The Sad Truth about Non-Alieners.... - Page 2

The A51m is not what im after specification wise and I dont like the AW 51m look that much ether. I do also think that they have shot themselves in the foot with the Sentia in terms of it being very underpowered compared to everything else Alienware sells.. it just doesnt fit in.

The AW desktops do look rather nice and I could see that one of them in blue with red lighting would look real nice sitting on my desk if I was looking for a prebuilt desktop gameing rig.

As the saying goes.. You pays your money and takes your choice.

Actually I kind of agree with everything you said. (sorry sentias )

Isn't the sentia powerful except when it comes to video?

It's not designed for gaming.

Party pooper...

If the sentia had gfx it would fit in perfect, and would prolly overtake 51m2.

Face it there are three kinds of AW haters

1> Those who hate us cuz they wish they where us.

2> Those who had a bad experience with AW and vent loud and often.

3> And those who bandwagon the first two.

You "CAN" build a Desktoptop that "Beats" an AW for 1/3 - 1/2 the price, just not 500$.
But not everyone can build/maintain their own cpu, and looks go along way!!

I have yet to see anyone beat Alienware part for part by much more than ten percent.

If you think you can build a system for 50% of what AW charges, post your specs and we'll see.

here's a TechTV article on bulding a $500 gaming PC

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/p...598882,00.html

But, it'll definitely not beat out an Alienware rig!!!!!!!!!!!

Personally, I don't care that I can build my own PC (and I have). I would rather have a PC that is backed with a warranty and tech support, and has run through diagnostic tests for stability, and would have unique exclusive parts (not meaning proprietary, but like the Alienware chassis).

Don't knock Alienware until you've had one!

part 4 part ok, but u can better MB's, and better cooling solutions than aw offers, those two things can radically increase performance.

And cost...

The Asus boards AW is using are top notch. And there's no reason for more cooling than AW offers unless you're going to overclock.

My point is that people say Alienware computers are expensive for what you get, but if you compare pricing part for part, it's not that much more expensive to have one built than to build your own, and you get additional benefits from AW in a warranty, and the fact that if you need the warranty they'll take care of repairs/replacement for you.

I don't believe you can build a computer for half the cost of an Alienware that will outperform it.

wtf wtf wtf posts wont post???

I build my desktops and buy my notebooks. I don't like the case designs and I don't like the tiny bodies most notebooks have. I refuse to deal with a notebook that I can't type normally on (full number pad and limited Fn key usage). Until Alienware starts making large notebooks like the 8790, I'll stick with the competition. Agreed on the pricing. I spent $2800 and could have applied that money to any number of combinations and alternatives... such as a desktop and a cheap beater notebook, a fully maxed out OC'ed water-cooled rig with surround sound speaker system, or an Alienware notebook.

YOU CAN get GREAT looks froma home built pc... they ahve some great looking cases availble all over the place...

build an AW clone for $500,... no way 900-1400, DEFINETLY....

also EVERY single part you buy has a 1-3 year warranty.

you dont get alienwares support but if you are capable of building a pc froms cratch then you clearly dont need the support...

and if you did you can thorw in another 50-150$ and get third party support.

i agree with everythign you said...

although i would note you CAN build a PC thats looks jsut as good as the AW(desktop not laptop)

**cough cough** techtv's Yoshi from the screensavers **cough cough*

You can get great looks on a home built computer. Face it, no one has those standard beige boxes from 10 years ago. They come in all different shapes and sizes, you have everything from your Mini-ATX to your standard ATX, you can get almost anything. You should check out Mod Week on the Screensavers on TechTV, some great looking powerful PC's. One guy built an amazing computer that resemled a scarab, with a "chameleon" ocean bluegreen color and large orangish eyes, it was real nice. Home PC's can be jst as good as regular ones. However nothing surpasses an Alienware

Ok...

Ive priced a home built pc vs and AW 51 Extreme with default configuraiton except for 1 change was the video card, i changed it from the nvidia 5700 to the ati 9800XT(just becuase this would be my preference if buying the system and id asusme other would too)... and matched them part by part(going off of parts from new egg.com)

every part is the same except maybe the memory whihc wasnt listed(but i chose corsair for the home built which is a great brand) and the power supply.

NOTE: all parts for the home built came with at leasta 1 year warranty and most with 3 years... the AW had a 1 year warranty with this configuration.

Aliewnware 51 Extreme: $3,275

Homebuilt:
------------
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe - Intel 875P Motherboard ($169.00)
P4 3.2 Extreme Edition ($905.00)
1 GB (2x512) corsair dual channel RAM ($198.00)
160GB Seagate 7200 RPM SATA HDD ($125.00)
Lite-On 16X DVD-Rom Drive ($27.00)
Lite-On 52X Cd-rw/dvd combo drive($28.50)
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS HD7.1 Surround ($88.00)
Ati Radeon 9800XT ($449.00)
Windows XP Home Edition ($91.00)
Alienware Keyboard(from AW not new egg) ($29.00)
Alienware mouse (from aw not new egg) ($35.00)
Total 2,144.50

now lets throw in:
T-shirt ($20.00)
Case(not going to pick one out but a good looking case w/ a 550W power supply your looking at say $120.00)
Fans + Cables(we'll over estimate and say $80.00)
Floppy drive ($9.99)

Lets even throw in $150 for a third party technical support!
and for giggles lets add 100$ for manual labor to put it together(20$/ hr for 5 hours)

so grand total:
AW 51 Extreme - $3,275

Home built - $2374.49 (w/o manuallabor + support)
$2,624.49 (with crazy over estimation + Manual labor + support)

so your looking at $900 + cheaper for the home built.

So does this mean that you will go back on your earlier statement of the $1500 psuedo AW computer?

-Craig

Ok, I am going to jump into this. When you buy an Alienware, you are paying for a high end system, support, the cost of building it, and of course the name.

I went over to NewEgg to configure a comparable system to see the cost difference between the base Aurora Desktop and a custom built machine. Here's what I came up with:

Motherboard: Retail Asus K8V Deluxe - 137.00
Processor: Retail AMD Athlon64 3200+ - 282.00
Video Card: Retail ATI 9600xt 128MB - 173.00
Memory: OEM Apacer 2x 256mb PC3200 - 96.00
Hard Drive OEM Seagate Barracuda 80gb 7,200RPM - 68.00
Optical Drive: OEM Black Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM - 27.00
Floppy: OEM Black Mitsumi 1.44 Floppy - 13.50
Sound Card: OEM Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - 72.00
Case: Chieftec Dragon Mid-Tower - 55.00
Power Supply: Retail Enermax 460w - 101.25
Keyboard: OEM Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard - 17.00
Mouse: OEM Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 4.0 - 23.00
OS: OEM Windows XP Home - 91.00

I was not sure on the wattage of the Aurora's PSU, so I picked an Enermax that was rated for A64 systems. Also, NewEgg does not have the Intellimouse 3.0 so I picked the 4.0. Aside from that, everything should be identical to the Aurora except for the case.

Current price of the Aurora - 1,643.00 (free shipping)
Price to build it from NewEgg - 1,156.50 (38.00 shipping)

That's about a 400.00 price difference for a kickass case, 1 year of AW support, and the Alienware name.

Also keep in mind that with manufactured computers, you have to deal with the Manufacturer for any warranty work. After the warranty period is up, you have to pay for new parts. Most components you buy come with more than a one year warranty.

Jamaster beat me to it...

Obviously you have never been to virtual-hideout.net....

One example of many: