Is Alienware worth it?
- Thread starter ZombieGenesis
- Start date
They used to be, but now they're just re-branded Dells. Toshiba is your next best bet.
EDIT: And people need to actually read the OP. I think only 3 other people on this thread actually read it.
EDIT: And people need to actually read the OP. I think only 3 other people on this thread actually read it.
Laptop, yes.
Desktop, HELL NO.
See, I take exception to some of these comments, the M15x is a fucking awesome model, plays everything I throw at it in the highest specs with a damn good frame rate and it wasn't a terrible money burner either, I'm glad I made the purchase. Also, the tech support is damn near amazing.
However, with the desktops, it's just not worth it, you literally can build a better PC for about an 8th of the price.
Desktop, HELL NO.
See, I take exception to some of these comments, the M15x is a fucking awesome model, plays everything I throw at it in the highest specs with a damn good frame rate and it wasn't a terrible money burner either, I'm glad I made the purchase. Also, the tech support is damn near amazing.
However, with the desktops, it's just not worth it, you literally can build a better PC for about an 8th of the price.
For the people saying laptops are better: Falcon Northwest has better gaming laptops, as do CyberPowerPC and the other site listed above.
EDIT: For example, Falcon Northwest's DRX laptop can fit, I believe, 12 gigs of DDR3 memory. That's... a good amount for a desktop.
EDIT: For example, Falcon Northwest's DRX laptop can fit, I believe, 12 gigs of DDR3 memory. That's... a good amount for a desktop.
Back when I got one no it wasn't, that was around 2003 which turned out to be a lemon, and at the time Alienware was known for building PCs out of shitty parts and for its bad customer service.
I went through a lot of b.s. with mine sending it in to get repaired (free), which took months, just to get it back in the same condition......and I went through this four times!
Since then I've heard it's gotten better from some people.....but they can go fuck themselves sideways with a chainsaw for all I care....the only money I'd spend on them again is to watch that happen...=D
I went through a lot of b.s. with mine sending it in to get repaired (free), which took months, just to get it back in the same condition......and I went through this four times!
Since then I've heard it's gotten better from some people.....but they can go fuck themselves sideways with a chainsaw for all I care....the only money I'd spend on them again is to watch that happen...=D
Okay. As you can see this is my first post. And I only registered because I saw this topic. It seems no one else read the OP and most people commenting don't even HAVE an Alienware computer. Well I bought mine this February, and I've already had 3 problems with it. I'm going to summarize my experience briefly below (I just got off a 2 hour phone call with Alienware tech support and I'm tired and sleepy now).
First off, the only reason why I bought it was because I had *heard* that they were a good gaming laptop. I read many reviews, both positive and negative, and I decided to buy one. Why? Because my previous 4 laptops were NOT Alienware (Dell XPS, HP, Lenovo, IBM before Lenovo) etc and they sucked @ss and couldn't even handle games like World of Warcraft. So, I decided to shell out the money to Alienware to see if it was really that good.
First 3 months? Ran beautifully. I ran a bunch of programs at once, played games in windowed mode while watching a movie with youtube running in the background + music, all perfect. Enough power, enough memory, just as they promised.
And in the 3rd month, the ethernet port broke. I hate gaming on wi-fi. Absolutely hate it. But was forced to do so, because Alienware tech support couldn't fix it. Now on to the tech support. Absolutely HORRIBLE.
1) Blamed me for breaking it myself
2) Used remote desktop to login to my computer to try to fix it, could not. I had to call back THREE times (Friday, Sat, Sun) from 7pm to 11pm, on hold, on my phone, with the tech support, while watching him fiddle with drivers on my desktop, when I already told him ITS THE PORT THAT IS BROKEN. YOU CANT FIX IT REMOTELY.
3) Finally when that was decided and confirmed after about 8 hours total on the phone, I tried to make an appointment with them for a technician to meet me and fix it. I travel a lot, so I could only settle on a date 1 month later. What was their response? "This is too early, you have to call 1 week in advance." Which made me worry, because I would only have time on that ONE DAY. So if 30 days in advance was too early for an appointment, then when the hell do you want me to call? You have a customer calling 30 days in advance to book a very important appointment to fix an expensive 3 month old alienware laptop, and you guys couldn't even do it? What the hell alienware?
4) They wouldn't send out a technician unless I REINSTALLED THE OS. HELLO? THE hardware is broken. The damn OS reinstall would do NOTHING.
5) I gave up.
and now, 6 months later.
