are often tempted to buy.

 

If you re-read what Räy said, I think it is pretty clear. The M18x allows flexibility not available in any other machine. In less than an hour he can drop in a different GPU to do the things he wants to with CAD to perform as well as he could with a Precision or Elitebook. Räy also enjoys the flexibility of a dual-GPU gaming monster, which the Precision (and just about everything else on the market) is incapable of being. With an extra heat sink already pasted and attached to the video card, this is simply a matter of removing a few screws.

 

Quadro cards aren't just about the GPU, it's also drivers, which are top notch. Geforce is for gaming, Quadro is for CAD, hence you see no mobile workstation (ThinkPad W series, HP Elitebook, Dell Precision) use professional grade cards, Quadro or FirePro.

 

Yes the drivers are optimized for CAD work and such, but for as long as I can remmeber people who are technically inclined could get those drivers working on regular geforce cards. Its a typical upselling technique that people can and should get around.

 

The physical GPU still isn't "optimized" for CAD work. GeForce cards are about massive throughput, and hence games will run smooth with higher framerates. CAD cards worry more about accuracy of the polygons and hence massive throughput isn't exactly the best thing. Yes you can install the drivers, but ideally it would be best to flash the vBios of the card, which is neither here nor there.

 

Hmmm. As of today, the M18x is no longer the undisputed champion of gaming laptops. The Sager NP9370 has arrived. It's a 17 inch laptop with all the hardware options (and more, especially if you include the numerous screen, hard drive, and ram options and the fact it comes with an integrated fingerprint reader) that the the m18x has, including dual 7970's and dual 680's. The only thing the m18x r2 seems has over this new sager is an extra hard drive slot.

just price checked both and set them to have the same specs (basically maxed out). The M18x on Dells site, and the Sager on Xotic.

1080p glossy screen

back lit keyboard

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3920XM

16 gigs of 1600 Mhz ram

dual 680's (the sager has the 4gb versions, the AW has the 2gb versions)

killer wireless 1103

blue ray player

512gb SSD

3 years advanced warranty

nothing else has been changed...

Sager: 4154.51$

AW: 5242$ (after taking off 200 dollars because of the current discount being run, and not including sales tax)
--------------------------

Holy smokes thats a difference of over a grand, probably even over a grand and a half since you don't have to pay sales tax when buying from Xotic...

throw a couple hundred dollars more at the sager and you can get a super nice matte screen, your system overclocked, and ice diamond thermal past applied to your CPU and GPU.

Even after adding that to the sager price, and haggling with a dell rep there will still be close to a thousand dollars difference between the two systems...

Step it up alienware developers!

 

Why possibly pay extra for overclocking? One can do it himself..

 

Defengar, the M18x can price can be negotiated down to the equivalent of the Clevo pricing with that configuration comparison. We have people in our community that have done exactly that. If you ever need to use the Clevo warranty, that will be a regrettable experience.

Two features the Clevo offers that the M18x does not... (1) ugly, and (2) plastic.

The only thing they offer that some might prefer is a matte display. It's surrounded by a crud-collecting bezel, so one step forward, one step backward.

If the M18x were no longer produced, that would be the machine I would buy as it is the only viable alternative offered by anyone.

 

I know, I love "dat luminum". and clevo/sagers have that "generic" laptop look.

But still. a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars any way you cut it, and it appears that most of that thousand dollars is going towards a name. That really bothers me. I know you can haggle, but I seriously doubt anyone has ever knocked off over a grand from an m18x purchase.

Warranty is handled through Xotic, and I have heard nothing but good things about them. There is a reason they have an A+ with the BBB and are ranked #1 on resellerratings.com.

When I eventually get my gaming laptop I will still probably get an AW, but seeing such a price difference has somewhat disheartened me.

 

There is a difference. If something on your laptop breaks, AFAIK you must ship it to Xotic, whereas with Alienware they send a technician out to your home. Heck you can even call up Alienware, and sometimes they will overnight you a part like a drive. You also get accidental damage coverage, something not offered by Clevo resellers.

