Too pricy. If it had a 74GB raptor for boot and a 3x400GB RAID5 array for storage, and upped it to 2 gigs of ram, I'd say it's a pretty decent price (trying to do on-the-fly USD to GBP conversions in my head throws that off though, although it does end up rather 1:1ish I guess). I'm surprised the components are so... commercial. I'd have thought they'd have at least made a custom SLI board - I don't think most of their other mobos are off-the-shelf but rather their own OEM design, right?
I'm surprised how close I am to the bit-rig! Really only the proc is different... me with my pathetic 3000+ (even OC'd to like 3600+).
I guess about 25% of the price tag going to assembly and support is reasonable though. When you think of it that way rather than 700 pounds (I think 150 on the case seems a bit much, too, but what can I say, mine cost $250) it doesn't seem AS inflated.
actually, just priced out a system like what I said it should have (74g raptor, 3x400gb, 2gb ram, otherwise same specs w/ os w/out peripherals) and it came out to $3790! Of course I wouldn't be getting a bulk-rate discount, and the premium from 300gb drives to 400 is over $100 a drive
only to bad they didnt put in an audigy card with the front bay or something so you have the extra audio inputs.
Here i am playing bf2 with my 2500+ and 9800pro :(
There are very few people out there who can truly afford super high end alienware rigs. Most enthusiasts who want such a system will usually end up building it themselves, and at savings of 700 pounds, thats almost $1200 USD; I could buy a 24" Widescreen LCD monitor with that kind of money, and still have some leftover.
I cant fault alienware for quality in any aspect though; their machines really are top notch; however, you pay through the nose, and it costs you both legs. Hmm, new rig or a year's rent?
Hey, good article. Glad to see Bit-Tech reviewing pre-built systems.
I have a quick question for everyone out there that say that the systems are too expensive Q: Everyone says that it is cheaper to build it yourself, and it is, but your forgetting that what your also buying is tech support
How much would yall expect/ be willing to pay for the support?
if i have an issue with a piece of hardware i'll RMA it back and use a spare/do without. Most hardware comes with 3yr warrenty (processor, monitor, sound card). and most branded RAM has a lifetime warrenty
If it's software i'll use google.
Both options are free to use
The 700 quid saving on labour and service sounds good to me
The thing I hate about buying from places like this is that they never have any good looking cases to choose from. Call me old fashioned, but I like my cases to be very big. When I think power, I think big. These things are just too small.
I've only ever seen one large OEM that I would even consider buying from due to their cases. VooDoo. Massive cases, and they look very good. Well, their old one's at least.
I agree on everything that fev said.
I don't see the reason nor have the money to pay for tech support, especially when it is that expensive. Between when something is not working on your own system you have to spend some time to figure some things out but you learn a lot.
It's just like an Ipod, It's for joe public with too much money who wants to tell his friends " Look at me, my computer can beat yours" and who has no Idea what is inside of it, but only knows that he spent a years rent on it, so it must be good. It's like buying a dell but from a respectable company, that knows how to make fast computers. If i wanted a cheap computer, I could undercut Dell 25% at least, but Joe Public doesn't know what a hard drive is, so he buys a Dell.
Summary: It's a good computer for someone that never wants to (or probably shouldn't) open it.
Originally Posted by Go4t its just the same old dragon clone with more plastic crap on it
Not true, look at the interior. The Dragon didn't have 120mm rear fan mount. The dragon doesn't have 6 drive-railed hard disk bays, or 4 clipped optical mounts. It didn't have the ammo rail for screws. I know: I've got one sitting next to me right now. It may be based, in styling, on the old dragon - but it aint the old dragon, it's a million times better.
Originally Posted by thecrownles It's just like an Ipod, It's for joe public with too much money who wants to tell his friends " Look at me, my computer can beat yours" and who has no Idea what is inside of it, but only knows that he spent a years rent on it, so it must be good. It's like buying a dell but from a respectable company, that knows how to make fast computers. If i wanted a cheap computer, I could undercut Dell 25% at least, but Joe Public doesn't know what a hard drive is, so he buys a Dell.
Summary: It's a good computer for someone that never wants to (or probably shouldn't) open it.
A years rent? Where the hell do you live, in a box? :D
And could you *really* undercut Dell on a cheap computer? I'd be real interested to see your numbers.
However, I could definitely undercut Alienware. I guess what's hard is that they sell these things as "Enthusiast systems."
Now, to me, an enthusiast is someone who knows what's really going on in there. That means they can probably build/tweak, etc. I think of a car enthusiast as someone who goes out and buys a '69 corvette or mustang, or an 84 trans-am, and takes the whole thing apart and rebuilds it in his garage. For an enthusiast, the work is a labour of love...and they'll spend all day monkeying with it, sending off the valve covers for annodizing, performing their own port & polish, installing their turbo kit and (if nuts) their nitrous. When he goes in for dinner, or to bed, he thinks about his next day's work on it, how he can make it even better.
