Alienware computers

[alien_ware]

Hi i have decided to get an alienware laptop but i am concerned that i will be getting a too expansive one evnthough its better it might just be too much power. it has 3.9ghz with 2gb of ram a nd 256 graphica card. 160gig hard drive and i want to know if i should just get a cheaper alienware but would it still run without lag on half life and doom3 or any other high graphics games?i know i know im getting a peecee but i am aloso keepig my ibook.


PS i am olny 14 so my budjet is not very high but we are selling our house so i get money from that.

[zelmo]

Wow, that's a nice laptop. I just config'd an Alienware 51m 7700 laptop: 3.8GHz P4 with 2x1GB RAM, 256MB GPU, 2x40GB hdd (RAID 0), WiFI card, and AV s/w, and it was around $3,300.

You could get an iBook, Xbox360, a decent TV, and a surround sound system for the same (or less) money.

[alien_ware]

ya there not cheap but how much is the xbox 360

[Tech^salvager]

ya there not cheap but how much is the xbox 360
well for one thing the xbox 360 is not out yet to buy.

[xli_ne]

PS i am olny 14 so my budjet is not very high but we are selling our house so i get money from that.


Your 14 and selling your house to buy a laptop?

[mad jew]

Your 14 and selling your house to buy a laptop?


I bet he's not even a real alien.

[topgunn]

Your 14 and selling your house to buy a laptop?
Maybe his parents are paying him off not to complain about the move and leaving his friends, school, bars, etc.

[xli_ne]

Maybe his parents are paying him off not to complain about the move and leaving his friends, school, bars, etc.


Free laptop each time they move. That would be sweet :D
I would want to move all the time.

[cosmoed]

I really don't reccomend laptops for gaming. It generally is going to cost more. You can build a great pc with 1,200 budget.

[Steven1621]

I really don't reccomend laptops for gaming. It generally is going to cost more. You can build a great pc with 1,200 budget.

Exactly. Granted you will get a somewhat cool looking case with the Alienware, but you are overpaying a ton. Buy all the components and put a gaming PC together. You'll save a ton.

[CanadaRAM]

Hi i have decided to get an alienware laptop but i am concerned that i will be getting a too expansive one evnthough its better it might just be too much power. it has 3.9ghz with 2gb of ram a nd 256 graphica card. 160gig hard drive and i want to know if i should just get a cheaper alienware but would it still run without lag on half life and doom3 or any other high graphics games?i know i know im getting a peecee but i am aloso keepig my ibook.
I agree that if you're a hardcore gamer you need the Intel platform.

Why a laptop? It can't be because of battery life, because the Alienware will have the lifespan of a gnat. A laptop will ALWAYS be
1) less powerful than a desktop
2) more prone to breakdown
3) more expensive to fix
4) more prone to theft (!)
5) more expensive to buy

%&@ me, that machine's over CAN$4000 even after $624 in rebates! Plus $560 in taxes! Even then I can 't find the 160 Gb drive option or the 3.9 processor option on their configurator.

Since you will have to plug this machine in to do gaming anyway, why not build a SFF desktop around a Shuttle case, and save $1000 - $1500

With a desktop minitower or small form factor desktop, you'd get better reliability, choice of better video cards if you are truly striving for greatest performance, adequate portability for LAN parties (you have the iBook for travelling) and a wider choice of monitors at a much lower price.

One thing to think about: how and where will you get it serviced? Remember there is at least a 10% chance it will have to go back for warranty repair. Make sure if you are getting the Alienware that it ships from Canada and is serviced in Canada - you REALLY don't want to deal with the hassle of over-the-border warranty shipping, paperwork and clearing charges.

[yellow]

Aren't Alienware computers completely overpriced eyecandy that could be duplicated simply by building a computer to the same specs from pieces skimmed off your local PC supply store (and adding a flashy chassis) for much less cash?

