BEWARE of Alienware

Yes, you did hear correctly. Iknow, I know, nothing beats a desktop PC. But i often travel and there is a lot of free time?? What can i do I am an addict. I intend on running far cry, call of duty and doom III. even though i know they will not run like on a pc, I think i can get decent FPS from a laptop with a P43.4ghz, ee and a geforce go fx 9700 or an atigo 9700 don´t you????

Holy shit man, You really are spending the big bucks aren't ya?

Yes it does make sense to game on a laptop if you travel as much as you say.

And hell, who isn't addicted?

Sure Dell isn't that great, but there is no one that I have ever seen that comes close to matching their customer support. I'm sure that there's a couple horror stories out there but I have called them up 12 times now and I've
1. Never been put on hold more than 20 minutes
2. Always had my problem solved on one phone call unless my hardware was broken
3. Always had intelligent, logical, and helpful technicians who were able to work with me on whatever level of experiance I was at and didn't make me feel stupid.
In short, Dell isn't the devil, they DO offer many EXCEPTIONAL deals but you gotta customize them yourself. They are my top recommendation for people who don't know how to build their own PCs which is about 90% of all customers. That is why they are doing so well but for enthusiasts like us they are just another OME company who screws us over for all kinds of little things that the average person could care less about.
I would say that if you wanna get a laptop, go with dell.

Forget alienware. They stink. I would get a dell or sony vaio if i were you.Sony vaio is probably better than dell(may last longer) but is more expensive then dell.

Yeah, but my brother has a great Vaio with no one to turn to if something breaks, he has the warrenty but no phone support or on site technicians. Its up to you really but vaios aren't much if at all better than dells

Thks for the advice. Since my last post I decided to try Alienwares response time and handling of orders. I placed an order last Wensday for an inexpensive mousepad. To my surprise, I have not yet received an e/mail from them telling me what the status of the order is (today is monday). I am starting to loose my faith (sort of becoming Scully instead of Moulder). If I don[t hear from them very soon with a good reason, that is one less choice for me. Even after all this i am still having a hard time going with dell (its laptop for games weights more that a UFO and is less aerodynamic)

Well you see...prices also reflect customer support...Voodoo laptops arent much more expensive than AW's. Voodoo is known for their customer service and im sure has a better one than dell!!! Here are a few logical reasons why:
1- They have their own forums open to anyone. The owner of the company actually visits and responds sometimes.
2- Voodoo is much smaller than dell ,hence less people to deal with and more time spent on your pc.
BTW alienware's forums are only open to buyers.


Big VT i doubt you can build a pc that is the speed of a 3500-4000$ pc unless you are reallly experienced!!! I have visited several forums with many experienced customers...These people surely know how to build a pc but would love to get one from their company because of the company's good work.

Originally posted by quiksilver87
Big VT i doubt you can build a pc that is the speed of a 3500-4000$ pc unless you are reallly experienced!!!

Why not? It's not like these companies (Voodoo, Alienware) use parts that the average Joe can't buy.

ummm...there might not be a huge overwhelming difference...but they do tweak their parts and sometimes o/c them...Ofcourse if BIG VT overclocks, he can easily beat them. he can even beat their machines that are overclocked...Voodoo's Rage F:1(curently sold out) is overclocked. But the company keeps the speeds low to maintain stability. Overdrivepc is known for its overclocking...and IMO they are the best!!!

P.S.
Remeber... extra speed isnt the only reason why people buy brand pc's!!!!

F.Y.I.
I dont favor AW by any means!!!

I recently took delivery of a £3,200 Alienware PC and had problems from day one. The Techies at Athlone in Ireland have been excellent BUT communications with other departments about items missing from the package have gone unanswered.

Check this webpage http://str8dog.com/articles/182.aspx for details.

I came accross this website and was shocked to read that others were experiencing similar problems with Alienware.

I am not 'supporting/promoting' the above webpage and neither am I wanting to start a crusade. If you want to read details of problems do so on the above link. (my apologies to this website for advertising another).

I am interested in learning of other problems experienced by Alienware purchasers in Europe/UK and may be contacted on beware.aliens@btinternet.com.

Originally Posted by quiksilver87

Big VT i doubt you can build a pc that is the speed of a 3500-4000$ pc unless you are reallly experienced!!! I have visited several forums with many experienced customers...These people surely know how to build a pc but would love to get one from their company because of the company's good work.

Umm... His name is Bix VT, not “Big” VT. Anyway I know Bix personally and I’m pretty confident that given the kind of money people spend on AW he could build a PC that could kill the competition.

Originally Posted by quiksilver87

ummm...there might not be a huge overwhelming difference...but they do tweak their parts and sometimes o/c them...Ofcourse if BIG VT overclocks, he can easily beat them. he can even beat their machines that are overclocked...Voodoo's Rage F:1(curently sold out) is overclocked. But the company keeps the speeds low to maintain stability. Overdrivepc is known for its overclocking...and IMO they are the best!!!

Yes he does over clock. He over clocks the crud out of his PCs, but he doesn’t need to oc to make an awesome PC.

sorry i got to throw my newbie building 2 cents worth in
i expect my computer when done with this mobo to be fast and it will cost me about $1000.00.
i can only imagine if i had an extra 1500 how fast it could be running in a SLI config with say the 3800+or 4000+ cpu
but after a year of having this i can always pop the less expensive stuff out and put in the big guns on my mobo.
i have read the reviews and comments and it seems this A8N-sli mobo is not too shabby i will let you know when i get it done around christmas time or when i get the funds to finish it
my point being is 2500 buys a lot of home built and L3200 buys even more!! wow 3200 pounds to build a pc thats roughly $4500-$5000 US dollars!

oh just one more thing alot of computer stores in florida only charge about 100 dollars to assemble your computer ,probably more if you dont buy their parts, Best buy has a not too bad computer services as well if you cant get your homebuilt working properly. my point here is there is always help available for a fee of course if you need it rather than waiting for " customer no service" to help you

Alienware support was the worst experience of my computer life. I bought one of their machines two months ago and it has never worked. I’ve spent countless hours with their incompentant staff on the phone. They sent a field tech out and he made the machine worse. I did every thing they ask me to and when I asked for my money back we had passed the magic thirty day limit. They are very clever. So i was stuck having done all they ask, with a very expensive broken machine.

Their solution? Send it to us and we’ll fix it and mail it back to you… this is not what I paid for. But I had no choice, so once again following their instructions… I just got a phone call that the case was broken in transport… and of course this will not be covered by their warrenty so now I’m two months in with a broken machine and a case that is broken and they won’t fix.

Their solution? “You can buy a new case from us” Again no choice. I hate alienware. They took my money and my time and unrepentantly screw me at every turn.

I will never do business with them again!

My advice… as soon as you see a single problem get your money back… do not do anything to help them or accomodate them… immediately get a refund. Immediately - they will do nothing to help you. They seem completely unconcerned with how horrible your experience is.

I can not stress how strongly you should avoid doing business with this company!