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Low-Down on Dellienware by Aaron McKenna

post #1 of 26
3/26/06 at 9:15pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/0...n_dellienware/
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post #2 of 26
3/26/06 at 9:26pm
Not a bad written article with some good points however I seriously disagree with this:

Quote:
The audience that Alienware and its peers sell to, and which Dell has largely failed to conquer with its XPS range, is the tech-literate audience who are constantly reading sites such as Tom's Hardware.

They pay attention to the tech world, and nine out of ten people who have or will buy an Alienware, or similar, machine in the future knew within hours that Dell had bought Alienware because they always have one eye on the industry. Similarly if Dell gobbles up Alienware whole they will know perfectly well what they'll be buying into and make purchasing decisions appropriately.
I didn't choose my XPS 2 because it was cheap (which they certainly aren't over here), I bought it because it was a superb gaming machine that offered much better balance than the Clevo D900T systems Alienware offered at the time. Dell have by no means dominated the market with their XPS range but I wouldn't call them a failure at all, I think they've done well in the time they've been out.

John
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post #3 of 26
3/27/06 at 4:07pm
i still disagree with those who choose to call the aquisition of alienware by dell something other than what it is. its a purchase, not dell just gobbling down AW whole for lunch. they are effectively remaining seperate companies save for a few areas where they will work together, and none of those areas is in the actual production or machines offered.
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post #4 of 26
3/27/06 at 7:43pm
This is a huge win-win-win.

Win for Dell...they get a new high gross margin revenue stream and street cred.

Win for AW...they get the best supply chain management in the business.

Win for customer...AW's component pricing should improve significantly, allowing them to lower prices and still maintain excellent profit margins.
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post #5 of 26
3/27/06 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnmcl7
I didn't choose my XPS 2 because it was cheap (which they certainly aren't over here), I bought it because it was a superb gaming machine that offered much better balance than the Clevo D900T systems Alienware offered at the time. Dell have by no means dominated the market with their XPS range but I wouldn't call them a failure at all, I think they've done well in the time they've been out.

John

Damn right.
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post #6 of 26
3/27/06 at 9:42pm
Dell did in no way fail with the XPS line...please, the Renegade sold out for 10 grand each in 48 hours...and there are TONS of XPS systems out there being used right now. Also, the XPS machines put out crazy benchmarks, and mine is a perfect example.

This is the issue...people see Dell buying AW as some solution to failure...in my opinion, Dell knew they could buy them out cheap enough to make profit on their sales. Dell is about MONEY my friends...its not about bragging rights, or being loyal to gaming fans...its all about whether they can make more MONEY.
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post #7 of 26
3/27/06 at 11:24pm
I went to E3 last year... All the systems were XPS or AW, and the XPSes outnumbered the AWs 10-1. No, the XPS did not fail.
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post #8 of 26
3/28/06 at 1:04am
Dell did well with their XPS 2 laptop (AW could not beat it until they Aurora 7700 came out). Dell is really short-sighted in not offering AMD and watercooling. AMD as of NOW and even the recent past has clearly been the best gaming processor. Dell's XPS line is targeted at gamers. How then can Dell justify not offering AMD cpus? Watercooling is also an essential in an "enthusiast" gaming rig (or phase change or other non-air solution). If Dell wanted to compete toe-to-toe with the boutiques in desktops they would have to have this option. They did not offer AMD and watercooling so they really never could make a dent in the boutique market for desktops. Now perhaps the top brass at Dell knew this and decided to buy out the top boutique vendor so they did not have to go down that path.
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post #9 of 26
3/28/06 at 1:47am
Water cooled systems are too expensive and the gains arent worth the money.

You water cool a 7800GTX and overclock it...but last week the 7900 GTX just came out and beat the heck outta ur 7800 GTX and its water cooling.
Technology moves TOO fast...
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post #10 of 26
3/28/06 at 3:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthBeavis
Dell did well with their XPS 2 laptop (AW could not beat it until they Aurora 7700 came out). Dell is really short-sighted in not offering AMD and watercooling. AMD as of NOW and even the recent past has clearly been the best gaming processor. Dell's XPS line is targeted at gamers. How then can Dell justify not offering AMD cpus? Watercooling is also an essential in an "enthusiast" gaming rig (or phase change or other non-air solution). If Dell wanted to compete toe-to-toe with the boutiques in desktops they would have to have this option. They did not offer AMD and watercooling so they really never could make a dent in the boutique market for desktops. Now perhaps the top brass at Dell knew this and decided to buy out the top boutique vendor so they did not have to go down that path.

I hear alot of talk about water cooling and I admit its a novel idea but from what Ive seen of watercooling it doesnt offer any extreme cooling advantages over fans, you have a radiator that needs fans and the temps you get with water cooling are nothing at all to write home about compared to air cooling. It's just quieter and more expensive.
Thermoelectric cooling through use of a peltier effect would be far more efficient but I dont see anyone really trying to embrace it and develop it into something more practical and safe, what a shame that these companies plunder all of their money on foolishness instead of taking a more serious look at peltier cooling and come up with something good.
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post #11 of 26
3/28/06 at 3:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thecommish16
Dell did in no way fail with the XPS line...please, the Renegade sold out for 10 grand each in 48 hours...and there are TONS of XPS systems out there being used right now. Also, the XPS machines put out crazy benchmarks, and mine is a perfect example.

