Alienware Laying Off Employees

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
The latest round of rumors coming out of layoff land say that the next victim of these troubled times is Alienware. Supposedly the company is laying off an undisclosed amount of employees and is closing both of its dedicated manufacturing plants as well.

Citing an internal memo they obtained from an Alienware employee, it's said that the group will be closing both of its dedicated manufacturing plants (in Miami and Ireland), with production to be shifted to parent company Dell's factories. These closures will be accompanied by layoffs, though Alienware - while confirming the closures - refuse to put a number on how many will be affected.
Click to expand...
 
Wow that sucks, I guess their quality of machines will go down as well.
 
Maybe everyone realized that you can just build a computer yourself, with the same specs as an Alienware model, for several hundred dollars less than you would pay if you bought it from them.
 
Harb said:
Maybe everyone realized that you can just build a computer yourself, with the same specs as an Alienware model, for several hundred dollars less than you would pay if you bought it from them.
Click to expand...

i'm pretty sure 99% of the people who buy machines in that class always knew that...

Alienware always was a company with an expiration date
 
Expect others to follow. Boutique computer makers don't last long in this kind of an economy. (This is part of the reason Netbooks are doing so good - they are cheap!)
 
They really weren't that great before Dell took over,and things went downhill from there.All they really had going for them were those flashy cases.People turn to boutique builders to get away from the low quality cookie cutter systems and poor support you get from mass producers like Dell,the two just aren't compatible.
 
Harb said:
Maybe everyone realized that you can just build a computer yourself, with the same specs as an Alienware model, for several thousand dollars less than you would pay if you bought it from them.
Click to expand...

fix'd
 
They were owned by dell, of course they are going to shave workforce numbers... especially with the overlapping departments.
 
Leon2ky said:
Yeah, I've never out right flamed anyone on this forum but you truly are a piece of shit.
Click to expand...

kindly explain how? the market system of economics is the reigning one in this country because of it's inherent efficiency and ability to redistribute manpower in ways most beneficial to society as a whole... and this situation with alienware perfectly illustrates that....

these people will find other jobs, and in time, make themselves more productive as a whole to the rest of society.....

alienware as a company deserved to die so that those who made it up could go on to better things....

kindly tell me where I am wrong, or how stating any of that makes me an asshole or piece of shit?

thanks :) i know you will prove me wrong, you are so angry, so you must have some really good counterpoints, and being the life learner that I am, i'd love to hear them....
 
Powerful PC's are just another luxury item and luxury items in bad economies always take big hits. I think that there's nothing wrong with the model per se, was good enough for Dell to buy but at the same time, why do you need a dedicated factories no matter the state of the economy?

As always, I wish those who are affected well and that they may quickly find new and better jobs!:)
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
kindly explain how? the market system of economics is the reigning one in this country because of it's inherent efficiency and ability to redistribute manpower in ways most beneficial to society as a whole... and this situation with alienware perfectly illustrates that....

these people will find other jobs, and in time, make themselves more productive as a whole to the rest of society.....

alienware as a company deserved to die so that those who made it up could go on to better things....

kindly tell me where I am wrong, or how stating any of that makes me an asshole or piece of shit?

thanks :) i know you will prove me wrong, you are so angry, so you must have some really good counterpoints, and being the life learner that I am, i'd love to hear them....
Click to expand...

As bitter as he sounded, he was probably a Dell employee in the Alienware department ;-)
 
G-fan said:
They really weren't that great before Dell took over,and things went downhill from there.All they really had going for them were those flashy cases.People turn to boutique builders to get away from the low quality cookie cutter systems and poor support you get from mass producers like Dell,the two just aren't compatible.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I've worked on alienware computer cases and they are absolute crap.
 
Azhar said:
As bitter as he sounded, he was probably a Dell employee in the Alienware department ;-)
Click to expand...

No I don't work for them. It's never a good thing when people lose their jobs and in effect their livelihoods, and praising it is a shitty thing to do.
 
Ockie said:
They were owned by dell, of course they are going to shave workforce numbers... especially with the overlapping departments.
Click to expand...

it always did confuse the hell out of me why Dell had their separate XPS lines alongside the Alienware brand.....

sure, the argument is that Alienware was ultra premium, even more high end than XPS ... but in that case, i'd say that the target alienware audience is too small, and, correspondingly, a sufficiently promoted alienware would dilute the value of Dell's own XPS brand.....

horrible overlap there... and really confusing signals being sent by Dell...
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
kindly explain how? the market system of economics is the reigning one in this country because of it's inherent efficiency and ability to redistribute manpower in ways most beneficial to society as a whole... and this situation with alienware perfectly illustrates that....

these people will find other jobs, and in time, make themselves more productive as a whole to the rest of society.....

alienware as a company deserved to die so that those who made it up could go on to better things....

kindly tell me where I am wrong, or how stating any of that makes me an asshole or piece of shit?

thanks :) i know you will prove me wrong, you are so angry, so you must have some really good counterpoints, and being the life learner that I am, i'd love to hear them....
Click to expand...

It isn't about them going down it's about you praising people losing their jobs. Alienware isn't disappearing but they're laying people off which sucks. There is NOTHING good about people losing their jobs.
 
Leon2ky said:
No I don't work for them. It's never a good thing when people lose their jobs and in effect their livelihoods, and praising it is a shitty thing to do.
Click to expand...

I don't see him praising it. I see him as stating the obvious. He's right. Niche product markets always eventually fail. It's inevitable. It sucks, but surely the employees there knew it was coming some day.
 
