Alienware Aurora 5500 Evaluation @ [H] Consumer

First and foremost another good review by [H] dedicated staff.

I was glad to see this computer do so well. I thought initially that in one category it would have scored lower; the Price vs Value.
Maybe not though:
If it came with a longer warranty and they over-nighted the box each way everytime you needed something major it would be worth it. So all in all I guess it really was worth the money.

SUPRISE! :eek:

One thing that troubles me about this system was that you guys chose a 3500+. Youre article fails to mention what Alienware charges for the next step-up in technology in the CPU category [video card was mentioned and article implied it was expensive]. Was the next step up (3800+) going to push the price over the top and lower the price/value threshold off the charts?
 
As always I enjoyed the review. My feelings with a place like Alienware is that you pay the premium for not only the parts, but the service .
The service you received I would say is quite typical for them. Thats the kind of service people expect for a high end rig that you pay the big $$ for.
However as you have seen time and again, many other E-tailers dont have that same level of support.
 
I love these reviews. No one else does this kind of in depth review. Having said that...I think Alienwares cases are juvenile and their purchasing and customer support is pathetic. They could use some people who can speak english for one. Out of all the reviews so far Velocity Micro is the clear choice for me. Easy to order, great service and support, and most importantly high quality components with all the configuration options I want and nothing I don't want. Great prices too. It will be interesting to see what Dell does with Alienware but I doubt it will be a better product. Dell has completely lost touch with it's customers and doesn't seem to care. I think Alienware as a company has already jumped the shark from boutique buyer to corporate weenie-dom and being owned by Dell will not help that perception.
 
As usual you guys did a good job on the review. The format has settled in quite nicely.

Only thing I would have hoped for would have been a visual confirmation of the burn spot on the video card (perhaps the gold fingers) just to be sure AW got it right. I don't have any reason to believe AW would point at the wrong component, but it would have been nice to have their explanation square with your diagnosis. Maybe you did so but just didn't bother to mention it. You had popped the video card once already to re-seat it, so why not another look. Seems a little more than odd that AW would have you give it another go at firing it up after you had already told them you smeeled smoke. If the the bad component had been the power supply other components would have been at risk.
 
Can someone please clarify the shipping discrepancy below?

Article Page 1 said:
We paid a total of $1,939.00, including $104 shipping via FedEx air.
Click to expand...

Article Page 2 said:
We ordered the Alienware Aurora 5500 on January 13, 2006. FedEx says that the computer was shipped on the 19th, and we received it on January 24, 2006 via FedEx Ground.
Click to expand...

What shipping method was chosen and paid for during the order process?
 
I am also curious to what video card brand they put in there. Also for a video card to smoke so shortly off the bat, you'd think it would have been caught during testing.
 
Dungheap said:
Can someone please clarify the shipping discrepancy below?





What shipping method was chosen and paid for during the order process?
Click to expand...
Thank you for catching that. I verified the label on the Alienware box and indeed it was 2nd day air. I will make a clarification.
 
anyone else thinking things will be different with alienware with the dell deal and all? should we expect any change on their product lineup, hope they lose the crappy case ;) , i am worried they wont produce decent sub 2K pcs for much longer, at least sub 1.5K ones that you can modestly game with.
 
Tech support should have gotten a big fat ZERO for telling you to turn on a computer that was smoking. What if it had been a faulty power supply and the next power cycle would cause it to burst into flames? The reviewer obviously thought of this as he commented he looked around for his fire extinguisher, however burning your house down wouldn't provide quite the comedic relief...

0/10 for potentially lethal stupidity. What rockhead would tell someone with a computer that is smoking to try it one more time? As if a computer that is already on fire is going to work better the second try?

Seriously, I got chills reading that part of the review. Would alienware pay for your house burning down if the computer caught fire instead of simply making more smoke when you followed the tech support instructions? Or paid for your hospital bill if you were burned trying to put out an electrical fire caused by the tech? After all the things the tech had you try, was a potential fire really worth seeing what would happen if you pushed the power button one more time? As if smelling smoke meant that the computer would magically become stable after all the other unsuccessful troubleshooting?

Really, I'm still bewildered by that part of the review. 10/10 for stability is also strange since the first video card started smoking, but... Wow. Maybe burning down the customer's house is part of their tech support training? Or maybe that guy slept through the part where they told him "If the customer reports that his computer smells like it is burning, tell the customer to immediately unplug the computer from the wall and send it in for repair, since we can replace 10,000 computers for the price of one house and corresponding lawsuit."

Amazing. Really. Alienware better hope their product liability insurer doesn't read your review...
 
Straighten out your ruffled feathers, sit down and listen. ;) Most OEM's (and especially big ones) have their cases and stuff certified to contain fires if that ever were to happen. Your accusations are baseless since smoking/burning hardware can happen to any manufacturer, even with your own precious home build (which is more likely). :)
 
Of course ANY hardware can start smoking or catch fire. That's what makes the tech's instructions to apply power to smoking electronics so appalling. I've seen computers catch fire before and nobody ever suggested turning them on again just to see what would happen next...
 
I wrote that I was locating the nearest fire extinguisher in a humorous manner, but it really was true.

A tech support representative has an awful lot of authority when someone calls, because the caller is often calling from a standpoint of ignorance. Callers put a whole lot of trust in the other person at the end of the line.

My mom or dad would have turned on the button, and therefore, so must I. Luckily, the computer did not, as they say, blow up.
 
Question: Was the tech support in Miami or Costa Rica for the advanced support? Just curious if you could tell.
 
I thought all their tech support was based in Costa Rica. Maybe they are following Dell's model of having US-based support only for certain lines?

HappyJack - do you think the tech missed the call cuz they were based in Costa Rica or were you hoping if the same thing happened to you that a tech in Miami would be easier to track down? ;)

instead of being all rah rah USA, we should be trying to find companies that offer the best tech support + customer service period. I don't give a sh*t where the tech is - I just want the problem solved.
 
Not quite. ;) If you read the small print, it clearly says that Alienware's operations will remain completely seperate, all that's changed is that the Alienware boss has to report to Dell's CFO, IIRC. So you won't find no "watered-down" motherboards or any of that crap... :)
 
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