One of my audio jacks is broken. No sound comes out. My CD rom does not read CDs. Or DVDs. or anything for that matter. Again, I call Alienware. Again, they blame me for breaking it. ("Well, what did you do to the laptop?" "Uh... nothing. I never move it from the desk." "Well our hardware doesn't break on its own." "Excuse me, have you ever considered that since Dell bought you guys, your hardware ISNT THAT GREAT?" Silence.)
So again, I sit through 2 hours of tech support. And he tries to install the driver. I'm watching him from my laptop. And this doesn't work, because the laptop doesn't even DETECT THERE IS A CD DRIVE. So, basically, what I told them TWO HOURS ago. I understand they have to troubleshoot but hey, don't blame your customers for breaking their own laptops. Seriously.
And I try to make an appointment, because I travel a lot. And again, the response, "We can't guarantee we will have a technician on that day." "I travel often, I'm only in town THAT day." "We can't guarantee this." "Ok so the last time I call, 30 days in advance, its too early. And now I call, a week in advance, like they told me to, and you guys still can't promise an appointment. Do you only have ONE technician, is that the problem?" "We just can't guarantee they will be available that day."
Alienware tech support is total bullshit. Absolutely bullshit. And the hardware sucks. I'll summarize.
1) Rude to customers, assumes they are lying, and break their own computers
2) Tries to save money by remote desktop solving everything. I understand they have to do this in case its just a driver issue, but there should be a LIMIT. If its not fixed within 3 hours, a technician NEEDS to be sent out. They should not expect customers to troubleshoot WITH the online technician for over THREE hours. HELLO. WE ARE ON THE PHONE. 3 HOURS? Hell no.
3) The customer is always right. We know you work for alienware, the supposed best in gaming laptops. Lose the l33t attitude, we still pay for your insurance, and you're still customer service.
4) Once its a hardware issue and within the warranty, you better fix the laptop. Help the customer make an appointment, and make SURE ITS FIXED.
So this is my experience with alienware in the last 8 months.
I am never going to buy an alienware again.
First off, the only reason why I bought it was because I had *heard* that they were a good gaming laptop. I read many reviews, both positive and negative, and I decided to buy one. Why? Because my previous 4 laptops were NOT Alienware (Dell XPS, HP, Lenovo, IBM before Lenovo) etc and they sucked @ss and couldn't even handle games like World of Warcraft. So, I decided to shell out the money to Alienware to see if it was really that good.
First 3 months? Ran beautifully. I ran a bunch of programs at once, played games in windowed mode while watching a movie with youtube running in the background + music, all perfect. Enough power, enough memory, just as they promised.
And in the 3rd month, the ethernet port broke. I hate gaming on wi-fi. Absolutely hate it. But was forced to do so, because Alienware tech support couldn't fix it. Now on to the tech support. Absolutely HORRIBLE.
1) Blamed me for breaking it myself
2) Used remote desktop to login to my computer to try to fix it, could not. I had to call back THREE times (Friday, Sat, Sun) from 7pm to 11pm, on hold, on my phone, with the tech support, while watching him fiddle with drivers on my desktop, when I already told him ITS THE PORT THAT IS BROKEN. YOU CANT FIX IT REMOTELY.
3) Finally when that was decided and confirmed after about 8 hours total on the phone, I tried to make an appointment with them for a technician to meet me and fix it. I travel a lot, so I could only settle on a date 1 month later. What was their response? "This is too early, you have to call 1 week in advance." Which made me worry, because I would only have time on that ONE DAY. So if 30 days in advance was too early for an appointment, then when the hell do you want me to call? You have a customer calling 30 days in advance to book a very important appointment to fix an expensive 3 month old alienware laptop, and you guys couldn't even do it? What the hell alienware?
4) They wouldn't send out a technician unless I REINSTALLED THE OS. HELLO? THE hardware is broken. The damn OS reinstall would do NOTHING.
5) I gave up.
and now, 6 months later.
One of my audio jacks is broken. No sound comes out. My CD rom does not read CDs. Or DVDs. or anything for that matter. Again, I call Alienware. Again, they blame me for breaking it. ("Well, what did you do to the laptop?" "Uh... nothing. I never move it from the desk." "Well our hardware doesn't break on its own." "Excuse me, have you ever considered that since Dell bought you guys, your hardware ISNT THAT GREAT?" Silence.)
So again, I sit through 2 hours of tech support. And he tries to install the driver. I'm watching him from my laptop. And this doesn't work, because the laptop doesn't even DETECT THERE IS A CD DRIVE. So, basically, what I told them TWO HOURS ago. I understand they have to troubleshoot but hey, don't blame your customers for breaking their own laptops. Seriously.
