Is the Alienware Aurora overpriced?

[Wælcyrie]

Every brand computer on the market is overpriced. Building it yourself will always be the cheapest and best solution for a computer.
If you're not comfortable with building it yourself, buy the parts and take them down to a computer shop, they'll happily do it for you for a few bucks.


Or under priced for really stupid people.

I believe I touched a nerve?

[Drunkenvalley]

It's only overpriced for poor people.

With a 2800 dollar pricetag while it's worth 2000 dollars it's 40% overpriced. In other words, regardless of who buys it it is still factually incorrect to say it's not overpriced.

[Faithh]

Pretty sure the BIOS is very limited on alienware pc's. I don't like options like intel speedstep or intel thermal adaptive monitor (however it was called) which can't be turned off in OEM boards. Especially that Intel Thermal thingie is fucking annoying. That thing actually downclocks if your CPU is getting hot. The annoying part is it's downclocking the cpu when it's even at 73° which is just nothing for this chip.

Seems like it's sorta an H60 cooler which tend to be have a lot of the famous "grinding/rattling noise". I had to RMA my watercooler 10times and I still didnt have a quite unit.

I rather recommend that you visit a pcshop who assembles pc's and you can chose which parts you want to have. Something like this http://tones.be/desktops

They only sell in Benelux, so you have to find a shop like that.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

What's wrong with SpeedStep, reduces the voltage on the CPU and its clock-speed to create less heat and use less power. If you are overclocking, go ahead and disable it, but if not, it is a really good feature.

[cidic]

Pretty sure the BIOS is very limited on alienware pc's. I don't like options like intel speedstep or intel thermal adaptive monitor (however it was called) which can't be turned off in OEM boards. Especially that Intel Thermal thingie is fucking annoying. That thing actually downclocks if your CPU is getting hot. The annoying part is it's downclocking the cpu when it's even at 73° which is just nothing for this chip.

Seems like it's sorta an H60 cooler which tend to be have a lot of the famous "grinding/rattling noise". I had to RMA my watercooler 10times and I still didnt have a quite unit.

I rather recommend that you visit a pcshop who assembles pc's and you can chose which parts you want to have. Something like this http://tones.be/desktops

They only sell in Benelux, so you have to find a shop like that.

Limited yes however there are modded bios files out there (I know I modded my bios in my laptop) and it's working perfectly. There are a lot of forums out there that if you read a bit you can pretty much do anything with the Alienware machines. But true OOB the bios is very limited.

[dokilar]

id have to agree with the majority of people in this thread. ive looked at prebuilt pcs from time to time and as someone who built their own pc a year and a half ago, i also agree that thats overpriced.

i never truly appreciated how much cheaper you can build computers like that by yourself if you just order the pieces, and the best thing about it is its actually fairly easy to do. of course this is my opinion. when i built mine i didnt have a whole lot of knowledge about "building" a computer outside of installing new ram, a new video card, or a new hard drive, but i found it to be quite enjoyable putting everything together and then hitting the switch and realizing that i made it all work.

[Safetyoff]

If it's Alienware it's overpriced, unless it fell of the back of a truck

[Faithh]

What's wrong with SpeedStep, reduces the voltage on the CPU and its clock-speed to create less heat and use less power. If you are overclocking, go ahead and disable it, but if not, it is a really good feature.

I found turning it off gave me more stability tbh. It ain't that annoying as intel adaptive thermal monitor tbh. It's a safety option btw not to save power :P

---------- Post added 2012-10-30 at 02:08 AM ----------

Limited yes however there are modded bios files out there (I know I modded my bios in my laptop) and it's working perfectly. There are a lot of forums out there that if you read a bit you can pretty much do anything with the Alienware machines. But true OOB the bios is very limited.

Which is obvious :P I don't think he'd mod his bios if he buys an alienware, really.. :P

[Deleted]

It's only overpriced for poor people.

there must realy exist tons of stupid people like you.. never understood how they can survive this long with all this overpriced bullshit.. could build a better pc with half the money

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

SpeedStep is not a safety feature. It is a power saving feature.

[jbombard]

Alienware is overpriced. always. Whether it is worth it or not will depend on how you define value.
If you only value straight up performance vs. cost, there are other shops that will give more bang for your buck.

If you can build, that is obviously the best way to go, but if you don't know what you are doing I'd stick to buying. The price difference isn't as large as it used to be, as long as you stay away from designer PCs like Alienware.

[Faithh]

SpeedStep is not a safety feature. It is a power saving feature.

I was talking about 2 features.

1. Intel Speedstep Technology -> power saving feature
2. Intel thermal Adaptive monitor -> safety feature

I've differentiated them in my sentences though.

[Milkshake86]

Except every review site will tell you hands down that Alienware laptops have zero competition @ the enthusiast level, they charge a premium and they do give serious support, your not just buying parts and a build when you goto a big company.

[Powerninja]

The X51 and their laptops are pretty fairly priced however I'd stay away from the Auroras. Their specs are way too unbalanced and you're paying extra for unnecessary stuff that a Core i7 3000 series doesn't need like being overclocked to 3.8ghz and having an unlocked bios.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

The X51 and their laptops are pretty fairly priced however I'd stay away from the Auroras. Their specs are way too unbalanced and you're paying extra for unnecessary stuff that a Core i7 3000 series doesn't need like being overclocked to 3.8ghz and having an unlocked bios.

3.8GHz is the stock turbo clock for a 3770K, you don't have to tweak anything to get that clock speed.