Is Alienware a piece of crap?

[andrew_furshizzle]

Based on service, system quality ( if it came with scratches, damage, ect.), Structure, ect.

[BigTaf]

Every alienware system ive ever worked on has been a pleasure. There is alot of thought put into everything from cooling to cable management. They are some amazing machines but you definitly pay a premium for them.

Ive always thought of alienware as a good option for those who want a really high end system, have money and need tech support. I dont mind building high end machines but I will not provide the 3yr O/S support these guys will.

I would definitly choose alienware over Falcon NW. But having it pre-built seems like taking all the fun out of it for me.

[KrakenGuy]

This is a stupid question.

Alienwares aren't "crap". They are just like every other high end system someone builds, but under the brandname, care, and warranty of Alienware.

Its also meant for those who aren't as technically inclined as some others are, say, a gamer noob who knows nothing about computer parts and wants a high end system.

[JohnleMVP]

Good computers just expensive.

[flobadon]

^ Agreed. I did not vote because I have never owned one -- like a lot of people here I assemble my own computers. If you have the exerience to build a system yourself, why not save some money and have some fun taking the DIY route?

This post may not answer the question, but it might give some perspective on why people here are biased against Alienware and other OEM companies.

[andrew_furshizzle]

My Dream Machine: SubTotal: $5,601.33

Case: Thermotake Armor Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 nForce 4
PSU: Thermaltake Silent Pure Power 680 watt
Processor: AMD Athlon FX57San Diego 1GHZ FSB socket 939
Memory: Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM, DDR 400 (4 GB)
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB (x2)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro
Media Drives: Sony Black IDE DVD Burner model DW-D26A BLK - OEM
Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 400 GB 7200 RPM... Western Digital Raptor 74 GB at 10,000 RPM (x2)
Screens: CRT: ViewSonic P220F Beige 22 inch, 15 pin....... LCD: ViewSonic VE710S Silver 17"inches, 16 MS response
Keyboard: Saitek Gamer's Keyboard PZ08A


Windows XP 64-bit professional

Would use:
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Zonet PCI to USB card
Koutech PCI tp Parallel port card module
Koutech PCI to 1394a
(4) OCZ DDR Booster Diagnostic Device
Generic, 4 inch, 18 LBS, Black, 100 Pieces/pack CABLE TIE

I got myself an ALIENWARE AREA 51-m lappie and the fucking DVD had no sound, poor quality, the support people had spanish accents which is strange (no one had a normal accent), the mouse pad had a dent in it, good sized scratch on the upper right hand side, the LCD was crooked, shit load of scratches on the power button area, the HD was about 5 GB less than what it should have been, the white manual holder was rather dirty, super hott!.

The cool thing was that I could play Half Life 2 with max settings at 1400x? the setting below 1600x1200 I could play at this setting, but the stuff got to large for the screen. I got pretty good performance.

Cost me 3K - gave them a 2K money order and charged 1K to their high interest credit card. I returned the system and lost money because of the stupid 15% restocking fee.
I was gonna have the system fixed, which I had toled a person there, but then I changed my mined later (thinking about the negative things that i had read about Alienware) I got back $1550. I lost 1/4 of my denero!!!! Ass HOLES!!! Now I'm saving my money AGAIN to make my 1st TOP OF THE LINE desktop PC.
ALIENWARE << GOSH!!! IDEOTS!!!

[Mysticcal]

You sir, are a moron.

1.Mouse pad.... dents?
2. Everyone exports their tech service... get used to it, and just because they're spanish yet speak english and you're white and racist doesn't mean a whole lot.
3. crooked LCD? can't turn it to a position that you like?
4. Formatted HDs are usually 90-95% of the stated capacity... if you come here, you should know that.

Now, I'm not a fan of Alienware, but maybe if you knew a little more about computers, then you could have helped yourself.

[Triath]

I am considering one of those ALX alienware systems with two 7800GTX simply because I am in the military and don't have alot of time to sit there and build and then tweak/install everything. I would much rather just plant the cash come home to it unpack it spend 30 minutes and then play some games.

Otherwise I would build it just like all the other pc's I have.

[BigDaddy85]

Alienware is a good machine, but the price is uhh way too ridicilious!!! I could build 3.5 grands FX-57 machine instead of Alienware's 5 grands machine with same spec. Also the case looks too lame. Well Lian-Li pwn Alienware's case. :rolleyes:

[Trinz]

i like how the title of this thread and the question on the poll would generate opposite responses... :p

[Skin]

IMO, there are cheaper companies out there, that will make you a comparable system for roughly half the price. I have a few friends with Alienwares, and they are nice computers, but look elsewhere.

