Alienware Laptops - Worth The Cost?

[jvivlemore]

Ok - I am looking to upgrade my laptop soon. I just noticed the new Sim City game will be coming out this year so thought about getting something I know would run that with no issues since it's not a MAC game and my desktop is an iMac. I use my laptop to also do mobile DJ work.

I'm currently running an ancient Dell Inspiron 6000 with 1.5ghz Pentium M and 512mb of RAM. I can't even believe it turns on still after being made in about '02 or '03.

With that being said the Alienware line has always been appealing to me just because they look awesome because of the lights, etc. My question is this. Are they worth the expense or are they overpriced because of the "lights, etc"? I don't mind paying a little extra but if I can get the same specs for a grand less I'd rather do that obviously. These would definitely look great while doing an event.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Nope. Overpriced.

They look cool but not worth the cost

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yesterday I priced a 17in Alienware with a similar speced Asus G75. I could find the Asus selling on other sites with better video card, more memory, and more hard drive space for $450 less than the Alienware.

 

[terpsy]

I love my M14X

I was caught between getting another Macbook Pro and the Alienware.

When you compare them to the competition in the same brackets, I choose the
Alienware and do not regret my choice. I looked at the Sager, Asus, etc.. but
I did enjoy the finish of the Alienware better. And when comparing Price, Alienware
may be a little more than those, and less than the Macbook Pro, but the 14 inch laptop
is great for mobility and performance.

I got the i7 in mine, and everyone will say you can't play Battlefield 3 in High or Ultra settings (that is true) but with a mix of high and medium the game is absolutely beautiful
in those settings. I also play A LOT of Diablo 3 and WoW, and the laptop is just GREAT in those settings. I have not had a game perform poorly, or where I had to go to Low settings in any enviornment.

I will say to get the 1600x900 screen without question. The i5 performs excellent as well now that they have moved to the Ivy Bridge version.

I saved over a grand, and got a loaded M14X, and Love it.

The Macbook pro still has every other laptop maker on looks, but that is where it ends.

For the inner workings, you get much more bang for your buck. I look at Apple products
like Gucci or Prada. You are paying more for the looks, as the internals are the same as
everyone else's. I had a Macbook Pro for 6 years, and two separate models. When I do replace my Alienware in the future, it is the first place I will look to.

It is much easier to swallow the idea of possibly replacing my laptop in 3 years when I only spent $1300, then having the comparable MAC version cost me $2200-2400. Let's face it, laptop can last longer than 3 years, but that seems to be about the period the
laptops take a full step forward in power/options.

 

[jvivlemore]

Great to have insight from someone who compared Apple vs Alienware. It's a tough call. My machine is so ancient at this point any laptop would honestly be an upgrade. How much extra did the "Alienware" name and look seem to run you when compared to computers with identical parts?

 

[Rubycon]

Don't care for them at all. Run very hot, loud, battery life is laughable and chassis quality is non existent. If you care about these than a macbook pro will suit you well. It's really two notebooks in one when you consider bootcamp fully supports 7 64bit.

 

[terpsy]

2 notebooks in one? You mean use half you available space for Windows as Mac can't do what you want.

Perhaps you haven't tried to game in bootcamp, that fan gets louder than my Alienware and delivers 1/2 the FPS.

I have Never been a fan of Bootcamp, I adopted the rule of if I have to run Windows, and all the software I need is available in Windows, than why own a Mac?

OS X is nice, but I do not find it better than Windows 7.

The alienware name didn't cost me much more than a competitor.

Call them, look for codes online, and check to see if your company can qualify for EPP Discount. Almost ALL companies have an agreement with Dell. Do not just build and place your order online.

Also, they have EXCELLENT Refurb's available. They carry the same warranty and you can normally catch one for a Great price.

They do rival Apple there in their Refurb's, and even offer a better discount. Plus, you can find a coupon for a discount on those as well.

 

[kami]

If you ask me the best value right now is the Asus G75/G55 and MSI GT70/GT60. There's a lot of models with different specs.

Cooling wise Asus has the edge because they are relatively quiet under load plus they added easy access to the 2 fans to clean dust out of them. The MSI ones also have good cooling. Both laptops make it easy to swap HDDs and RAM, but only the MSI supports user swappable CPUs and GPUs as far as I know.

Both also have pretty nice matte screens, at least the 17in versions. Not IPS but nice.