The dude who revvs up next to you in his 2004 Ferrari, made of plastic and with an engine compartment so small that he couldn't fit a hand in if he tried, is not an enthusiast. He's a collector. He doesn't really know what's in the car that makes it run, or why it's as fast as it is. He just knows it does 0-60 in no time, and he looks really cool while doing it. It is what it is, and Ferrari knows well enough without him meddling. And he pays dearly for the privelage. But when he parks that car in his garage (with his others) and that door shuts, he forgets about it until he comes back out there.
Alienware confuses enthusiast with collector, and they cater to the latter. An enthusiast makes a trans-am that eats the Ferrari for lunch and chews up a Viper for dinner. We select things based on their tune-able full power, not what they come out of the shop as.
Knowledge will beat financing any day. Long live the enthusiast and his trans-am.
Of course, I did enter that Alienware competition...I'll scrap the whole thing for parts. :)
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I'm surprised how close I am to the bit-rig! Really only the proc is different... me with my pathetic 3000+ (even OC'd to like 3600+).
I guess about 25% of the price tag going to assembly and support is reasonable though. When you think of it that way rather than 700 pounds (I think 150 on the case seems a bit much, too, but what can I say, mine cost $250) it doesn't seem AS inflated.
actually, just priced out a system like what I said it should have (74g raptor, 3x400gb, 2gb ram, otherwise same specs w/ os w/out peripherals) and it came out to $3790! Of course I wouldn't be getting a bulk-rate discount, and the premium from 300gb drives to 400 is over $100 a drive
only to bad they didnt put in an audigy card with the front bay or something so you have the extra audio inputs.
Here i am playing bf2 with my 2500+ and 9800pro :(
I cant fault alienware for quality in any aspect though; their machines really are top notch; however, you pay through the nose, and it costs you both legs. Hmm, new rig or a year's rent?
And doesn't even come with a monitor, keybaord, etc...?
I have a quick question for everyone out there that say that the systems are too expensive
Q: Everyone says that it is cheaper to build it yourself, and it is, but your forgetting that what your also buying is tech support
How much would yall expect/ be willing to pay for the support?
if i have an issue with a piece of hardware i'll RMA it back and use a spare/do without. Most hardware comes with 3yr warrenty (processor, monitor, sound card). and most branded RAM has a lifetime warrenty
If it's software i'll use google.
Both options are free to use
The 700 quid saving on labour and service sounds good to me
I've only ever seen one large OEM that I would even consider buying from due to their cases. VooDoo. Massive cases, and they look very good. Well, their old one's at least.
I don't see the reason nor have the money to pay for tech support, especially when it is that expensive. Between when something is not working on your own system you have to spend some time to figure some things out but you learn a lot.
What! No way! Those cases look ace :D
Each to their own though I suppose ;)
Yeah, they look good, but they just are not big enough.
Summary: It's a good computer for someone that never wants to (or probably shouldn't) open it.
Not true, look at the interior. The Dragon didn't have 120mm rear fan mount. The dragon doesn't have 6 drive-railed hard disk bays, or 4 clipped optical mounts. It didn't have the ammo rail for screws. I know: I've got one sitting next to me right now. It may be based, in styling, on the old dragon - but it aint the old dragon, it's a million times better.
A years rent? Where the hell do you live, in a box? :D
And could you *really* undercut Dell on a cheap computer? I'd be real interested to see your numbers.
However, I could definitely undercut Alienware. I guess what's hard is that they sell these things as "Enthusiast systems."
Now, to me, an enthusiast is someone who knows what's really going on in there. That means they can probably build/tweak, etc. I think of a car enthusiast as someone who goes out and buys a '69 corvette or mustang, or an 84 trans-am, and takes the whole thing apart and rebuilds it in his garage. For an enthusiast, the work is a labour of love...and they'll spend all day monkeying with it, sending off the valve covers for annodizing, performing their own port & polish, installing their turbo kit and (if nuts) their nitrous. When he goes in for dinner, or to bed, he thinks about his next day's work on it, how he can make it even better.
The dude who revvs up next to you in his 2004 Ferrari, made of plastic and with an engine compartment so small that he couldn't fit a hand in if he tried, is not an enthusiast. He's a collector. He doesn't really know what's in the car that makes it run, or why it's as fast as it is. He just knows it does 0-60 in no time, and he looks really cool while doing it. It is what it is, and Ferrari knows well enough without him meddling. And he pays dearly for the privelage. But when he parks that car in his garage (with his others) and that door shuts, he forgets about it until he comes back out there.
Alienware confuses enthusiast with collector, and they cater to the latter. An enthusiast makes a trans-am that eats the Ferrari for lunch and chews up a Viper for dinner. We select things based on their tune-able full power, not what they come out of the shop as.
Knowledge will beat financing any day. Long live the enthusiast and his trans-am.
Of course, I did enter that Alienware competition...I'll scrap the whole thing for parts. :)