[topgunn]

I never have been a big fan of laptops nor have I ever been to a LAN party but I could see why a uber fast laptop would be nice for such a thing. Take your overpriced Alienware laptop to your friends house, plug it in and go.

Remember lunchbox computers? Super small case with a 9" display and built with standard parts but they had to be plugged in. They were used by all sorts of people who wanted a portable computer but those who were always near a power outlet when they needed to use it. Thats the way I see this laptop. If it were me, I would rather it didn't have a battery so that I could cram more crap into it.

[redynvre]

Actually, I think Alienware laptops are great value. They are infact desktop replacement, so it needs to plugged in at all time, I get 40mn of battery life! But all the components are desktop components.

I use mine for 3D modling (Alias Studiotool and SolidWorks 2005) Its great! And mine is not even configured to maximum capacity.

I travel a lot but only use it once in an office, so battery is no concern for me.

Pricewise, I configured plenty of brands, from Dell to Aviator and Voodoo, and for my secific configuration, it was $100 cheaper than Dell and yet with a great Graphic card (FX 1400 256MB with Dell it was only a 128MB at the time) including a $600 discount at the time.

[snkTab]

Aren't Alienware computers completely overpriced eyecandy that could be duplicated simply by building a computer to the same specs from pieces skimmed off your local PC supply store (and adding a flashy chassis) for much less cash?

Yes, but since you can't buy parts for notebooks, Alienware provides a niche market for mobile gamers. But then again, you can just get a gaming dell notebook. They only problem with that of course is that you would no longer be good enough to post at macrumors. =P

[ReanimationLP]

Alienware - WAY OVERPRICED PCS. For that kind of budget, you could build one hell of a SLi A64 rig, and get it an Apple 23" Cinema HD display, with a nice Dolby system. Now that'd be one hell of a Doom 3 system, espically in widescreen. :eek:

[sjpetry]

I bet he's not even a real alien.
Haha. :p

[Rocksaurus]

Hi i have decided to get an alienware laptop but i am concerned that i will be getting a too expansive one evnthough its better it might just be too much power. it has 3.9ghz with 2gb of ram a nd 256 graphica card. 160gig hard drive and i want to know if i should just get a cheaper alienware but would it still run without lag on half life and doom3 or any other high graphics games?i know i know im getting a peecee but i am aloso keepig my ibook.


PS i am olny 14 so my budjet is not very high but we are selling our house so i get money from that.

This post is just bizarre, it's like it's a dream or something. Especially that last part, lol... :rolleyes:

[sourcemonkey]

Hi i have decided to get an alienware laptop but i am concerned that i will be getting a too expansive one evnthough its better it might just be too much power. it has 3.9ghz with 2gb of ram a nd 256 graphica card. 160gig hard drive and i want to know if i should just get a cheaper alienware but would it still run without lag on half life and doom3 or any other high graphics games?i know i know im getting a peecee but i am aloso keepig my ibook.


PS i am olny 14 so my budjet is not very high but we are selling our house so i get money from that.

This post is just bizarre, it's like it's a dream or something. Especially that last part, lol... :rolleyes:

Err, i miss what's so bizarre or dreamlike about the post. Of course it could be complete bs (who knows these days) but isn't it just a kid wanting advice on what laptop to buy? He's made it clear that he wants it to play games and at 14 can you blame him? so his parents will - it appears - make some money from selling their house and have promised him money as a result. weird? no.

anyway, topgun made a good point about the value of having a laptop for lan parties (although i too have not done that personally) so if that's your priority a laptop is best suited. i really don't know much about windows-using laptops but one should always be aware that gimmicky products are generally going to be more costly. i don't know what to advise if you decide 100% to go for a laptop.

however, if your priority is not lan parties you should consider making up a dektop pc yourself from components and choosing whatever box you want for the 'look-factor' (but keep your ibook ;) ). this would be much cheaper and more effective for games i'm assuming.

another alternative would be to wait for the x-box 360 but it looks like it will be november before it's released and i guess that can seem a long time for a 'youngster'. (you could save the money untill then and amaze your parents with your powers of restraint!)