Leon2ky said:
No I don't work for them. It's never a good thing when people lose their jobs and in effect their livelihoods, and praising it is a shitty thing to do.
Click to expand...

It isn't a good thing when people lose their jobs, and then stay unemployed... but the remarkable thing about the way the industrialized world's economy works is that good people don't stay unemployed for very long.... and those that deserve jobs... those that are motivated enough and innovative and smart enough... those people will find new jobs, or create new jobs themselves....

what would *not* be a good thing is keeping a zombie/useless firm alive just for the sake of job retention.... in this country, you create value, or you dont get paid.... it is NOT a tragedy when those who don't create enough value to justify their paychecks lose those said paychecks....


like I said in my previous post, please kindly present your case for your contrarian viewpoint
 
AthlonXP said:
Do you think this spells the end of the XPS line??
Click to expand...

doubtful... I always figured that was the line that was more promoted by dell anyway....

and XPS was way, way higher volume (and in many cases, there isn't even much of a price premium for XPS machines.... you can routinely find great deals on XPS laptops online...)
 
Leon2ky said:
It isn't about them going down it's about you praising people losing their jobs. Alienware isn't disappearing but they're laying people off which sucks. There is NOTHING good about people losing their jobs.
Click to expand...

how do you figure? i can think of a bunch of different ways for how people losing their jobs *can* be a good thing.... I think anyone that has taken an economics class can do the same...

still waiting for you to respond to the rest of what i've said above (pro tip: calling me names and simple repetition of your assertion aren't responses)

like i said, you seem like a very intelligent guy, so please tell me why you were justified in calling me an asshole and piece of shit?
because that kind of response indicates that I am *obviously* and *horribly* wrong in my assertions.... and I'd love to learn from your point of view.....
 
It just proves that Dell bought them for their name and not the actual company. The reality is that not many pc gamers will purchase fancy build to order gaming rigs when you can purchase a system for less than $1000 then put in around $500 worth of parts yourself, and have a very decent gaming system. Now Alienware will simply be turned into the Cadillac instead the Austin Martin or Ferrari.
 
TheMead said:
It just proves that Dell bought them for their name and not the actual company. The reality is that not many pc gamers will purchase fancy build to order gaming rigs when you can purchase a system for less than $1000 then put in around $500 worth of parts yourself, and have a very decent gaming system. Now Alienware will simply be turned into the Cadillac instead the Austin Martin or Ferrari.
Click to expand...

That is a great analogy of what Alienware is going to become.
 
piscian18 said:
Kyle is hardcore.


PC = the new legos.
Click to expand...

kinda-sorta.....

for alot of guys, PC also = easier big boy's tinker toy AKA car substitute

for a variety of reasons.... can't afford or justify a car? not skilled enough to work on a car? just want something easier to push to its limits?

i sorta fit into all of those categories :) i live in a big city, so I can't justify a car, and i'm also not nearly as skilled to work on them.... so to get my tinker on, I mess with my desktop, and RC cars/planes
 
Hrmm....looks like HP made the right bet making the recent BlackBird (Voodoo) smaller, and less "gamer-behemoth" like. Just checked the site, and it costs "only" $1700. The days of $5k+ systems, even for the general populace, are long gone.
 
I remember when they started these systems, and they opened up with the P3's OC'd to 1ghz on compressor style cooling systems!
 
Trimlock said:
I remember when they started these systems, and they opened up with the P3's OC'd to 1ghz on compressor style cooling systems!
Click to expand...

hah, when I was in grade school, i used to just stare at the alienware ads in the gaming mags I had at the time and just drive myself nuts wanting one.... i probably wanted an alienware more than I wanted to get laid back then.....
 
I remember I was forced to order an Alienware for a combined Christmas gift for a friend. I was swearing up and down that I could build the same for less, but the friend that was helping me get the gift was financing most of it and got swayed by the colorful marketing page. I agree, it was a matter of time.
 
trick_m0nkey said:
I'm sorry but I've worked on alienware computer cases and they are absolute crap.
Click to expand...

I don't think most people attracted to them were thinking about build quality,they just wanted something flashy looking they could show off.I think they see it more as a status symbol.
 
Mav451 said:
The days of $5k+ systems, even for the general populace, are long gone.
Click to expand...

...Except on Craigslist!

craigslistad.png


That posting made me lol for quite some time. :p
 
you know funny enough now that i think about it, i think i may have actually only ever seen 5-10 alienware systems outside of a magazine, where as i see XPS systems around damn near everywhere.

I remember reading something posted on hardocp news a whiiiile back stating dell would be cutting back XPS based machines because they wanted to push Alienware. or something of the nature i could be wrong and read it elsewhere

ohwell

bump bump bump..... another one bites the dust
 
Alienware is owned by Dell now so this doesnt come to me as a surprise, especially the closing of the 2 manufacturing plants. Dell hates to have a lot of assets on their books and closing the two plants and bringin them to their other manufacturing facilites looks like a normal way to cut cost. Do i think Alienware is catering to a specific class, of course. I dont think the cost of the Alienware's are what is forcing them to cut back. I think it has to do more that although techonology has changed in the past year, the results are the same. There is no software or applications that a machine built 1 or 2 years ago can not run. A student who bought his Alienware design laptop is sure not going to spend another 2 grand on a replacement, same goes for gamers, and graphic designers. There just is no reason to upgrade machines right now, especially given the current state of the economy.

Keep in mind im speaking of the average consumer who does not typically post on forums such as this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top