I have wanted an Alienware for as long as I can remember. I want to say I found out about them around the time they opened in 1996 but that may be untrue. I've always had a thing for wanting an 'it' computer as I'm sure a lot of people that come to these boards and own an Alienware have.
I ordered my first system about three weeks ago I guess. The thing that struck me the most I guess through out the whole buying process was that it became apparent to me that I knew more about computers than the sales associate on the other end of the line. Anyone that does any type of business with service industries knows that this is not uncommon since call centers are outsourced all over the place. I was admittedly a little bummed. I guess my expectation was going to be that I would be talking to a fellow tech sychophant when I placed my order but instead got somebody who's familiarity of English clearly was not first hand.
I've got to question the move of a small company on the cutting edge of technology shifting their first level of interaction of customers in the hands of a call center, but hey if you are going to get the best of everything on the config sheet like I did then there really isn't that much they can tell you. My only gripe, and I think a slight on AW's part, was that I did not know about the X1600 until after the order had shipped. It would have been nice if somebody from AW emailed or called me to let me know that a better gx card was available and IT MAKES SENSE from a business perspective as well. I'm most likely not going to send it back solely for this upgrade so they're out potentially the cost difference between the Go6600 and the ATI X1600.
I don't expect to get my laptop until tomorrow. I'm nothing short of excited. I'm not bashing Alienware for their choices, clearly they have cost reductions in mind. The ordering process was a tad dissapointing but I'd like to think I know my stuff pretty well so it wasn't a huge deal. For people that are less in the know I think it would be a problem.
I ordered my first system about three weeks ago I guess. The thing that struck me the most I guess through out the whole buying process was that it became apparent to me that I knew more about computers than the sales associate on the other end of the line. Anyone that does any type of business with service industries knows that this is not uncommon since call centers are outsourced all over the place. I was admittedly a little bummed. I guess my expectation was going to be that I would be talking to a fellow tech sychophant when I placed my order but instead got somebody who's familiarity of English clearly was not first hand.
I've got to question the move of a small company on the cutting edge of technology shifting their first level of interaction of customers in the hands of a call center, but hey if you are going to get the best of everything on the config sheet like I did then there really isn't that much they can tell you. My only gripe, and I think a slight on AW's part, was that I did not know about the X1600 until after the order had shipped. It would have been nice if somebody from AW emailed or called me to let me know that a better gx card was available and IT MAKES SENSE from a business perspective as well. I'm most likely not going to send it back solely for this upgrade so they're out potentially the cost difference between the Go6600 and the ATI X1600.
I don't expect to get my laptop until tomorrow. I'm nothing short of excited. I'm not bashing Alienware for their choices, clearly they have cost reductions in mind. The ordering process was a tad dissapointing but I'd like to think I know my stuff pretty well so it wasn't a huge deal. For people that are less in the know I think it would be a problem.