As for GPUs keep in mind only the 660m is 28nm Kepler. The 670m is still Fermi but is faster than 660m by about 15-20%. Cooling isn't a problem though.

 

[fralexandr]

there are some dell outlet coupons if you don't mind going used/refurbed
i think they still come with a 1 year warranty
http://content.dell.com/us/en/dfh/d/campaigns/back_to_school_dfh.aspx?dgc=EM&cid=250646&lid=4370913
there's currently at least one 17x r3, and several 14x r2s available

the 15" - 17" macbook pros (17" currently discontinued though i think) win if you want nice screen quality, the extra contrast really makes a difference in how good a game looks (from a color/lighting perspective).

also the inspiron 6000 pentium M was a 2005-early 2006 model
the plastics on my m11x r1 are holding up a lot better than my inspiron 6000's did

 

[cl-scott]

I will not name any names, but I worked for a Dell ASP once upon a time, and we always had a real difficult time dealing with Alienware anything. Getting parts for those was not the same as getting parts for other Dell units, and I think most of them just got shipped off to Dell or some other third party.

I know that's not exactly what you asked, but it is an important consideration as well. If you get Brand X laptop, and it needs warranty repairs, how easy or difficult it is for a shop to get parts will have a direct impact on how fast you get your laptop back.

 

[slugg]

If you ask me the best value right now is the Asus G75/G55 and MSI GT70/GT60. There's a lot of models with different specs.

^^ This. Also, Asus's warranty is great. That's something you want in a gaming laptop that tends to heat up!

 

[Nebor]

What about the new Samsung 7 series Gamer? I have an Asus G72 and I've been thinking of upgrading.

 

[hans030390]

Don't care for them at all. Run very hot, loud, battery life is laughable and chassis quality is non existent. If you care about these than a macbook pro will suit you well. It's really two notebooks in one when you consider bootcamp fully supports 7 64bit.

Uhh...what? My experience is limited to the M11x and M14x, and those are both excellent machines. My M11x R1 ran very cool, got 8 hours of battery life (thanks to switchable GPU), and the build quality was superb once they fixed the hinge issue (and Dell was extremely helpful with this).

To the OP, the M11x and M14x are both excellent and priced well. The M11x used to be cheaper, though, but it's also become considerably more powerful with recent revisions. However, if you're planning on going with a 17"+ laptop, you can do better than Alienware from a price perspective.

I do know Asus makes solid gaming laptops as well, though I don't know of any "portable" gaming options from them compared to Alienware.

 

[Rubycon]

Just reporting my experience. Yes the dual GPU saves battery but you're not going to game on that, period. Switch it to high power mode and battery goes down like driving a truck with a 1 gallon fuel tank!

I thought the performance in boot camp was acceptable. It's a laptop! If you want the best experience you need a desktop. Again IMHO.

I'm hardly a hardcore gamer (who has the time?) but I can see a huge difference in frame rates and playability between a stoked "gaming laptop" vs. equally expensive desktop system with high end GPU, etc.

I've owned a G73 (Asus) and while I didn't really have an issue with build quality its display is horrible! Way too blue due to a poor selection in LED backlight and absolutely no way to tune it.

Admittingly I'm not crazy about the white tone produced on my MBP displays either but they are far less "blue" than the Asus.

 

[nace186]

I have the 15 inch version. It's definitely not worth the cost. The battery life is abysmal. It's big, basically it's a 15 inch screen in a 17 inch chassis. It's also heavy compare with other laptop.

 

[Skott]

Nope. Overpriced.

They look cool but not worth the cost

^ Fully agree. I'd personally go with Sager or Asus when it comes to gaming laptops.

 

[hans030390]

Just reporting my experience. Yes the dual GPU saves battery but you're not going to game on that, period. Switch it to high power mode and battery goes down like driving a truck with a 1 gallon fuel tank!

I would get around 4 hours of battery life with "regular" usage when I switched to the Nvidia GPU. Still pretty good! Any laptop will get pretty bad battery life when gaming, in my experience. I always had my M11x plugged in while gaming. Of course, why would I have the Nvidia GPU running with regular usage? I would only switch over if I needed the GPU acceleration for something temporarily if running on battery.