A new imac would actually be my 'best of both worlds' choice. it's a mac (obviously) good enough to play most games (i'm guessing) etc. etc. this is going to depreciate in value much slower than an alienware laptop too, so this could be good for re-sale later when you're 15/16.

games and laptops are never the best of friends, consider that and make your purchase accordingly. the specs on your suggestion seem great, however, the 160GB HD seems crazy though- too much.

in sum, i'd say don't get a laptop at all for games, though, make up a cheap pc desktop games machine / buy an x-box / buy an imac.

whatever you choice have fun (and be nice to your parents (it's a nice gesture giving you money from their house sale))

[homerjward]

games and laptops are never the best of friends, consider that and make your purchase accordingly. the specs on your suggestion seem great, however, the 160GB HD seems crazy though- too much
it supports dual hard drives in a RAID and dual optical drives. it's one big mother f*****! anyway, have you considered a dell inspiron xps? it uses a pentium m so it gets good battery life (well 2 hrs in tests, good for one of its class) it's got a great gpu, it's cheap compared to the alienware and it's pretty small compared to the alienware (only 1.67" thick and reasonably sized) then again, there's the dell stigma...

[iQuit]

Alienwares are overpriced nice looking machines. If you are looking for a Windows laptop...Dell is the way to go for gaming. I have used PC my whole life and when I got a Mac a year ago I use it for everything including games,it runs them a lot smoother than a PC and there are plenty to satisfy my,plus I have all of my consoles. If you are looking for true gaming just get a PSP or an XBOX,PC laptops aren't the ideal way to play games. Acer and some other brands have some good Windows computers,as well as other companies and you can even make your own. If you are not wanting a laptop just for gaming and want some gaming on the side...get a PowerBook,there are plenty good games(Doom3,Halo,WOW,Medal Of Honor..etc.)

[efoto]

For complete gaming and nothing else, a pc is currently the way to go, however I'm not so sure about getting an Alienware. It has already been covered that they are quite expensive (on par with Falcon Northwest (http://www.falcon-nw.com/index.asp) or Voodoo (http://www.voodoopc.com/default.aspx), which personally I prefer either to Alienware in style and they are more anti-trendy trendy, which is always good :rolleyes: )

In any case, you should definately look at a 'fragbox' or a home-built shuttle pc, as they are not only cheaper but of similar portibility (minus screen) and probably a little bit faster too. If you are going to be required to plug this in at all times anyway, why not maximize the peformance and have easier upgradability in the future. Unless that thing is big enough to have a desktop HD ( :eek: ) then that is always a plus for speed, capacity, and price.

[russed]

wow those laptops are expensive! and why would you want two optical drives in a laptop!

[efoto]

wow those laptops are expensive! and why would you want two optical drives in a laptop!

Haha, beauty is seldom cheap....examples around in bras and panties daily :D (well not for me, but for some lucky people).

I can personally see no reason for multiple optical drives in a portable, especially with the advances in optical technology of late that allow things like the Superdrive to exist and perform oooo so good.

I would never buy one of those, but perhaps someone will, maybe the OP. Just trying to help out, and if someone finds joy in those pretty pieces, then so be it.

[yellow]

LAN parties.. I'd beat my own ass for going to a LAN party.

[wcalderini]

Alienwares are overpriced nice looking machines....

I agree.
Exactly.
See I only paid about 3K for my 15inch PB with....
Oh...
Wait a second.
Damn.
Forget it.
BC



PB 15•1.5 GHZ G4 • 128MB ATI 9700 Mobility • 80 GB HD • 1 GB Ram

[yellow]

Alienwares are overpriced nice looking machines....

