Alienware's Star Wars PCs

CptnKirk writes "Alienware is now offering their high-end PCs pre-pimped with Star Wars themes. These systems have the usual assortment of configuration options. They're then additionally modded with your choice of Light Side or Dark Side themes. External decals, light kit and desktop theme. They even throw in a membership to the official Star Wars online fan club. I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

Comments

Yeah,

[cakestick]

thanks for the advertisement, Slashy. The extra large ones at the top of the page just weren't getting me off.

Re:Yeah,

[carninja]

It's news to me... and my trust AdBlock. :D

Re:Yeah,

[Anonymous Coward]

right on

well... at least we the page got a good slashdotting!

Re:Yeah,

[rastachops]

The url even includes a "source=1446" indicating that it wasn't just a link to the page but a referral link to make the guy who posted the article some cash.

Enough already with the constant advert-articles! The Apple section is probably the worst offender.

Re:Yeah,

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks for the advertisement, Slashy. The extra large ones at the top of the page just weren't getting me off.

So, you really believe that the hand-selected old-school editors of Slashdot, responsible for timeless masterpieces of modern IT-journalism such as

• Apple
  
• iPod
  
• Apple iPod
  
• Apple iPod Car Dock
  
• Google AdSense Sooo Unobstrusive
  
• Google's Greatness In General Without Any Reason
  
• Google Maps Sooo Great
  
• Upcoming Google MapSense Greatest Thing Since Shrink-Wraped Gay-Porn
  

are taking money for placing an ad by this Alienware-company? This would shock the foundations of IT-analysts wordwide.

Re:Yeah,

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't I block "Star Wars" shit anymore? The only hope I have of holding onto my memories is ignoring Lucas's whoring.

Re:Yeah,

[bynary]

Why were you modded insightful? Every other post on Slahdot is about someone complaining about "Why all the advertising?" Goodness, so every news piece about any company that's offering a new product is now an advertisement? There is such a thing as passive advertising. It's the kind that happens unintentionally, but it still works in the company's favor.

For instance, let's say that Apple releases a 100GB iPod that's half the size of the current one. Every tech magazine and website would cover it. Is that aggressive advertising by Apple? No. It's a genuine news-worthy piece. Does it give Apple free advertising? Absolutely.

I, for one, was not aware of Alienware releasing Star Wars themed computers and was glad to hear the news.

Re:Yeah,

[nitehorse]

Actually, the 'source=1446' parameter is the same as I got in my email (I'm on the Alienware mailing list). I believe that it's so that Alienware can track who finds things on their site vs. who clicks on the email links, but that's just my own conjecture.

In any case, it's *not* a referral link so that the submitter can make more money.

Re:Yeah,

[ajnsue]

Okay there is a slight chance that you sincerely wanted to share something cool. But, your a savvy businessman now. And traditional media wouldn't even attempt to fake this kind of ingenuousness. Suggestion - cobble up multiple ad-placements into some kind of SlashDot infomercial. Put some kind of title to it to that is sincere. "and now a word from our sponsors" and you could be forgiven.

Re:Yeah,

[carpe_noctem]

I believe that it's so that Alienware can track who finds things on their site vs. who clicks on the email links, but that's just my own conjecture.

Seems like a pretty effective process for user tracking (*snicker*).. I bet some head scratching is going to happen at the alienware HQ today when they discover that their "mailing list" has suddenly increased 1,000X in size.

Re:Yeah,

[An Onerous Coward]

But not all new products are equally newsworthy.

That recent "slashvertisement" for a product that used quantum cryptography to encrypt video conference links? Quite newsworthy. At this point, any commercial use of quantum crypto is novel enough to be newsworthy. It's not something most of us would rush out and buy even if we had $20K to blow, but it's got geek cred up the wazoo.

