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amateurmacfreak

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2005
992
0
Ok, this thread is one of the more argumentative I've ever seen on here... I know I'm diving in here late, but I'm still going to give a piece of my mind. :)

Ok, this news really disappointed me. Why? Because, even if you want to bash Alienware for being overpriced(which I personally think they were/are), they made nice computers with great specs. I personally would rather have someone build me a custom comp or do it myself if I was in the market for a desktop Windows comp, but if you don't have the knowledge or whatever to do that, if you have the money, great, go for Alienware! I've never owned one, but I've actually heard they have excellent customer service.... contrary to what people on here have been saying.
I think it is sad, and I think the Nike buying Converse thing is a good analogy. A cool little company got bought up by a sh***y, large, very corporate enity.
Steve's quote: Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation," really speaks true in this.
To me, it's like thinking of Walmart buying.... oh crap, I hate all the other large retail corporations too. :eek:
Mostly I just think this is a fairly sad thing. Falcon Northwest is good, and I'm sure there are some other good gaming PCs out there, but Alienware was, for all it's flaws, a good computer company.

On the Renegade: Yuck.
It turns me off just by the fact it's "pimped out." I guess all the gamer dorks want to be pimpin'.:rolleyes: ;)
It has awesome specs. But it's ugly. It's super costly. And I just personally think it's gross.
But it does have mind-blowing specs. But the cost is more mind-blowing. :eek: :cool:
(holy crap, scared me for a sec, I didn't see the eek smiley where I thought it was....:eek: ):eek:
 

emaja

macrumors 68000
May 3, 2005
1,706
11
Chicago, IL
fartness said:
Never heard of "profit", have you?

Oh, I certainly have, but if I can make the same thing that Alienware makes and do it for $400 less, then I certainly will.

Never heard of "fiscal responsibility," have you?
 

mac-er

macrumors 65816
Apr 9, 2003
1,452
0
This is fake.

Supposedly, they have all these quotes from Michael Dell specifically about the Alienware purchase, and there is no press release from Dell. Also, no mention in the mainstream media.
 

dejo

Moderator emeritus
Sep 2, 2004
15,982
452
The Centennial State
emaja said:
Oh, I certainly have, but if I can make the same thing that Alienware makes and do it for $400 less, then I certainly will.

Never heard of "fiscal responsibility," have you?

For some people it is worth $400 to have someone else determine the required components, assemble the machine and guarantee its quality. Just because you can do it on your own, does not mean that your time and effort are not worth anything. And besides, you cannot make exactly the same thing as Alienware, since their cases are exclusive, AFAIK.
 

emaja

macrumors 68000
May 3, 2005
1,706
11
Chicago, IL
dejo said:
For some people it is worth $400 to have someone else determine the required components, assemble the machine and guarantee its quality. Just because you can do it on your own, does not mean that your time and effort are not worth anything. And besides, you cannot make exactly the same thing as Alienware, since their cases are exclusive, AFAIK.

Yes, for some people it is worth it, but buying an Alienware for the sake of a paying $400 extra for a 90 day warrantee is silly IMO.

It took me 15 minutes to match parts from New Egg. If I bought those parts, it would take me an hour to assemble them and another hour to install Windows.

Yes, the cases are exclusive, but that is obviously the least important part. If that is the primary reason you are buying an Alienware PC, then you have made a foolish decision.

The computer I spec'd out is better than the Alienware and costs less. What's wrong with that?
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
mac-er said:
This is fake.

Supposedly, they have all these quotes from Michael Dell specifically about the Alienware purchase, and there is no press release from Dell. Also, no mention in the mainstream media.

This is not fake.

It was all over the news this morning, especially in the finance industry. Here's but one example. :cool:
 

texasmafia

macrumors member
Mar 19, 2005
83
0
Texas
If I spent $10,000 in an Apple store I could walk out with several awesome computers and a ton of peripherals.
 

Timepass

macrumors 65816
Jan 4, 2005
1,051
1
emaja said:
Yes, for some people it is worth it, but buying an Alienware for the sake of a paying $400 extra for a 90 day warrantee is silly IMO.

It took me 15 minutes to match parts from New Egg. If I bought those parts, it would take me an hour to assemble them and another hour to install Windows.

