Is Alienware good?

[Networking Wolf]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

watch out for asus laptops, their support is shit and the cooling in most of them are also bad

then what would you recommend I am thinking maybe sager then but i don't want Lenovo because i want this to be a gaming laptop either that or a portable desktop

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, Jstone said:

then what would you recommend I am thinking maybe sager then but i don't want Lenovo because i want this to be a gaming laptop either that or a portable desktop

@D2ultima knows the new models way better than me and prema mod bios is a really nice thing to have

[Networking Wolf]

4 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

@D2ultima knows the new models way better than me and prema mod bios is a really nice thing to have

i was thinking either this http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9873.html or this http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9872.html

[Dackzy]

Just now, Jstone said:

i was thinking either this http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9873.html or this http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9872.html

I know that D2ultima would say that you should get one from this reseller, because prema mod bios http://www.hidevolution.com/, but they don't have a desktop i7 model yet or a 1080 sli model  

 

NP9872 seems like the more balanced option and it should not get that hot

[InSilentSeas]

Only read the first page on here, seemed to deviate from constructive opinion to brain mush.

 

I've had an Alienware M17X in the past. At the time, it was the fastest machine I'd had so I was very happy with it. Support was great. The hardware was good as far as laptops go, the LEDs were cool, and it was snappy compared to what I was used to (an AMD C-50!). It was a badass machine, but I could have gotten more for my money if I'd invested in a desktop.

 

The only real complaints I had with it were how large and heavy is was. Not a laptop I could just sit in my lap.

 

After it died, (battery leaked everywhere, sold it for scraps) I build a Pentium G3258 rig with no GPU for budget's sake. I had the ol' Xbox and PS4, didn't really wanna bomb out on a GPU and faster CPU. Then I built my current machine, and already looking to upgrade. 

 

TL;DR: Maybe not worth the money, but it was a great machine. If you're on a budget, look elsewhere.

[Jon Jon]

The discussion going on in this thread is insane, lol.

 

As for my experience, Alienware PCs are pricey, but they are absolutely worth the money.

 

Anyone who has actually owned and/or used an Alienware laptop knows this, and sadly my desktop experience is pretty limited.

 

The only Alienware desktop I've seen and used was my cousin's old one back before they were purchased by Dell...it was rocking a Pentium 4 3ghz with a Radeon 9800pro! That thing lasted forever. I remember him upgrading to a Geforce 7800gs to breathe new life into it until eventually just building up a new PC.

 

They are not bad machines and not everyone is a techy. Some people want something that they can just throw money at and it'll just work.

 

One of my friends I had buy an ASUS ROG because he didn't want to customize a laptop and just wanted to buy one from a store where if he hated it he could return it. He bough this ASUS ROG with a core i7 and a Geforce GTX 860M from Best Buy two years ago and it still works great and serves his purpose perfectly.

 

I just can't stand this argument of "Derp you can build better for cheaper DERP"

 

You can build yourself, but in any event of a problem, you are on your own. Part of that purchase cost is having the access to tech support to help you fix your problems, as you paid for that privilege. You can't have this small world penny wise dollar foolish mentality when it comes to, what can be, a hefty investment.

 

You can make this "build yourself and save money" argument for other things like furniture, I doubt many people are going to put in that level of effort. You can say similar regarding cars. This is our hobby, which is why we do it. Just because WE do it and find enjoyment out of it, it doesn't mean that EVERYONE ELSE are just as into it.

[atiq666]

I am using alienware 13. Its quite nice to be honest. I bought it because I needed portability. If you want to buy alienware its better to buy it from their outlet. Its quite cheaper out there. I bought mine for 700 pounds and after using it for a year im sold it on ebay for £550.

[Networking Wolf]

5 minutes ago, Jon Jon said:

The discussion going on in this thread is insane, lol.

 

As for my experience, Alienware PCs are pricey, but they are absolutely worth the money.

 

Anyone who has actually owned and/or used an Alienware laptop knows this, and sadly my desktop experience is pretty limited.

 

The only Alienware desktop I've seen and used was my cousin's old one back before they were purchased by Dell...it was rocking a Pentium 4 3ghz with a Radeon 9800pro! That thing lasted forever. I remember him upgrading to a Geforce 7800gs to breathe new life into it until eventually just building up a new PC.

 

They are not bad machines and not everyone is a techy. Some people want something that they can just throw money at and it'll just work.

 

One of my friends I had buy an ASUS ROG because he didn't want to customize a laptop and just wanted to buy one from a store where if he hated it he could return it. He bough this ASUS ROG with a core i7 and a Geforce GTX 860M from Best Buy two years ago and it still works great and serves his purpose perfectly.

 

I just can't stand this argument of "Derp you can build better for cheaper DERP"

 

You can build yourself, but in any event of a problem, you are on your own. Part of that purchase cost is having the access to tech support to help you fix your problems, as you paid for that privilege. You can't have this small world penny wise dollar foolish mentality when it comes to, what can be, a hefty investment.

