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Alienware versus Apple?

netdog said:
Those are some of the ugliest monstrosities I have ever seen. Makes me long for the beige box.
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You can have your dirty little beige box. I'd take that laptop any day. Sure, the back of the LCD may be a little crazy, but other than that the design seems pretty cool. And it's certainly more powerful than any MBP today.

And the cable work in that desktop... flawless.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
My guess is that they can't be profitable when you factor in the components, case design+manufacturing, OC'ing and tweaking, AND the warranties & replacements...But flagship products aren't often big moneymakers.
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Exactly. People who say, "But Dell is too expensive. I can buy the spare parts for less money and build it myself." Well no ****, Sherlock. How about paying wages, support, warranty, R&D in putting it all together during the initial stages, testing the system for stability, overclocking, tweaking, etc. Add the price of the components to the final cost, and I'm sure Dell has a few more expenses than you do.

Besides, if you were to deduct an hourly wage for every hour you spent building your own system, would you still save money building it yourself? If you do save money, was it worth it, or was paying Dell or another company to build it for you worth the convenience?

When you go out to a restaurant, do you ever think, "This is too expensive. I'm sure I can get all the ingredients to this pasta for around $6, so why are they charging me $12!?" It's just stupid, and isn't even a smart argument. :confused:
 
Although I have never owned any pc, IF Apple didn't exist I might have gone toward Alienware simply because the name is catchy and the boxes are unique... but without the :apple: it's just another disaster waiting to happen imop.:rolleyes:
 
netdog said:
Those are some of the ugliest monstrosities I have ever seen. Makes me long for the beige box.
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I hope that was sarcasm, but I doubt it.

If you like biege box's over that Alienware tower... well I'll say no more. All I can say is it looks so 90's.

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Alienware have another wild laptop that I thought is wicked as hell. The ALX version for their laptop.

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The paint job is just so speechless.

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Abstract said:
Besides, if you were to deduct an hourly wage for every hour you spent building your own system, would you still save money building it yourself? If you do save money, was it worth it, or was paying Dell or another company to build it for you worth the convenience?
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Ultimately, homebuilt machines are for people who enjoy spending the time building and tweaking, so that time spent is less a cost than part of the benefit. Homebuilding also gives you the ability to have total control over exactly what components are used, another boon for the tinkerer.

People who just want to run games will find the building/tweaking process a waste of time better spent gaming, and will likely prefer a machine with a warranty.

You can't make a general statement on whether a homebuild machine is better than a commercial box like a Dell - it depends on what you are looking for.
 
Sesshi said:
@FFTT: Have you used any of the heavy-duty gaming machines recently? The H2C is nearly as quiet as the Pro while not in gaming use - while packing more power. And more importantly, it's better cooled while running normally. Apple doesn't have any engineering superiority [anymore] as I can attest with my Pros which failed in a situation where the Precisions kept on trucking. They just make it look nicer (and run hotter).
\
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I haven't honestly concerned myself with games.
I'd much rather spend my money on audio recording gear.

In fact I'm still running my G5 DAW with the stock 64 MB video card.

If your Mac Pro is running hot, then it must be due to the video card section.
For me that's just not an issue.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
You can't make a general statement on whether a homebuild machine is better than a commercial box like a Dell - it depends on what you are looking for.
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I'm not (or I don't think I am). I'm making a statement about the cost of building your own machine.

Again, buying the ingredients and cooking your own meal is cheaper too, but it would still be rather unfair if you walked in and told the owner that you could make the same meal for less money. Yes, maybe a little less, but nobody is forcing you to eat out, so stay home if you want to save money.
 
I love building....

This is the one thing I truly miss from the PC world. I LOVED putting together a computer.

I was helping a friend configure one the other day and I almost ended building a core 2 quad box for myself :) Too bad I can't run OS X on it, legally that is.

It is times like that I wish I could buy OS X and throw it on my box. Maybe Leopard will make it an easier thing to do (illegal I know)
 
I understand, and I'm agreeing with you. ;)

People who enjoy building and tweaking do save money in many cases by not going with a Dell or whatever, and they don't see the time spent getting things working to be a problem. You pointed out (correctly I think) that you must add the time spent setting up a homebuild as part of the cost. I was merely pointing out that machines like the XPS come with an increased price over a homebuild to reflect that time spent, so the major factor is do you mind installing all the bits yourself to get excatly what you want.
 
FFTT said:
I haven't honestly concerned myself with games.
I'd much rather spend my money on audio recording gear.

