Alienware... Anyone familiar with their work?

rokrok
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
i saw their name first mentioned as a vendor in the list at crucial.com when i was buying ram a while back. i thought "alienware sure is an odd name for a computer company." i found them again by following a link to another link to another link...



anyway, i finally decided to look at their products, and i know people will differ with me, but i am a sucker for a cool chassis, and i consider these pretty "cool"



http://www.alienware.com/gaming_main_desktop.aspx



does anyone know anything about them? what their craftmanship is like? customer service tales? performance?



i'm thinking a powermac tower to my right, and alienware tower in saucer sliver (with astral blue vent lighting), and a KVM switch in between, hooked up to formac's 20" flat panel.



have i got your attention now? 8)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    You go boy! Alienware PCs are the shite. Nothing but good things (price not-withstanding) said about them that I've heard. A perfect Doom III machine.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Alienware is fine if you have no inclination to even consider a do-it-yourselfer since that's pretty much what they are, except with a single source of tech support. Also consider Dell's recently revived Dimension XPS series for gaming type stuff.



    Other the plastic panels on the case, Alienware PCs are made-up of off the shelf parts you can find at CompUSA and such.
  • Reply 3 of 17
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Alienware is fine if you have no inclination to even consider a do-it-yourselfer since that's pretty much what they are, except with a single source of tech support. Also consider Dell's recently revived Dimension XPS series for gaming type stuff.



    Other the plastic panels on the case, Alienware PCs are made-up of off the shelf parts you can find at CompUSA and such.



    yeah, a couple of friends of mine "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" at the case, but when they looked at the price and the specs, they offered to build me the same machine at cost and two cases of beer. it wouldn't look as pretty, but it's be more than adequate to get the job done.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    yeah, a couple of friends of mine "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" at the case, but when they looked at the price and the specs, they offered to build me the same machine at cost and two cases of beer. it wouldn't look as pretty, but it's be more than adequate to get the job done.



    What! You care about that?? What the hell are you doing in a Mac forum??
  • Reply 5 of 17
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Gaming PCs don't need to look good. In fact sometimes it's better if they're kinda ugly and maybe covered with stickers just to give them a personal feel.



    Macs, on the other hand, are for much finer things than gaming, and as such we keep them in pristine condition. Most Macs are a work of art without any form of modification, and they can attract attention without using blue LEDs and clear case panels.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    Those are cool cases. I'd get the grey one w/ Athlon, and run linux on it...



    with a flat panel LCD, of course.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    I had posiibly the worst experience with a computer maker ever with Alienware. A couple of years ago I bought one, and had nothing but problems with the motherboard. To say that they were rude on tech support is an understatement. Many times I could tell the rep hadn't even stopped playing their lan game to talk to me. I repeatedly had to send my unit back in, but then here's the clincher. During the third time the machine went back, the one year anniversary of my purchased rolled around. Even though we were still working on the initial problem, I was informed it was now out of warranty, and I must pay for repairs. Talk about not understanding warranties. Alienware is a group of obnoxious PC gamers masquerading as a company, and I would stay away from them at all costs.
  • Reply 8 of 17
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    You can buy the cases that they use:



    http://www.amamax.com/amamax/csamxa241sx1040yllw.html



    I would never buy a pre-built PC, especially at that price. Buying all the parts and doing it yourself is always waaaaaay cheaper (and more fun too)
  • Reply 9 of 17
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Willoughby

    You can buy the cases that they use:



    http://www.amamax.com/amamax/csamxa241sx1040yllw.html



    I would never buy a pre-built PC, especially at that price. Buying all the parts and doing it yourself is always waaaaaay cheaper (and more fun too)



    aw, dude, you RULE! thanks!
  • Reply 10 of 17
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by blue2kdave

    Alienware is a group of obnoxious PC gamers masquerading as a company, and I would stay away from them at all costs.



    that's what i needed to hear. maybe i can find one of their new "alien-esque" cases used on the 'net somewhere. willoughby's link was pretty good, but alienware's latest case is sweet.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    roborobo Posts: 469member
    Alienware's stuff doesn't look nearly as good in person as it does on their site. The cases (and keyboards and mice spraypainted to match) look sort of cool, but they are actually very tacky and cheap. I've seen their 'Dragon' case and it looks like crap. Cheap plastic spraypainted in metallic colors, and priced out the wazoo.

    Sort of like apple, but not nearly as nicely designed

    Ugh.



    -robo
  • Reply 12 of 17
    burningwheelburningwheel Posts: 1,827member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok





    does anyone know anything about them? what their craftmanship is like? customer service tales? performance?





    my wife isn't happy with her's. it didn't come with windows discs



    after a year or so the motherboard died, they did replace it but then needed new memory, which they also did replace free of charge. the new motherboard didn't fit exactly, so there a big hole to allow dust in the computer. plus the new motherboard didn't have a light either



    the worse is it uses windows
  • Reply 13 of 17
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    Alienware is the most widely known 'gamers' pc manufacturer. The Dell XPS looks like a great deal when compared against these overpriced boxen.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Can you put a G4 motherboard in one of those cases? \ (Standard form factor and all)

    Just wondering.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    Nice thing about Alienware is that if you know something about PC components you can pick out exactly the components you want and have them assemble it for you. Of course you pay for it. If you want to save money by going with someone like Dell they try to convince you by flashing words like Nvidia and Intel at you while at the same time giving you a box with a proprietary power supply preventing future upgrades and a generic motherboard with little to any tweaking ability in it's BIOS.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    roborobo Posts: 469member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eskimo

    Nice thing about Alienware is that if you know something about PC components you can pick out exactly the components you want and have them assemble it for you. Of course you pay for it.



    I thought the nice thing about knowing something about PC components was that you didn't have to pay Alienware to assemble them for you



    -robo
  • Reply 17 of 17
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by robo

    I thought the nice thing about knowing something about PC components was that you didn't have to pay Alienware to assemble them for you



    -robo



    Well being knowledgable doesn't necessarily mean you aren't lazy
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