[Pkirk618]

I'd get one if I money was no problem.

[Grazehell]

their customer support sucks hell and would stop me from ever buying another Alienware machine

[sculelos]

I'd get one if I money was no problem.

Same with me, but as it is I just by parts to make a computer and then assemble, right now I'll waiting for parts for a computer system I'm building, its much cheaper then alienware, but rma'ing stuff can be a pain.

[Devin]

LOL I cant believe you spent money on that when you could have just gotton a dell xps gen2...


My Dream Machine: SubTotal: $5,601.33

Case: Thermotake Armor Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 nForce 4
PSU: Thermaltake Silent Pure Power 680 watt
Processor: AMD Athlon FX57San Diego 1GHZ FSB socket 939
Memory: Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM, DDR 400 (4 GB)
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB (x2)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro
Media Drives: Sony Black IDE DVD Burner model DW-D26A BLK - OEM
Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 400 GB 7200 RPM... Western Digital Raptor 74 GB at 10,000 RPM (x2)
Screens: CRT: ViewSonic P220F Beige 22 inch, 15 pin....... LCD: ViewSonic VE710S Silver 17"inches, 16 MS response
Keyboard: Saitek Gamer's Keyboard PZ08A


Windows XP 64-bit professional

Would use:
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Zonet PCI to USB card
Koutech PCI tp Parallel port card module
Koutech PCI to 1394a
(4) OCZ DDR Booster Diagnostic Device
Generic, 4 inch, 18 LBS, Black, 100 Pieces/pack CABLE TIE

I got myself an ALIENWARE AREA 51-m lappie and the fucking DVD had no sound, poor quality, the support people had spanish accents which is strange (no one had a normal accent), the mouse pad had a dent in it, good sized scratch on the upper right hand side, the LCD was crooked, shit load of scratches on the power button area, the HD was about 5 GB less than what it should have been, the white manual holder was rather dirty, super hott!.

The cool thing was that I could play Half Life 2 with max settings at 1400x? the setting below 1600x1200 I could play at this setting, but the stuff got to large for the screen. I got pretty good performance.

Cost me 3K - gave them a 2K money order and charged 1K to their high interest credit card. I returned the system and lost money because of the stupid 15% restocking fee.
I was gonna have the system fixed, which I had toled a person there, but then I changed my mined later (thinking about the negative things that i had read about Alienware) I got back $1550. I lost 1/4 of my denero!!!! Ass HOLES!!! Now I'm saving my money AGAIN to make my 1st TOP OF THE LINE desktop PC.
ALIENWARE << GOSH!!! IDEOTS!!!

[Zecora]

I like Alienware. My friend got one about 4-5years ago and i was plzed with it then. I haven't seen a new one yet, but i am pretty sure they are still pretty freaking awesome.

The only reason I don't like them is becuase of the price. They are pretty expensive.

[Socket7]

Alienware is too expensive for my tastes. Their hardware is good, but it's overpriced if you ask me. If I was loaded and didn't want to build a system myself, I'd go with alienware, but a lot of what your paying for is the paint job. Alienware notebooks are rebranded Sager notebooks, with a new paint job. They also used to be a few hundred dollars more expensive then the EXACT SAME MODEL of Sager notebook, but they have gotten much better about that, now the price difference is under 50 dollars depending on how you configure it.

Bottom line. Alienware is an absolutely solid system, but you pay a premium for that. Your better off building your own if you're able too.

[Shmuckety]

Alienware is a good system. They overcharge alot, but I have not heard any horror stories about their computers. If you have the money and want a good system out of the box get the alienware or a dell XPS and be done with it.

Alot of people here are going to crap on the idea here, but that's because this is a [H]ardcore, tweak your computer everyday, never satisfied with performance community of computer hardware freaks.

That's why we come here. ;)

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/8510.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=8510)

[Elios]

i still say Alienware is crap just some thing about a plastic case dosnt sit with me
i realy like Falcon Northwests cases and even there lower end heh PCs all use better parts then alienware go look at the forums for alienware and the pic of the lower priced rigs and the parts that are used

[BurntToast]

Alienware sucks. I had a customer who had one and Alienware would REFUSE to take the defected part or comp back. They did everything in their power not to make good on the uber warranty that this use picked up. Because they didn’t want to pay for the shipping costs, which is clearly written in their warranty receipt. So we ended up shipping them the computer anyways COD. They received the computer, noticed that the motherboard was defective as well as a stick of ram in the process. Then they shipped the case back to us, along with a bill for shipping the case to them and back to her residence. EVEN THOUGH THE COMP WAS DEFECTIVE!!!