In my opinion, nothing Alienware does is newsworthy. It's nothing personal against the company. I'm sure they make decent products, and they've made a big name for themselves among the gamers. But all they do is take (admittedly high quality) off-the-shelf PC components, assemble them, tweak them out a little, and sell them to people who have a very large amount of money. It's nothing fundamentally new or astounding. They've made a niche for themselves as the most famous seller of high-end gaming rigs, but that's it.

Now, it seems, they have themselves a Star Wars franchise license. So now we can buy ourselves rigs with pretty pictures on the sides, and a selection of sounds and screensavers. This is about as "cool" as Rob Enderle's Ferrari laptop. If you remember, the only reason that story was posted was so we could all make fun of Rob as he was hypnotized by the glittery-shinies.

I know this doesn't say anything good about me, but I've come to rely on Slashdot as a news source. Short of making mistakes and then refusing to own up (which /. does from time to time), nothing lowers my trust in a news outlet faster than advertisements masquerading as news copy. It happens all the time: An outlet needs something to fill space, so somebody with an agenda sends them a slick, prepackaged story for them to use. Often, the agenda is to promote a product.

I realize that I shouldn't give complete trust to any news organization. But I can't shake the feeling that there is something wrong when they start pumping out stories for reasons other than importance and relevance.

Re:Yeah,

[nitehorse]

Hey, I never said it was smart. And I could be completely wrong about the intended purpose. :)

Re:Yeah,

[zwei2stein]

Damn ... now, slashdot efect traffic will fool their marketing to thinking, that spaming is very efective.

Really bad it is. Doomed we are.

Re:Yeah,

[Malicious]

You might want to check your facts. If you check the same link over at Boing Boing you'll find that the refferal ID is 'source=1447', indicating that multiple sites are infact making money off these "News" posts. Interestingly enough, Boingboing is not as friendly as Slashdot in their post, but they've still got the referral.

Re:Yeah,

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not like it's really that hard to program their server to track the incoming http_referer and ip address no matter what the link says to track incoming hits / sales :)

Re:Yeah,

[nitehorse]

The exact link that they included with the mail message that was sent to me, and I assume the rest of the members on the mailing list, was to this page which seems to be exactly the same link as was in the Slashdot posting.

I have no idea where Boing Boing got their link, but I'm telling you this is exactly what arrived in my inbox from Alienware, so I'm fairly confident it's not being used to track referrals for a single person.

Re:Yeah,

[Rei]

Well, apparently you liked it in the past :P

I like the idea of the Star Wars quotes... the Vader one sounds good for a Linux box. If it were a windows box, a couple of possibilities would be:

* Luke: "I *know* there is good in you!"
* The sound of the Millenium Falcon trying to go to hyperdrive, but failing.
* Vader: "You underestimate the power of the Dark Side."
* C3P0: "I'm very embarassed, General Solo, but it seems you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honor."

(etc)

Re:Yeah,

[Lord_Dweomer]

"In any case, it's *not* a referral link so that the submitter can make more money."

Well, I don't know the details on this, but it seems likely that a company that is growing like Alienware would use an ad agency, and the agency most likely analyzes this data, and yes, their payment may very well be conditional on referrals from certain sources if multiple agencies are involve, which they frequently are.

So sorry to suggest otherwise, but there is a very good likelihood that a company somewhere IS making money off this.

This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

AlienWare

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[bigman2003]

Pre-pimped rigs are a stupid person's way to 'customize' their computer.

It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?

Well this is the same sort of thing.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Moby Cock]

Sponsored by AlienWare? They wanted to make sure the online site of their new gear was brought down by the /. effect? Maybe their competition...

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[XorNand]

This is getting a bit ridiculous. I've been reading slashdot for at least five years now. WTF is up with all these bought-and-paid-for media placements that have shown up recently? My respect for Slashdot is rapidly dwindeling and I want an offical answer.

This is the number one reason why I refuse to subscribe.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[tsangc]

It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?

Part of the skill of designing and building models is to use those pieces in new and innovative ways.

