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Alienware computer information?
mastablasta6
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
My current computer just broke (It's unfixable), so I'm aiming to buy a new one. I'm looking at the Area-51 7500 desktop, but my father isn't too keen on the idea. He would like to know...
1. How good is the customer service/tech help from Alienware?
2. What is the general quality of an Alienware computer?
3. How long will an Alienware computer last?
4. Is a 250gb hard drive too small, what with the future of downloading movies on the horizon?
Please don't link me to the Alienware site. I'm not that much of an idiot.
1. How good is the customer service/tech help from Alienware?
2. What is the general quality of an Alienware computer?
3. How long will an Alienware computer last?
4. Is a 250gb hard drive too small, what with the future of downloading movies on the horizon?
Please don't link me to the Alienware site. I'm not that much of an idiot.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every oppurtunity; an optimist sees the oppurtunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill
"My God! This room has a clock!" - Myself, after a moment of oblivious...ness...
"My God! This room has a clock!" - Myself, after a moment of oblivious...ness...
mastablasta6 on
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Mediocre, at best.
As far as how long before it breaks, or becomes obsolete?
That's really up to you. But it should be enough. Even a 500gb hard drive is cheap though.
My girlfriend got an Alienware. It shipped broken, she shipped it back, and she got it back broken again. It was a pretty big pain in the ass. I spent a good deal of time on that computer and it was definitely not worth the premium she paid for it. Really the best thing about it is how good they hide the cables. But that's not worth an extra 500 bucks or so.
I probably won't be the first one to say this, but just look into your building your own.
Though in truth I'd pretty much always go with putting together my own for a desktop because that is always going to be cheaper than a similar pre-built computer, though obviously without support.
How computer savvy are you? Do you troubleshoot/fix your own problems on your computer or do you need to call tech support?
"My God! This room has a clock!" - Myself, after a moment of oblivious...ness...
My previous machine was an Alienware (pre-Dell merger). The quality of components was really good, the machine still runs just fine. The tech support however was shite, foreign tech support that cook books everything. Long calls with little results.
You don't really have to.
The only hard part about building your own is going from parts -> Windows. It's not even that difficult if you can follow instructions. I knew nothing about PC hardware when I built my first one. I ended up learning a lot in the process.
In my experience doing family/friends tech support for many years, user-built PCs have very few, often zero issues that cannot be fixed by a System Restore. The last time I had to use that was well over two years ago. In contrast, the Dells and HPs and Gateways I've taken a look at continually have shit breaking for no good reason.
Pre-built systems are much less stable than one you put together yourself. Once its put together you very likely will never need to call tech support again. The only tech support you need will consist of (a) Windows' system restore and (b) the various driver discs that shipped with your parts.
For a gaming rig, you might be looking at saving a thousand dollars or more by building it yourself. A thousand goddamn dollars. How much is tech support really worth to you? Pre-built PCs ship with so much useless shit on them that they're rpactically designed to have major software issues within two years, which gets you to thinking you may need to upgrade outdated ahrdware and buy a new one. It's not the hardware that sucks, it's the dozens of useless programs that interfere with each other.
The only piece of software you'll ever need to buy, if you build a PC yourself, is Windows. You can get freeware alternatives to everything else that almost always work better than retail versions. There's no piracy or shady dealings involved there, every single non-game piece of software my PC runs (a very long list) cost me exactly nothing. I'm using the copy of Windows I boguht for my last rig, and when I build my next one I'll use the same copy. That'll make $90 worth of software over the life of three PCs spanning somewhere between five and seven years.
Meanwhile, Dell charges you that much just to install firewalls and antivirus for one year on one PC.
Worst case scenario, you find a computer-savvy friend who puts it together for you at the cost of a case of beer. If it's put together properly and has the right software installed on it before you hook it up to the internet (SP2, antivirus/firewalls, etc.) you may never need tech support again.
PCs are not arcane magical boxes whose inner workings should never be pondered by mere mortals. The only reason to buy from Dell or any other prefab is if you think that they are.
The people who are recommending building are on the right track, and if you went that direction there are plenty of people on this forum ready to help you with questions. If you just MUST buy a "gaming company computer", go to Falcon Northwest or Voodoo PC and be prepared to pay out the ass. If you buy from Dell or someone similar, be prepared to pay for that lower price tag by having to uninstall tons of shareware crap from your computer.
And one more thing about good old Dell. I remember back before the Core 2 Duos I would see all these 3.2 ghz P4 Dells sitting around QUIETLY. Bullshit. The final P4s ran insanely hot, and there is no way they were being adequately cooled without me hearing it (obviously they didn't have water cooling). Part degredation, anyone?
PSN: TheScrublet
Oddly, I would have thought the same thing, but I bought a laptop from them about 4 months ago and it came with none of that annoying crap installed on it.