Travel Technology - AlienWare Laptops - revisited

Ive done the searches and there have been a couple of threads on this subject, and with some pretty strong comments from some of the heavyweight tech gurus on this forum.

However, most of these threads are almost 2 years old and lots has changed in the world of laptops, so I wonder if we could revisit this topic... I appreciate the patience of all the experts here and look forward to your feedback.

I need to replace my old & faithful ThinkPad T30. A T61P is a natural candidate, but Im considering going "radical" and maybe buying an AlienWare machine. I realize that this is an OEM shop, and that they do charge a premium for the fancy paintjob and other gizmos... Im willing to shell out the additional $$$, however, I do have a few conceptual questions.

a) will reliability of an AlienWare laptop be similar to a ThinkPad?

b) do any FTers have recent experiences with AW laptops?

c) most ThinkPads are made in Mexico, AW seems to make their gear in Taiwan... which Im guessing is got to be as good or better than Mexico, or?

d) ThinkPad keyboards are legendary.... how does the AW laptop keyboard compare?

e) if you think AlienWare is not the name to go with, what alternatives would you consider?

Many thanks!!

Alex (Gaucho100K)

I had to buy 3 of these for clients and for the money $5000 / each they are pretty damn impressive, but I would NEVER buy one of these for myself. I mean we fully macked these things out....

These things are SOOOOO heavy.....

Model Information: Aurora mALX $4,849.00 (Qty. 3)
Additional Configuration Modifications:
1) Genuine Windows XP Professional
2) 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400Mhz 2 X 1024
3) Dual 512 NVidia GeForce Go 7900 SLI Enabled - 1GB of Total Memory

Didn't Dell buy Alienware earlier this year?

http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/22/alienware-dell-game_cx_de_0322dell.html

Hmmmm... does this mean that AlienWare will cease to exist as a brand and merge into DELL...?

Not that it makes much of a difference either way but my brand new T61 was made in and shipped from mainland China, not Mexico.

I would never pay Alienware prices for this sort of stuff.


You can find just about the same thing from several other companies. It won't have the fancy paint job or the like but the guts will be the same.

Consider what I just bought:

The processor is a Q6600--they had faster upgrades even but above that you pay a lot for a little speedup. The memory is 4gb of the fast stuff. 200gb/7200rpm HD + 250gb/5400rpm HD. (With matching HD's raid 0 or 1 is an option.) There's a third HD bay that's currently empty. The keyboard has an actual number pad on it, something I've never seen before in a laptop. The video I have is a nVidia 8500, it's capable of going to dual 7950's IIRC.

Note that the CPU, memory & video are the equivalent of what's in my reasonably high end desktop unit.

Unlike the Alienware stuff I only paid $3100 for it.

The downsides of such equipment:

It's big, it's heavy and I'm sure it has miserable battery life. (I didn't even look into what the battery life is, that wasn't important to me.)

Describing these as laptop machines isn't really right. They're not intended for such use. Rather, they are intended as something approaching a desktop machine that you can haul with you. It's expected that you are going to put it on a desk somewhere and use it.

I would not get such a machine unless you are planning to do either heavy crunching of some sort or are going to use it for games.

Hmmm.... Ive perhaps overlooked the weight issue. Whats the difference in weight between a 15.4" T61p and one of the 17" Alienware machines...?

I would never pay Alienware prices for this sort of stuff.


You can find just about the same thing from several other companies. It won't have the fancy paint job or the like but the guts will be the same.


Try Sager from Powernotebooks.com.

Hmmm.... Ive perhaps overlooked the weight issue. Whats the difference in weight between a 15.4" T61p and one of the 17" Alienware machines...?

The T61 is 6.4lbs compared to 8.5 for the Alienware.

Both in the most basic configuration.

The T61 is 6.4lbs compared to 8.5 for the Alienware.

Both in the most basic configuration.

I dunno man.... the above ones that I got weighed at least 15lbs.... that's a very heavy laptop.

last i looked at alienware the only thing worth the money was the ALX desktop. dont recall looking at their laptops.

others you might check out >
http://voodoopc.com/system/Notebook.aspx
http://www.gamepc.com/shop/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=GamePC+Online+Products&category%5Fname=Notebook&Page=1&sort=NotebookWhitebox&subsort=alpha#Customizable

http://www.dynamism.com/Notebooks/category.shtml
although none of the performance ones seem to be graphics oriented.

i have only purchased 2 desktops from gamepc.

I dunno man.... the above ones that I got weighed at least 15lbs.... that's a very heavy laptop.