Yes, the cases are exclusive, but that is obviously the least important part. If that is the primary reason you are buying an Alienware PC, then you have made a foolish decision.

The computer I spec'd out is better than the Alienware and costs less. What's wrong with that?


The only reason I would go to alienware over build my own (which I have done and would rather do) is I know the parts are good parts like I would if I built my own so no draw back there.

Big one is I dont have to install the OS and a lot of other basic software since it will of already been done (1-2 hours installing windows, another 2hours installing all the basic software like drivers, Office among other things)

I have a 1 year warrenty (it is 30 bucks and if you are not willing to pay for that then I can not help you) on everything all from ONE location. Not one for every single one of my part.

The raw time saving and the warrenty from on location is the nice thing about it. It save me roughtly about 4 hours of my time to go though alienware plus just a lot of head ache of doing it all myself.

That being said I still like building my own. I get to pick and choose what extras I want. And I know where I can cut corners plus i know exactly what is in the box, both in software and hardware.
 

50548

Guest
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
sushi said:
Why do some people buy a boat? Or an RV? Or a plane?

Hobbies can be expensive! ;)

Some adults are really into games and have the dollars to get their dream gaming machine. More power to them.

Sorry, but the comparison doesn't hold at all...people buy AW to do one thing: gaming. It's not about brand, not about luxury, not about design.

Ferraris are bought because they ARE much more valued than other cars in many aspects...people buy AW just because they must be Mama's boys or rich guys with money to waste in crap...you can play the same games or better with a $300 console, not a 10K one...

Again, good riddance AW...you're NOT cool, and I hope you rot slowly with Michael Dell's blessing...

BenRoethig said:
And better quality. So, are you saying Apple is the same as Dell too since they all use the same basic components?

Did I say that above? Please read my post, as I was comparing a dull PC maker with ANOTHER dull PC maker.

And I exactly excluded Apple from that comparison since the very beginning, because Apple is NOT an ordinary PC maker, be it on design, quality, philosophy, customer treatment and OS grounds.

The funny thing is to discuss a crappy PC maker on a Mac forum...AW is NOT cool and has never been...well, maybe only to those accustomed to beige boxes and Winblows...I say it again...GOOD RIDDANCE!
 

barstard

macrumors member
Feb 13, 2006
41
0
Melbourne, Australia
Well. AlienWare made great spec'd computers, but they certainly were tacky cases, although so was the original iMac IMO.:D

Seriously though, whatever you think of AW, it is another example of massive companies acquiring other much smaller companies to either use their technology without paying license fees (Apple has done plenty of this, so too Microsoft) or to stifle their competition (which Dell are doing here I'd say, in a way).

This sort of move almost always results in a loss of innovation in those areas, which definitely hurts consumers in the end.

barstard.
 

joseph2166

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2006
258
5
barstard said:
Well. AlienWare made great spec'd computers, but they certainly were tacky cases, although so was the original iMac IMO.:D

You realy think so? I think the original iMac did as much with such a large monitor as it could hope to do. It was different (and not just by painting the case green and putting 'spoilers' on it ala Alienware) it was as small and quiet as it could be... They dropped floppy disks and brought in USB... What more could you want from a case from 1998 (it was 98 right?) ? Although the originals always looked a bit unlike 'new apple' with the cd tray...
 

Kaiser Phoenix

Cancelled
May 12, 2005
359
0
I really get the argument of the "bigger guy, i.e. Dell" buying out the "poor little guy i.e. AW" argument but I dont really think it was like that.

Firstly Dell isnt a crap company and it doesnt make "CRAP" computers. I agree they look boring and very traditional and very lets say commodity like. It just does the job of emailing, exploring or whatever people wanna do. Its made of plastic and all. And its targetted to people who dont really care whats actually "in" the computer or what it actually "looks" like. its also very cheap. People complain how Dell is so crap but please someone tell me what is actually different from an Apple computer and a Dell computer apart from the CASE, OSX. I mean they are both Intel, RAM is usually made in Taiwan and they probbaly use the same, HD is made by other companies etc. Its not THAT different. Unlike a Ferrari and a Toyota, they are different but DELL and APPLE, I mean after they moved to Intel, not SOOOO much difference as people think.

Dell also has an excellent supply chain system which many business text books use as examples.

