The Alienware Area-51 7500 lands with Core 2 Duo and new chassis

Perhaps the most notable things about the revamped Alienware Area-51 7500 are its new mood-lighting adjustable case and P2 chassis. The AlienFX case sports user-adjustable lighting in six different areas of its tool-less entry chassis, while the inside adds additional slots and inputs for the h@x0r in you - complete with AlienWare's AlienIce cooling system. Specs-wise, the new 7500 (an apparent bump from the MJ-12 7500) packs a dual core Intel Core 2 Duo processor or 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 (at the high end - default config is a Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz), nVIDIA graphics (options include both single and SLI configurations, with up to dual 512MB GeForce 7900 GTXs), and as much as 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM. The new machine starts at $1,799, but our configured uber-rig (with 30-inch LCD, mind you) got us over $6,800 within just a few radio button clicks. Do your credit card a favor and take it out to dinner before you lay this one on it.

[Thanks, David]

[Ethan @ Jul 27th 2006 10:31PM]

Scroll down to "Chassis Comparison" and take a look at the "competitors". I'm feeling some family tension, heh.

[a soggy waffle @ Jul 27th 2006 11:05PM]

lol i laughed at that "chassis comperison", but man whoever buys this is so noob, if your going to spend more than 500 on a computer build it yourself, its not hard and youll save some serious cash

[architect.zero @ Jul 27th 2006 11:44PM]

Dude, you're getting a Dell, er... Alienware!

[Matthew Castillo @ Jul 27th 2006 11:55PM]

Seriously... Who buys these? I mean, most people that are able to appreciate a machine as finely tuned as the Alienware lineup should be able to buy these components, and create their own killer machine at a fraction of the cost. (grabs an empty creditcard anyway)

[MiTHRANDiR @ Jul 28th 2006 1:17AM]

LOL @ chassis comparison and the 'competitor' :D

When Dell first bought alienware i thought they'd ditch the XPS.. I wonder why they didn't

I'd love to have an alienware case, too bad they don't sell them separately.. I'm not too keen on paying loads of extra just because you get a cool case and it's built ready for you.

[chris @ Jul 28th 2006 1:25AM]

Maybe it is just the high end but I have been pricing middle of the road rigs and I cant save money by choosing to build it myself over dell.

[Dukrous @ Jul 28th 2006 2:55AM]

Holy crap...it's a cylon head!

[Revrant @ Jul 28th 2006 4:22AM]

I've always appreciated the beauty of Alienware's casing, some have called it "Cheap(Yeah, Go back to your Tacked-on-to-aluminum slips of spikey-edged "plastic")", but I've felt up a few of these(Oh, behave) and they feel wonderful, solid, smooth...Dare I say sexy? Honestly, the inside is irrelevant to me, as Cases go, I love these new ones just as much as the old ones.

It's such a horrible shame Alienware doesn't produce them for public consumption(And molestation!).

[Spluch @ Jul 28th 2006 5:03AM]

Cool design. It reminds me of the USR robots carrier vehicle in the movie I-Robot. Pretty similar, don't you think. ^_*

[Bigfat @ Jul 28th 2006 8:10AM]

Man, Windows XP must SCREAM with 4GBs of RAM.

I mean, it supports it, right?

[verticalforce @ Jul 28th 2006 9:41AM]

I'd be pretty tempted if it wasn't for their bad reputation of customer service.

Some even says that DELL customer dept is miles better than alienware. *gasp*

[BBXboy @ Jul 28th 2006 11:21AM]

Are you kidding me? That chassis looks absolutely ridiculous... who did they get to design this thing, Hasbro? Talk about a step in the wrong direction.

[WhyNot @ Jul 28th 2006 12:01PM]

looks like a Cylon...have to add some red LCDs to the front of it.

[Simon @ Jul 28th 2006 12:42PM]

Actually, you can buy the case!!!

There is a company in china I have seen on an export site that sells alienware cases for anyone willing to risk the wraith of alien ware and actually import it.

Check it on www.alibaba.com

[Derwin @ Jul 29th 2006 2:22PM]

When I first saw the lineup, I thought they were DAPs. Come to think of it, those would be some awesome DAPs.

[Mike @ Aug 7th 2006 4:57PM]

There are a lot of comments stating that building your own PC would save you so much money... I have always built my PC's, but if you calculate the costs of building your PC with the same exact hardware as in the Alienware computers, it's really not that much more.

So before anyone posts another comment about building your own would be so much cheaper... Prove it. List the parts with cost, including links to where they can be purchased (nothing like I found it on the sidewalk or some BS like that), and how long it took you to find all the parts. I bet you would probably end up paying more or near to the Alienware prize for an equally configured PC.

[Carlos @ Sep 3rd 2007 10:37AM]

I did the calculation and you are wrong! I went to newegg and this is what I was able to quote.

480.43 Alienware case (includes shipping and tax)
179.99 Memory 2 GB
480.00 CPU Intel Core 2 Q6600
269.00 Mobo Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6
204.99 Video Card
219.98 2 500 GB Hard Drive
73.98 2 DVD-R 20X

Total $1908.37

Add $200.00 more if you want/need the latest nvidia card and a few more bucks for shipping and maybe couple more fans.

[J-Mann @ Sep 18th 2006 4:25PM]

I know most people are skeptical of alienware, as they probably are with most pre-built pc companies. No, you don't need to be a Noob to buy one either. I think the majority of people who DON'T have problems just dont write to a forum about how good it is. Most forums are about complaining. Last year, I bought a car, an eclipse, despite its bad reputation for being a lemon. Mine works fine. Alienware is the same way. I bought a dell laptop and the thing has been a lemon since the day I bought it. Then I changed to alienware, a area 51 7500 series. Works great. NO PROBLEMS. The problem with most people is that they are either computer illiterate, or just had bad luck. ALL pc companies have bad 27/7 phone service. Get over it. Dell kept me on the phone for 3 hours. BS!

FYI: I have built many a pc in my time already, (Dell I have is a laptop, different story), and price wise, you do pay more for an alienware than building it yourself. BUT...unless your in need of every penny, you only save about $200 dollars if you make it yourself. Plus you won't get the nice alienware case.

Yeah, pc's will always cost too much. If you want the best, be prepared to pay for it.

[BigJoe @ Oct 9th 2006 10:14PM]

Caveat emptor, folks. I bought one of these (also an uber-rig) and waited almost eight weeks for delivery. Once received, it became obvious within the first hour that 1) the mobo was faulty and 2) one or more of their drivers were corrupted. And it took over 12 hours on the phone with tech support to get them to acknowledge the system was goofed up. Still not working. Not a pleasant experience. This configuration needs another 6-12 months in engineering to exorcise the bugs. P.S., when it did run, the speed and the 30" display were awesome.