Is the Alienware Aurora overpriced?

[Ripox]

I was looking at the Alienware website, specifically on their big Aurora desktop. I was wondering, is it actually overpriced? At some specs it looks like its ridicilously expensive but I was wondering...is it actually that overpriced or are the internals/externals really that expensive? So I'll throw down some specs and a price and if anyone could come up with something and tell me if its more or less an OK price for those specs or is it just really incredibly overpriced

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Alienware Aurora R4
Processor: Six-Core 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3930K (12M Cache, Overclocked up to 3.9 GHz)
OS: Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
RAM: 8GB (4 X 2GB) Quad Channel DDR3 at 2133MHz
Graphics Card: 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 690
HDD: 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Optical Drive: Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
1 Year Warranty and repair
Ports:
Front I/O Ports
(2x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0
(1x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0
(1x) Microphone In
(1x) Headphone/Speaker Out
(1x) 19-in-1 Media Card Reader (Optional)

Rear I/O Ports
(1x) RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet
(4x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0
(1x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0
(1x) Microphone In
(1x) Line-In
(1x) Front Left/Right Speakers
(1x) Center Speaker
(1x) Rear Left/Right Speakers
(1x) Side Left/Right Speakers
(1x) SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK)
(1x) SPDIF Digital Output (Coax)

Slots:
Internal Expansion Slots
(2x) PCI-Express x16 (electrical spec: x16/x16)
(2x) PCI-Express x1

Memory Slots
4x 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM Slots

PSU: Alienware™ 875 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Motherboard and Chassis Form Factor: MicroATX Motherboard, Mid-Tower Chassis
Case dimensions: Height: 16.77" - (426mm)
Depth: 25.39" - (645mm)
Width: 9.847" - (250mm)
Average Weight: 45lbs - (20.41 Kg.)

Processor Cooling: Alienware™ High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling
Chipset Architecture: Intel® X79 Express Chipset w/ Unlocked BIOS for Overclocking, CPU Socket 2011

Price: $2,899

Taking into account the 1 year warranty, virtual/remote diagnosis, in-home repair services, the fact that its branded+pre-built, the arguably sexy case with the LEDs, and remembering it is liquid-cooling, is 2.9k dollars an OK price for this?

Just wondering to see how overpriced their desktop really is

[inux94]

The total price for all those parts are ~$2000, so yes. You'll end up paying $900 for the Alienware name.

It's not proper liquid cooled, it's basically a H60 which is the cheap end of the closed loop liquid cooling.

"sexy" LED's cost $20

[Yalingo]

Protip: Anything prebuilt is overpriced.

Anything Alienware is extremely overpriced.

[Constellation]

Don't you ever go for Alienware... overpriced bullshit imho. Build your own PC and you'll have a better than the best alienware they can give you for a WAY cheaper price.

[inux94]

CDON.COM's Thors sometimes have a deal where you can actually save $100-300 if you buy it from them rather than building it yourself, but those sales happen only once a year, so no. Not everything prebuilt is overpriced.

[Deleted]

Alienware is synonymous with overpriced. There's nothing they sell that you can't do for 25-40% less yourself.

[Deleted]

And my i7 2600k with gtx 560ti that cost me $800 when i bought it will still perform day to day tasks faster than your $2,899 alienware PC, simply for the fact that i have an SSD installed and that does not.

At most, that alienware PC will get more fps than my machine in most games, and for everything else do absolutely nothing faster than mine.

I would say its an overpriced pos as are all alienware machines.

[skitzin]

They are generally over priced I find. Their prices will include labour costs of the person to put it all together and they also have to cover the cost of warranty over any work they do and the computer itself when they sell it to you.

So the thing to consider here is if you build your own sure it will be cheaper but you also inherit the risks and the costs of doing something incorrect. This can cost you more time and money to fix yourself if you are not too familiar with computer components.

Personally I would go for a self made build as I find it more fun and rewarding however if you find yourself a little bit lost I would suggest you look for perhaps another retailer who does have better pricing but will cover the heavy technical aspects for you*.

