Alienware

[Mechsoap]

its a mediocre gaming dekstop/laptop slapped with a alien head and called it a masterpiece, i highly recommend something else,

 

[capnpupster]

Building your own is the way to go, the most difficult part is the research involved in selecting the right/compatible components, though there are plenty of people more than willing to help with that. Actually putting everything together should take about an afternoon, including the time it takes to learn what you're doing. If you want actual hands on training I suggest contacting you local non-profit electronics recycling group. They're usually more than happy to train volunteers in a variety of electronics related skills.

 

[Viivrabe]

i have the Aurora myself, and its hard to be disappointed by it, it works well ive had it for a 2 years and still have'nt needed to upgrade it in any way,

yes its over priced, but if you dont know how to make a computer your self then go for it.

o and on the options, get teh liquid cooling system, i didn't, and turning on my'n sounds like im reving up a turbine engine.

so...

the good

easy to upgrade
well made
long lasting
comes with reinstall disks (great for removing really bad viruses, secureROM, or just removing any thing you dont want any one to ever find on your computer)

the bad

the price,
its huge, it may be a desk top but you will never be able to fit the tower on your desk
its really easy to bump the reset button


over all id say very worth it, unless you know how to build your own, then do that.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Ok Alienware's biggest problem is they're now owned by Dell. Ask any PC tech worth his salt and he'll tell you why. If you truly want a gaming PC look into the Asus republic of gaming series of laptops. Those things have cast iron balls when it comes not only to quality but performance as well.

No offence but you just said that anyone with a bit of knowledge should disown Dell (they're really not that bad) yet in the same breath recommended a gaming laptop...

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Big mistake mate. I've never heard anything good about an Alienware PC. The better PCs are the ones you build yourself. All you get when you buy and Alienware is a name, a pretty case and a waste of good money. Build your own, much cheaper, much better.

 

[cerebus23]

dell is no where good as they used to be for sure,i recall back in the day ripping dells apart to see asus and other popular overclock standard motherboards, now days they get just whatever is cheap and toss it in.

Alienware yea if you got the bucks and lack the know how to build/trouble shoot maintain your own pc, You can get equally powerful or more powerful pre built systems for cheaper. Or you can build your own. Alienware do have sweet cases with a lot of great features and hell they look cool. YOu can get some other prebuilts that have some cool cases but lack some of the more wiz features like fold out mb tray and hot swap harddrives that alienware cases got now days.

If this is your first pc tho i would not recommend building it, get a pre built you got a warranty, you got tech support all the things you will not have if you build it yourself. YOu can get used to figuring out how and why things work, how to maintin your pc and trouble shoot stuff yourself, take a peek inside see how things are put together when you clean it out, and do a few upgrades.

Then in a few years get some cool parts a killer case and go nuts with leds cold cathode tubes, led fans, liquid cooling, etc etc.

Course if you are really tech savy already and good with pc hardware scrap all that go hit up a pc site and look at cases and motherboards and etc and build yourself a monster for what you would pay for an alienware.

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

I've had great experiences with them; I'm typing this response on my fourth Alienware purchase (an M17x). I haven't used an Aurora, but my Area 51 was awesome. Because it's a popular brand, any problems you have will almost always have well-documented fixes online as other people have had the same problems.

Also,

I'd highly suggest NOT getting an Alienware. They are incredibly overpriced. It's much easier to just get a custom made computer, or build your own.

You can build a significantly beefier computer yourself for far cheaper than an alienware though.

Really man, I'd just build it yourself, if you have the time, because it's much cheaper.

If you don't already know how, I'd highly recommend against building a computer. If you're extremely tech-savvy then it might be worth a shot, but otherwise it often ends in disaster. Friends of mine without much computer experience have tried to build a computer, and in the end they wasted $1000+ on a machine that couldn't even run.

Plus, it takes an incredible amount of research to get the right components and make sure they work together, and even more time to actually build the thing.

Like I said, it's worth it if you know what you're doing, but otherwise just pay the premium and buy an Alienware.

Alienware is overpriced crap, I could build 3 PC's that would perform just as well as 1 Alienware at the same price.

Building a computer is like putting together a lego car. you just need to know what plugs into where. It's really easy. Maximum PC has a guide on their website that will walk you through it start to finish, I know 2 people that had no knowledge of computers and used this guide successfully.


most parts websites have tools to help you get compatible components. Motherboard manufacturers have lists of compatible parts. Tigerdirect or newegg have great customer service that will walk you through the buying process as well. no need for incredible amounts of research. I find the most time consuming part of a build is waiting on the OS to install, then update itself. In this day and age, windows 7 finds 99.9% of the drivers you need. It takes me about 3 hours to build a system. a newbie prob takes 6 hours or so.

The reason crappy companies such as Alienware can gouge people is because people are lazy and intimidated by technology.

 

[Therumancer]

Hello my fellow escapists.

Do any of you own an Alienware PC?

I am going to purchase one when i'm sixteen, the Aurora to be precise and i'm wondering whats the difference between games for windows disc's and just regular PC-CD or DVD ROMS

And also can you sorta upload games on disc to Steam to play online. Like Left For Dead 2 for example.

Answer away friends

EDIT: Also if you have an Alienware Aurora please tell me what you think of it and how it performs

I do not own an Alienware computer but I know people who have had them, and I have looked on with envy. One day I hope to own one (I'm 34) but it won't be for a long time in all likelyhood due to me having been forced into retirement.

At any rate, from what I've seen don't let other people talk you into just building a custom PC with the same specs for less money. To be entirely honest the guys at Alienware don't seem to be kidding when they say their computers work better. On paper by rights they shouldn't be any better than computers with the same hardware, but in reality they do tend to run substantially smoother. I have personally seen Alienware PCs perform far better than systems with superior hardware. Why this is I have no real idea since it doesn't make sense (a piece of hardware with certain specs is a piece of hardware with certain specs) but it's actually not BS, and doubtlessly why so many people swear by the brand name, and Alienware stays in business despite all the people who can produce machines with the same specs on paper for less.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you can afford it, go for it. You will probably wind up being happy with the results.

 

[cerebus23]

I dunno if something goes wrong with a custom rig and they are not somewhat a tech geek, then they are on im and the phone annoying their tech geek friends trying to figure out what is wrong. And if you ever tried to talk someone through something that knows nothing about computers i rather stick my head in a wood chipper.

pre built alienware or whatever they pay people to deal with calls like that, and if it s big problem you box it ship it back or drive it to the store.

yea it is pretty easy to put together a pc but even if you do that np, beyond that can be a whole other area of wandering around lost if you got a hardware failure or software conflict or your voltages are off and having bsods and windows crashes. building your own is not for everyone.

if he has got the money and he wants one why not recommend him some good pre built makers that are more reasonable than alien, instead of insisting that it is utter fail to not build your own period. i know a bunch of friends that i would never recommend them building their own just because they would not know wth to do if something went wrong.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I'm gonna jump on the "don't buy Alienware" bandwagon. Really, it's one of the worst ways to spend your money. The only thing stupider would be to buy a Sony laptop and then end up breaking the bloody thing >_>

Anyway, building your own desktop is very simple. As long as you can tell a harddrive from RAM, you're good to go. I've built two (one of those for my brother), and it worked fine. If you're looking for hardware suggestions, just ask. I'm sure the lot of us can help you out with that.