A radar dish from a spaceship can be an umbrella for a picnic table, it could be part of a continuously variable transmission in a Mindstorms robot.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[bdcrazy]

I agree, I've been building with legos for 20 something years. When they first started, you needed hundreds of pieces to make a rather detailed object. Now they come with these 12 inch models of cars/planes/creatures that are like 30 pieces. Its really depressing. I remember their early boat models, now that was customizing!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who would want pre-built legos?

Actually, I always wanted a female that was a bit more shapely. I would even go as far as heating a figurine with a lighter and making some tits and a tiny ass.

Unfortunately, it was stil too small.

I did what every good nerd finally does and became gay.

And here I am today, leading SCO into its glorious future.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[mcsporran]

Slashdot....You have failed me for the last time.. Start cool distance strangling powers......

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[dAzED1]

and you think posting here will get you an official answer?

Given the situation, I'm amazed slashdot has held up this long. However - when the student is ready, the master will appear... There are a lot of places out now that are good alternatives to the retro-slashdot years, back when they were "cool." The masses keep slashdot popular, but it's the popularity that makes it lose the real community feel. There's no cohesion here anymore.

On the other hand, if you go back 5 (or more, for some of us...) years, you'll find that many of the stories were just like this one - case mods, etc. It wasn't until the slashdot crowd all decided that they were biologists, physicists, chemists, economists, and lawyers that the community started going insane. Personally, I welcome the return to silly stories about things nerds would be interested in...like nerdy case mods.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[sgant]

I equate people that buy the souped up, tricked out systems from Alienware and others to doctors and dentists and lawyers who buy tricked out Harleys so they can seem "cool" yet have no idea how to even use these things, much less overclock them.

Build and maintain the system yourself and you'll:

a. Have a more powerful computer

b. Get that power at a much lower cost

c. Understand your system to where you don't need an added, trumped up service pack. YOU fix your system..which is quicker and easier than waiting on the phone for some flunky to kick you up to tier 2 support...to have them give you a RMA number to ship the stuff back or have some guy named Clive come to your house and remark "whoa, never seen one-a them before...they must be new".

If you want to be a gamer that doesn't want to fiddle with anything, just get a cheap Dell. Don't let the flash and eye-candy of these Alienware systems fool you.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[mwvdlee]

Exactly why I'm keeping on to all my Lego from days past. I'm not doing anything with it myself but as soon as I have some kids, they'll get the REAL Lego to work with, not the crappy pre-fab stuff.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[rob_squared]

It's a way for people who want to be individuals to be different, by copying others and without doing the work.

This comment is meant to be:
[ ]Flamebait
[ ]Troll
[x]Funny
[ ]Off Topic

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Junior J. Junior III]

And LucasArts.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[CrackedButter]

Where else can you get an official answer, I havn't been able to email any of the staff ever? They make sure the email isn't easy to find. I'm also a person who wants to contact them!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[BraceletWinner]

That's like saying "Paying a landscaping company to plant trees and flowers and maintain your lawn is the stupid person's way to 'customize' their yard" or a thousand different time-consuming activities.

They're not necessarily stupid, they're just lazy or have better things to do with the time that it would take. I would never take the time to do lots of things (yard work, fix my refrigerator, drive several hours when a flight will get me there in two hours, etc..). Paying people saves me time and effort - it has nothing to do with stupidity.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Pre-pimped rigs are a stupid person's way to 'customize' their computer.

Because not everyone has skillz!!!!1

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah that's not a bad idea. It's too bad that the moderators don't have a sense of humor, but I would consider your post more insightful than funny.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[NDPTAL85]

You are such a geek its soooo cute!

Building your own computer is so 90's. It takes a lot of time that people would rather spend money on to get the damn thing already pre-made. You see, those folks have actual LIVES they'd like to live. Once and a while they'll play games on their fancy alienware box then go out and do OUTSIDE things. Can't do those if you're trying to figure out what PSU won't overheat your videocard!