I think that Alienware agreed because probably they can learn a lot from Dells efficiency and probably make better and cheaper computers. Dell computers arnt just cheap. They are efficient and manage to keep costs down.

just my 2 c
 

Airforce

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2006
933
0
BRLawyer said:
Sorry, but the comparison doesn't hold at all...people buy AW to do one thing: gaming. It's not about brand, not about luxury, not about design.

Ferraris are bought because they ARE much more valued than other cars in many aspects...people buy AW just because they must be Mama's boys or rich guys with money to waste in crap...you can play the same games or better with a $300 console, not a 10K one...

Again, good riddance AW...you're NOT cool, and I hope you rot slowly with Michael Dell's blessing...

Comparing that xbox 360 to the $10,000 computer is laughable. One word: resolutions. :cool:
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
Looks like most folks here dont get that a Alienware system can be built to your configuration, not some predetermined system made by marketeers,but by the owner or enthusiast. I was able to configure the system:D Consumer is King! Anyways looks like not much is changing at Alienware,just the buck stops at a different office.:cool:
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
BRLawyer said:
people buy AW just because they must be Mama's boys or rich guys with money to waste in crap...you can play the same games or better with a $300 console, not a 10K one...
Many would disagree with you on this point.

It all depends on what games you are playing and things such as resolution and FPS.

Again, for some folks, gaming is their hobby so they spend what they want on their hobby.

If you think gaming is expensive, take a look at avionics. Yikes, they are expensive. Even for small single engine airplanes that are decked out.

Personally, if someone likes Alienware hardware more power to them. It's fun to see folks who are happy with their purchase and enjoy using whatever it is. I just hope that Dell does not ruin their current or future products.

As for those who say they can build a better computer. Well yeah. So what's your point? Some folks don't want the hassle of doing it themselves and would rather purchase a nice prebuilt rig that has a nice warranty and tech support.

...you know, like a majority of folks on this board who purchase nice looking well performing Macs. :)

Timepass said:
TBig one is I dont have to install the OS and a lot of other basic software since it will of already been done (1-2 hours installing windows, another 2hours installing all the basic software like drivers, Office among other things)

The raw time saving and the warrenty from on location is the nice thing about it. It save me roughtly about 4 hours of my time to go though alienware plus just a lot of head ache of doing it all myself.
That's a good point.

It takes time to build and setup a computer.

As a hobby maybe time is not an issue. But for some, their time is valuable and would better be used on something else. Also, some do not want the agrivation of issues that might come up when building the computer or installing software.

Sometimes it's nice to take the easy no stress solution and just purchase off the shelf system that meets your needs.

...afterall, Apple has made a fortune doing that!
 

sishaw

macrumors 65816
Jan 12, 2005
1,147
19
What about the Lisa?

~Shard~ said:
Yeah, what's up with a computer costing that much money, that's never happened before. :rolleyes: :cool:


The Apple Lisa originally retailed for $ 10 grand as well.
 

50548

Guest
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
whooleytoo said:
Slightly more recently, a fully specced IIfx probably wouldn't have been far off that price.

That's right...actually a bare-bones IIfx cost something like 7,999, and it was the most expensive Mac ever...but also the fastest for quite some time...

Oh well...I paid around 3,000 for my charming pizzabox Quadra 605 back in 1995, so I can't really complain... ;)
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
BRLawyer said:
That's right...actually a bare-bones IIfx cost something like 7,999, and it was the most expensive Mac ever...but also the fastest for quite some time...

Oh well...I paid around 3,000 for my charming pizzabox Quadra 605 back in 1995, so I can't really complain... ;)

Yeah, I remember our Apple //e costing over $5K back in 1983... Mind you, with the upgrades, taxes, etc. my iMac cost me almost $3K (CAD) and that was only 2 years ago, so not cheap by any means. ;)
 

Cadkiller

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2004
48
0
I recently checked my attachments in my control panel and found that this image I attached was down loaded 2,364 times. Can this be accurate?

sm_alx_silver.jpg
8.3 KB, 2,364 Downloads
Thread: Alienware - The Best Gaming PC Maker has Sold Out!
Post: «N/A»
 

ethen

macrumors regular
Dec 5, 2005
186
1
heheh, brings back memories, my goldstar 8088 will give me electric shock everytime i power it on (on the side of the case)
 
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