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Alienware vs. Dell

post #1 of 16
12/31/07 at 12:23am
Thread Starter 
Im looking at buying a new laptop and can't decide between two. I will be using the machine for school work, casual gaming (actually lots of World of Warcraft), internet surfing, and a fairly large music collection. Which one would be the best?

Option 1
Alienware Area-51® m9750

Video/Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8700M GT - Enables DirectX® 10 Graphics!
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD - Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5500 1.66GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 1024MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 160GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache)
Optical Drives : 24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW Burner
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Sound Card : High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service

Option 2
Dell XPS m1530
PROCESSORIntel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
LCD AND CAMERAGlossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
MEMORY2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVESpeed: 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini Card
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor,24x7 Phone Support
ACCIDENT AND THEFT PROTECTION 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection

Please help me decide between these two machines and dont include others.
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post #2 of 16
12/31/07 at 9:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by supaskater2002 View Post
Im looking at buying a new laptop and can't decide between two. I will be using the machine for school work, casual gaming (actually lots of World of Warcraft), internet surfing, and a fairly large music collection. Which one would be the best?

Option 1
Alienware Area-51® m9750

Video/Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8700M GT - Enables DirectX® 10 Graphics!
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD - Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5500 1.66GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 1024MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 160GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache)
Optical Drives : 24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW Burner
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Sound Card : High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service

Option 2
Dell XPS m1530
PROCESSORIntel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
LCD AND CAMERAGlossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
MEMORY2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVESpeed: 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini Card
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor,24x7 Phone Support
ACCIDENT AND THEFT PROTECTION 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection

Please help me decide between these two machines and dont include others.
Just to let you know, there are better screen options for the 1530. I'm going to be getting my 1530 on tuesday, I'll let you know about it.
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post #3 of 16
12/31/07 at 3:44pm
what's the price difference? the dell would be perfectly fine for WoW, but that 8700 is nice..
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post #4 of 16
12/31/07 at 8:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sedition00 View Post
what's the price difference? the dell would be perfectly fine for WoW, but that 8700 is nice..
The dell is about $400 less but i've heard that the alienware will last longer and preform better.
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post #5 of 16
1/1/08 at 3:17am
Are you sure to compare those laptops? I think Dell XPS M1530 is much cheaper than Alienware Area 51. I think you should consider Dell XPS M1730 as well but I stil prefer Dell.
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post #6 of 16
1/1/08 at 9:03pm
Dell owns Alienware. AW is just expensive and supposely better. If they so good they would not have been bought by Dell or maybe they too good so Dell bought them.
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post #7 of 16
1/1/08 at 9:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by supaskater2002 View Post
The dell is about $400 less but i've heard that the alienware will last longer and preform better.
This is my take on it.


In the laptop department, Dell has far less absolute horror stories and manufacturing defects than Alienware by far. I remember one of their lines had a tragic flaw that brought many of them straight to the ground, I think it was the motherboard that was overheating constantly. I've had 3 Dell laptops and known 1 person with an Alienware, both have good build quality and his did evade death actually.

In the desktop department however Alienware I would say rules the market. They use high quality retail products rather than the proprietary (on occasion) crap that Dell uses.

In your case however, only the laptop part applies.
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post #8 of 16
1/2/08 at 2:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by d0nch1ch1o View Post
Dell owns Alienware. AW is just expensive and supposely better. If they so good they would not have been bought by Dell or maybe they too good so Dell bought them.
Not only is this a fanboyish statment it is completely false.

First, the two laptops are not comparing apples to apples. One has a 17 inch screen and the other has a 15 inch screen. if you really want to see the difference between both. Here is something real quick I threw together.

Alienware:
Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Stealth Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.0GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 1024MB
Genuine Windows® XP Professional
120GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache)
24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW Burner
Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card

$2719

Dell:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM
Speed: 100GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7950 GTX
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Audio

$2,698

So whats the difference between the two? $22?? And the Alienware comes with an SLI config. notebook and 20GB more hard drive?

What about ALienware is overpriced in this example?

I rest my case.

If you want to compare Alienware to Dell.. wait for the new Alienware notebooks to be released so you can compare apples to apples and the proof is the pudding.
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post #9 of 16
1/2/08 at 3:16am
still prefer dells complete care over anything alienware can give.

it comes down to what you want and how you want it to look.
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post #10 of 16
1/2/08 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by State.Ops View Post
still prefer dells complete care over anything alienware can give.

it comes down to what you want and how you want it to look.
and thats fine. but price should not be the objective in debates. Esp with Dell's own XPS WoW series. Just because Alienware only has 1 notebook available right now. Does not make them overpriced.
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post #11 of 16
1/2/08 at 7:43pm
I'd go with the Dell. For the battery life, processing power. I don't know about price and support, lately, but in the past Dell was better on these points as well.
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post #12 of 16
1/3/08 at 7:19am
I would just recommend that either way you go, get at least a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo on your build. The AW you showed only had the 1.66 GHz.

My preference would be the redesigned Dell 1530, especially since the added better screen resolution options now. I also got tired of lugging around the hefty 17" laptop. If I was going to get a 17" laptop, I'd wait until the 8800M GT video card gets out there to some other manufacturers.
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post #13 of 16
1/3/08 at 7:17pm
I'd go for the 17 inch Dell. Not the one listed.
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post #14 of 16
1/4/08 at 4:50am
The notebooks listed is pretty apples to orange. You clearly want a wow capable machine and at this point I cant think of ANY laptop on the market that couldn't play wow. As far as large music collection goes your gonna want a bigger hard drive than 120GB on the dell I would aim for 160GB or larger for example the 250GB are a great value if your looking to hoard all your stuff. Lastly which ever machine you pick I beg of you think of a warranty plan longer than 1 Year you may regret it if the either machines decided to take the dirtnap 5 days past your 1st year.
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post #15 of 16
1/4/08 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoob@NBF View Post
The notebooks listed is pretty apples to orange. You clearly want a wow capable machine and at this point I cant think of ANY laptop on the market that couldn't play wow. As far as large music collection goes your gonna want a bigger hard drive than 120GB on the dell I would aim for 160GB or larger for example the 250GB are a great value if your looking to hoard all your stuff. Lastly which ever machine you pick I beg of you think of a warranty plan longer than 1 Year you may regret it if the either machines decided to take the dirtnap 5 days past your 1st year.
I assume you're kidding? If not, stop smoking the crack


EDIT: whoops, thought you said "could play wow"
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post #16 of 16
1/4/08 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoob@NBF View Post
The notebooks listed is pretty apples to orange. You clearly want a wow capable machine and at this point I cant think of ANY laptop on the market that couldn't play wow. As far as large music collection goes your gonna want a bigger hard drive than 120GB on the dell I would aim for 160GB or larger for example the 250GB are a great value if your looking to hoard all your stuff. Lastly which ever machine you pick I beg of you think of a warranty plan longer than 1 Year you may regret it if the either machines decided to take the dirtnap 5 days past your 1st year.
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread210124.html
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