The box you build yourself will only be cheaper if your time is of no value, pretty much the same TCO you get from using Linux! Ba da bump!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[youknowmewell]

That's stupid. Just because lego makes shapes that aren't square doesn't mean that you can't be creative with them. It might limit you to perhaps different kinds of space ships, but I'd take that over some mediocre looking square what-is-it.

This is not the same sort of thing.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Hypr]

I read an interesting history of Lego's evolution that was at one point on their site (can't find it now). It essentially indicated that the toy's popularity began to wane in the 90s, and the company experienced their first quarter with a net loss in its history. The alarm bells sounded, and the marketing geniuses (?) were gathered together. Licensing was the solution. IIRC, the Star Wars brand was the first to be tried, and was a great success.

It pains me to walk into toy stores today. Yes, I'm an adult, but I'm one that yearns for the flavour of the past, and toys are one thing that can connect you to that time without expensive, mind-altering chemicals. Sadly, the items lining the shelves are a crystal clear reflection of today's kids: the toys foster little creativity. Building toys are passed over for ready-made, out-the-box or off-the-card replicas of the sub-standard psuedo-anime that is spewed from the plasma panel. And the building toys that remain are exactly as bigman2003 indicated--pre-fabricated shapes, fitting together in only one way to resemble only one thing.

Alas, this is what kids want today. Simple, fast, easy. There may be a small group that wants the challenge, but their demographic is too small a value on a marketing report.

I'd like to go on about how it's government-sponsored program to control us from cradle to grave, but as a subversive liberal Canadian living in the US, the feds are watching me. Say hello to the nice g-man, people!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[dAzED1]

I emailed Rob the other day for the first time, and he emailed me back. I didn't look too hard to find his eddress, either.

Where can you get an official answer? The official answer is that there are alternatives. If you don't like slashdot, go to the old standby kuroshin, or any of the hundreds of new places out there. Worst case senerio, slashcode is GPL, right? Stand up your own site using their code. Approve you own stories. Make your own mods. Give yourself an unlimited # of points.

Official answers...officially what? That you don't like what they're doing with their own site? I'm sure sales is reachable at it's appropriate eddress. I've never needed to buy ad space or anything from them; I wouldn't know.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well let's see, given that probably half of the people that read this site have adblock or some sort of advertising blocking system installed on their machines, Slashdot is losing revenue.

It costs money to run a site like this and big money at that. If everyone who came here had adblock installed and never saw the ads, then advertisers wouldn't advertise on the site and eventually the site would be taken down because they couldn't afford to keep it up.

Of course you people could give a shit. Everyone thinks that the internet should be free and everything should just be given to us. Well time to wake up.

Personally I think this is a great way for them to get some revenue. They should be doing this whenever a story like to a site that has an affiliate program. However they should be using a redirector so that morons like you have to follow the link.

Of course this post will be modded down, so the rest of you will never see this.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[scoobywomblesmurf]

That'll teach them to advertise on /., their site appears to have been /.ed! ;-)

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[amishdisco]

They could as least be classified on slashdot as advertisements, so they can be blocked if one does subscribe.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[burdalane]

It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?

People like me, who were born without creativity. Even the pre-built Legos were too much for me.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[CrackedButter]

My point was that I couldn't reach them, nothing more.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you go back 7 years or so you'll notice that /. really *was* biologists, physicists, chemists, economists and lawyers.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[JWW]

Dude, lego's not even an american company!!

Also my son does just fine building "custom" constructions out of the pre-fabricated sets.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[st0rmshad0w]

Well let's see, given that probably half of the people that read this site have adblock or some sort of advertising blocking system installed on their machines, Slashdot is losing revenue.

It costs money to run a site like this and big money at that. If everyone who came here had adblock installed and never saw the ads, then advertisers wouldn't advertise on the site and eventually the site would be taken down because they couldn't afford to keep it up.

Of course you people could give a shit. Everyone thinks that the internet should be free and everything should just be given to us. Well time to wake up.