*- For example, here in Australia, there are a few places that will do builds for you. Basically you either buy the parts off them or you can bring your own parts and pay them ~$100 to do a build and stress tests. Some even do proper overclocking with suitable cooling systems available for purchase as well. So perhaps you can find somewhere similar where you live?

[nyc81991]

I would not spend over 2,000$ for that. So yeah, It is overpriced.

[Holes]

Yes, overpriced.

[inux94]

And my i7 2600k with gtx 560ti that cost me $800 when i bought it will still perform day to day tasks faster than your $2,899 alienware PC, simply for the fact that i have an SSD installed and that does not.

At most, that alienware PC will get more fps than my machine in most games, and for everything else do absolutely nothing faster than mine.

I would say its an overpriced pos as are all alienware machines.

With applications that take advantage of multiple cores your 2600k is going to get destroyed by the 3930k, same goes for the 690 vs 560ti.

A regular 7200RPM HDD will be more than enough for CPU & GPU intensive applications.

[vesseblah]

$2300 + case so it's not that overpriced for on-site warranty, but it still has some really bad choices like 2GB RAM sticks.

[Deleted]

With applications that take advantage of multiple cores your 2600k is going to get destroyed by the 3930k,

I'd love for you to show some real world examples of this......

same goes for the 690 vs 560ti.

I already said the alienware would get more fps in games than my machine.

A regular 7200RPM HDD will be more than enough for CPU & GPU intensive applications.

My SSD would destroy this 7200rpm on EVERYTHING that has loading times.

All my games will load way faster, my machine will boot up much faster, and everything in windows will run faster that has loading times. (Browsers, applications, etc).


The only thing that the alienware will be better than my machine at in real world usage is more fps in most games, that i already mentioned.

[GKLeatherCraft]

The total price for all those parts are ~$2000, so yes. You'll end up paying $900 for the Alienware name.

It's not proper liquid cooled, it's basically a H60 which is the cheap end of the closed loop liquid cooling.

"sexy" LED's cost $20

Well, You'l be paying for the cost of it being assembled etc too, they don't just get the parts and they magically assemble themselves:P

OT: You could say -everything- pretty much in the world is overpriced, because you could get parts yourself and make it cheaper, But if you want one, go for it, Ignore the people saying "don't buy them their shit" Because they are talking out of their ass, Alienware wouldn't be part of the biggest computer company in the world, and probably the biggest PC gaming company if their products were "shit"
I know people that have had Alienware and have loved it, and it's lasted for years

[Deleted]

Well, You'l be paying for the cost of it being assembled etc too, they don't just get the parts and they magically assemble themselves:P

OT: You could say -everything- pretty much in the world is overpriced, because you could get parts yourself and make it cheaper, But if you want one, go for it, Ignore the people saying "don't buy them their shit" Because they are talking out of their ass, Alienware wouldn't be part of the biggest computer company in the world, and probably the biggest PC gaming company if their products were "shit"
I know people that have had Alienware and have loved it, and it's lasted for years

Nobody is saying Alienware products are shit.

Learn to read, and stop misquoting.

[traen]

Whats "Alienware Aurora"? A PC? If it costs more than parts in it, its overpriced.

[Zergin8r]

Alienware was bought by Dell, so if you do get it don't expect any sort of tech support if anything goes wrong.

[Mongo4200]

Yes AlienWare is over priced check out the deals on www.cyberpowerpc.com/ i just bought a box from them and i am very pleased

[Yogg-Saron, God of Death]

Actually, everything Alienware is overpriced, like someone before me stated.

[inux94]

I'd love for you to show some real world examples of this......



I already said the alienware would get more fps in games than my machine.



My SSD would destroy this 7200rpm on EVERYTHING that has loading times.

All my games will load way faster, my machine will boot up much faster, and everything in windows will run faster that has loading times. (Browsers, applications, etc).


The only thing that the alienware will be better than my machine at in real world usage is more fps in most games, that i already mentioned.

Not everything is loading time, again. 7200RPM is sufficient for most applications.

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