Clevo laptops are great if you want quality hardware without paying the big bucks, but some people want peace of mind, and hence I bought an Alienware over a Clevo laptop for my main laptop. I have a Sager rebrand W860CU, sure it's great but it's super plasticky vs my M17xR2 which has a metallic chassis, just feels more durable.

 

I agree with Defengar.
A thousand dollars or pounds is a huge factor in considering a laptop and would sway my decision.

At the same time I would have done my best to ensure I'd have been able to get the best value for money overall and if it means having in house warranty support from the likes of Dell then I consider that a bonus.

 

I think you might be surprised. I know of specific individuals that have done so with an M18x R2 purchase. If they see your post I sure they will respond. But, yes, a grand is a lot of money. That's more than some people spend on their cracker-box computers.

The other thing is the Clevo system BIOS is not very overclocker-friendly. I know of some individuals that have switched to Alienware because of the tweakability factor that is either not possible or far more difficult with a Clevo system.

 

I wont be stupid buying this setup. If I want an 18 incher, I wont even consider NP9370. If I want this setup, I will buy the M18x without the 512 GB SSD and RAM. I will buy it with the most basic HD and RAm and upgrade it myself for a much lower price. And it has been mentioned many times in this thread that you dont pay for the online price but instead negotiate by calling a rep.

 

But at the end of the day only some people can negotiate the price down, where anyone can go get the sager right now just by configuring it on the website.

I do agree that the price you are able to get a system is a factor but you have to keep in mind that only really counts for general discussion when the sale price is common and accessible to almost anyone. For example the famous polk monitor series of speakers at newegg is on sale weekly for about 50% off MSRP. But with alienware you can only get a sale if you wait for the right time, or know the right salesman and he is having a good day and is willing to do things for you. Recently I made my first purchase of a gaming laptop in about 4 years and unfortunately even with all my research and attempts I could not get the alienware price to move much at all. So I ended up with a samsung.

So this brings up two really negative points about human psychology and alienware.

1 Alienware is only competitive when, no one else has the same options they have, or when they are having a killer sale, perhaps combined with a good sales man giving you a great deal

2 Alienwares price structure punishes their best customers. Really check that out, if you try to deck out a machine the upgrades are huge tack ons. For whatever reason this works on alot of humans but it really is bad because it teaches people its best no to upgrade through alienware.

Where as with clevo systems and most sellers if you pay a little more you get a little more and each upgrade item is priced such that its worth it for you to generally just configure the system you like all in one go.

 

ill ask you this....can anyone get a sager fixed in one day?
parts over nighted?
a tech (whether it be a good one or a bad one) at your home to fix it?
technically almost all your parts replaced?
multiple parts replaced at different times, before having to send it to depot?
prepaid shipping label for your repair. both ways!(but i could be wrong here. maybe they pay both ways now, but when i owned a clevo..they made me pay)


that is where that over head premium comes in....
if you guys are looking at being a bit more realistic about money spent.

so for a few extra dollars, that's also what you get.
along with all the other comments.

do i like the higher price? of course not...would love to get it for free.
side note: this has nothing to do with what you paid for the warranty, because you can get decent service on their standard warranty. (when they actually have the parts)

 

I love Alienware cause I can just about upgrade anything inside it. When I first bought my M18x I could only afford the 2760qm processor and Nvidea 560 SLI. This past week I just ordered 580's for me to run SLI to enjoy my games even further and I'll be upgrading the processor to the 2920xm here in two weeks and looking to over clock it to about 4.2 to help improve my work flow with all my photo editing and video editing I'm about to begin. Plus when prices come down for the 680's I can always upgrade to them.

Tell me what other company I can do that with?

 

When I was shopping for mine I also looked at the M18x. On a system priced at only $3600 retail, I was offered a $900 discount. It would have been extremely easy to get well over a grand off of a $5200 machine. 22-25% off should be the target range for anyone looking at these systems. Way too many people on this forum have been able to do that to argue it cannot be done (and relatively easily I might add...all I did was tell them that is what it'd take for me to buy the machine). Got the same percentage off the one I did buy...no haggling at all.

I tried configuring every brand out there with the same specs and with the discount, none were a better deal than Alienware...and ALL had inferior warranty and construction. Pretty much a no-brainer at that point.