Alienware is a piece of crap! Go with a different OEM that has the same internal guts as an Alienware, yet better warranty and CHEAPER.

I think Alienware may have been a quality company in the late 90's when each machine was truly customized for the customer. But now they have grown too large now for anyone to really consider IMO.

[Lord of Shadows]

I was tricked! Is alienware a piece of crap? I say yes, then the poll question is different from the title. =/

[AMDXP]

Is an ALIENWARE system a piece of crap? It depends how you look at it in my opinion yes. Why? They are quite overpriced. If you don't know anything about computers an are made of money then I don't see why you'd worry about buying one from there. Honsetly you could get a DELL that performs the same as an ALIENWARE much much cheaper about 1k less or more. If you want a custom built computer and don't want to build it yourself an still want that expandible custom feel, look into www.ibuypower.com , http://www.monarchcomputer.com/, or even http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/


Thats just my thoughts.

AMDCOTTONFIRE22

[Tman]

I OWN AN ALIENWARE
I would have to say that I love my system too.

I bought it about 2 and 1/2 years ago as my first pc ever! And was amazed buy it.
And every day since then it has worked without a flaw.

Currently due to the fact that It is a little out-dated I use it as a Server / HTPC / side side
gaming pc.

Yes some things have happened-
Windows CD went bad. they sent me a new one and I got it only 2 days later.
Virus Attack. Used a program to look at my system and then told me what to do.
Didnt Know How To Reinstall Windows. Stayed with me for a hour on the phone and told
me exactly how to reinstall, load my programs, and etc.

The only thing I dont like!!
The noise,,, god I hate a loud computer!!!
(but they have fixed that now)


My only problem with Alienware is just that they are a little to dam expensive :(
Also stay away from their ALX simply because of the cost.

Just get this case-
link (http://www.xoxide.com/koolance-pc3-725bk-case.html)
and your set!!!

[Elios]

Is an ALIENWARE system a piece of crap? It depends how you look at it in my opinion yes. Why? They are quite overpriced. If you don't know anything about computers an are made of money then I don't see why you'd worry about buying one from there. Honsetly you could get a DELL that performs the same as an ALIENWARE much much cheaper about 1k less or more. If you want a custom built computer and don't want to build it yourself an still want that expandible custom feel, look into www.ibuypower.com , http://www.monarchcomputer.com/, or even http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/


Thats just my thoughts.

AMDCOTTONFIRE22


OR Falcon Northwest www.falcon-nw.com

[Elios]

I OWN AN ALIENWARE
I would have to say that I love my system too.

I bought it about 2 and 1/2 years ago as my first pc ever! And was amazed buy it.
And every day since then it has worked without a flaw.

Currently due to the fact that It is a little out-dated I use it as a Server / HTPC / side side
gaming pc.

Yes some things have happened-
Windows CD went bad. they sent me a new one and I got it only 2 days later.
Virus Attack. Used a program to look at my system and then told me what to do.
Didnt Know How To Reinstall Windows. Stayed with me for a hour on the phone and told
me exactly how to reinstall, load my programs, and etc.

The only thing I dont like!!
The noise,,, god I hate a loud computer!!!
(but they have fixed that now)


My only problem with Alienware is just that they are a little to dam expensive :(
Also stay away from their ALX simply because of the cost.

Just get this case-
link (http://www.xoxide.com/koolance-pc3-725bk-case.html)
and your set!!!

that case cost ALMOST as much as 7800GTX are you fucking insane

[Blah425]

I have never used an Alienware. I bet they are great PCs just alil to much $$ for my taste.

[Bullitt]

I'd love to be on the Alienware bashing bandwagon, but I'll try and be objective.

Are they "crap" No, I cant see it. They constantly score exceptionally high in magazine reviews, etc. They use quality parts and, more importantly, industry standard parts.

I used to look what was in the latest Alienware to plan my builds out of. I'd have no problems reccomending them to someone who wanted performance and had more money or the lack of skill to DIY.

Pro:Good build quality, good internals, good performance
Con: Expense. Their case doesnt mesh with my tastes (MHO only)

I wont say they're crap, but I wont go out and buy one. My hard earned dollars have forced me to DIY for 6 years now and I'm comfortable getting the best bang for my buck.