And the advertisers would know we don't see their ads exactly how? I mean, I never click on them anyway.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[elrous0]

It pains me to walk into toy stores today. Yes, I'm an adult, but I'm one that yearns for the flavour of the past, and toys are one thing that can connect you to that time without expensive, mind-altering chemicals. Sadly, the items lining the shelves are a crystal clear reflection of today's kids: the toys foster little creativity. Building toys are passed over for ready-made, out-the-box or off-the-card replicas of the sub-standard psuedo-anime that is spewed from the plasma panel. And the building toys that remain are exactly as bigman2003 indicated--pre-fabricated shapes, fitting together in only one way to resemble only one thing.

Well, I'm in my 30's and I don't remember a time when this wasn't the case. When I was a kid it was the same way. So exactly what idealistic era of amazing creativity are you talking about?

-Eric

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[smittyoneeach]

Pre-pimped rigs are a stupid person's way to 'customize' their computer.

Nonsense. It's all marketing, and there is nothing wrong with pimpin' yo' rig, any more than pimpin' yo' ride.
Furthermore, for that person for whom coming up with a gift idea is an absolute !@#$, it's a great source of gift ideas. Now, how does my father in law feel about the Farce? Is it with him?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[sgant]

Lol, is this how people troll now? Pretty weak.

But building computers and playing games on them are hobbies in and of themselves. When you and people like you say idiotic things like "those folks have actual LIVES they'd like to live"...what do you refer to? How does building a computer, which takes no time at all unless you're a complete moron, equate to "not having a life"? Cause I don't go out with a bunch of loser friends to get drunk at a bar and try to hit on tubby girls with low self-esteme? So your hobbies are for people with "actual LIVES" and my hobbies are lesser...interesting. Is this how people with "actual LIVES" justify those lives?

And what outside things do you do? Please list them so I can cut them all down one by one. It's so easy for any moron to cut someone elses hobby down as you have clearly demonstrated...though in a very weak way.

Try going to www.myg0t.com to learn how to really rage and troll a forum, as you suck at it! Ba da bing!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Everyone thinks that the internet should be free and everything should just be given to us"

Thats not true. Only music and movie should be free.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

The box you build yourself will only be cheaper if your time is of no value

how much value do you have on your time when you waste it posting to this site? no life?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Tim C]

It wasn't until the slashdot crowd all decided that they were biologists, physicists, chemists, economists, and lawyers that the community started going insane.

What, us physcists can't be nerds too? Some would say that scientists are the ultimate in nerdiness, even beating you johnny-come-lately CS types with your high uids... ;-)

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Dragoon412]

While I agree with your assessment that a lot of people simply don't have the knowledge or inclination to build their own PCs, paying Alienware to do it is like wanting a sports car and paying $40,000 for a riced-up Lancer when a stock Ion Red Line or 350z would blow it off the road for ~$20,000 less.

Alienware's premiums are absurd, their rigs too ugly for words, and their construction quality and support questionable at best. They're Dell "quality" with an even larger markup. Their adherence to flagrantly overpriced & uncompetetive technologies (i.e. Pentium 4s & [i]PCIe[/i] 6800GTs*) isn't doing anyone any good either.

I mean, [i]come on[/i] these idiots are going to offer a dual core [i]gaming system[/i]! In its present incarnation, dual core is to gaming what electric hybrid engines are to rally racing.

*Note I said [i]PCIe[/i]; the 6800GT is a great card, but the PCIe variant is nearly $100 more than the virtually identical X800XL.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who would want pre-built legos? In my day, we made our own Lego, from paper machê! Uphill in the snow both ways!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Urusai]

I would think Alienware's clientele would be the sort who wouldn't mind customizing their rig. This is really an advertisement for Ep. 3. Geez, I swear, strolling through Wallymart, half the merchandise is SW themed. Sith Saltines, anyone?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Deeze]

Nerdy case mods are one thing, slapping decals on the sides and calling it a mod is quite another.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Pointdexter]

And another thing! Why are there no Quickies posts anymore? ;(

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[GPLDAN]

What suggests that Alienware had nothing to do with this, is that the site is barely loading. If this was a product placement on Slashdot, they have the worst... webhosting.... company.... ever.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[VStrider]

The box you build yourself will only be cheaper if your time is of no value, pretty much the same TCO you get from using Linux

what a load of BS! Your time is so valuable? you work 24/7? I guess not, so get off your sofa and tv and actually do something.It doesn't take me more than 20mins to unpack the components and put them all together.

