Alienware......?

[LinuxGeek]

Nope, Not confused at all. I just know my **** and know where to get hooked up for good parts is all. If you have connections and have your sources, and know the market then you can do a pretty **** good job.

From the looks of it, you're from Alienware and are just posting trying to stick up for yourself since you only have 2 post which gives us the "Red Flag" .

You seem to be replying to any post about Alienware and doing nothing but putting a foot up there **** (i.e sticking up for them)

 

[Diesel]

In all honesty, LinuxGeek, you're the one replying to any post about Alienware and bashing them. Unfairly, IMHO.

No, I don't work for Alienware. Yes, I agree that they're a bit pricey. However, I'm open-minded enough to recognize the fact that they offer a good product and a valuable service.

You claim to "know your ****", but when you combine that with your closed-minded attitude that your opininon is the only correct one and don't leave room for the possibility that just because you don't see a value in something that it doesn't have value, you're cutting yourself off to a ton of potential benefits.
In the IT world, you can "know your ****" but you also need to leave your avenues open, because if you cut off all of those alternative possibilities, you find yourself "not knowing ****" within a few months.

Which, frankly, is how I'm reading your posts.
We get it... you don't like Alienware. That doesn't mean that they're bad or that they don't offer a good product. My guess is that you've never even actually ever laid your hands on one, so how qualified can your opinion actually be?

The thing is, I understand your argument. I do recognize that there are flaws with Alienware. Yes, they are pricey, but I don't find them unreasonably so because I recognize that they're offering a quality product, and they're supporting that product.
Could you build a similar system yourself for less? Sure, most likely, because you don't have to factor in support costs, since you'll be supporting it yourself.
But what about someone who doesn't have the skill to build a system themselves? Or the technical know-how to support it, and actually need someone to call and walk them through stuff when it doesn't work? And what about someone who needs a laptop and wouldn't have the opportunity to put it together themselves?

The other thing you're forgetting about is that time has value to a person. I don't have much free time in my life, so putting in another 2 hours to put together the components and install an OS is very costly. That's not even factoring the time I spent ordering all of the components. When I do consulting work, I charge $125 an hour for my services. That means that building that machine alone just added $250 to the cost of the overall system. And every hour I spend troubleshooting the system after it's up and running is additional cost.

I'm not saying that Alienware is a perfect product. They're not. But I do recognize that they're offering a good product and good service, and that costs extra sometimes. You don't get something for nothing. I'm not blindly accepting that they're product is good or bad. I'm evaluating it based on both the good and bad aspects, and realizing that they do have a decent offering, albeit a bit on the expensive side. But just because it's expensive doesn't make it a rip-off.

 

[Yoda117]

Okies...

or you could think that maybe I took a look at the forums after doing a google search, and found the forum.

Closest I work to Alienware is having been in a commercial filmed in Florida. Sorry to dash your hopes like that (I don't even think that the AW techs answer posts on their own forums, so why the heck would one waste their time here?).

But its nice to see that you've proven yourself a fool with your language though. However, if you'd like to feel even more of a putz, please check out some of the forums for NeoTech, or other people who copied the old AW design... there's a reason I'm a regular poster there.

Truth of the matter is that even with parts received at a substantial discount you'd be hard pressed to build a laptop for the huge price decrease that you claim that you can, and still have it compete with the performance of a Dell 8500/8600, Sager, or AW. If you could, everyone would be doing it. For the extra $ you pay, you get the support of the company. If the price difference was as great as you claim, then it wouldn't matter... but it's not. 5 years, and it'll be a different story.

Now if you had said desktop... I wouldn't have disputed it, as it's relatively well known that you can do it cheaper (and with better results). Which is why I build my own desktops.

Laptops, however, are a different animal

BTW: are flexfit motherboards even on the general market yet?

Now I totally agree with you about the cost $... it's ridiculous for the Area-51m, and the design of the chassis leaves a bit to be desired (one smart bay, what is up with that?), but like I said, if you are smart, one can get one for the same price (roughly) as a comprably equipped Dell 8600.

Heck, I wouldn't even consider getting one if I didn't use the promos and then get some major $ back from the union for doing so. I'm not foolish enough to pay full price for something like that!

 

[Guest]

I'm still looking for a laptop :/

I was going for the Dell but they have the Nvidia 128 MB card is this good?

Or should I look at some more?

 

[Yoda117]

Personal opinion:

NVIDIA card isn't bad... but I wasn't impressed with it. It also seems that NVIDIA has irritated some game designers, which doesn't seem to be a good thing to me.

I like the Mobility Raedon 9600 better. There are some great reviews for it on Tom's Hardware, and some British mags. That's the card I'll be using in my laptop when I can get it.

But like my pap always told me, opinions are kinda like a$$es, everyone has one and they all usually stink.