Alienware's redesigned Area-51, Aurora, and updated M15x hands-on
By Ross Miller 
posted Sep 24th 2009 8:17AM
posted Sep 24th 2009 8:17AM
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Ugliness knows no boundaries when it comes to Alienware.
dude, not out of focus, your just scoping out your Mum
Alienware? Try Dell. Alienware's cases were always smooth and classy... this thing is just a goddamned abomination that would make even baby Jesus cry.
Their computers are starting to look more like an ugly ass alien creature than a computer...
Isn't that the point?
They're called Alienware for a reason...
"Big Ass Alienware"
But it's still an improvement over before
This case looks like its gonna explode. o.O
Mmm yes, more stupid angles and flashing lights please.
God damn do things like this make me really appreciate my Lian Li A70B case.
When my bro and I went to see about Core i7 gaming rigs we looked into Alienware and decided that the extra 1,500.00 Dollars you pay for Gingerbread and LEDs would be better spent on the hardware of the computers we wanted to build.
We built our own great rigs, had a great time and saved a bundle over...this.
Agreed, you'd have to be an idiot or just hate your parents' money to get an Alienware desktop. You can get a knockout rig at this point for so much less by just doing it yourself or shopping around.
Agreed, although i would venture to guess that to some, the alienware tax is worth the simplicity of not dealing with building process. I would like to have a decent gaming even though i have absolutely zero interest in building it myself.
that simply isn't true. here's a breakdown of what it would cost to build a system direct from newegg, not counting the build time.
decent mobo - $150
top end gpu - $300
ram 6gb ddr3 - $130
HDD - $80
PSU - $100
case - $100
core i7 920 CPU - ~$300
windows 7 - $100
mouse/keyboard - $50
total plus tax/shipping - ~$1400
same system from alienware ~$1600
you also get liquid cooling and a 1 year onsite warranty. alienware isn't that bad of a deal these days.
@mike-
I get what you're saying, but as of tomorrow when my 2nd 4850 arrives, I'll have an i7 920 with crossfire'd 4850s for $1k. 500gb HD, 3gb of DDR3 RAM, all the same as the Alienware. Is liquid cooling and a 5870 really worth the $589 difference?
It's not ridiculous / stupid like it was, but there are better deals. I simply don't see the point of going to a major company like Dell for a desktop since putting them together is so (relatively) pain-free. Big companies are for laptops, and even that depends on what Clevo/Sager/MSI/Asus comes up with.
@ Mike
Good break down, but the motherboard on the for the core i7 is going to run ~$240-300. At least the ones I was looking at for my build were in that range, and if your going to skimp somewhere I wouldn't skimp on the mobo. I went with the P6T in the end, and at the time is was around $250.
Only other thought I had, and this still drives me nuts, what's the deal with all the LEDs?
Are all gamers afraid of the dark? Just because the LEDs are $0.15 at the Shack doesn't mean you need 50 of them on a rig. I used the Antec-900 case for my build and I am about 2 days from clipping the LED lights on those fans. Dark is more menacing anyway.
No, I like it! Now how do you get it to attack the neighbour's dog...?
At least it doesn't have those tacky ass windows on the sides.
That thing looks like it's going to transform and kill everybody in the room.
Look at the insides of that thing.. That there's the best looking computer by far.
How do you put this thing on a computer stand??
New name for the company- Cockroachware
Sums up the look.
So, did their major announcement to shake up the gaming world turn out to be just more of these huge ugly machines?
OK, it appears so. What a bore. This company is crying wolf too much.
Fast as hell, just as ugly.
Why couldn't they have used something like this as a baseline and build on it:
http://www.acer.com/predator/
Would have looked better. Just sayin...
tbh that case is kind of gaudy too
Do people buy alienware PC's and laptop's just for what they look like? Because it certainly isn't the price and value to performance ratio. Pick out any alienware PC and you'll be able to build a better PC for so much cheaper.
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&kc=305&l=en&oc=D00AWA02&s=dhs&sbc=alienware-aurora-alx&~lt=alienware
£1,899 and they only give you 920 i7 and two GTS 240's?
You do realize that you just priced a computer from the same company right. Dell owns Alienware.
I dont think you guys understand
There are people like me, who get paid a fair amount of money and thus do not have enough time and/or the know how to spend the time building ur own
i baught my alienware for these reasons:
- i dont have the time
- i checked how much i would be saving building my own: ~£220
- i know how to build my own, but not very well, so i dont want to take risks
- im lazy
- i have enough cash to buy out all of the above point and still be happy
not everyone are liek you and cant simply "build our own"
which is where alienware come in
@Pravous - yeah, i know that. I went through Alienware's site but it links off to Dell's now since they're pretty much merging XPS and Alienware together now.
@Izzak, sorry - i really understand that. But its just me trying to help people see how simple being a PC is, i've had flat pack furniture that is harder. Time, well - once you have all the parts, its 2 - 3 hours for your first build, after that you should be fine.
On the "high end" Alienware and XPS systems (£1.8 - 2k and above) i've put together same spec pc's while saving nearly and sometimes more than £1000.
