i dont get it...................

right now i have a dead alienware just out of warranty sitting at home. For the 3 years I have owned this dog i have had nothing but problems. my buddy and I bought the identical laptop same time fully loaded at close to 5k each. our problems were all different but just as frequent and just as serious each time. I have read these boards and found tons of other folks in the same boat we were. so for the life of me can someone explain why people keep dropping large amounts of money on these machines? I only ask becasue now that this thing has finally died and I am ready to put alienware behind me forever and after a ton of research i am going to buy a sager which from what i can tell does not have a 1/1000th of the issues alienware has and I am once again excited that I might be able to purchase the true beast i was hoping for prior to getting duped by alienware. frankly i was not even going to write this post as I am not one to complain i just normally move on but after spending 5k i just thought it right to warn everyone else before others do the same.

thanks in advance for listening.

 

well, Alienware is now owned by Dell, who have one of the best return etc. policies in the industry. and the quality of AW's products has generally gone up.

 

Can you really say that after reading some m15x threads? I think the m9750 had issues as well..

Do your research before buying ANYTHING. AW or not, as what you find might surprise you.

 

There are a few reasons people buy alienware, as far as I can see. All of them equally illogical.

Aesthetics - You won't find another laptop that looks like an AW
Status - It's a symbol of wealth regardless of whether it's impractical or not, like a Bentley.
Ignorance - They don't know that they can get better for less money

 

i guess but is that true? go to the dell board they get slammed on the CS which is now overseas? also is it acceptable for the to be "getting better" when you plop 5k down on a notebook? my alienware (which is now dead) still sits in my living room as a grim reminder (i dont have the heart to throw it out yet). I feel like i was robbed. again i hate to be a downer but just look at the posts? it is problem after problem issue after issue after issue. now listen maybe after i spend 4500 on the sager the same will be true who knows i guess but when i go to that board there are zero negative posts. everyone loves the product and raves about the quality of the build and the cs so i at least feel like i have a fighting chance with them (even though until hitting the boards I never heard of them).............

 

Damn, 3 years? Lucky! I go through laptops every 2..maybe less

 

i have many other laptops....macbook pro sony etc. this one was strickly for gaming and lately i had been playing more xbox then pc but i am ready to go back to pc........

 

people who have problems talk about them constantly, when everything is fine no one says a thing.

 

well people who pay thousands on their notebook will generally complain more then someone who spends, say, 1000

 

either way there are a ton of folks "talking" about their problems on the AW board vs the sager board where the conversation is more of a what product is best, benchmarks, best video drivers etc. so an apples to apples comparison still leaves me scratching my head. I frankly think alienware should be ashamed of themselves. when you go to bestt buy or ccity etc and purchase a tv with an extended warranty after a certain amount of issues you just get a new tv. this purchase is generally more expensive then a tv and the CS is not even close. they don't stand behind their product at all. buyer beware.

 

i agree that the CS is much better with other brands then alienware. but you have to think relatively. i bet more people buy from alienware then sager so obviously there would be more people complaining.

My alienware has had some minor issues, broken W key hinges, screen creaking, and other little crap. but i still love it and am happy i bought it.

if i had a choice i would go for the sager though, even without an illuminated keyboard which kicks ass.

 

If you're gonna throw out your AW, I'd like to offer to take it off your hands... I'll pay real shipping costs to get it to me, I'd just rather have a look-see if I can find the real problem and fix it (maybe get a free laptop out of it) before anyone really tosses anything in the junkyard....

 

Just because Dell owns Alienware doesn't mean its run by Dell. They have separate return policies and to top it off, you can't transfer a alienware warranty.

 

i appreciate the offer but it has all my personal junk on it that i cant seem to get off at the moment.....once i purchase the sager i will try and find someone who can get the old stuff off etc.

 

even broken alienware laptops go for something on ebay. a broken m9750 can go for up to 400 dollars.

 

just sell it without the hard drive.

 

Though Alienware was acquired by Dell, we are still under our normal operating procedures, prior to acquisition.

 

I am damn sure they do, talking about 15% restocking fee.

we (including the OP) are talking about percentage here, not amount. Do you think people complain the built quality of Ford more than Ferrari just because larger amount of Ford are hitting the road?

 

no i don't, but what i am saying is that the more people who buy, the more will complain. and that people with good things to say probably won't say much. so of course you are going to hear more bad then good.

 

I would not say that is true at all. The M5550 was made by AW before Dell owned them and I have to say that the quality on it was pretty bad. In addition, Alienware's return policy has not changed at all. Maybe once dell owns AND operates AW the quality will increase. As of now Dell just owns AW, they don't operate them.

 

Oddly enough, customer service was one of the only good aspects of my experience with Alienware (aside from the insulting mixup about my warranty coverage). The representatives I talked to on the phone were very friendly, understandable, and helpful, and the representatives who helped me out on these forums (James and Armando) were also both extremely friendly and helpful.

Everything else, though, I was disappointed by. Price, build quality, repair department. Heck, even the often-tauted aesthetics were disappointing. Something about flimsy plastic just can't seem to work its way into my heart, no matter how many shiny lights you put under it.

----

At first, I agreed with the people who explained, "Only people with problems post on forums, so that's why it seems like Alienware is so bad."

Then I looked over the other manufacturer forums, and found that many of them have plenty of posts from happy people. Sager's a great example, although I'm beginning to take everything Sager-related with a grain of salt. Alienware has fanboys, too.

If there's anything I've learned from this whole experience, it's that large tech review sites and magazines often don't have enough time with their machines to give a meaningful review. The best place to get information from is the people who've dropped serious, hard-earned cash on a product, then had to use it for an extended period of time.

These forums are a great place to find just such people. Unfortunately, many forumers tend to take things to extremes, so it takes a bit of internet savvy and social savvy to derive meaningful insights from what you find.

----

Anyway, to link this all back to the OP, the answer is simple. MOST people don't trust forumers, or even know to ask them. In fact, many people aren't even diligent enough to check out review sites. The majority of people rely strictly on advertising [Alienware is one of the most prominent advertisers in PC and PC gaming magazines and on PC/PC-gaming websites] and word-of-mouth, and thus don't get the truth.

 

can you explain why you did the same thing?