Alienware - Not worth the money...

[JaidynM]

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. :sarc:

 

[Belgarionbg]

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. :sarc:

You realize it so late? Mac are the same s***.
The thing is that most people want something shiny and heavily "branded". So in the ears of normal people Alienware or Mac sounds like Ferrari. Thats why they buy them without second tough.
Here, in my country we have one proverb: "На брашното евтин, на триците скъп." or "Cheap flour, bran expensive."
Its a way to say that most people don`t realize what they missing

 

[arkhi]

^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.

 

[pparks1]

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.

 

[A Guy]

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

 

[seavixen32]

It's horses for courses really.

I wouldn't dream of building my own car because I wouldn't be saving that much money and I'd wasting a heck of a lot of my valuable time putting it together with no sort of guarantee if things went wrong.

My current computer was bought off the shelf from a reputable reseller, it came with a free three-year pick up and return warranty and was a case of switch on and start computing right away. It has an i7 CPU, good graphics and plenty of RAM and cost me under £1000, so to try and build the same machine with all the problems I might meet along the way makes it a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

I had a problem with it recently, but all it took was one phone call to have the computer picked up, repaired and returned the next day - I can live with that.

 

[Wishmaster]

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.

 

[arkhi]

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

 

[longhorn]

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.

 

[smarteyeball]

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.

 

[JaidynM]

Sorry, I should rephrase what I said. For us computer geeks, Alienware is overpriced. Sure, if you can't be bothered or think it too risky that's fine. But if it's gonna save me a 1000 bucks, I'd definitely have a crack at making one. If you can make a computer, or even think you can, you would most likely be better of with a custom build.

 

[Zepher]

Not all of the Alienware machines are extremely overpriced.
There was a deal on a Alienware Aurora Desktop, i7 2600K based machine recently that was available for $1000 before tax.
I just priced an i7 2600K, Asus Mobo, and 8GB of ram and it was $530 just for those 3 parts., so now you only have $470 to get a Fancy case, an 875Watt PSU, GTX580 video card, 1TB hard disk, dvd drive, liquid cpu cooler, mouse and keyboard, and a Windows 7 license.

btw, the GTX580 itself is $460, so there is no way to build this cheaper than buying that Alienware.

Alienware Aurora Desktop Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 1 $1,289.00
Alienware Aurora Desktop
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU Liquid Cooling
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
1.5 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
Wave Systems Software
24X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
1 TB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Alienware AVATAR 1
Alienware TactX Keyboard
Matte Stealth Black 875W Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
125V Power Cord
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 processor (8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
Alienware TactX Mouse
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (4 DIMMs)
Image Restore Software
64BIT Operating System

Save 20% on any Dell Outlet Home Desktops with this coupon! - $257.80

Alien Aurora R3: 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, Basic Service after Remote Diagnosis (Included In Price) $0.00 1 $0.00
Subtotal: $1,031.20
Shipping and Handling: $29.99
Shipping Discount: -$29.99
Sales Tax: $85.07
Total Amount: $1,116.27

 

[pparks1]

I have certainly seen instances where I cannot build a machine with the same specs and save any money (unless I hunt for the absolutely cheapest part that I can find and order from 1/2 dozen vendors). I've actually recommended on several occasions that people at work buy a particular Dell because with a free monitor, or free video card upgrade or the like that I cannot build it cheaper. You gotta look around.

 

[bug67]

The thing about Alienware is they aren't a "boutique" builder anymore. They are just Dells with a very high price tag. Plus, you get the commercial bloatware you get from corporate builders.

I went with MAINGEAR. I absolutely LOVE the experience! Best machine I have ever had. Expensive? That's relative. I don't think it was for what I got.

It was a toss up between MAINGEAR and Origin PC. Turns out Origin are the folks from Alienware before the Dell buy out. Nice machines. Fairly priced too, IMO.

 

[JaidynM]

Not all of the Alienware machines are extremely overpriced.
There was a deal on a Alienware Aurora Desktop, i7 2600K based machine recently that was available for $1000 before tax.
I just priced an i7 2600K, Asus Mobo, and 8GB of ram and it was $530 just for those 3 parts., so now you only have $470 to get a Fancy case, an 875Watt PSU, GTX580 video card, 1TB hard disk, dvd drive, liquid cpu cooler, mouse and keyboard, and a Windows 7 license.

btw, the GTX580 itself is $460, so there is no way to build this cheaper than buying that Alienware.

Alienware Aurora Desktop Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 1 $1,289.00
Alienware Aurora Desktop
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU Liquid Cooling
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
1.5 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
Wave Systems Software
24X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
1 TB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Alienware AVATAR 1
Alienware TactX Keyboard
Matte Stealth Black 875W Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
125V Power Cord
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 processor (8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
Alienware TactX Mouse
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (4 DIMMs)
Image Restore Software
64BIT Operating System

Save 20% on any Dell Outlet Home Desktops with this coupon! - $257.80

Alien Aurora R3: 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, Basic Service after Remote Diagnosis (Included In Price) $0.00 1 $0.00
Subtotal: $1,031.20
Shipping and Handling: $29.99
Shipping Discount: -$29.99
Sales Tax: $85.07
Total Amount: $1,116.27

It's not all Alienware. Perhaps just a couple of the 'high-end' products. This particular computer doesn't look overpriced in the slightest.

I have certainly seen instances where I cannot build a machine with the same specs and save any money (unless I hunt for the absolutely cheapest part that I can find and order from 1/2 dozen vendors). I've actually recommended on several occasions that people at work buy a particular Dell because with a free monitor, or free video card upgrade or the like that I cannot build it cheaper. You gotta look around.

I agree entirely. Some manufacturers give great deals on particular products while their high-end products are sold at ridiculously high prices.

Anyway, there's always custom builders out there if you don't want to do it yourself. A friend of mine went to such a store and chose pointed at the parts he wanted and they put it together in a few days. He built a decent system with 8GB RAM, 2TB HDD, i7-2600k and an HD 6870 for just over a thousand bucks.

 

[Windows i7 920]

I went with iBuyPower and love both the laptop and desktop I got from them. They have live sales assistance too in case you have questions about stuff like what PSU you should get, etc.