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I need a decision??

post #1 of 8
8/23/06 at 2:34am
Thread Starter 
Ok, I am going to place my order for my first desktop this week, I have always had notebooks, I have 2 HPs, 1 IBM and 1 Asus Z70v and now I cant decide on the desktops. I am not going to build my own, I have 1 priced out at dell and one priced out at alienware,,which company should I go with? How has better service? I built them at about the same specs, the dell was cheaper but which should I go with the XPS700 or the Area 51?
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post #2 of 8
8/23/06 at 9:39am
I think it would be a better idea to post the spec's of each and go from there.
Without knowing any of the specs though, I'll assume the 700 has a Conroe CPU in it and the Alien has an AMD? The 700 wins right there as far as I'm concerned.
I'm also sure most people will crack on dell's service, which I'll agree can be quite trying at times. However, once you learn how to use it, the service is actually pretty good and you can get all sorts of extra benefits by saying the right thing to the right person..
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post #3 of 8
8/23/06 at 12:14pm
Before the conroe, I'll say go with AMD. With the conroe chip, definitely the DEll xps700 is a sure bet.
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post #4 of 8
8/23/06 at 4:35pm
Thread Starter 
ok here is the dell specs

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor E6400 (2.13GHz), Genuine Windows® XP Professional with re-installation CD Unit Price $3,767.00
SAVE! PC-cillin Internet Security with AntiVirus & Spyware removal 36months
Limited Time Offer!
- $20.00

Catalog Number: 29 DXPS700B2
Module Description Show Details
XPS 700 Intel® Core™2 Duo processor E6400 (2.13GHz)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Professional with re-installation CD
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitor 20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007FPW Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
Video Card 512MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX
Hard Drive 640GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 320GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs)
Floppy Drive and Media Reader 13 in 1 Media Card Reader and 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Mouse Dell Optical USB Mouse
Modem No Modem Requested
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Optical Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
Sound Cards Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D), w/Dolby® Digital 5.1
Speakers Dell A525 30 Watt 2.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No Pre-installed software
Security Software PC-cillin Internet Security with AntiVirus and Spyware removal 36-months
Hardware Warranty 2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr HW Warranty Support
XPS Specialized Support XPS, Specialized Support
Internet Access Service No ISP requested
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable
Physics Accelerator AGEIA® PhysX® physics accelerator
Dell Digital Entertainment No preinstalled software

TOTAL3,747.00

Here is the alienware Specs (Take note I got a 24'' monitor)

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz 2MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Space Black
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Astral Blue
Power Supply: 650 Watt Alienware® Multi-GPU Approved
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Motherboard
Memory: 4GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive w/LightScribe Technology
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 52x32x52x CD-RW Drive
Graphics Processor: 1024MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7950 GX2L
Physics Processing Unit: Ageia PhysX Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3
Monitor: Dell 24" 1920 x 1200 UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel /w HDCP
Sound Card: High Performance 7.1 Audio - Standard
Speakers: Logitech® X-530 5.1 70-Watt Speakers
Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard
Mouse: Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Automated Support: AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Total 3800$

I also built one with an AMD, these are the specs

[1] Aurora™ 7500

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5000+ Processor w/ HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Space Black
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling + AlienFX™ System Lighting - Astral Blue
Power Supply: 650 Watt Alienware® Multi-GPU Approved
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard
Memory: 4GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 52x32x52x CD-RW Drive
Graphics Processor: 1024MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7950 GX2L
Physics Processing Unit: Ageia PhysX Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Monitor: Dell 24" 1920 x 1200 UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel /w HDCP
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard
Speakers: Logitech® X-530 5.1 70-Watt Speakers
Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard
Mouse: Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Automated Support: AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Free Alienware Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - XL Only
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!

Total 3900$


Also I have a question, is there anyway I can save money by downgrading things I dont need? Also does aleinware offer AMD Processors? If so which model and would the AMD be better than the Duo? Which of the 3 should I choose?
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post #5 of 8
8/23/06 at 7:47pm
SWEET systems.. first downgrade would be the RAM. Try just getting the minimum allowable and buy it somewhere else. they always charge a fortune for it.. if you don't want that then at least go down to 2 Gb's as 4 is worthless with windows xp..
i'd go with the first alienware, that video card is better and the LCD is bigger.
I'm also not sure the physics processing unit is worth the money. I don't think too many games, if any, take advantage of it and I seem to remember them not making it anymore. not positive on that though
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post #6 of 8
8/23/06 at 8:23pm
the alienware but like he said, downgrade to 2 gb of ram...makes it cheaper and no reason for 4 gb with that processor or win xp...maybe get 4 gb when vista comes out....nice systems though wish i could get em...
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post #7 of 8
8/24/06 at 1:48am
Thread Starter 
Ok, here is another decision and I need an opinion, low and behold there is a computer shop a mile away from my home that builds custom Pcs, and I went in there and gave them the specs for the AMD AlienWare PC I have priced out above for 3900$,,,,they are going to match those specs and give me a price, can someone let me know what a good price would be from this place? What should I be paying in other words?
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post #8 of 8
8/24/06 at 7:27am
a shop 1 mile from your house is a huge benefit. No need to talk to someone in India or wherever the outsourced "support" is coming from, plus it's much easier to get service when you're right there in the persons face
They usually can't see the fire in your eyes when you call, chat or e-mail them..
The one issue would be the parts they're gonna use. I'd make sure they tell you exactly what brand for each thing and if they won't then tell them you'll take your almost $4K business elsewhere.. They'd be a fool to lose it over that.
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