Alienware Gaming Laptops

Don’t waste your money on this junk. I bought one of these a few years ago directly from Dell. The graphics card has a hard time keeping up with most games. The construction of the laptop has major flaws. Just after one year in, through normal use the casing at the base of the screen started to crack; duct tape now holds my screen on.

The 17" 4x256GB SSD model, “Massive Storage
Make your Alienware system a vault of games, movies and music with the Tri-Play capability — that’s three slots available for any 7 mm drive. You get the ability to write massive amounts of data in your portable gaming machine”

No, those hard drive bays can handle 9.5mm thick drives if not 12.5mm thick, but at least 9.5mm thick.

And then 1 or more mSATA slots.

Ever since Dell bought out Alienware, their computers have gone south in terms of quality and power.

Great prices for these amazing machines! I would definitely consider this if I wasn’t already getting one from my employer!

Um, seems to me these are still getting excellent reviews…
Amazon 4.5 stars out of 5
Dell.com 4.2 stars out of 5
Laptop Magazine 4 stars out of 5
CNET 4.5 stars out 5
Lowest Alienware review on Walmart is 4 stars.

Pretty much the only knock on all reviews is that they are heavy. But all rave about speed and graphics.

This review from TechRadar is pretty much spot on for the 18"…
Pluses…
Extraordinary performance
Envy-inducing style
Great attention to detail
Cons…
It’s H-U-G-E
Absurdly expensive

I’m in the market for one, but waiting for the new ones to go on sale. New ones have the 900 series Nvidia chipset and optional graphics amplifier which allow you to use a desktop graphics card when you’re docked at home.

I disagree. I got one in January 2012 and it has held up great. Has a 555m Nvidia chip and will still run most games at a decent resolution. Looking to play higher end games though, hence why I’m starting to look for a replacement.

I have had no warranty issues, no defects, and no flaws with my Alienware purchased from Dell’s Outlet.

Huh? They are using the best processors at the time of manufacturer available, as well as the video cards. If it’s not enough horsepower, blame Intel/nVidia, not dell.

lol? blame nivida, not dell. Turns out, dell doesn’t manufacture a single chip.

I own a laptop with the previous generation chip, and I can run most games at respectable settings, except the latest and greatest titles out there.

If you’re looking for something to WoW/random blizzard titles on the run, this will work great.

If you’re wanting to run the latest assassins creed on the highest settings, build a desktop.

I previously owned one of the last great single-core processor Alienware laptops. It was great for gaming (World of Warcraft at the time). It is possible that from time to time there is a system that doesn’t hold up. I’ve never had an issue with Alienware support, and they have always been there when I needed help.

yes, and people still bow to apple, thinking they are the TOPS in the phone and computing market. My personal experience in the IT field is, they are wrong. Trends. People will follow a trend right over the cliff.

Sorry for your troubles with this brand, but I’m rather relieved to hear this. My teenage daughter’s been pining for one of these for years, complaining that “regular” PCs just aren’t good enough for her needs. (Yeah, right.) I do “get” that they look way cool, but, yay! No more guilt tripping and she can “make do” with a normal laptop like everyone else! :slight_smile:

I have had two Alienware laptops over the years. Both were /are great machines. My only issue was one was stolen. Understand that there is a bit of premium for portability. I would recommend buy direct from Dell, and speak to a representative, as you should be able to get a discount on the web price. Then take the financing and get a year of 0% interest to pay it off.

I am typing this on a machine very similar to the Dell Alienware 17 R1 17.3" with 4 256GB SSD drives, except mine came with a blu-ray drive, a 750GB 7200RPM drive a GTX 780M 4GB video card and is 18". Oh yeah, I also paid $3,795 and it was reconditioned/upgraded.

I love the machine and the only real downside is the size. It is HUGE. But then I buy what I consider to be mobile desktops, not laptops. For travel I have an inexpensive 15.6" machine and I carry my data on a 512GB USB 3.0 thumb drive.

I am typing this on an Alienware 17 and I can say that it has lived up to every expectation. It is amazingly fast and every single game I have played so far can be played at the top settings without a problem.

Truthfully, I wish I had waited a little bit for the new 900 graphic cards but they were announced about a month after I bought my computer (typical). Other than that everything works fantastically. Even games that caused other people problems (Assassin’s Creed: Unity) could be played on my computer without a problem.

If you are truly looking for an Alienware I suggest you should wait until the new chips are out. Then call Dell and talk to a customer service rep. They can usually get you a much better deal than what is on the website.

DO not buy! I bought two Alienware laptops, the 17 and the 14 and both of them had the same cracking/breaking on the left hinge that the first poster has talked about. Look it up there are a TON of complaints that Alienware ignores. They did finally cave on the hinge issue on the 11 inch after a threatened class action lawsuit, but the same issue stands with other sizes. Cheap ass plastic, I gave it the boot after the second one cracked (and I babied it).

…Why wouldn’t you just get a desktop at that point? You could have built a brand new machine with far better performance for less than half the price.

As usual, absurdly overpriced.

Compare a $1,600 to $2,700 budget for a high-end laptop at A Trusted Brand for Gaming Laptops | Sager Notebooks or iBUYPOWER® Custom Gaming PCs and PC Builder | iBUYPOWER® for example.

This is simply not a good deal.

Be wary if these still require the proprietary Dell power supply. I had a predecessor to this line (Dell M1730). For whatever reason, it quit recognizing the power supply as an authentic Dell PS. Purchased a new PS and same thing so it was most likely an issue with the motherboard. Note: when it doesn’t recognize the PS, it goes into a derate mode and does not allow you to run as fast as it should making some games unplayable. This happened about a month after my warranty expired and technical support’s recommendation was to buy a newer model. Ummm. No.

You’re much better off just getting a Razer Blade.

I have had 3 Alienware Laptops all worked great, there is definitely a price premium and I got a 17% discount above and beyond on them via my work.

This last go around I bought a Sager from a online re-seller and it has also been pretty fantastic. I believe when I was pricing them out I paid $1600 for the Sager when the comparable Alienware was $2400 even with my discount and the only difference was cosmetic.