How did you manage to get from 9 to 15 pounds...?? :eek: :eek: :eek:

Try Sager from Powernotebooks.com.

Mine came from Pro-Star but it's the same hardware at the heart of it.

I dunno man.... the above ones that I got weighed at least 15lbs.... that's a very heavy laptop.

I don't know how much mine weighs but the shipping box was 22 pounds. Beyond the laptop & power supply) there was a lightweight carrying bag, manuals & discs that certainly don't add up to a pound, a t-shirt from the company and some plastic foam packing material, and obviously the heavy-duty box it shipped in. If it is as low as 15 pounds I would be surprised.

Alien ware does make nice notebooks but they are geared more towards the mobile gaming market. This means that the battery life is usually pretty bad and the weight will be high. This is fine if you plan to use the laptop for video games and need maximum performance but for general use you would likley be better off with a higher end dell.

Hmmmm... does this mean that AlienWare will cease to exist as a brand and merge into DELL...?

I used to be a sales mgr with Dell. Dell does indeed own AW but says that it will continue as a wholly owned subsid and will not be merged into Dell. Time will tell.

Are you sure that you bought the same model as the one Scott is talking about? If I remember correctly, mALX has a 19" screen.

I dunno man.... the above ones that I got weighed at least 15lbs.... that's a very heavy laptop.

Are you sure that you bought the same model as the one Scott is talking about? If I remember correctly, mALX has a 19" screen.

Yeah these were 19" screens and fully loaded. Very heavy suckers. I have a Dell laptop 9400 with a 19" screen and it's bloody heavy too....

As a previous poster stated, Alienware's primary focus is on high-end gaming machines and peripherals. It looks like they have slimmed their product line down a bit. They used to offer the Sentia, a productivity, ThinkPad type laptop, but this had since been discontinued. It doesn't seem that they offer the the mALX brand (the ALX brands of their desktop and laptop products were the highest end machines you could buy from them) for their laptops anymore, either.

As mentioned earlier, Alienware laptops are in fact manufactured in Taiwan, but not by Alienware. Alienware works closely with various ODMs to do the bulk, if not all, of the manufacturing of their products. They just slap their name on it later. Most large computer manufacturers practice this.

Alienware laptops are manufactured by a company called Clevo in Taiwan. Clevo is an ODM for not only Alienware, but for Sager, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo and many other well known computer companies. So if you find out which companies Clevo works with, then chances are you are going to find many of the same laptops out there being sold with different logos slapped on them. Check this link out to get an idea of the laptops that Clevo makes and their resellers:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91510

Good luck!

I would never pay Alienware prices for this sort of stuff.


You can find just about the same thing from several other companies. It won't have the fancy paint job or the like but the guts will be the same.
....

good advice ... though the OP did say he didnt mind shelling out extra $$ for the paint job this OEM is putting on the same ODM product you can find much cheaper elsewhere.

whoever suggested powernotebooks.com also gave good advice.

forget about Dell ... youll just be shelling out extra $$ to finance an elaborate marketing campaign.

I've had the best luck with Compal (an ODM). My current laptop is branded PowerPro (from powernotebooks.com) who have the best customer service I have experienced anywhere.

Amazing information, many thanks to everybody for pitching in here!!! ^ ^ ^

Yeah these were 19" screens and fully loaded. Very heavy suckers. I have a Dell laptop 9400 with a 19" screen and it's bloody heavy too....

Incidentally the 9400 is a 17" notebook. Dell doesn't make a 19" yet but are rumored to be ready to roll one out. They do make a 20", the XPS2010 (or did, not sure if it's still around).

I'd NEVER buy an Alienware notebook. Save one model ODMed by Arima, they're all Clevo notebooks and can be had elsewhere for far far less money. Powernotebooks.com offers most of them at much better pricing. If you're looking for a power/gaming notebook, the Clevo M570RU is presently the best balance of size and performance. The 19 and 20" notebooks can be had in SLI but are just tooooo big IMO... and are far more problematic. I've had an M570U for over a year (the RU's predecessor) and have been beating on it for 5-8 hours a day. It's never had a fault. I own a Dell XPS Gen2 and we have an XPS1710 in the family... the M570 is hands down built and designed better.

If you want portable power in the 14" form factor, the Asus A8JS is a great choice and fabulous value for money with a good warranty to back it up. For 15" notebooks, the Dell Vostro is actually one of the best values out there. Serious graphics in the form of an nVidia 8600GT, but very reasonable price.