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Dell fights Alien Invasion

Asakawa writes "With manufacturers like Alienware and Voodoo sucking up the low-volume/high-margin high-end gaming market, it looks like Dell wants a piece of the action. The machine that these guys have reviewed looks pretty awesome, but they reckon it's overpriced. It will be interesting to see if Dell can shake off its grey box image and entice the more fussy gamers and enthusias."

9 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Low volume high margin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean Voodoo and Alienware are the Apples of the PC world?

  2. Clones by LordHatrus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's just not the same if its not a clone. The only good gaming rig is pimped out, with glowing-thingimabobers and cooling fit for space shuttle components on re-entry.

  3. Too little, too late by Three+Headed+Man · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dell has too much work ahead of them for this really to be a feasible switch. Further, this isn't really that large of a market. I'll be surprised if they've got that much to gain by controlling another market.

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    I'm probably at the karma cap. Mod up a funny troll instead, it lightens the mood :)
  4. Sorry, Dell. No sale here. by Teckla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dell can want to sell me a machine all they want, but they won't get my business because:

    * The quality of their support has fallen through the floor due to offshore outsourcing it (the non-business support, at least).

    * They don't give me the option of buying computers built on AMD CPUs, which have a better price/performance ratio than Intel CPUs.

    * In most cases, they still force me to buy their systems bundled with Microsoft software, whether I want it or not.

    Sorry, Dell. No sale here.

  5. Oooh! A it's like a Lamborghini made by Yugo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    'Nuff said.

  6. Their market is the uninformed. by sglider · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unfortunately for Dell, the market for the gamer revolves around the potential for business from the uninformed gamer. Every gamer I know (and indeed, myself) builds their own system for the fraction of the cost of buying an Alienware or a Dell that has the same specs. Indeed, as often as hardcore gamers upgrade their systems, none of these manufacturers can hope to provide the kind of support I'd need to make it worth my while. Perhaps if they offered free hardware upgrades for two years, I could see spending an extra 500-1500 dollars for the same exact system that I could build by surfing Pricewatch.com.

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    War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
  7. Even the G5 is cheaper ! by selderrr · · Score: 5, Informative

    go to the apple store, go to store UK (since the article is in £ instead of $) pick the dual 1.8, add 512MB ram to get to 1GB, upgrde video card to 9800XT the upgrade to 250GB harddisk, add a 20inch flatscreen and hit 'update total'. Voila 3288£ compared to £3176 for the dell (with a 17inch monitor only, but 40GB. Okay, the dell has a 800X video card, but that's a mere 100£ difference)
    and now you have a decent OS.

  8. Something equally interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    It will be interesting to see if Dell can shake off it's grey box image

    It will be interesting to see how long it takes CmdrTaco to learn to spell "its".

  9. Re:Gamers want... by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "It will be interesting to see if Dell can shake off it's grey box image and entice the more fussy gamers and enthusiasts."

    I think Dell's reputation is for black boxes, and they've shaken that off by making this one blue... ;-)

    From the review: "The power button sits impressively in the top right hand corner and moodily glows yellow when switched on."

    Okay, very nice. Looks exactly like a normal dell case to me, complete with the silly front-panel door that always falls off, the interior layout set in stone, with the assumption that nothing will ever be replaced inside, and the 2-man-lift bulk of a computer so large it doesn't fit in any normal location. I never noticed how 'moody' the power lights were before though. Presumably I should be downright spooked by seeing 20 of them illuminating us at work.

    It's an interesting review, with no mention of anything important. Do we really care how smart and silvery the Dell logo is, when the technical aspect of this review is limited to mentioning the CPU speed, and the name of the graphics card?