What is wrong with Alienware type of computers?

I have no friend

I have no friend

New Member
Well, maybe Alienware sucks, since there is one part bringing all the system down. But the thing is: Take cars, one can buy seperate parts and build a great car. But it will still not be the same as buying a pre-built car. A lot of street racers have cars with 20 year old chassis that can outrun a new ferarri. The ferarri is more expensive cause of a little emblem.

Why can it not be the same with Alien Ware? You're paying for a brand, not performance?
 
I have no friend said:
Why can it not be the same with Alien Ware? You're paying for a brand, not performance?
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That's what's wrong with Alienware you see. You pay more for less. You can build a faster system yourself for cheaper.

I have no friend said:
Take cars, one can buy seperate parts and build a great car. But it will still not be the same as buying a pre-built car.
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Do you mean the custom-built car won't be as good looking as the 'pre-built' or be of the same quality? If so, then yes that is possibly true, but with computers I'd say it's not so true. You can buy a great looking case for yourself and if anything the quality may even be better than that of a pre-built machine because you can use the most premium components if you want, and you have complete control of what goes in that machine. An OEM like HP or Dell may cheap out on something like a motherboard or power supply, whereas I can buy a nice quality PSU and board if I want for my custom-built machine, and then surely wouldn't the quality of my machine be better than that of the Dell?
 
vistakid10 said:
That's what's wrong with Alienware you see. You pay more for less. You can build a faster system yourself for cheaper.


Do you mean the custom-built car won't be as good looking as the 'pre-built' or be of the same quality? If so, then yes that is possibly true, but with computers I'd say it's not so true. You can buy a great looking case for yourself and if anything the quality may even be better than that of a pre-built machine because you can use the most premium components if you want, and you have complete control of what goes in that machine. An OEM like HP or Dell may cheap out on something like a motherboard or power supply, whereas I can buy a nice quality PSU and board if I want for my custom-built machine, and then surely wouldn't the quality of my machine be better than that of the Dell?
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What if it breaks down? My last custom built got power failiures. Still don't know what part it was, CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, I suspect the PSU but I can't be sure.

Anyhow, if I had bought a pre built one I could take it back to the store and have it fixed for free, instead of paying the price of a new computer.
 
I have no friend said:
What if it breaks down? My last custom built got power failiures. Still don't know what part it was, CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, I suspect the PSU but I can't be sure.
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If you build it properly using the correct components, the chances of anything failing are quite low, and even if anything does break, you can always use the tech support lines of the various components. It's true you'll be dealing with more than one tech support line at the same time and it will be more complicated and more of a hassle, but there's always going to be support out there for you.

I have no friend said:
Anyhow, if I had bought a pre built one I could take it back to the store and have it fixed for free, instead of paying the price of a new computer.
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You can RMA non-working components of your custom-built machine and you'll get a free replacement. I did, I sent back a faulty RAM stick I bought from Novatech and I got a free replacement sent to me from them a week later. Sometimes the store won't fix it for free, it depends what the problem is, same goes for RMA'ing. If you tried to overclock a CPU, that's your warranty gone straight away and if you melt or damage that CPU, nobody's going to replace it free, you'll have to buy a new CPU.

You didn't need to pay the price for a new PC, you could have just bought a new power supply if that was the problem and it would be have been OK so long as the power supply didn't take anything else out with it.
 
I have no friend said:
Anyhow, if I had bought a pre built one I could take it back to the store and have it fixed for free, instead of paying the price of a new computer.
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You could also just get a new psu if its vaulty from the company you bought it from, say antec, they would most likely have to pay up for any other damage the psu has caused too! (provided your still under warranty of course, usually about 3 years unless you get like a platinum grade, ive seen 7 years on a psu!
 
I'd say it's a matter of preference. Some people like the feel of a 'brand' (e.g. a 'Ferrari'), they are content with the level of high-quality customer support and the security of their product having no problems and being fully-functional.

But most computer enthusiasts enjoy the challenge of building a computer from the ground up, and we all know it's certainly cheaper than purchasing pre-built Alienware machines.

To be honest, the reason why you hear Alienware being put-down so much is because many computer enthusiasts know you can build the same machine for much less. I personally have no problem with people buying Alienware machines - if it gives them security/bragging rights or whatever, then that's great. But I prefer to build my machines. Also another reason might be because the buyer isn't as 'tech-savvy', i.e. if they encounter a problem they can just get it repaired by their manufacturer.
 
Well if you're building a computer, you need basic knowledge and a little amount of time.

If you're building a car (especially to the standards of ferrari) you'd damn near need an engineering degree and, the fastest car I know to build is like 3-4 40 hour weeks, bit of a difference, wouldn't you say?
 
I have no friend said:
Well, maybe Alienware sucks, since there is one part bringing all the system down. But the thing is: Take cars, one can buy seperate parts and build a great car. But it will still not be the same as buying a pre-built car. A lot of street racers have cars with 20 year old chassis that can outrun a new ferarri. The ferarri is more expensive cause of a little emblem.

