Alienware - yes/no?

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LoneGunman

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I see that the basic Alienware rigs start at pretty much the same area as the regular slightly high-end laptops, in the US. Apart from the obvious bragging rights from actually having one of the Alienware laptops - gaming-wise, are they a better machine than some of the normal laptops?

I'm not trying to start any flamewars here - I'm just eyeing picking up a second laptop in a couple of months time in the US, and if I'm potentially in for up to $1300 - I was just seeing that the Alienware range low end rigs are within reach at this already fairly heavy price.
I'm not the heavy hardcore gamer that I used to be, and you folks here undoubtedly have a better take on the overall scene as it is now.
I am after a laptop though - prefer to pay more for the portability, rather than a desktop box - and was wondering peoples take on Alienware. Although I'm a weird gamer, I'd rather have heavy duty specs and a small screen (thus making the overall thing more portable and less of a dead weight to carry around..) The small VAIO's are just the right size, but massively overpriced..
 
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Hmm.

Well the general consencus in the US is that they are over-priced - however I bet they don't take into consideration a nice 3 year warranty or the best-customer service in the world.

However since you're going to be in SA, the service won't really be used so I suggest not getting an Alienware.
 
..but the expressions on peoples faces if you pull out an Alienware rig to play your old retro Duke Nukems and Quake 1/2 and various strategy games.. priceless :)

Most of the 'gaming' laptops though have these huge damn screens, which I'm not that into - and it causes a serious weight problem if you're carrying it around through airports and cities.. hence the urge for something tiny with a punch.. The Toshiba Portage (sp?) look like they're in the useable range, but again, price-wise its a little crazy..
 
All the alienware laptops for $1300- have intel extreme graphics 2...
what a joke
 
LGM, multi-faceted - yeah !

So, an ipod is not an expression, but an alienware laptop is ? :D

Fair enough, an alienware laptop over here is just not known - I'm wondering how many folks have actually ever seen an alienware product except in photos.

My take on this is that you can just do what they did in that cheesy movie - buy a laptop with the same specs as an alienware one, and then spraypaint it !

After that, you can go to a phonebooth, "hack" into it, and download DVD quality streaming media over a 56k line :)

Seriously tho, to me, the ultimate gaming portable rig would fit in a small backpack.

It would be a the smallest form factor you could get, along with the smallest flat panel monitor, a downscaled keyboard (anything from F12 onward is chopped off) and a small wireless mouse.
 
Most people would pay through the nose for the alienware case. So the resale value of the system after it gets out dated and you want a new one will be pretty good. Unless u wanna keep it.
 
y not get the gaming laptop from Dell? Or the Acer Ferrari 4000 which runs on AMD cpu's which kick (_x_) But then...they're abit more than $1300 :-/
I was planning to get a Acer Ferrari 4000, but considering my current Toshiba laptop is still working fine I decided not to. Or there's the Asus range of laptops which are pretty good. My bro got a W3 and a W5 for his work is it's sleek & sweet. Although not much for gaming though, but I'm sure there was some with ATI graphics card in some models.
 
spec wise an alienware laptop is no different from any others...heck, if you search around you will find their area51 gaming laptop is a rebrand of another "not so popular" make....same machine, same casings....'cept alienware get them painted in cabbage green, blood red and sick-yellow.

oh yeah, I forgot...you also get a free t-shirt with an alienware laptop. oh goody.
If spending an extra $500 (and wearing a t-shirt to prove it) is a sign of intelligence then I would rather be stupid.
 
ummm there is not much difference with laptops i think apart from the ferrari range

i do agree with whoever said the ferrari acer is a really brand and amd rocks just make sure its got good graphics

1300$ aint gonna buy you nothing in this country will be normal run of the mill stuff

prolly 1.6 512 meg 60 gig kuk vga

you could always get toshiba 17" monitor with ati x700 128 meg for a cool 18500.00
 
you'll get fully raped by import duties though! i know a guy who payed R27000 for a laptop (!) and it IS quite a laptop, but imagine the desktop pc you could get for that!!!
 
pay 18500 for a laptop? Naa, even though Toshiba's are in the $3000 range, I dont want a 17' screen - current top of range gaming laptops (CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com/Notebooks/4521-6527_7-5021302-4.html?tag=dir.tp
range from just $1300 (R8313) and up - but most have the big screen, which makes things klunky for travelling.
Averatec 1000 is closer to the screen size I'm comfy with, or maybe one of the small VAIO's.
Bear in mind what $1000 buys you in the US, is not what its equivalent (R6,406.) can buy you here. So a $1500 laptop, here in ripoff country will sell for 18 grand easily.

I paid $1100 (R7 grand) for my HP zv6130us, 64bit etc etc a few weeks ago, locally I've gotten it priced in the area of 16 - 20 grand. Its a nice powerful PC, but too heavy for travelling..
 
[QUOTE/]Specs: 10.4 lbs, AMD Athlon 64 (2.2 GHz) , 1 GB DDR SDRAM , 60 GB IDE , 15.4 in TFT active matrix , Microsoft Windows XP Professional
[/QUOTE]

not bad for $1300
 
yeah, trouble is, its a heavy monster - so its practically portable for short distances only, and that 15'4 measurement, translates to, (looking at it from the front) - 36cm from E -W across, and about 29cm N - S.. So although they're not saying its a desktop replacement, it basically is.. Not a comfy size to carry through airports, and trudge through cities for full days at a time - so although I bought it to use in the US, its gonna stay here and I'll get something much much smaller when I'm there..
 
Damn, all this talk about laptops and I'm still no closer to finding a good deal.
Fact is, I can't find anywhere in the USA that will ship a laptop to the UK - I've even phoned various online stores and it seems there's obviously a trade "block" in place.

Laptops in the UK in terms of exchange rate, aren't a great deal cheaper than here.

Looks like I'll be stuck spending more than I wanted for a decent laptop.
Hey LGM, fancy selling that shiny new HP ? - I'll give you R8000 for it :D

... ok, didn't think so ...

EDIT:

Actually, doing some more shopping around on Froogle, looks like I can pick up the equiv of a R9000 laptop here, for R5500 in the UK !

Got my eyes on this at the moment :-

http://www.yorkshirecomputers.co.uk/cgi-bin/tekbros/6000004.html?mv_pc=00015

Although, because SAIX are a bunch of retarded gerbil stuffing gonad scratching turd brains, international is virtually inaccessible right now - looking for a shop in London with equiv price. "Shop Acer" in the UK has currently taken 25 minutes to load one page - what fun !
 
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LGM, you might be interested in this little bit of information....

But I was in the USA and the warranty of 3 years on all parts no matter where in the world [they actually send the part to you in a package and you return the broken part in the same box] was too good to pass. This process is done in the USA in 24hrs [to get to SA might take a day or so more]. Also you pay no VAT on items being sent out of the country for repair [I did not pay VAT bringing the machine in also].
Click to expand...

Source: http://games.saix.net/cgi-bin/sgsbb/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=240;t=31107;st=50 [last post]
 
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