In fact I'm still running my G5 DAW with the stock 64 MB video card.

If your Mac Pro is running hot, then it must be due to the video card section.
For me that's just not an issue.
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So your uses for a computer are limited. Big whoop :rolleyes: What's that got to do with the engineering?

I like my computers to be versatile in all ways - audio included - so use a dual-soundcard setup of Creative X-Fi and RME Fireface on my PC desktops. Games come out of the X-Fi in full EAX, Music / DAW comes out of the FF. Maximum flexibility, no compromises. I would have to compromise on Apple.
 
Ugh this thread makes me angry. As much as I love OS X and Apple, I want a more powerful computer... :mad:
 
vohdoun said:
I hope that was sarcasm, but I doubt it.

If you like biege box's over that Alienware tower... well I'll say no more. All I can say is it looks so 90's.

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vs

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Given the choice, the beige one please!
 
Capt Underpants said:
I wonder how many of the haters would praise the case design, if only the alien was replaced by an apple.

Apple can do no wrong.
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I can't see Apple creating anything that adolescent-looking, and I think most of us would call them out if they did. The G5 case design was IMO less attractive than the curvaceous G4 towers, but it is still classy.

But give Alienware credit for at least putting some kind of thought into their case design, unlike the terminally boring stuff many PC manufacturers sell.
 
One thing I find funny about these alienwares.. I think they're going to age *so* badly.. So quickly.. "futuristic" ages terribly, as the goalposts change so fast.

Nobody will look back at them as classic designs in the future because they'll just look ridiculous.. They're the computer equivelent of VW pendants, giant shoulder pads, sequined jumpsuits, platform heels.. You may think they look cool now.. Wait a few years and they'll be.. super retro and potentially laughable.

Apple have that side down pretty well.. All their stuff since the original imac has aged, but wouldn't look ridiculous in most settings. I still see G3 imacs popping up on TV quite a bit. :D

IMO Sony do a good job of design (mostly) too, but they don't aim it at the gaming/teen boy market so much, so you at least end up with some sleek, not so overdesigned stuff. Different strokes for different folks..

Props to the alienware desktop which looks like a giant Cylon head though. I'd like that for comedy value. I almost bought http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1760 at one point for the same reason.. "My PC looks more like a spaceship than yours!" ..
 
Why would futuristic age so badly? I think that they are creative granted and somewhat look cool.

And no one complains about blue spotted imac eh? :D hehehe
 
I think futuristic ages because what we think looks futuristic is so heavily influenced by what's "cool" at the time.. Otherwise Startrek would've always looked the same.. In reality though TOS is the 60s incarnate and TNG is so 90s it hurts.. Minimalism and sleekness are the only ways I can think of to avoid aging too much.... Futuristic of the 80s is all boxy and Back To The Future/The Last Starfighter-tastic.. Futuristic in the 90s was beige. Futuristic right now seems to be Giger meets cyberpunk with glowing bits.

Fair point, hehe, some of the more out-there imac designs date v badly, lol. Saying that, they were going for retro 60sness when they were made, so.. that's just bizarre. The flower covered one in particular. Neat. XD

I'm just pondering/talking bollocks mostly, I'm certainly no expert on style. :D Everyone should buy what they like best.. There isn't a universal best.. At least the Alienware (and that crazy Asus case) are eyecatching.. Conversation pieces. ^^ I like that a lot.

Having things age isn't necessarily bad either, I have lots of old gaming hardware (atari jaguar, CD32 etc) which are rubbish, look terrible design-wise now, but i love them all the more for it, lol.

edit: wow they picked up the futuristic point before i did!
 
Certain things age very badly. The iMac look was very zeitgeisty and it - and especially the knockoffs - aged very badly indeed. Take the Apple pre-alu displays - very tired looking nowadays. The Alienware combines overblown design elements combined with an out-of-date zeitgeist (alien heads went out with the X-Files).

The Mac Pro / Dell XPS are somewhat more age resistant in my book. The Pro looks fairly timelessly elegant, the XPS looks like a sculpted breeze block / slightly military.
 
Sesshi said:
The iMac look was very zeitgeisty and it - and especially the knockoffs - aged very badly indeed.
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I think it was more the translucent plastic & color schemes (copied by EVERY product imaginable) that got chintzy rather than the CRT iMac's overall design - I think, for example, that the Graphite and Snow CRT iMacs still look very good today. The flower power and dalmation models were much much more stylistically perishable, as were the colored varieties.
 
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