And linux is not about TCO. Thats corporate BS. Linux is about fun. Building your own box is also fun.

So if you got a prebuilt system with preinstalled windows...what the hell are you doing here anyway?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Chyeld]

If you have the money to buy pretty things, then by all means, buy pretty things.

I've never understood this additude that among certain circles of geeks where not having the time to devote your life to building your own equates to being required to live without.

Is building your own rewarding to some? Damn straight it is.

Is building your own sometimes less expensive? Yes, more often than not.

Is building your own a better way to get the look YOU want? Only if you happen to have that creative streak in you that lets you be both geek and artist.

Is building your own the ONLY way to do? HELL NO!

Look, doctors, dentists, and other people with money enough to throw away on pretty things typcially have better things to do with their time than spend it mucking around building their own version of every pretty toy they can afford. Usually, this better thing happens to be MAKING MONEY.

Yes, it's nice that you spent your life building everything you own, from the misshappen, mangled shirt on your back to the chair your butt is resting on.

But the rest of us, those of us with lives, happen to only find building our own stuff fun if it's being done as a hobby. Which means, the rest of the stuff we own we BUY.

Get off the high horse and join the rest of civilization.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[jhagler]

Yeah, there are a lot of Hary Potter and Star Wars sets out there, but they still make the good stuff. I just bought my 5 year old daughter this at Target to add to her current collection. The only thing that bugs me is that the flat plates aren't part of the standard sets anymore, though you can still buy them directly from lego

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[masdog]

It pains me to walk into toy stores today. Yes, I'm an adult, but I'm one that yearns for the flavour of the past, and toys are one thing that can connect you to that time without expensive, mind-altering chemicals. Sadly, the items lining the shelves are a crystal clear reflection of today's kids: the toys foster little creativity. Building toys are passed over for ready-made, out-the-box or off-the-card replicas of the sub-standard psuedo-anime that is spewed from the plasma panel. And the building toys that remain are exactly as bigman2003 indicated--pre-fabricated shapes, fitting together in only one way to resemble only one thing. First, as long as I can remember, Lego toys have always been sold as prefabricated kits. That never stopped me from being creative and building my own cities, space ships, and vehicles. It was always more fun and challenging to figure out how to use that new part to give one of my creations a new feature. It is a shame to see them get away from their roots entirely and only sell products that are licensed. However, my kids will be able to play with tons of old Lego Bricks and left-over kit parts because they're sitting in a large plastic box somewhere in my parent's house. As for other creative toys, you won't find them in a toy store. Marketing geniuses don't want creative kids - it hurts their sales when kids don't need the newest electronic toy to keep them entertained for hours. That doesn't mean that creative toys aren't available. Erector sets, chemistry sets, and other cool things like that are niche items, but they can be found at online stores like IQKids.com. Sean

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[drsquare]

I'm not a fan of the 'community feel'. You see that sort of thing on small forums, and it's just another word for 'cliquey'. Such places are very insular, and it only takes one person to take a dislike to you before you're driven off the entire forum. Luckily slashdot is a big and bloated enough place so that a few people's opinions don't matter. When you lose the popularity you lose the reason to go there. I don't go to slashdot for the stories so much as for the comments. Less people = less comments.