[-=MrStalinsOpus=-]

My Dream Machine: SubTotal: $5,601.33

Case: Thermotake Armor Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 nForce 4
PSU: Thermaltake Silent Pure Power 680 watt
Processor: AMD Athlon FX57San Diego 1GHZ FSB socket 939
Memory: Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM, DDR 400 (4 GB)
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB (x2)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro
Media Drives: Sony Black IDE DVD Burner model DW-D26A BLK - OEM
Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 400 GB 7200 RPM... Western Digital Raptor 74 GB at 10,000 RPM (x2)
Screens: CRT: ViewSonic P220F Beige 22 inch, 15 pin....... LCD: ViewSonic VE710S Silver 17"inches, 16 MS response
Keyboard: Saitek Gamer's Keyboard PZ08A


Windows XP 64-bit professional

Would use:
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Zonet PCI to USB card
Koutech PCI tp Parallel port card module
Koutech PCI to 1394a
(4) OCZ DDR Booster Diagnostic Device
Generic, 4 inch, 18 LBS, Black, 100 Pieces/pack CABLE TIE

I got myself an ALIENWARE AREA 51-m lappie and the fucking DVD had no sound, poor quality, the support people had spanish accents which is strange (no one had a normal accent), the mouse pad had a dent in it, good sized scratch on the upper right hand side, the LCD was crooked, shit load of scratches on the power button area, the HD was about 5 GB less than what it should have been, the white manual holder was rather dirty, super hott!.

The cool thing was that I could play Half Life 2 with max settings at 1400x? the setting below 1600x1200 I could play at this setting, but the stuff got to large for the screen. I got pretty good performance.

Cost me 3K - gave them a 2K money order and charged 1K to their high interest credit card. I returned the system and lost money because of the stupid 15% restocking fee.
I was gonna have the system fixed, which I had toled a person there, but then I changed my mined later (thinking about the negative things that i had read about Alienware) I got back $1550. I lost 1/4 of my denero!!!! Ass HOLES!!! Now I'm saving my money AGAIN to make my 1st TOP OF THE LINE desktop PC.
ALIENWARE << GOSH!!! IDEOTS!!!


DUMBEST POST EVER. Ever seen an 80 gig HD that was 80 gigs? Me either. They are all 74.

[stiltner]

Overpriced, Large Market Trash. I don't need to own one to know that.

If you're still dropping $5-6K on a PC, you need to go back to 1991 when that was cool to do.

By the time you bought it, its outdated anyway. So go cheaper, and buy 3-4 to 5 of them, and get much better bang for the buck anyway :).

I'd rather have 2 systems with mid range figures than 1 awesome system. With 2 systems, I can do 2-3 times the work I can with 1. Simple as that. Strength and value in #'s, not the most Ghz and video cards $ can buy.
I reached the point where 1 system could not maintain my pr0n ripping talents, 2 became necessary, now I run 3, and I use them in a parallel situation often. One server, 2 clients, endless possibilities. Total investment, maybe $1800, and I can run circles around the new Alienware system with those 3, and still have enough to buy it all again 2 more times.

[Big Fat Duck]

I like how this threads title asks one question, but the post body asks the opposite.. i accidently voted yes because I read the title first

[Dan_D]

They are good systems. Just WAY overpriced.

[Spetsnaz Op]

What the heck? What do you mean is alienware crap? You pick the components, therefore YOU decide if it is crap. How can you ask this? It is like asking are cars crappy? What car? You will pay more to get an alienware, but it might not be crap. Just overpriced perhaps.

[bonkrowave]

I wouldn't say the systems are crap, they are just very horribly overpriced.

This is possibly, the worst poll ever. The Thread Title asks a question different from the poll, good luck with the accuracy of this poll.

[dingobiatch]

im never getting another alienware. ya know how they say 'oh we test all our computers, so everything works!'
i got my alienware (2-3 years ago), floppy drive power cable wasnt even there, and the jumper on the back of my second hd was in the wrong position (at the time i didnt know what a jumper was), so i ended up not using the second harddrive for the entire 2 years i had the computer, since it gave me so many problems.

HOWEVER, i do have to say that their customer service is better than most other companies, because i have never had to wait more than 3 minutes on the phone to talk to a tech support guy, and they are all educated, not random people picked off the street like dell has.