And I try to make an appointment, because I travel a lot. And again, the response, "We can't guarantee we will have a technician on that day." "I travel often, I'm only in town THAT day." "We can't guarantee this." "Ok so the last time I call, 30 days in advance, its too early. And now I call, a week in advance, like they told me to, and you guys still can't promise an appointment. Do you only have ONE technician, is that the problem?" "We just can't guarantee they will be available that day."
Alienware tech support is total bullshit. Absolutely bullshit. And the hardware sucks. I'll summarize.
1) Rude to customers, assumes they are lying, and break their own computers
2) Tries to save money by remote desktop solving everything. I understand they have to do this in case its just a driver issue, but there should be a LIMIT. If its not fixed within 3 hours, a technician NEEDS to be sent out. They should not expect customers to troubleshoot WITH the online technician for over THREE hours. HELLO. WE ARE ON THE PHONE. 3 HOURS? Hell no.
3) The customer is always right. We know you work for alienware, the supposed best in gaming laptops. Lose the l33t attitude, we still pay for your insurance, and you're still customer service.
4) Once its a hardware issue and within the warranty, you better fix the laptop. Help the customer make an appointment, and make SURE ITS FIXED.
So this is my experience with alienware in the last 8 months.
I am never going to buy an alienware again.
A lot of people have already said this, but Alienware is all about the brand recognition and jazzy looking PC/laptops than the actual power of the things.
I admit, they are pretty machines, but if you are looking for pure power I would check around at some other custom build places.
I admit, they are pretty machines, but if you are looking for pure power I would check around at some other custom build places.
No just avoid them completely. Alienware PC's are absurdly overpriced because of their flashy lights. You could build a PC just as powerful as an Alienware PC on your own for half the price of an Alienware PC. My PC was pre-built only cost me £600 and it runs all my games on the highest settings with no problems at all games like Oblivion and even newer games like Mafia II. So no Alienware is not worth it.
See if you can just buy a case from alien ware, then fill it with your own parts. Sexy looking case combined with being powerful but cheap(er).
I bought a case that looks similar to an alienware but no lights in the case, I am going to buy them and install them myself.
Alienware is like fashion, looks pretty, costs a bomb but is poor at what it's meant to do.
I bought a case that looks similar to an alienware but no lights in the case, I am going to buy them and install them myself.
Alienware is like fashion, looks pretty, costs a bomb but is poor at what it's meant to do.
Okay posting in here is probably just asking to be made fun of but I actually own an AleinWare (PC not laptop) and am very satisfied with it. Now I do know that AleinWares are fairly over priced compared to building your own (most are) but also compared to other companies. I was looking at computers from other companies and usually I could get about an equivalent for about 500 cheaper, but the thing is when I was looking at these other companies I noticed that the warranties, payment plans, and customer services we're a lot less.
I don't know too much about the insides of computers so I thought that the customer service and warranties would be worth it. Now this is a pretty smart and (no offense) elitist community so I can totally understand the hate for AleinWare. Most people on this site could probably build a equal or better computer for less, personally I couldn't (well I probably could I just didn't want to have unexpected problems because I needed a powerful computer for school) so I was totally fine with paying a little extra for peace of mind and a shiny case.
Overall as an AleinWare owner I am totally satisfied with my purchase and I think the hate for them is a little exaggerated. Yes you will pay a bit more but its not like their machines are garbage.
I don't know too much about the insides of computers so I thought that the customer service and warranties would be worth it. Now this is a pretty smart and (no offense) elitist community so I can totally understand the hate for AleinWare. Most people on this site could probably build a equal or better computer for less, personally I couldn't (well I probably could I just didn't want to have unexpected problems because I needed a powerful computer for school) so I was totally fine with paying a little extra for peace of mind and a shiny case.
Overall as an AleinWare owner I am totally satisfied with my purchase and I think the hate for them is a little exaggerated. Yes you will pay a bit more but its not like their machines are garbage.
Alienware died as soon as Dell bought them. That being said, standard Dell pc and laptops are decent value fir money, I, along with my family and some friends have been using them for years without problems. It's just that Dell know nothing about gaming and are just exploiting the AW brand.
absolutely correct, with some snooping around you can get really cheep upgrades hell i got a nvida geforce 9800 a 500 watt power supply and a brand new top of the line network card for under £60Straying Bullet said:
just gotta look around to find the best deals.
Very true. The brand and the case (dont forget the glowy keyboard). If you got extra money to spend for the looks, then go ahead.Straying Bullet said: