Alienware - Not worth the money...

Just quickly worked out how much an Alienware Area 51 would cost to actually build using parts from Newegg.

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition Gulftown 3.46GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80613I7990X

Newegg.com - EVGA 03G-P3-1596-AR GeForce GTX 590 (Fermi) 3072MB 768-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBSR

Newegg.com - ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

I put together some decent parts that are more or less the same as an Area 51's and the total price ended up at about $3026. Sure, I didn't add in a case, optical & CD drive or water cooling but even if that adds up to about $1000 (which it wouldn't) you would still be saving a $1000. I knew that Alienware was a rip off, but not by this much. And yet, one of my friends is insistent that they're better then actually building one yourself.

^True. But unlike Ferrari's where they are REALLY worth it, PC Builde brands are not. Basicaly, the only thing that you buy from them are the caseb because that's the only one they make themselves.

With something like an Alienware, you pay more because
1). You want warranty support from a manufacturer on the system as a whole
2). You want your system prebuilt and ready for you..(some don't enjoy assembling it)
3). You want the operating system installed and licensed.
4). You know that the parts are compatible and will work together, if not, you get it replaced.
5). You are willing to pay more for the unique case

Machines like this aren't always a ripoff. Let's say that buying from Alienware costs you $800 more. Let's say you are a lawyer and charge $200 per hour. So, unless you can spec it and build it in under 4 hours, it might be best to buy it prebuilt and charge a client for 4 hours of work instead. Everything is relative.

Also, with this reasoning, they are ripping you off even more. You are quoting prices you can get the parts at retail. They no doubt get them wholesale in bulk, and pay much, much less. Of course there is professional assembly (and labor cost), OS installation and configuration, burn in testing, and warranty coverage as mentioned.

Also, a lot of people would not even attempt to assemble their own PC. So ripoff is too strong, but almost always you can assemble a PC yourself cheaper then purchasing, and get exactly the parts you want, and the satisfaction. A Guy

Not everyone are PC geeks like many of us here.
I mean, most of us here can ospend an entire day building and tweaking on a new build.
Then another few days tweaking (OCing) and bench testing etc. and simply have a blast doing it, and even talking about it.


But theres a large amount who simply want it to work the instant they get it home and press the power button.
They just want Facebook & YouTube ASAP and maybe Twitter about thier new PC.

The large majority of the time, they only know its a PC, without a clue whats inside. Most likely could care less either.

^...and those kinds of user would have no need for Alienware at the first place

pparks1 said:

With something like an Alienware, you pay more because
1). You want warranty support from a manufacturer on the system as a whole
2). You want your system prebuilt and ready for you..(some don't enjoy assembling it)
3). You want the operating system installed and licensed.
4). You know that the parts are compatible and will work together, if not, you get it replaced.
5). You are willing to pay more for the unique case

Machines like this aren't always a ripoff. Let's say that buying from Alienware costs you $800 more. Let's say you are a lawyer and charge $200 per hour. So, unless you can spec it and build it in under 4 hours, it might be best to buy it prebuilt and charge a client for 4 hours of work instead. Everything is relative.

I agree. Finding parts that work together can be a real pain sometimes. I spent a whole day making the perfect supercomputer (specs are listed in my system specs). It would have been done much sooner if I wasn't on a tight budget (I already had the keyboard, mouse, PSU, and GPU)

I can also say that with Alienware, you don't have to worry about DOA parts (which are a pain as well )

However, I don't believe all of their cases are unique. Some are just generic Cooler Masters.

The Alienware brand exists because there is a market for it. It may be small, hence the exorbitant prices, but people are happy to pay for it.

Not me however.

I splurged on a $3.4k Clevo Sager gaming laptop. That's with a $250 laptop 'backpack' that has more pockets than Mohammed has followers. Same spec Alienware, I was nudging 5k - and that didn't include the 'megabag'. (seriously, this bag is more impressive than the laptop )

You're paying for the brand. It's the same deal with Apple.