 

You can make this "build yourself and save money" argument for other things like furniture, I doubt many people are going to put in that level of effort. You can say similar regarding cars. This is our hobby, which is why we do it. Just because WE do it and find enjoyment out of it, it doesn't mean that EVERYONE ELSE are just as into it.

what no one ever thinks about when it comes down to it is "What is your time worth". In my eyes i find it cheaper to get a desktop prebuilt because everything works and that makes me happy. I can do a custom build but in the end I have other stuff I like to do and my time is more valuable

[D2ultima]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

I know that D2ultima would say that you should get one from this reseller, because prema mod bios http://www.hidevolution.com/, but they don't have a desktop i7 model yet or a 1080 sli model  

 

NP9872 seems like the more balanced option and it should not get that hot

P870DM2 = 1070 SLI & single 1080. P870DM3 = 1080 SLI & huge heatsink.

 

1 hour ago, InSilentSeas said:

I've had an Alienware M17X in the past. TL;DR: Maybe not worth the money, but it was a great machine. If you're on a budget, look elsewhere.

1 hour ago, Jon Jon said:

As for my experience, Alienware PCs are pricey, but they are absolutely worth the money.

 

Anyone who has actually owned and/or used an Alienware laptop knows this, and sadly my desktop experience is pretty limited.

Your knowledge is outdated. The AW line, AW18, AW17 R1, etc marked a large turning point in Alienware's line. At that point, they lost much of what made them the best, and each generation has been a design downgrade from the previous. M17x R4 and M18x R2 are largely considered to be the best final models. They have made a complete 180 from what made them great.

 

They discarded MXM & CPU sockets.

They no longer use MUX switches.

They have no dGPU-only machines.

They have inferior power bricks; the kind that's rated for draw from the wall and not delivery to the system (as far as I know, anyway) making 240W bricks benefit even entry-level i7s and 980M models over 180W bricks even running at stock, etc. I've seen someone claim plugging a 330W brick into his AW17 R3 literally fried it.

They have secure flashed sBIOSes, so unlocking their potential is now no longer a thing.

They have no high refresh, or Gsync models like other machines have.

They still have awful configuration on their website; even getting a 980M + 6820HK model was exceedingly difficult without taking a 4K screen which is such a bad pairing.

They dropped significantly in price, but are still more expensive than what you can find Clevos and even some ASUS models for.

They sold the AW17 R2 & AW15 R1 models with a bug that killed CPU boost under load for many users, with the only known fix being to lock a CPU to 3GHz or less and undervolt it... they are *NOT* fixing it with a BIOS update, and have said they "can't" (somehow) but won't allow people to recall or freely give them the new models that lack this bug.

 

Believe me, Alienware is currently not even an option people ought to consider, except for ONE thing and one thing only: They have Optimus & a 90Wh battery, meaning they have the best battery life out of the other gaming-class notebooks that carry 970M and 980M models without having tons of I/O and internal storage etc cut out (like Razers and gigabyte P3x models). If you need a portable gaming machine AND you absolutely require 6+ hours of battery life, then they're basically your only option... but that's literally all they're good for right now.

 

[Bouzoo]

On 8/17/2016 at 10:37 PM, Remixt said:

No one will charge you nearly the entire cost of a computer BEFORE shipping to fix it. Unless you are Alienware. Also they won't sell replacement parts, they require you to send it in. Dell's business practices are barbaric. I honestly didn't think anyone in their right mind would try to defend such a shit company lol.

I have an HP nx9420 with an ATI x1600. Wanted to switch it for Quadro fx1500m (it's possible due to MXM slot), the no. 1 licensed partner wanted to charge me ~$1100 3 years ago. Licensed Toshiba repair shop wanted to charge me at least ~$200-300 for replacing my ATI 4650m 2 years ago in my old Satellite L500-128. I can't say if the OEMs would charge me the same, but you can't get to them here, everything goes via official repair shops/partners. The absurd prices are everywhere. 

[Rambo3456]

Alienware is a good pc but then whole reason they get backlash is that they are so overpriced you are basically paying too much for a service fee that why you can save like $200 if you build it yourself with the same parts but if you can get a good deal like off a auction site it would be well worth it

[snowandsand]

I looked at Alienware a few years back when looking for a laptop but went with a boutique builder instead (Digital Storm) for right around the same price and my laptop is still going strong even after a 9 month deployment to the desert.  When It came to getting my desktop I once again went with a boutique builder (Digital Storm) for a few reasons, 1. I don't have the time to build my own atm, 2.   Way more customization than Alienware, 3. Good experience with the builder with my laptop.  Now I know that it can be expensive going the route I went (and it was for what I wanted), it just depends on what you want to get.