Go to kuro5hin to find out what it's like when you have a slashdot-esque site with hardly any members. It's practically a desert in website form.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[masdog]

Reposted due to formatting error...Sorry!! It pains me to walk into toy stores today. Yes, I'm an adult, but I'm one that yearns for the flavour of the past, and toys are one thing that can connect you to that time without expensive, mind-altering chemicals. Sadly, the items lining the shelves are a crystal clear reflection of today's kids: the toys foster little creativity. Building toys are passed over for ready-made, out-the-box or off-the-card replicas of the sub-standard psuedo-anime that is spewed from the plasma panel. And the building toys that remain are exactly as bigman2003 indicated--pre-fabricated shapes, fitting together in only one way to resemble only one thing.

First, as long as I can remember, Lego toys have always been sold as prefabricated kits. That never stopped me from being creative and building my own cities, space ships, and vehicles. It was always more fun and challenging to figure out how to use that new part to give one of my creations a new feature.

It is a shame to see them get away from their roots entirely and only sell products that are licensed. However, my kids will be able to play with tons of old Lego Bricks and left-over kit parts because they're sitting in a large plastic box somewhere in my parent's house.

As for other creative toys, you won't find them in a toy store. Marketing geniuses don't want creative kids - it hurts their sales when kids don't need the newest electronic toy to keep them entertained for hours. That doesn't mean that creative toys aren't available. Erector sets, chemistry sets, and other cool things like that are niche items, but they can be found at online stores like IQKids.com.

Sean

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[TheUz]

Hola, NDP.

ltns. You need to place /sarcasm tags around comments such as these, else the humor be lost on the mortals.

= )

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[nutrock69]

While I agree with the concept, I differ about the Lego analogy.

Creativity and Lego still go hand in hand, but you need to step back a little from the shelf when shopping to see it. Looking at a Lego car or boat with less than 100 non-brick shaped pieces and saying the creativity is gone is just plain wrong. Step back and look at the other sets next to it and ask your creativity what you can make if you had 5 or 10 different 100-piece car/boat sets to work with. Just because they're not bricks doesn't mean they go together one and only one way.

The Star Wars sets are a prime example. Go get a few different large ship sets and check out the pieces you end up with. There are only a few pieces that are unique to that set, and the vast majority are interchangable between sets and are most likely made of the same colors. With a few of these sets, you now have large piles of many of the basic space-ship building blocks that can be used to make any ship your heart desires - not just the Falcon or a cheesy X-Wing according to the instruction manual.

And before anyone says I missed the point - I know there are pieces that really can't be used for anything except following the instruction manual. These are usually found in those $5.99 sub-50 piece kits that are supposed to represent some movie scene or other. I don't buy those. I'd much rather buy the large ships for the purpose I outlined above. Build the ship for the memory of knowing I built it, then add the pieces into my large rubbermaid bucket (aka, the shipyard) as spare parts for future endeavors. For the odd one-purpose piece that comes in the large sets, there's only two things that can be done. I can either bitch about not being able to use them, or I can view it as a building challenge. Guess which one is more productive?

btw, Lego Jar-Jar's head looks great in that Lego guillotine set... :)

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it's neither.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a fuckwad.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[dAzED1]

hey, I have the same # of digits as you... ;) Though back then, adding 18k users probably took 100 times longer than it does now.

No, I meant to convey that it seems that a lot of folks think they are *all* those things, all at the same time. As young as I, in theory, still am...I wish "emacs vrs vi" was the biggest thing we worried about still.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[flyingsquid]

Aw, you kids don't know how good you had it! Why, in my day all we got was a five pound brick of plastic with instructions, and we had to carve all the pieces ourselves, and then put the model together!

Seriously though, I agree: I still like Legos but this three-pieces-to-make-a-spaceship thing is taking it too far.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[zerocool^]

1.) learn how to use HTML.

2.) Don't troll.