 

Basically what Tsunade was saying. But the later GPUs so far haven't had hacked vBIOSes released, plus it doesn't guarantee compatibility with the Quadro driver. Also, Quadro chips can still play games okay (yes, fine, more prone to trouble, but they can and will), plus they also generally pack far more V-RAM (which isn't very meaningful at all, but it does matter).
And nVIDIA also devotes more resources to support users of Quadro-branded graphics. You have proper professional 24/7 support available if you're a Quadro user, if I recall correctly.

You're also forgetting that if I want to do CAD in a M18x (or, rather, a M17x because I do not have M18x in my region) I have to buy the Quadros separately (a thousand or two on top of the brazen several thousand for the system as equipped with a GeForce). Not everyone has an infinite budget, and the M18x is in my opinion completely against the point of me buying a notebook. It's far too heavy. I need, or at the very least, want a machine below three and a half. And even then, that's stretching it. Even if you don't think so, for yourself, my desktop is for gaming. The notebook is actually being more of a mobile work-machine instead of a general-do-everything-and-do-it-@#$%ing-fast system my desktop is.

And, again, not everywhere in the world is tinkerer or upgrade friendly. Sure I have an entire building in this country devoted to selling PC hardware, but that does not include notebook hardware. Yes, 2.5" hard disks. Yes, mobile CPUs, if you're lucky. Mobile MXM GPUs? No. And if available? Prohibitively expensive. Instead, I want to find myself the best possible out-of-the-factory configuration I can get. As I've stated before, my only real reason for going Alienware is because it was the best performance-to-portability balance with available support. I am not shipping a Sager for a week or two to the US for a repair.
Plus, I actually prefer to stay out of my computer's internals unless I have to. I prefer maximum uptime. I rarely even shut down my desktop. Opening the internals of a notebook, no matter how easy, is down time to me. And when swapping between, say, a Quadro GPU and a GeForce, you'd have to reinstall the driver, yes? Repeatedly installing drivers back and forth tends to cause problems in the long run too, you know.

 

Okee-dokee...

I agree with much of what you said and would venture to say that most folks are not tinkerers or upgrade friendly. Many Alienware enthusiasts are, but not all. And, that's good for business for those that make a living servicing the needs of the non-tinkerers.

 

Sorry but not going to wad through 12 pages of thread. Sometimes I may.

Normal users: Flashy (if they like it) and the best warranty service around. I've had better experiences with AW than on Dell Gold Support, Lenovo Think series, and HP Elitebooks. The enterprise/business level general 3year support warranty NBD's are generally hit/miss in my experience. I've dealt with dozens in the last year and a half in the Washington DC area with HP/Dell/Lenovo

Enthusiast: Most upgradable platform bar-none including tweaks. The hacked bios come first. The stock bios support more options. AW put in disabling iGPU support on newer AWs where they can bypass the total troubles Clevo users have with Enduro. And it includes the extra warranty support that applies to general users.


Notes: My first AW is a 2nd hand AW Dell M15x which still has Complete Care. I'm very anal concerning service and machine condition of my personal machines. I've previously owned a G73jh-x1 and a G51v-x1.. I LOVE upgrading

 

Most of it was people expressing opinions and rebuttals... Honestly, not much useful information, so need for wading through it, LOL. (Stuff Alienware fans already know about and the haters will not acknowledge.)

 

Awesome FOX. Glad I didn't waste irrecoverable time. Just for the record I was one upon a time a AW hater... :X

 

Over Sager I would say quality and engineering (especially the cooling system). Except for the glossy displays, the Alienware have gone up in quality since they where purchased by Dell.

 

I was tempted to go with a Sager - but, honestly, got a little put off after investigating them a little more. Truly, I like the simpler styling of the Sager units (My Ripley case is nice, but not sure I care for the flash of the M17/M18) - but, I guess for me it comes down to trust. I've had alienware computers for the last 10 years or more - my current system has survived desert deployments, thousands of miles of travel, and recently being dropped 3' off a desktop onto a concrete floor (!!!) - and is still going strong. (and this is after many years of hard use!)