[Elios]

im never getting another alienware. ya know how they say 'oh we test all our computers, so everything works!'
i got my alienware (2-3 years ago), floppy drive power cable wasnt even there, and the jumper on the back of my second hd was in the wrong position (at the time i didnt know what a jumper was), so i ended up not using the second harddrive for the entire 2 years i had the computer, since it gave me so many problems.

HOWEVER, i do have to say that their customer service is better than most other companies, because i have never had to wait more than 3 minutes on the phone to talk to a tech support guy, and they are all educated, not random people picked off the street like dell has.

not if thay never got your 2nd HDD working right i could of fixed that over the phone >.>

[sleepeeg3]

Alienware is not crap and I have no experience with them or know anyone stupid enough to buy one of them. But they are disgustingly overpriced. That does not stop the morons out there from buying one.

I figure, unless you are worth $10 million+, you don't fall in the category of time being more valuable than building your own system.

[Elios]

Alienware is not crap and I have no experience with them or know anyone stupid enough to buy one of them. But they are disgustingly overpriced. That does not stop the morons out there from buying one.

I figure, unless you are worth $10 million+, you don't fall in the category of time being more valuable than building your own system.

heh even if i had the much money id still build my own systems like many here it my(there) hobby

[ashmedai]

Crap, not that I know of. Overpriced, sure. Ugly, in many cases.

[Bugalaman]

I vote HELL YES! any prebuilt is crap. any moron can build a computer. hell, I work with idiots and they build their own :rolleyes:

[chronic9]

alienware is not shitty at all. i never owned 1 always liked building my own rigs. but a friend of mine had one and it was REALLY nice. they hid alot of cables and make it look neat inside. the case is ugly and its overprice like crazy but he likes it.

if i was loaded. i rather get a falcon northwest with a custom airbursh paint job.

[sabrewolf732]

no they aren't crappy machines, just overpriced

[mrhemmy]

why would you put a thermaltake power supply in a system like that?

Go PCPNC 850SSI :o

[fatez]

OMG. The Guy who made this people must be hanged! How dare you switch the questions around fooling people to vote the other way. What a shame. Also, shame on me for not noticing it earlier. This just come to show you can't trust people these days. I would take this as a lesson and from now on, I'm going to read the fine prints. LOL.

[Dan_D]

I vote HELL YES! any prebuilt is crap. any moron can build a computer. hell, I work with idiots and they build their own :rolleyes:

While you can always build your own and most of the time do it cheaper than the OEM's for high end PC's that does not mean that any pre-built machine is crap. For some people who are computer stupid, warranty backed, company backed machines are a good thing.

Just like supported systems and warranty are a godsend for machines in the business world.

[Deathjester]

They aren't bad computers, they just look like crap, overpriced, and poor customer service. :p

[osirus35]

They are not crap, just way WAY overpriced

[brom42]

I have had to repair Alienware PCs for users and their customer service sucks. I don't think that they are crap computers, they are just way too overpriced; and just hope nothing ever goes wrong, because if they can they will try to get out of replacing the parts at all costs.

**edit**

Built an alienware system with identical/equivalent components to my system, except the alienware had only 1 LCD: $5089

This cost of my system with the 2nd LCD: $4100

So I saved $1000 by building it myself and thats with dual LCDs. They have to be joking with their prices!!

[sieb]

Alienware farms their support out to local companies unless its something major that requires you to send the whole machine back to the factory.

We had Alienware call us to service a customers computer. All I did was a mobo swap (they sent us the mobo), tested it, and gave it back to the customer. That was two years ago... They still haven't paid us for the service work......

Nice machine, crappy service, overpriced.. All your paying for is the name..

[FLECOM]

ahh, i hit yes because i didnt read the question and the title was "is alienware a piece of crap"

i answered yes to that question :p

i have dealt with them a few times, since their offices are like 10 mins from my house, definately prefer not to ever deal with those people

and if you say that "no they are not crap, just expensive"

BZZZZT, wrong, they are crap, everytime a customer buys one (against my recommendations) i usually end up having to fix something that they screwed up putting it together, or they just use crap components on their "base" systems which cost more than the average high-end system with better stuff...

also ive run into stuff like cables getting pinched when they are putting it together and shorting out PSU's and just plain crappy manufacturing among other things...

[pr0nasaurus rex]

They're pretty decent computers, but they cost way too much, and I think they're quite ugly looking. For a long time, I wanted an Alienware 7700m, until I realized the Sager 9860 was the same thing, except it wasn't butt-ugly, and it was a little cheaper.