For reference, the first revision M11x with a C2D (overclocked at 1.7GHz through the BIOS) and a stock GT335m (it can be overclocked a good bit as well) can play games like Skyrim on medium settings. It was a fantastic portable gaming laptop for League of Legends as well. Combo that with the small form factor, the awesome battery life, low heat, no noise, etc., it was by far one of the best machines I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

Of course, I got mine refurbished (with standard warranty) for $480 after a 20% off coupon. But had I had the money, it would have totally been worth the $800-900 price for a new one at the time. At $1000+ like it is currently, it's debatable. Plus, there is another solid 11" gaming laptop recently released that many manufacturers have been selling for a lower price, I believe.

The M14x I've played with was considerably more powerful than my M11x. Super solid build quality, nice form factor and surprisingly portable, ran cool, and had automatic graphics switching (my M11x did not). It got a solid 4 hours of battery life with standard usage, which is MUCH better than a typical gaming laptop. I'm used to seeing 2-3 hours of battery life with the 17" Asus gaming laptops (may have improved in the past couple years).

Alienware really got their s*** together after Gateway, Asus, and other companies started releasing nice gaming laptops in the $800-1400 range.

EDIT: Looks like the newer Asus gaming laptops have greatly improved their battery life over the years, which is great to hear. Still, I think Alienware nailed it with their M11x and M14x. Great portable gaming laptops!

 

[atom871]

Just got a Asus G75, wow. Nicest machine i ever owned!

 

[BrightCandle]

The thing is about gaming laptops is that they aren't very good for gaming. You have to spend quite a lot before they start to get reasonable performance levels. Alienware sometimes is within the right ballpark on price considering the components, but equally they produce machines that just aren't worth the price as well. Really depends on the exact model.

 

[hyrule4927]

Don't care for them at all. Run very hot, loud, battery life is laughable and chassis quality is non existent. If you care about these than a macbook pro will suit you well. It's really two notebooks in one when you consider bootcamp fully supports 7 64bit.

For the same price as a Macbook Pro you could get an Alienware with twice the GPU power. I think Alienware is overpriced too, but buying a Mac with the intention of using it as a gaming system is just ridiculous, considering that they are extremely underpowered and have completely insufficient cooling.

 

[lakedude]

Nope. Overpriced.

They look cool but not worth the cost

Yep

Also there is really no such thing as an Alienware laptop. Someone else like Clevo makes their stuff, just like Whirlpool makes some Sears Kenmore stuff. You can always an essentially similar laptop to whatever Alienware is selling, minus the Alienware logo that signifies that you most likely paid too much.

 

[Rubycon]

For the same price as a Macbook Pro you could get an Alienware with twice the GPU power. I think Alienware is overpriced too, but buying a Mac with the intention of using it as a gaming system is just ridiculous, considering that they are extremely underpowered and have completely insufficient cooling.

I have a MBP and it plays games fine.
If you're a heavy gamer I'd forget about a laptop altogether. None are worth it and I've tried them all...

The display on the MBP for other (productive) things just blows everything else out of the water - including the Dell Precision Notebooks that cost more.

I say this from experience not just ranting or favoring a platform.

 

[Aikouka]

I prefer gaming laptops for the times when I'm on the go, and don't want to sacrifice my gaming capabilities. The nice part about Alienware is that the laptops are at least a bit customizable. The G75 is kind of disappointing since it's limited to the 660m or the 670m, but that's probably not the worst thing since the high-end nVidia mobile hardware is (at least according to Alienware's prices) ridiculously expensive.

I've mostly been using my old Dell M1530 for when I travel, but it's not that good for gaming (8600M). Honestly, I've been really tempted to pick up an ASUS Zenbook Prime recently. On my last trip, I didn't play any games at all. However, that could be related to not being interested in any games at that point or the fact that my laptop isn't that good at it.

Although, I'm using my laptop right now in bed, and as usual, the battery life is god awful. I've only been using it for about 1.5-2 hours and it's almost dead, and that's with a 9-cell battery. It'd probably be better if I turned it to low performance. That's mostly why I would like an ultrabook... it's more usable than a tablet, but still offers great battery life and an OS that will do everything that I want.

 

[Red Storm]

Alienware is overpriced and their machines are ugly. I'd rather buy a gaming laptop from Xotic/Sager/Malibal, which is precisely what I did.

 

[HaX]

Mmm if you can manage to get them for cheap there ok. I saw couple m17x r4 rocking a 7970m for as low.as 1379 shipped on dell outlet