Anything I should know before I consider buying an alienware laptop?

In My Humble Opinion
1

For once I have to wait before buying this item because they don’t let people pay on credit or installments and I can’t afford it until I get paid, which is in about 10 days.

(I usually just give in to temptation and buy)

So, Is there anything I should know before I consider buying an alienware laptop?

I am looking to buy an almost top of the range one for playing games and running demanding software (programming IDEs, Photo editing software, 3d authoring software). And it has to be a laptop (I plan to take it to work and use it about the house)

2

You should probably avoid the special “probe” option.
:smiley:

3

If you search comp.laptops, you’ll get pretty much two responses:

  1. I love my Alienware laptop!
  2. I hate my Alienware laptop!

From what I see, their customer service isn’t too hot. It’s irritating that to download drivers you have to log in. But I’m typing this on an Alienware 51-m machine (3.2 GHz HT P4 w/ 1GB RAM and 7200 RPM drive). It’s for work, so it’s not really mine, but it’s got a gorgeous screen on top of everything else.

Oh, and the keyboard has the perfect resistence, but the key layout sucks IMO (I’m using a registry hack on XP to move some keys around).

Oh, but it is heavy (about 9-10 lbs.) and comes with a 160Wt power supply (fan included!).

4

What are you doing for work that you get an Alienware laptop? Not exactly a typical corporate item. <I’m envious!>

One unique feature of them is that they’re made so the video can be swapped out for upgrades pretty easily. Most laptop video is soldered onto the motherboard - with these, it’s a plug-in bit.

As for the weight - well, there’s a 3.2 GHz Pentium and 1 GB of RAM stuffed in there - with that sort of muscle, you need serious cooling and power supply.

5

I develop software for scientific simulations with very large datasets (as in, the in-house debate isn’t whether to upgrade to 64-bit systems but rather when). Oh, and there’s the 3D modeling of the simulation. The full retail package sells for a lot more than the cost of a laptop (any laptop). Our customers can buy the laptop with the software, and I need the horsepower to run it and develop it.