Ye gods, the vitriol...

Hey all,

Jumped back onto these forums recently as I was sorting out a little AW13 refurb for the missus, so as I do, got my research hat on and got up to date.

Currently on an M18x R2, so maybe everything looks fine from up here, but either way I just find it really disappointing how ferociously vindictive and brattish some of the community stalwarts have gotten.

I understand forum rage, I also understand that people who are the most passionate about a thing (I'm into both Warhammers, and when **** changes there, the heavens apparently fall, let me tell you!) are the ones that get most upset.

I realise there are also a lot of hardcore overclockers etc on these forums, but also remember there are people like me that picked up Alienware for a variety of reasons(Mine being power, warranty, build and ability to get a discount), sure the illusion to be able to upgrade the CPU and GPU are good to have, but in all honesty I haven't and probably wont do either, I'd simply pawn this machine off, vulture over the refurb store (or purchase when a sale is on on the web store) and grab what I want or need.

So in short, just maybe, to the select people that everyone on the forum used to and may still look up, get over the changes and continue helping people like you have in the past, instead of the incessant "Alienware are crap, soldered gpu's and cpu's eat babies, go elsewhere" that keep cropping up to everyone's legitimate questions.

So in short, not everyone one that comes here is a full blown overclocker, and will never intend to swap components out (maybe aside from a HDD or ram), but still value peoples opinions about there decision and should be spared the hate that is currently bubbling over around here...

Sorry about the mini rant/bleat.

Cheers y'all.

 

Part of the problem is that they've gone completely mainstream. It would have been one thing if they started offering certain models that were slim, soldered and whatnot. But they no longer offer any enthusiast machine at all. No to mention the build quality is worse. Limited RAM/HDD upgrades. It's not just about the BGA route they've taken - pretty much everything about the laptop is a downgrade. In other words, AW is no better than ASUS/Clevo now. So the price premium is no longer justified. Their customer service has also taken a turn for the worse.

Oh, let's not forget you only have the option of a 5,400rpm HDD now - no 7,200rpm is offered. They also provide a power supply unit that cannot provide enough juice for the GTX 980M to run at full speed - it throttles.

And that's bad, even if you're not the type to tinker with your machine.

The focus has been on the soldered/BGA CPU/GPU - but make no mistake, that's really just the tip of the iceberg. Given that AW brands itself as a high-performance, no-compromise product, the vitriol is entirely deserved. Because these machines are anything but.

 

Other than their participation in the conspiracy to ruin everything with BGA filth, this is not an anti-Alienware thing. It's an anti-garbage thing that applies universally to all brands. As @Ramzay stated, that's all Alienware offers now, so for that reason it is impossible to support the brand. They have nothing to offer the performance enthusiasts that are responsible for their success. They have totally abandoned that segment of their client base. It was their decision, so there is no reason for us to pretend it is OK, or lock arms and sing Kumbaya.