I agree.
Exactly.
See I only paid about 3K for my 15inch PB with....
Oh...
Wait a second.
Damn.
Forget it.
BC


Not an apt comparision. You cannot build your own Mac from componant parts found in a local store. There's no hardware competition. In the warfare market of PC parts, the Alienware is MUCH more expensive.

[Passante]

Alienwares are overpriced nice looking machines....

I agree.
Exactly.
See I only paid about 3K for my 15inch PB with....
Oh...
Wait a second.
Damn.
Forget it.
BC



PB 15•1.5 GHZ G4 • 128MB ATI 9700 Mobility • 80 GB HD • 1 GB Ram


:rolleyes: ;) :D

[benpatient]

I have used PC my whole life and when I got a Mac a year ago I use it for everything including games,it runs them a lot smoother than a PC and there are plenty to satisfy my,plus I have all of my consoles.

no offense, but this is incredibly hard to read. I think you just said that your Mac plays games "a lot smoother than a PC." If I got that much of it correct, then may I bid you well in your dreamy dream land. I have found it difficult to build a PC that was worse at playing games than my dual 1.8 G5 is...

buy a 200 dollar case/powersupply/motherboard combo
buy an 80 dollar Athlon Semperon
100 dollars for a stick of RAM (512mb or 1GB of el-cheapo)
20 bucks for a keyboard/mouse
100 dollars for a graphics card
150 dollars for a 17" Viewsonic or a 19" el-cheapo

650 dollars later, you are owning my mighty dual G5 with 2.5GB of RAM and two RAID 0 arrays at every game that is avialable on both platforms.

Enjoy dreamyland.

as to this alienware laptop, have you guys ever picked one of these things up? Desktop replacement, indeed. It weighs a ton. Can you imagine dragging that much extra (delicate) weight to class? Ugh.

The 17" powerbook is too much to be considered truly "portable" in my opinion. The 15 is just about the limit, for me.

Crap, I'll build you a better gaming rig in a Shuttle case with a couple of carrying handles and a cool portable 17" LCD for a small fee (say 400 bucks) and you'll still save a thousand dollars. You can still go to LAN parties (and people will think you're cooler, to boot).

Oh but then you won't get Alienware's "stellar" customer service if something goes wrong. Which it won't.

[Sharewaredemon]

Anyone notice that Alien_Ware hasn't replied since he first posted?

I want to know what all of your posts have done to sway his decision.

[JasonElise1983]

It is odd that he hasn't replied at all. I was gonna give hime links to VooDoo PC and Falcon Northwest, because they make better gaming computers for less and Alienware sold out along time ago. I wouldn't take an alienware computer for gaming if you gave it to me. Anyway here are the links

www.voodoopc.com

www.falcon-nw.com

hope he checks this sometime or another...oh, well. Waisted breath

-J

[Dont Hurt Me]

It is odd that he hasn't replied at all. I was gonna give hime links to VooDoo PC and Falcon Northwest, because they make better gaming computers for less and Alienware sold out along time ago. I wouldn't take an alienware computer for gaming if you gave it to me. Anyway here are the links

www.voodoopc.com

www.falcon-nw.com

hope he checks this sometime or another...oh, well. Waisted breath

-J
I think this dude wasnt serious but your comment of you wouldnt take a Alienware computer is ignorant. My Alienware which is almost a year old can kick the pants off ANY Mac in any game period. Dont be so fast to dismiss Alienware the fact is they are selling technology today that Apple wont have till next year. Plus you can build it for you not Apple. My single CPU machine was matching and kicking butt against dual 2.0 Cpu machines from Apple a year ago and MacWorld and MacAddict both did test showing the same basic results. Not the Mac benches Apple makes up but real world testing from 2 independent Mac publications. Mac has best software and ho hum hardware. enough said. If your going PC Alienware has some very powerful products with Pci express,Sli,Dual core cpu's etc. Does Apple? No.

