AlienWare Computers

I do not have a bigger regret in my life than spending $7500 USD on a Alien ware computer set up... This has got to be the biggest POS iv ever seen... After 2 months i go online to check on my status and it says its in the final stage where a AW technician is going through a 200 point inspection. It arrives to my house and the stupid thing wont even turn on... After hours on the phone with the Tech we figure out that they send me a faulty motherboard, so now i have to ship the computer back... This really made me mad especially with the bull**** final stage they said they did... It comes back in 2 weeks and guess what??? Within hours of being on the thing starts to freeze and goes crazy... Now i cant even get it to go to the Windows Sign On screen because all this crazy words are coming on the screen.... WHAT A BIG PILE OF STEAMY COW ****.

BUYERS BEWARE!

 

Dell owns Alienware now.

Sorry to hear of your bad expr., especially at what you paid.

I'd be screaming on the phone at someone, for sure.

 

They are based down here. Before Dell bought them they were really well known for top notch gaming systems. Now they're hand built glorified Dells. You paid a lot, some of that cash was for that legendary Alienware service. I was computer shopping, I saw AW guaranteed US based tech support and service, not a third world farm out. Demand a new machine, I bet you'll get it.

 

I have a $6500 Dell M6400 quad core notebook, I'm a software developer, and wow did I have to put them through the ringer to get a good one. I had three separate repairs and had to revert back to my other machine for each of those three times.

The machine is working very well now, but I have myself to thank even moreso than the techs. They showed up to do a CPU replacement without any heat sink compound. No heat sink compound, on a very high performance quad core mobile machine? WTFBBQ.

Are you within 30 days of taking delivery? Dell has a retentions dept. almost like wireless providers, you can squeeze them.

 

A capital idea!

 

Hope they resolve it for you quickly - with a new machine.

I only buy IBM servers, and Lenovo laptops & workstations. Never had a problem.

I used to buy dell laptops for the kids, switched to Apple. Got tired of buying power supplies and batterys. Kids are happy.

 

I have an Alienware. Think it was around $5500. Worked from day one and never a problem.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

 

I would never spend over 1,000 for an intel tower, or 3,000 for a laptop - and that laptop would be an Apple for sure.

I used to be HUGE into making my own towers, figuring out exactly which mobo's, VC's, CPU's to buy, but I think all of that is a waste of time now.

And I work with Systems Developers too, all we do for them is pack about 4gig of RAM into a box and they are good to go.

 

What in the WORLD makes a computer cost $7500? Please enlighten me... I own
a dozen really fast, well functioning computers and not a single one cost over $2200
(Quad core, 1GB video, 8 gigs RAM, 64bit Vista/dual-boot 64bit Linux). SCREAMING
fast, even for studio recording while ripping a DVD.

I've often wondered why there are these crazy high end boxes - what is the benefit
of spending that kind of money on one?

Jedi

 

Here is how (overkill)


PROCESSOR Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7 975 Extreme (3.6GHz, 8MB Cache)

VIDEO CARD BFG GeForce GTX 295 Video Card

MEMORY 24GB Triple Channel 1333MHz DDR3

HARD DRIVE 2TB Secure Performance RAID 1+0 (4x 1TB SATA II, 7200 RPM HDDs)

SOUND CARD Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

 

I've seen some crazy machines at Quakecon over the years, some of these kids put their college savings into a custom "pimped" tower.

 

Wow, thanks for your post. I've actually been looking at AW on Dell's site. Sounds like Dell bought them just to use the brand name for marketing...

 

Should have bought a Mac.

(For once I can even say... it would have been cheaper!!!!

 

agree. i build my own from scratch.

 

You bought a 7500 $ set up? Wow.

I mean, most 1000 - 2000 $ computers today will run everything flawlessly... Sorry to hear about your frustration.

 

I'm sorry but i gotta say that for someone spending $7500 on a computer, you should have researched more. Alien Wares are ok but for $7500 you could get a custom built computer that is 2x or 3x more powerful. You could get an amazing desktop custom built for half that price.

What were the specs and what will you be using it for?

 

Uh, price out a multi-processor 16 gig Mac Pro lately?

 

I just did - Even adding $2,600 for the 2.93ghz CPU's (WTF?) a second hard drive and 16gigs it's still "only" just over $7K..... Go with the more reasonable 2.26ghz CPU's (8 cores) and it's under $5K - That's a *lot* of *reliable* computing power..... [With a fancy GPU BTW]

Sorry for the hijack!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Im an unapologetic Mac nerd but Alienwares are for gaming and unfortunately there are still a lot of games NOT made for Mac.

So Mac is usually not an option for those wanting a gaming computer.

 

Subject
RE: Alienware Order Status PO #503244

Discussion Thread
Response (Alien 2) 09/16/2009 10:59 AM
Dear Alienware Customer,

Greetings from Alienware’s Electronic Support Department!

Thank you for contacting Alienware.

This is the configuration that you ordered:

Systems:
Area-51® X58 System
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme 3.33 GHz 8MB Cache
Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black
AlienFX®: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Fusion Red
Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Approved CPU Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening Power Supply: Alienware® 1200 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Dual 1,792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline v1.0: Video Performance Optimizer
Memory: 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 6 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 plus Free Windows 7 Upgrade Option
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 300GB Velociraptor SATA 3.0Gb/s 10,000RPM 16MB Cache Additional Storage Drive: None
Optical Drives : Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW) w/ LightScribe
Enthusiast Essentials: Killer Xeno Pro
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
Additional Monitors: 30" 3007WFP-HC 2560 x 1600p (12ms)
Keyboard: Gaming Keyboard - Alienware TactX™ Keyboard
Mouse: Gaming Mouse - Razer DeathAdder™ 1800dpi 3G Infrared Gaming Mouse
Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support
AlienRespawn: None
Security Software: McAfee® VirusScan® Plus 9 - 36-Month Subscription Factory Installed!
Microsoft Office Suites: Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Factory Installed! Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note Additional
Games: World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition
Speakers: Logitech® Z-5500 5.1 505-Watt Speakers
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Desktop Binder
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: Internal Wire Management
Avatar: Alienhead Glow Window Style: Graphite Window Style
Mouse Pointers: Standard Mouse Pointers
Wallpaper: Alienhead 3D
Wallpaper: Alienhead Glow
Wallpaper: Alien Cyborg
Power Plan: High Performance
Automatic Updates: Automatic Updates On
Sidebar Gadgets: CPU Meter
Sidebar Gadgets: Currency Converter
Time Zones: (GMT - 5.00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Sub Total: $6561.85
Shipping: $270.85
Discount: $170.00
Tax: $752.19
Order Total: $7414.89



It was ment to be for gaming thats why i didnt buy a Mac. Im going to be calling them today and see what they have to say.

 

Yes.

And as Ian pointed out, it would work or they would kill themselves making it work. In 20 years of Mac ownership (Over 10 devices.) I have never had one not be fully functional out of the box.

 

I used to have a Silicon Graphics PC (remember them?) that cost "Big-Dollars" in its day, too. Guess what - you're spending a lot of money for the the case aesthetics, not the internal Horsepower. Alienware makes 'pretty' PCs, alright....but that's a metric-ton of cash to blow on a machine that is primarily for playing video games. You could have bought a Rolex for that kind of money, and it won't be obsolete in three years. FAIL.

 

I have three standard Dell computers, oldest almost 7 yrs., no problems at all.

Alienware was the Ferrari of hardware, but the Dell suits got a hold of it, I guess.

 

How is it that you have onsite service in your warranty but have to ship the thing back?

 

Wow, no HDMI output.