This is the issue...people see Dell buying AW as some solution to failure...in my opinion, Dell knew they could buy them out cheap enough to make profit on their sales. Dell is about MONEY my friends...its not about bragging rights, or being loyal to gaming fans...its all about whether they can make more MONEY.
More power to anyone who can afford to waste 10 grand on a computer that will be obselete in two years.
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post #12 of 26
3/28/06 at 3:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thecommish16
Water cooled systems are too expensive and the gains arent worth the money.

You water cool a 7800GTX and overclock it...but last week the 7900 GTX just came out and beat the heck outta ur 7800 GTX and its water cooling.
Technology moves TOO fast...
maybe you need to visit the NBF general forum orb thread. My rig was number one at 9811 but was just knocked to number 2 by someone with dual 7900s. The score difference? 200 points. That is not beat by much considering the 7900 is one generation above. Watercooling is better than air cooling. Phase change is better than watercooling. I don't know much about Petier cooling so I can't spealk to that. Watercooling allows me to get my FX 60 to 2.95 ghz so i am pretty happy with it.
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post #13 of 26
3/28/06 at 3:17am
Quote:
I went to E3 last year... All the systems were XPS or AW, and the XPSes outnumbered the AWs 10-1. No, the XPS did not fail.
So why did Dell buy AW?
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post #14 of 26
3/28/06 at 4:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthBeavis
So why did Dell buy AW?
I guess so that this year, all the systems at E3 will technically be from Dell.
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post #15 of 26
3/28/06 at 10:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by conghelach
More power to anyone who can afford to waste 10 grand on a computer that will be obselete in two years.
Yip - must be a uber-idiot geek.

The XPS line was a failure in the sense that Dell never was able to command the premium market. Dell could not maintain street cred in superb gaming machines while advertising a $299 desktop on TV. Dell is not able to be all things to all computer buyers - turning AW into the gaming division is not only brilliant, it's genius. Using AW to build up the XPS line (Intel) will make Dell a much stronger company. Imagine having pretty much the same systems with both Intel and AMD. Who would be able to bitch then?
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post #16 of 26
3/28/06 at 10:54am

As long as dell keeps the XPS

The only gaming lappy that AW offers is the Clevo D900 monster everyone else sells. Its heavy, hot and loud. The XPS M170 offers 90% of the performance at half the weight, heat and noise. Its also smaller.

I hope the AW purchase does not mean the end of Pentium-M gaming systems from Dell.
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post #17 of 26
3/28/06 at 12:50pm
katorga I think AW will probably be able to blend in the cool XPS laptops into their mix offering the best laptops available. I have a 900k rig (Hypersonic FX 7) which absolutley rawks. The one thing AW needs to do is offer custom Smooth painting. Show me a Dell or AW that looks as kewl as my laptop or others with Smooth paint. Performance plus looks. It is what you want in a woman and a laptop. Now imagine adding the ability to go all night long (Pentium M vs AMD desktop CPU) and you have a match made in heaven.
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post #18 of 26
3/28/06 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthBeavis
Dell did well with their XPS 2 laptop (AW could not beat it until they Aurora 7700 came out). Dell is really short-sighted in not offering AMD and watercooling. AMD as of NOW and even the recent past has clearly been the best gaming processor. Dell's XPS line is targeted at gamers. How then can Dell justify not offering AMD cpus? Watercooling is also an essential in an "enthusiast" gaming rig (or phase change or other non-air solution). If Dell wanted to compete toe-to-toe with the boutiques in desktops they would have to have this option. They did not offer AMD and watercooling so they really never could make a dent in the boutique market for desktops. Now perhaps the top brass at Dell knew this and decided to buy out the top boutique vendor so they did not have to go down that path.
Dell are not short sighted by not offering AMD - how do you think they get the best prices of any company for Intel processors?

Given their machines do not allow overclocking apart from a couple of the EE processors, watercooling is fairly pointless for them and given a lot of their trade is for business customers, air cooling in the long term is less likely to suffer failures. Their air cooling systems are generally the best I've used, even twin Xeon workstations are almost silent.

John
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post #19 of 26
3/28/06 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by katorga
The only gaming lappy that AW offers is the Clevo D900 monster everyone else sells. Its heavy, hot and loud. The XPS M170 offers 90% of the performance at half the weight, heat and noise. Its also smaller.

I hope the AW purchase does not mean the end of Pentium-M gaming systems from Dell.
It won't be, the XPS has proved a popular machine and Clevo have followed suit with the M570 - Dell have always appreciated the pentium-m processor. I fully agree with your on the D900K, no interest to me at all.

John
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post #20 of 26
3/28/06 at 7:49pm
Quote:
Given their machines do not allow overclocking apart from a couple of the EE processors
So much for being "enthusiast" machines then. A good enthusiast machine should offer something close to the level of a good DIY rig without all the work building it yourself.
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