Regret it? - Page 5  

What are the specs on your friends "top of the line Dell" that has less performance than the AW?
It does not make sense...
Dell 'top of the line':
1. Dual channel ram
2. ATI 9800
3. 3.4EE processor

AW has none of these options and the benchmarks on the Dell were higher even when they were compared apples to apples.

My company owns an AW and a 'top of the line' Dell and the FACT's show that the Dell kicks AW's A$$ with performance. The AW just looks 'a little' better.

I wonder if this is an example of people believing marketing hype. Or rabid customer loyalty. Alienware, as a company, has done one thing right. Their marketing machine works overtime to get the Alienware logo in every magazine. It is even in (the free versions at least) of 3D Mark 03 and 05! "Plays best on Alienware" seems to be on many game ads as well. Alienware is now a GSA supplier, meaning it is easier for government agencies to buy them.

A letter writer to Maximum PC mentions the FUD (see below) tactics of Intel regarding Centrino. Specifically, if you want mobile then only Intel's solution will work. I'd argue that Alienware does the same. "Plays best on" implies that it won't play as well on anything else - even on a system with better components.

Magazine tech reviews are *still* fawning over Alienware and Voodoo's upgradeable video. The latest issue of either PC Gamer or CGW reviews an Envy system for Voodoo and mentions that the upgradeable video of these two companies makes their products "better." Even though neither company is even remotely likely to offer an AGP card past the 9700. When I first heard Alienware was going to offer upgradeable video, I was sure my next laptop would be a 51-m. Unfortunately, the company either couldn't pull it off, they were overcome by events (namely the release of PCI-E), or both. Fortunatley, in my opinion, I saw the reseller ratings of Alienware, posts on forums like these, and decided against Alienware.

Well, thats a theory at least. Before I get flamed, let me say that I had decided against Alienware month before I decided on the purchase listed in my sig below. Still, as always with a technology purchase, if you bought a product that works for you - without buying into or perpetuating the hype - then I wish you the best with your purchase.

FUB, as defined by Wikopedia, is "fear, uncertainty, and doubt."

Northernwave25 are you down in Miami too?
I wouldn't put too much crediblity in a University giving the nod to one computer over another, especially since Alienware is based out of Miami. Miami-Dade is notorious for crooked bid processes.

The poor guys just wanted to know if AW owners have regrets about purchasing Area 51m but now the thread has turned into Dell vs AW and Sager owners bashing AW. HAHA, man isn't there better things to do than spit vile at AW.

dont you have better things to do besides post 4 year old joke pictures on the internet?

No kidding.

Anyway, baring further outbursts from the peanut gallery, I actually was trying to start a little discussion here. Saying you regret buying Alienware or not is one thing, why does anyone think Alienware has found itself in this position?

IN MY OPINION
AW was loved when they were a small company and catered to the ultimate gamers. They made a name for themselves. Then they hooked up with Best Buy to do a little more mass producing. Maybe they had a desire to become the next Dell... who knows... That did not work well for them. Then they put out what every portable gamer wants... a laptop with upgradeable graphics. I do not think they planned for the volume of sales that they received. I also don't think they enhanced their depot department to take on the issues with this model lappy.
They invest a lot of money into advertising when they should spend a little more on development... all of AW's competitors are one step ahead of them. Ex: Dual Channel Ram, ATI 9700 with 256meg ram, ATI 9800, PCI-E, AMD64, etc...

Psycho, I agree with you. It seems Alienware needs to divest some spending from advertising - their name isn't going to fade anytime soon - and beef up customer service and support.

My regrets

I like the way my a51m looks it performs ok. I don't like the time I wasted with tech support while trying to fix my poor dvd playback issue. Each time I called I had to jump throught the same hoops. And after 2 months of this I wanted to return it. Obviously it was past the 30 day mark but even thought i was haveing a problem from day one they wouldn't take it back. I never had these problems with Dell or IBM (the only othere brands I have used over the years)

I also think that the fact I can't upgrade my video card to the MR 9700 stinks.

For some reason I want to like my A51m maybee theres some kind of subliminal message in the music I had to listen to while I was on hold with AW tech support for 8 HOURS!!

I feel your pain Duke, I sold my 51m at a $800 dollar loss for an XPS. Couldn't be happier.

I have an Area51m and I have defenetly been screwed, I bought the three year warrantee (thank god) but so far my keyboard was replaced the second day i had it, I had to take my internal wireless out and send it in, I have had to replace my motherboard, about 3 weeks ago then it came back with the memory not set right and I had to take off the keyboard and reset my memory. when my comp came back from mobo replacement (the screen stoped getting power (eyes included) ) so they replaced the motherboard, and they reformated my hard drive! THE HARD DRIVE WAS FINE! they never told me that they would do that, oh yea my bad its in the binder somewhere well they refused to compensate me at all for all the trouble ive had and now my halo ce wont load with out looking rediculously horrible and they said to call halo people! im just pissed at this point... but hell, its really pretty
-Mike

Welcome to the forums ... and welcome to the wonderful world of $hitty depot service!! All those that voice their unhappiness, maybe AW will wake up and smell the lost sales.

martian thats horrible but soon some AW rep will come on this thread and pretend like he is going to solve all of your problems so it makes their CS look better.








oops craig is going to get mad

No, Craig would only get mad if you list the CS reps by name.

Martian, if you'd like technical support, go ahead and send me your account information through PM. I can overlook your system and help you with any issues you may be having.

~James

I should have made a bet.

Yea, you were right...

I thank James. I for on e think that it is vary nice of him to take time out of his day to try to help some of us the best he can.

I agree totally.. Thanks James!