For that, plus the reviews/performance that I've seen, I'll put up with slightly flashier appearance...

Yes, the Alienware that I want (an M18 R2, most likely) is a little more pricey than the NP9370 I was speccing out - but I have greater faith that it's going to be a better product. Maybe it won't - maybe the Sager would be fine - but when spending that sort of cash, I feel like Alienware is a proven entity to me, and I feel much more comfortable, where I feel like the Sager would be a bit of a gamble. (Particularly after reading about some sloppy thermal paste jobs on that model from the reseller I was going to go with...)

Anyway, I'm sure there are Sager fans out there who would be completely the opposite. Guess it comes down to what you like.

 

I've had an alienware before, the m11x r2 and I can say they are high grade/superior computers, mostly because we pay top dollar lol.

Moreover, aside from that aspect, it is literally the "warranty" that attracts me to buy from dell, the in-house service, the extended accidental and 3 year warranty and the fact that you can resume or buy the warranty anytime, unlike other manufacturers that place 30-day limits.

The only complaint I have for Alienware is that they do not utilize matte screens. I wouldn't mind paying a few hundred dollars extra if they offered it.

 

What people don't realize is that Alienware doesn't suck, Dell is the one that sucks.

Alienware is good if you want the most expensive mirror in the world (m18x). I hope none of you actually do this on your Dell laptop.

Alienware M18x R2 - Dolphin Emulator - New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 2012 - YouTube
Angry Birds Alienware m17x r4 gameplay - YouTube

 

only in my spare time. Gotta make sure everything runs maxed out right?

 

At least Minecraft can be demanding using Shaders Mod.

Also, I forgot to say this on my other post. They're not "haters", they just don't know about discounts. If they're not talking about the price itself, but the laptops themselves, then yes, they're haters. Some alienware fans get upset when you point out that the same configuration can be had for cheaper elsewhere. Those alienware fans don't know about discounts as well. The only thing the "haters" refuse to acknowledge is being able to get a quote and negotiate to get a discount.

A $1900 high end rig (single 680) will outperform an m18x. Of course a 2 way 680 SLI will outperform 680m SLI. Fox boy, you live in the country where the greatest online retailer for computer parts is available at. Newegg. You either don't even know about Newegg, or you're just terrible at picking out the right parts.

 

Funny how this thread always attracts those who have to justify getting less for paying less. It's obvious that's the case. Absolutely NOBODY has a warranty like AW does when you factor in the in home visits and the level of service you get both through Dell as well as the company participation here. I haven't wasted my time in the Sager/Clevo forums since I don't own and have no intention of owning one of those systems........but if I had then I'd bet I wouldn't see nearly the same level of commitment and support, both from the manufacturer and the ownership base. That speaks volumes.

Keep plenty of packing tape and postage on hand, you'll need it when you need your warranty. Me, I'll just throw a pot of coffee on and have some cookies ready for the tech when he comes out to fix my rig.

 

But at the same time sometimes AW fans seem to suggest that a warranty is priceless and justifies all differences in price. You can offer me a warranty on my mouse for $5000 where you send a stripper to personally replace it for me in 1 hour, doesn't mean I am going to pay $5050 for a mouse.

I have owned 5+ laptops and never had to send a single one of them back. I selected laptops with a reputation for working. If I had paid something like $400 extra for a warranty on each one I would be out $2000 and could have had a whole new laptop for that price.

 

AW does seem to have the best warranty, but I have seen enough horror stories on this forum, and other to know its far from solid gold.

Usually if its brought up on this forum a dell rep can get it sorted out, but a lot of customers don't know about this place. So they can end up getting the runaround for weeks. (or in dumbdumbs case, MONTHS).
Still. I will likely be getting AW because I love the looks, and because I have found this forum, which is a place I know I won't get the runaround at.

 

I can't believe this thread is still going.


Before anyone else says it: I can't believe it's not butter.

 

Congratulations, you are the one out of how many people that have flawless computers. Unfortunately, not everybody has your luck.

I also read this one too:

To put it simply, it is like buying a car.

