Your opinion on alienware.

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Hi!
I have been looking at jobs, and laptops recently, and the one laptop that really caught my eye was the alienware M11X. All of the current alienware models are some of the coolest things I have ever seen. But I wondered if they were any better than just their dashing looks. Most reviews I have read have been positive, but I would like to hear the good and bad from gamers first hand.

You see, I was planing to save up for one, and get a plan to pay it off for like 120 bucks a month. I would only do this after getting a job and prooving I can keep it to pay the laptop off. But I was wondering a little more about it

If I should get one, what should I get with it?
They have a huge smorgishboard of options with it, a mouse, keyboard, carrying case, games, controllers, I am just baffeled by it. So I was wondering the point of some of the stuff
A: What is the point of the an extra monitor, the 21 inch cool looking one for like 300 bucks
B: What would you recomend for the memory. With 5 people on my home computer, I took years to be where we are now- About 21 gbs left. And the max for that was 220gbs.
C: What size would you recomend? If I got the M11X- I could conseal it in my school backpack, but playing games wouldn't be that great, The M15 cost a bit more, but I could still probably conseal it in the laptop part of my backpack
D: Would you recomend getting a keyboard for it, or could I just use the S.I. one on it?

And lastly, what is your openion on the brand, Do you like it, should I just skip over it?

Thank you for reading, and please, if you have any openions, respond.

 

[psivamp]

Does Alienware still have a third party building all their machines?
When I purchased the Area 51m back when the P4 was new and hyperthreading was the rage, Alienware was the most well-marketed, but also the most expensive branding placed onto a laptop sold by at least three distributors.

I would look elsewhere to see if you can get the same hardware cheaper.

Edit: Apparently, Alienware was bought by Dell and they're both outsourced somewhere cheap. Disregard my opinion, because I paid as much for that laptop as I did my first two cars.

For anyone who doesn't remember the original Area 51m's they had motherboards that accepted desktop processors and featured full power desktop P4 chips. They ran hotter than you would believe.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Does Alienware still have a third party building all their machines?
When I purchased the Area 51m back when the P4 was new and hyperthreading was the rage, Alienware was the most well-marketed, but also the most expensive branding placed onto a laptop sold by at least three distributors.

I would look elsewhere to see if you can get the same hardware cheaper.

From what I know, dell has a hold of it. Most of the S.I. stuff is made by dell.

 

[Canid117]

They charge too much for the name. Build an equally good machine for one half the price and all your problems shall be solved.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

They charge too much for the name. Build an equally good machine for one half the price and all your problems shall be solved.

Am I allowed to make it light up and be all prettiful, sir?

 

[Canid117]

They charge too much for the name. Build an equally good machine for one half the price and all your problems shall be solved.

Am I allowed to make it light up and be all prettiful, sir?

I believe there are cases that you can purchase that will indeed be all prettyful.

 

[psivamp]

General rule of thumb, don't buy a laptop if you don't need one. They cost much more and don't perform.

 

[Skorpyo]

Alienware is over-priced Dell hardware.

I will spit upon it while I build my own machines.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Alienware is over-priced Dell hardware.

I will spit upon it while I build my own machines.

But I'm lazy. I agree though, I would just get my brothers friend and my cousin to design me a desktop.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

General rule of thumb, don't buy a laptop if you don't need one. They cost much more and don't perform.

The reason I was looking in to getting one is because I will soon need a laptop for my school, and sense my brother doesn't like me playing games on our family P.C, so I figured I would look into gaming ones.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Alienware PC's/Laptop's are completely over-priced and overrated piece's of shit. Also from what i have heard their customer service is pretty damn terrible as well.

 

[The Lunatic]

Alienware has nice stuff, but, stupidly overpriced.

You'd be a bit dim to buy from them after considering all options.

 

[Master Kuja]

I feel like I've said this a thousand times.
Owning an M15x myself, I've been fairly impressed with it throughout the time I've owned it, it's never bricked out on me through anything other than my own fault and when I did manage to cock it up, the tech support/customer services were remarkably helpful.

But maybe that's just me, I seem to be the exception to most rules where Dell/Alienware is concerned as I've had good experiences all round with them.

Sure, I'll attest to the fact that you're paying too much for the label, but my laptop's a damn fine piece of hardware and I don't regret the purchase.

The desktops on the other hand...Jeez, you can build your own with the same/better specs for less than half the price.

I'd personally recommend the M15x out of the lot, the M17x will just light you on fire and the M11x is shit.
I find the keyboard on this laptop to be a pleasure to use even when gaming.
There's very little need for any of the extras unless you like absolutely paying through the ass, but I'd recommend a 500gb hard drive at least.

TL;DR

Laptops: Good build quality, will run everything you can throw at it near enough maxed out, pricey for what it is but overall good.

Desktops: HELL NO. Build one yourself.

 

[Dexiro]

I don't know much about the subject, but I'm pretty sure Alienware is just porn for computer nerds. You're paying twice what you normally would for a computer, just to have it look all nice and flashy.

 

[superbleeder12]

Performance pcs for those too lazy or dim witted to build their own pcs.

desktops are like lego.

Laptops are a different story. I personally don't see a point in a gaming laptop. They tend to be huge, have terrible battery lives, and heat up to about the same temperature as the surface of the sun.

 

[Super Toast]

They are powerful, fantastic looking machines. They are also unreasonably expensive. You could probably get another, equally good laptop for 2/3 of the price.

 

[TheAbominableDan]

I just recently got a new laptop and I was looking at Alienware. I know damn near nothing about computers so I was relying heavily on the help of a friend. I found that the cost got way up there because almost none of the components it came standard with were good enough according to my friend. He may have been wrong but I tend to trust his opinion.

I ended up not going with them because when the price tag hit $2000 I wasn't willing to pay that.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I used to really like Alienware, considering they were a standalone company, with the ability to make alot of money, which they did. The only thing that puts me off is the fact that they are owned by Dell(1), and the prices are a rip off.

I would personally build a computer, considering your from the US I suggest using www.amazon.com to buy parts.

(1) http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/laptop-gaming?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&ST=alienware&dgc=ST&cid=41141&lid=1069630&acd=130028948920561

 

[TheHecatomb]

They look cool if you're into case modding or sci-fi I guess but they lack style and subtlety; for instance I wouldn't put one of their systems in sight in my living room.

From what I've heard they perform quite well, but honestly with such ridiculous prices I'd expect no less than a clearvoyant space machine. I have no personal experience with them though.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

They are like apple, they are charging for the name.