Why can it not be the same with Alien Ware? You're paying for a brand, not performance?
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Except with computers, everything is the same standard. You have Intel or AMD, and an applicable board plus DDR2/DDR3 memory, and your choice of other parts. It's totally different to cars as their are no proprietary designs with PC's. OEMs still use standard parts and configurations, most care manufacturers do not. You don't have the choice of buying various parts from various companies (all brand new) and assembling a car yourself. You can however do that with a PC, and brands like Alienware are just for the lazy/rich. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Things like support are a moot point because with a custom PC, each individual part has its own warranty, and they differ depending on the brand. However with many OEM's, you only get one or two year warranty. All good memory manufacturers have lifetime warrant, good PSU makers have 5-10 year warranties, Graphics cards can have lifetime warranty but most common is a few years. Once you start getting int peripherals it's more like a car comparison, because you can't exactly buy parts and develop your own peripherals, and brand has more of an impact here.
 
Alienware got a name for itself at a time when custom PC's were rare.
Since then more part suppliers have come along.
People have gotten smarter.

Alienware is a United States computer hardware subsidary of Dell, Inc.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienware#cite_note-1 It mainly assembles third party components into desktops and laptops with custom enclosures. Alienware also offers for sale rebadged computer peripherals, such as headsets, computer mice, monitors and keyboards. Their hardware has a distinctive "sci-fi" style, typically including decorative lighting. Alienware was founded in 1996
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It comes down to sometimes people just dont want to screw around with building, time invested and such, and let a company put together parts that work well together for them, so they dont have to. There is nothing wrong with this, and people need to learn to stop bad mouthing people due to it.
 
FuryRosewood said:
It comes down to sometimes people just dont want to screw around with building, time invested and such, and let a company put together parts that work well together for them, so they dont have to. There is nothing wrong with this, and people need to learn to stop bad mouthing people due to it.
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I agree that there are a lot of people who do not want to learn the hardware side.
I don't see where we are bashing those people, if we were then we would be bashing everyone who doesn't have a custom built computer.
I have at least 8 comps here that are brand name and still stock.
I see sig lines of some here who are just running OEM comps but I don't see anyone bashing them.

Most of my comps are considered low end but they do what I need them to do.
I'm on a Dell Optiplex 745 typing this out, it only has a Passmark rating of 741.
My hottest comp, a several year old homebuilt AMD, is only rated at 1043.
I suppose if someone were to bad mouth me for it that I would just ignore them.
Some people just take things too seriously.
 
For me, its a personal choice. If the person wants a good computer, lets use Alienware then, and has the money but no real knowledge of PC's and hardware then they might go for it. I was actually thinking of an Alienware but I do want to know what it can and can't do hardware wise (SLI or X-fire compatible etc.), and the site with the "technical" specs didn't mention anything about that. So custom build it is. For me anyway.

But dell, acer etc. have reasonable Computer's. Maybe priced a tad too high, but that is because of the fact it is a brand.
 
What is wrong with Alienware...

Firstly, it is a Dell. They are a Dell company, or rather name and brand, owned by, built by and sold by Dell. This means low cost parts for a high price. Low cost in computers = low quality.

You made a car analogy, it is like paying the price you would expect for a Ferrari, when you are in fact only getting a Honda.

Secondly, cost. You are paying for someone to make it look like they took an axe to a case then threw in some Christmas lights, nothing more. A name and a badge too along with some bloatware on there, but you don't get anything to justify the price.

A lot of the time the components aren't to the standard for factors, so you can't upgrade unless you get a new case, power supply and/or motherboard as well, increasing upgrade cost. That is on top of the fact that, as I said in point one, you are getting low quality parts.

Whilst it is true that not everyone, in fact the vast minority, know how to build a computer so there is a market for systems like Alienware, you can get the same performance but better quality at a much lower price.
 
I agree with MyCattMaxx and any computer ya buy or build. I have built some old computers before. I know someone that will build and has for a reasonable price for me.
Then again others are afraid or neither the time. Don't have a problem with dell. Never had one but better than a lot others for a oem.
 
tremmor said:
I agree with MyCattMaxx and any computer ya buy or build. I have built some old computers before. I know someone that will build and has for a reasonable price for me.
Then again others are afraid or neither the time. Don't have a problem with dell. Never had one but better than a lot others for a oem.
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Dell are better than others yes, however Alienware are designed to be high performance, not for your every day user or for office use. You can get better systems from nearly any other builder and they will use industry standard form factors, higher quality parts with better build quality and all for a lower price.

There is a market for prebuilt systems and for prebuilt higher end systems, but people associate gaming systems with Alienware and don't recognise that there are much, much better alternatives out there, even without building it yourself
 
Alienware's all like iMac's in the pc world. Shit parts for a fortune. I'm pretty sure if you had to customize a custom for the same price, it would be like night and day performance-wise.
 
Ya have to remember that most people are likely users. They are not on the extreme side like members here.
 
tremmor said:
Ya have to remember that most people are likely users. They are not on the extreme side like members here.
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Which is fine and all, but there are other companies like alienware, but tell you exactly what is in it and don't charge like 100 to replace 4gb of 1333 with 8gb or 1600 or something like that, when at most it should be 50, and that's with ~20 profit still.

I'd buy a ibuypower/cyberpowerpc way before alienware.
 
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