Phasing Away

Hi everyone,

I've posted in a couple of threads, so thought I would compile everything into one.

I ordered the m5700 on Sunday April 16th with an estimated ship date of Monday April 24th. Specs below:

[1] Area-51® m5700
Processor: Intel® Pentium® M 760 2.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache 533MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Display: Alienware® m5700 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD - Xeno Grey
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 915PM + ICH6 Chipset
Wireless Network Card: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 b/g Wireless Card
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
Hard Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 200GB (100GB x 2) 7200 RPM SATA with NCQ
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 6800
Sound Card: Intel® High-Definition Audio
Additional AC Adapter: Alienware® m5700 120 Watt Auto-switch AC Adapter
Optical Drive: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Ethernet NIC: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Modem: 56K Modem with V.90 Technology
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager

There was a $200 offer that I took advantage of at the time.

Phase 1: 04-17-2006
Phase 3: 04-17-2006
Phase 5: 04-19-2006

On Wednesday (04-19) I noticed that the website was now offering an additional $100 off on the same system. I called AW and was told that I could either a) cancel my existing system and reorder with the new discount or b) put through a change in the order for the extra $100 off. I was told that option b had only a 60/40 chance for success, which made no sense, but I didn't want to have my system fall behind schedule so I agreed. He sent along an e-mail confirming the extra $100 off so I knew that I would at least have proof for my credit card company in case the charge back never happened.

Unfortunately, the change in the order still stopped my system in its tracks.
I called AW this morning (04-24) to find out why it was stuck in Phase 5 and whether or not it would ship today. The extra $100 off has delayed my system, though the very nice CSR told me that they system would be moving forward through QC and should ship at the end of the week.

It's a bit later than I would like, but I do have to say that customer service has been very pleasant and responsive. Plus, I was only on hold for about 10 seconds!

More updates as the system moves through its phases!

Cheers,
Elliott

P.S. - My credit card did indeed get the extra $100 credit, which I was very happy to see.

Yep, here's the total:

SubTotal: $2,902.00
Shipping: $104.00
Discount: $200.00
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $2,806.00

And then there was the additional $100 off after the fact, so the total price in the end is actually $2,706.

No tax! I love the internet sometimes...

I'm not entirely sure how it works, but my understanding is that if the company doesn't have a physical presence in your state (ie, factory, bricks and mortar store, etc) then you don't need to pay taxes. Well, you're actually supposed to pay the taxes yourself to the state at the end of the year.

Do you live in Florida? Maybe that's why you had to pay taxes?

04-25-2006 Phase 8 !!!!!

04-25-2006 Phase 9 !!!!!!

Could it be that my notebook will actually ship today?!?

It shipped! At least I got the pre-delivery notice via e-mail with tracking numbers.

But since it's coming across the country it will arrive on Saturday. I'm glad that it's Fed-Ex Home Delivery so that they work on Saturday. My shipping address is my work...that shouldn't be a problem for "home delivery" service though, right? I'll be working that day so I can sign for it.

Four more days...I can't wait!

Well, I'm a bit nervous now because they are using Fed-Ex Home Delivery. I called Fed-Ex and the women told me that the shipper needs to put my business's name on the shipping receipt. Otherwise the driver will be looking for a house and the delivery might not arrive.

I called AW and they said that they're going to add my business name, but I have my doubts. They seemed to think that Fed-Ex should do that for me instead of them. Fed-Ex also said that a change to the delivery address (even just a name) could delay the delivery.

Either way, I wouldn't be surprised now if the shipment doesn't arrive on Saturday.

But I'll keep you all updated. I do remember checking a box when I ordered saying that my shipping address was a business, but that never seemed to carry through. In fact the Fed-Ex lady told me that they (AW) should know better than to ship home delivery to a business!

Well...it's getting closer! It finally reached L.A. today and I'm in Orange County. Here's the updates from Fed-Ex so far:

Apr 28, 2006
6:45 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
LOS ANGELES, CA

Apr 26, 2006
8:34 AM
Departed FedEx location
ORLANDO, FL

Apr 25, 2006
11:45 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
ORLANDO, FL

Apr 25, 2006
6:02 PM
Picked up
MIAMI, FL

Apr 25, 2006
5:03 PM
Package data transmitted to FedEx

I'm ready for the delivery tomorrow at work, with signs on all the doors directing the driver to the correct door.

My only big concern now is that I looked back at the ship e-mail that AW sent me with the tracking numbers...it's a different order number. It's not my order number and I have no idea whose number it is. But, when I log on to the phase page with my original order number the Fed-Ex tracking numbers are the same. Oy vey, my head hurts. Maybe they just gave it a different order number when I got the extra $100 off and the phases stopped.

More updates tomorrow I hope!

It's Here and I Love it!

The computer arrived as expected on Saturday 04-29. Well, actually I went ahead and picked it up from the Fed-Ex facility around 3pm after seeing it (online) sitting there all day. The Fed-Ex people were very nice when I called and said that I could pick it up if I wanted to. I'm not sure when they were planning on delivering it, since it wasn't on a truck yet. Fortunately, the local facility is about two miles away from my house.

Moral of the story? Go pick up your computer rather than waiting for it if you're close enough!

The laptop is fantastic. I'm in heaven. No problems at all. I'm enjoying playing Civ4 on the highest graphics setting and loading in all of my other software.

I didn't order the respawn software, but immediately made an image of the drive using Acronis True Image. I really recommend that software...best backup software I've ever used. Also, they can partition part of your drive to store an image so that you can reload it from the boot if necessary.

A more complete review and photos soon, I hope!

Thanks to all for reading and waiting along with me. It was well worth it.

Cheers,
Elliott