Mobile Reinforcements - The New AW Laptops Discussion Thread - Page 18

Amen brother.

I talked to a friend at Alienware the other day, and they did take a pretty good hit from the storm. They fired up the generators, so they're still plugging away, but dealing with a hurricane, and the transportation difficulties that presents ain't easy for a business the size of Alienware.

In addition, Alienware has their own extensive testing program for new hardware. They work with hardware manufacturers directly, as they're such a big seller of top end hardware. If Alienware isn't selling something that's out there, it's because it hasn't cleared their testing procedure yet.

I do disagree with you that Hypersonic should be congratulated for aggression regarding this configuration. If I recall correctly, the AMD laptop was rumored to be released many months ago, yet we're still waiting. Like I said, Alienware hasn't released the new model yet, other manufacturers are waiting to offer it also, so they must still be testing. Maybe there's an issue, maybe not, but Alienware will not sell anything until it passes their tests as stable.

This does get Alienware into the position of taking heat for being "late" to market, but we as their customers benefit from their desire not only to make sure they don't have to deal with support issues, they also don't want their customers to have to deal with a faulty product.

I think DB is going to learn a hard lesson here. I don't think anyone will be shipping the AMD notebooks for a while. If they were ready to ship, FN and other companies would be advertising it now. I'm hoping he doesn't make his grudge with AW personal and realizes if his order is delayed, or his computer is a POS, that he understands that Alienware's testing program and the delays it causes are for a damned good reason.

Hypersonic took a chance it looks like, and went out on a limb. I have a feeling we'll find out what DB is made of once he realizes choosing Hypersonic based on his ability to order first won't get him his rig first, or may get him a rig that hasn't got all the kinks worked out yet. Maybe they'll come through, and his rig will be stable, but I wouldn't want to be a guinea pig when it involves this much money, and a machine you'll have to live with for a while.

I personally wish Alienware would release more information on their testing programs, both pre-sale hardware, and the run-in process for individual machines. AW has been bitten in the past for releasing info like this though, so I'm sure they know what's best for them. Then again, we get the whiners that say AW doesn't run in the machines at all.

I'd rather wait for a stable computer and for the assurance it's passed a rigorous testing program before I drop $4-6 grand on a computer I'll have to deal with for at least a couple years.

From the rep points...

Who the hell are you?

And no, the Clevo clones are not all the same. You can buy hardware at some other sites that AW doesn't offer, and there is a difference between motherboard revisions, and hardware that's incorporated after the base build.

Alienware tests everything thoroughly before it's sold. I can recall two instances with hardware that I know of, that AW identified issues through their testing that the manufacturers didn't catch.

Problems that surface after computers have been shipped are very expensive. Take for instance the HT issue with the original 5500m. The manufacturer of the motherboard told Alienware it would support HT with the p4. Well it turns out it didn't.

AW spent a fortune coming up with solutions to the manufacturers error, and even replaced some motherboards for free to make sure their advertised HT enabled laptops worked. Now Alienware doesn't release hardware until they're convinced it works. The smaller companies can't do that, and have to rely on their manufacturers claims alone when it comes to some new hardware.

A lot of smaller companies don't do any testing, they just sell the latest components out there. Unfortunately for their customers, on occasion conflicts with hardware, drivers, OS's, blah blah blah become apparent after some units have shipped.

Alienware doesn't rely on manufacturers claims anymore, it's burned them in the past. If Alienware sells something, or doesn't, there's a reason for it, and you can be assured it's run through their testing, and met their standards.

Who knows what other companies standards are? If they don't test the hardware themselves, they have to rely on the manufacturers claims.