[efoto]

I think this dude wasnt serious but your comment of you wouldnt take a Alienware computer is ignorant. My Alienware which is almost a year old can kick the pants off ANY Mac in any game period. Dont be so fast to dismiss Alienware the fact is they are selling technology today that Apple wont have till next year. Plus you can build it for you not Apple. My single CPU machine was matching and kicking butt against dual 2.0 Cpu machines from Apple a year ago and MacWorld and MacAddict both did test showing the same basic results. Not the Mac benches Apple makes up but real world testing from 2 independent Mac publications. Mac has best software and ho hum hardware. enough said. If your going PC Alienware has some very powerful products with Pci express,Sli,Dual core cpu's etc. Does Apple? No.

Correct me if I am wrong, but a game more than likely does not support dual processors, therefore you 'kicking butt' against a dual setup is nothing more than a single setup in your test. The same goes for PC systems - a dualproc. setup is great if you want to play a game while listening to music because you can set the music processes to the second processor and all other windows apps, which frees the 'entire' processor for the game.

Other than that, the only thing I now hold against you is in your sig....FarCry is by no means better than HL2. I don't even see how this could be contested....the textures, the worlds, the gameplay :eek: :D
Okay I have to get back to work so I can save up money to buy a PM...even if it will get 'kicked' by a little-big Alienware laptop :p

[Cloudgazer]

As far as i am aware Alienware laptops are merely reskinned Clevo laptops.
Never heard of Clevo?
Most people haven't, they don't usually sell retail. They sell to other companies to be rebranded.
(www.clevo.com.tw)
I would suggest finding another company rebranding Clevo machines and buy that.
Chances are they'll be cheaper than Alienware.

[sourcemonkey]

Anyone notice that Alien_Ware hasn't replied since he first posted?



no he did actually, but i think he may have been scared off by some early 'light flaming' :confused:

oh and yes, farcry was great but hl2 has to be considered better, huh? but maybe not soooo much better. i felt the vehicles in hl2 were prettybadly executed. other than that i have to agree with efoto

[efoto]

no he did actually, but i think he may have been scared off by some early 'light flaming' :confused:

oh and yes, farcry was great but hl2 has to be considered better, huh? but maybe not soooo much better. i felt the vehicles in hl2 were prettybadly executed. other than that i have to agree with efoto

Its not that I didn't like FarCry, but it just didn't seem finished somehow, my same problem with D3, just didn't seem like everything was done. I wish I had a good example, but thats just my opinion. I guess I just loved HL so much, and I had such a personal hype about HL2 that there isn't much that can touch it yet, in my opinion. The graphics are just soooo glorious, and its simply awesome to watch it played on a system that can have everything cranked up and still kick out 70+fps, thats when you really respect everything Valve put into it, amazing.

Sorry, a little off topic, but I just wanted to comment again on that game quick. I have heard of Clevo, and as someone else stated above there are much better gaming rigs to be found for less money. Falcon Northwest and Voodoo make better, IMO, portable gamers than Alienware, for a similar price if you are really set on spending that much. If you are not overly concerned with the style of your computer (you are buying a pc afterall....oohhhh :p, sorry, couldn't resist) then you can probably find the same performance specs for much less, since *guess* $500-$700+ goes into that fancy paint and embossed logos and such. Looks great, but shows the scratches all the more.

[Capt Underpants]

I agree that if you're a hardcore gamer you need the Intel platform.

Why exactly would you think this? The Athlon 64 blows the P4 out of the water in every benchmark but A/V. Get an athlon 64 for gaming...

[efoto]

I agree that if you're a hardcore gamer you need the Intel platform.
Why exactly would you think this? The Athlon 64 blows the P4 out of the water in every benchmark but A/V. Get an athlon 64 for gaming...

Perhaps a gross assumption, but based on the fact that he was replying to a "do Macs game alright?" type question, I would venture to assume that 'intel platform'='pc'. If he did indeed mean an Intel chip over other pc offerings, then I agree with you Capt. that the Ath64 is currently your best gaming chip....for a price of course, as is all great things.