So i still stick by what i'm saying, do yourself a favour and try your hardest to build your own. For a few hours work you can save upto a £1000 on a computer that will more than likely perform better too.
I am sorry but no matter how fabulous an Alienware machine seems I just don't care. We bought two Alienwares two years ago after their merger with Dell. And let me tell you, they both turned out to be big ripe lemons. I can safely say that I spent at least 80 on the phone with tech support for those two machines. Combine that with the hassles of having to send them in for repairs no less than 6 times. Finally we just gave up and put these two $2k paperweights on the shelf.
The legend of Alienware is dead. The quality isn't there. The service isn't there. The only thing that remains is the logo and the price.
For half the price I just recently purchased a 64-bit Asus G71 with 6 gigs of RAM for a gaming laptop that purrs along like a kitten after dinner.
- Curt Moreno -
The Kung Fu Drafter
Only 3 DIMM slots?
On a Core i7?
Really?
What were you hoping for?
3 is the magic number for Core i5/i7 - you'll notice many Core i5/i7 mobos either have 3 slots, or they have 4 slots with 3 of them colored differently
Your mom only has 3 available slots.
Can anyone tell me what game it's running.
Looks like League of Legends to me.
That's the League of Legends beta.
I would hate to have to clean that case.... all the nooks and crannies would get covered in dust and then accentuated by all the LED lighting. yuck.
You don't keep your computer in a clean room??
Um, no matter how clean your room is, dust happens... unless you are Intel and have a literal "clean room". Either way, I don't hang around my house in a full body suit.
But they're so stylish!!
All those flashy lights willnot hide the fact that these things are built to the lowest standard in the industry. You can expect your system to break down many times and as posted earlier, you will probably end up with a $3000 paperweight in the end. Stay clear of this companies crap.
I have a dream of building a Silent Super Gaming Rig, i'll do it once i'll have some cash for it.
Specs:
Intel I7
-2 GTX295 in SLI, water cooled (i've seen some models from factory)
-1 256 GB SSD
-1 of those 2GB Seagate 64MB buffer HDD i saw here some days ago
-a water cooling kit for all, with a huge fan spinning around 900 RPM
It would also be great if Nvidia would scale down in the near future their power eaters, just like intel did with the mobile I7. They had a technology on their mobos where you could shut down by software the big card and use an onboard one for everyday things. So ideally, with these 2 technologies it should get from aprox. 400W to 70W for both. Any chance of seeing that, please?
Sounds like a kick-arse rig you have planned. Why not RAID 0 two 120GB SSDs instead of a single 265GB SSD, it'll cost about the same {probably less} and you obviously won't be using the SSD as storage with the 2TB seagate.
BTW cooling blocks for the GTX295 are hella-expensive and not that easy to track down, at least in my limited experience.
and uh the Alienware rig is ugly, there now we're on topic.
damn. how big is this thing?
looks like a personal nuclear reactor...
Naa, those are bigger.
http://gizmodo.com/335312/toshiba-builds-personal+sized-micro-nuclear-reactor-huh
Funny you should say that. The same thing happened to me. The second the pic loaded, the first thing that ran through my mind was "Good god, that thing is the size of a refrigerator!" :P
I wouldn't buy that rig but I wouldn't build one either. For $1600 I would buy the peace-of-mind to know I could send the alienware rig back if it *&^%*$ then have t o deal with troubleshooting something I threw together....
Unless there are some hidden on the back, that laptop only comes with 2 USB ports. While Apple may think it's a good idea to limit what you can easily do with a laptop, generally other manufacturers have realized that more is better. I guess Alienware is hoping on the minimalistic bandwagon now? My HP laptop has 4, and I'd consider that the *bare minimum* for a laptop. Everything is USB these days, there is no good reason to have only 2 USB ports on a laptop.
from Dell's DCSE site:
One left side connector
Two right side connectors
Three is still pretty damn lame for such a system though, and that third one is a ESATA\USB2 combo port so its either or.
Nice. Cheaper than a Mac and x10 faster!
*sighs* Someday I hope that the folks at Dell and Alienware will grow the fuck up and realize that their designs are turning off a shit load of people. Having bling bling on a desktop is one thing, but if I'm taking that thing out, while by and large I couldn't care less about looks I don't want something that screams HEY LOOK AT ME! I'M AN IDIOT TEEN WHO NEEDS ATTENTION SO I HAVE THIS UNGODLY RIG THAT IS DESIGNED TO ATTRACT AS MUCH ATTENTION AS AN ESCALADE WITH SPINNERS AND GROUND EFFECTS!!!!!
In short. Dear Alienware. Grow the fuck up. If you want to keep the slick as hell customizable backlights for the keyboard and mouse that is fine. but the lights behind the speaker grill? the backlit alienhead? the backlit fan grill? Someone please beat the designers with a subtle club? As it stands I'm either getting an XPS or something from HP. I have the money to get one of these, but not with that shell.
525W~875W max? when XPS 730 had 1k power supply. lol and only one year warranty...not even worth lookin at it..