 

I don't consider myself an Alienware fanatic. I bought my M11X after sending back an outlet M17X (TOO BIG) to replace my E1705 which is relegated to kitchen duty

I bought the AW because I got it on the outlet for around $660. Great deal. I don't care for the looks or the weight, I un installed the Alienware command center leaving just the lighted keys. IT has been a great Notebook I don't stress over my stuff and the key bed was full of crumbs, dog hair and junk when I replaced the BT module I found on Ebay for a few dollars. It usually sits on my end table in the living room where it has been running nearly constantly for the past couple years or so. Been across country a few times.


Only recently did my cover hinges break. Its on the way back for the new free hinges. One thing about Dell is they take care of their customers when a general fault is found. It has not always been that way. I am typing this on another outlet machine I bought years ago and has been running 80% of its life (The battery is completely dead) E1705. We have a couple of other outlet machines an Optiplex and an Inspriron 15. All running well.

I had an 8600 I gave away which still runs, Over 15 years of Dell and NEVER bought an extended warranty, I don't generally buy them and am from a time when they were not offered and things were not as well built, I did the math and am waaaaaay ahead to the tune of $8000 when one considers over 20 years of cars, my bikes, TVS , computers, and a few homes worth of appliances over the past 20 years.

Why would I pay 30% more for a Computer which is stationary most of the time and when traveling is padded and protected from the elements when a car has thousands of moving parts exposed to the elements on bumpy roads and has processors under the hood and whose EWs cost MUCH less as a percentage than the total cost, run for much longer period, and still generally are not needed. If fear is the primary tactic used to sell a product I run....

I have paid for "what would have been in "covered" repairs now and then but no where near the amount I would have paid in and never had a "what would have been "extended covered" appliance or TV need warranty work,

That said when my AW gets back I will be giving it away and buying a LIGHTER notebook, There are many are many 11" notebook nowadays that don't look like tanks and are lighter, thinner, and powerful , I am still wanting holding out for the W8 touch screen notebook/tablets.

Alienware is a great product and Dell has come a Loooooong way in Customer service, But in today's day and age its far to big and chunky for an end table or carrying around . If I were going for a high end heavy desktop replacement it would likely be an outlet Precision. or Sagar since Dell reserves their best components for the AW line

Dell is hard to beat considering my history with them. I build my own desktops, The Optiplex is a $400 office machine for the wife,

 

Yeah... if you're eyeing an Alienware and your preference is 'light, and not big/chunky' then I think you are not necessarily the target market there...

(edited to add: just teasing, of course! I realize the point wasn't about lightness of laptops, but rather an illustration of Dell support...)

I do like the buying a car thing - one might very well ask, "Why Lambourghini, car fans?" (or Jaguar, or whatever exotic happens to appeal to you...). After all, why a supercar? You can't drive it all that much faster than a Ford Taurus (legally!), and yeah, it accelerates faster and handles better, but does that justify the cost?

The answer is: for some of us, yes, and for some of us no. I guess I like Alienware because, computer-wise, I like to have performance above and beyond what you'd find in your average run-of-the-mill laptop, hence I go for a performance computer. (and for me - and I stress FOR ME! - that extra performance and the enjoyment I get out of having it is worth the extra money...)

As to why Alienware vs. other performance brands - well, now you're debating Lambourghinis and Ferraris. Some are gonna like one better than the other, for reasons that possibly only make sense to them!

 

I'll buy it cause I can afford it....

 

And that's sayin' something on a Military salary. Almost makes you think that whole "overpriced" thing might not be quite so true, we know our boys in uniform aren't paid what they're worth after all.

 

How about why NOT Alienware / Dell...

As an owner of an m15x r1 I was left to rot after just one year of driver updates.

Got it on the cusp between vista and windows 7 laptops. Alienware decided to stop supporting the r1 and move on to r2 etc. No official support for windows 7.

Updated Nvidia drivers wouldn't install because of whatever hardware voodoo AW performed.

As a result my perfectly capable machine was ignored and written off. Not buying another AW until I hear this practice has changed. Dumpy keyboards too...

 

The overpriced stigma that a lot of people associate with AW mainly comes from alienwares desktops. Which are definitely overpriced.

 

I had about a thousand chopped off the price of my M14x, based on their online configuration, and truthfully it still strikes me as poor value, given that my previous 17.3" G73Jh cost less than this with more accessories included.
...And I mean this even if you include the extended warranty on my Alienware.

 

Having owned two G74's all I can say is that they prove that you get what you pay for.

 

^^^ It's funny... in a pathetic way... how many former G74 owners now own an M17x or M18x. They are cheaper, and their reputation/track records is consistent with being cheaper. I don't consider that to be a good value.

 

The G74 is a larcenous slander to the G73's name. That's why I did not buy a G75 or G55.

The original G73 has fantastic speakers, a good keyboard, a good screen (glossy though) and fantastic specifications for its price. And has a frame so solid it doesn't feel like plastic.



The G74? It shed all of the elements that made its predecessor an award winner.

 

Oh, that's funny. Altec Lansing is very poor. Dynaudio (MSI GT Series), Harmon/Kardon (Toshiba Qosmio) and Klipsch (Alienware laptops) are topnotch. JBL (Lenovo Ideapad, Samsung Series 7 Chronos 17.3, and Dell XPS) is average. Dell didn't want to put JBL speakers on the new XPS laptops and they don't have the 17.3 model for some reason.

 

I have used Altec Lansing speakers for the last decade and I have enjoyed every single one. All of my desktop speakers to date have been Altec Lansing.
The G73's speakers are, admittedly, pretty bland at stock, but with the correct equalizer setting, they are easily better if not as good as most portable speakers. The same can be said of the Alienware M14x's, though the latter has a tinnier metallic tinge to its sound. Don't get me wrong - the M14x's speakers are great, way better than I expected and every bit as good as most people make them out to be, but as with the G73, they need to be tuned properly in the Sound Blaster panel.
The M17x on the other hand? Don't even get me started, that thing sounds awful even though it has Klipsch branded 2.0 speakers. Yes, I tried screwing around with the Sound Blaster panel. No, it did not improve sufficiently.
ASUS UL80Vt also sports Altec Lansing branded speakers and I found them fairly competent, even if they are by no means hi-fi.


Honestly though I find all of this notebook speaker branding business to be purely marketing. I'm not even sure the companies involved did more than license their names.

 

As far as flagship systems go, AW offers the least possible compromise, pared with the best possible support, build quality (not QC) and long term upgradeability. When looking at any potential gaming rig, check the following:

1) Warranty: does the system come with NBD support or do you have to ship it to depot? Will they always send you a techie or maybe there's an option to get the parts and do the job yourself (geared towards true enthusiasts)?

2) Performance: Having a system with extreme CPU and top GPU's isn't enough, if there's no overclocking - it's not a true gaming/enthusiast machine. Some systems can be pushed way past their stock clocks without sacrificing stability. Most if not all benchmark records belong to AW for a reason: Power + Cooling + Support.

3) Cooling: comes with the 2). What good is the CPU if it's locked at stock speeds and throttles down during load because of the cooling limitations? AW has the best cooling up to date.

Again, I'm talking about flagship systems only. Many may say, Sager/Clevo offers even more powerful systems. - If you really think so, run the benches and compare your results to those found in the AW benching threads. There's no system out there, other than M18xR1/R2 capable of pushing 29x0XM/39x0XM past 4.5ghz on all cores stable.

As for the price - yes, you get what you pay for. Just because it costs 300$ less and has better specs on paper, doesn't mean you will get better performance, higher reliability and better support

 

Well I got mine back in less than a week..with new LCD and hinges .However this is my last AW. Next up Precision. I find this design a little adolescent anymore. I understand their market I am just not it. I jusT wanted a powerful notebook for around $700 on the outlet and this was the best choice in an 11" AT THE TIME

 

What I love is I didn't even CONSIDER Alienware because everyone always say how over priced they are!! Then I found out about how you can call and negotiate! My Alienware cheaper then the Sager I would have got and people and that one has way more problems!

 

And what Sager would that be?

 

have a m17x r2 and its the best laptop ive owned.
solid, beautiful and powerful.

i think alienwares appeal to those of us that take pride in having the best quality and performance.