2a.) a 350z is more than $20,000, a good bit more.
2b.) gaming is a good application for dual core. A lot of games these days are multi-threaded, owing to the popularity of hyperthreaded procs. Not to mention, you can set process affinity to one core or the other and let one of the cores be completely used by the game, while the other one manages the OS.
2c.) Who in their right mind would buy a pentium 4 board with AGP today? PCI-Express is the slot of the future, AGP is old and busted. I'll grant that there aren't many performance gains from switching from AGP to PCIe, but there's that whole forward-looking ready for tomorrow thing too. Not to mention, even if you didn't care about PCIe, you'd probably be interested in some of the features of the Intel 915 / 925 chipset, which doesn't support AGP.
2d.) The 6800GT is not an X800XL. For that matter, the X800XL sounds like a nonexistant ATI card. You were probably looking for the X850XT. And of course, the 6800GT is an NVidia card.
2e.) The 6800GT in PCIe form is only slightly more expensive, and I'm sure a lot of people want to buy it for the same reason I bought it - SLI. AGP doesn't support SLI. I bought it so in the future, I can just buy another one and an SLI motherboard, and double my performance.

Shut up.

~Will

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[sgant]

Not on a high horse, I just hate posers. Are you a poser? Posers on Harleys. Posers trying to be something their not. Posers just buying something new and shiney to fill some void they think is lacking in their lives. Shallow people living shallow lives.

As I said, if you want a gaming PC, get a Dell and be done with it...but no, gotta have the water-cooled, SLI, FX-55 based (which isn't all that great for overclocking nor does it really warrant a water-cooled system), cool green color, per-installed UV lighting system that you spend 4000 bucks on. What are you buying? You're buying a look...you're buying into the kind of guy that was profiled in the satirical movie American Psycho.

Unhappy with being that doctor? Think you made a mistake being a blood-sucking lawyer? Think your dick is too small? Throw money at the problem and buy new things...sure, that will make you feel better, right?

Also, another one that throws around "those of us with lives". Usually those that say that have no life of their own, and become terribly defensive sounding more like "I have a life...cut it out, I really do have a life! Stop picking on me".

BTW...mod me down...I don't care. Slashdot is dead and I can't believe I'm even wasting my time with this.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[JTFritz]

As a low 5-digit user, I have seen Slashdot change focus over the last 8 years...

C'mon all of us 5-digit users have graduated college now (I'm assuming), and we ARE NOW biologists, chemists, and physicists.

Let's face it, times have changed, we've grown up. Hell, even Malda is married! Imagine how much the site will change when he and Kathleen start having kids!

http://babyphotos.slashdot.org/

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

2a) The 350z's MSRP is $27,000. With rebates and incentives, they can be had for little more than $20,000.

2b) You seem woefully misinformed. The number of current, multi-threaded PC games can be counted on one hand.

2c) You completely missed the point of the comparison, which was that the AGP 6800GT is ~$300, while the PCIe variant is ~$400, and the ATi X800XL, which is virtually identical performance-wise, is $300 in PCIe.

2d) The poster didn't claim it was, and it's a real card you fucking smacktard.

2e) The fact that you've purchased an SLI setup alone shows that you don't have a fucking clue what's going on with gaming hardware, and are swayed more by hype than real-world performance. Double your performance... what bullshit. If you get even another 40% with a second card you'd be lucky, and then you're a generation of features behind.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[NDPTAL85]

Hahah man I know. I just have so much fun here that sometimes I get carried away.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[nunchux]

Paying people saves me time and effort - it has nothing to do with stupidity.

No, the stupidy comes in when you're paying for someone to build you a DARTH VADER COMPUTER.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[SethJohnson]

I fully empathize with you. I don't have kids, but when I do, I'll want to give them the original fundamentals of creativity. Unfortunately, I fear that they'll also be exposed to the modern versions of these tools through television, school, and peers. This exposure will likely result in them being dissatisfied with the legos we'll provide our kids.

We'll tell them, "But these are better. You really use your imagination with them!"

Their friends will likely whisper, "Wow. Her dad is such a miser. He won't buy any new toys!"

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[BraceletWinner]

No, the stupidy comes in when you're paying for someone to build you a DARTH VADER COMPUTER.

That's not stupidity, that's taste. Stupidity is posting for the world to see that you're ignorant. Ignorance is not knowing what certain words mean or how to spell them, like 'stupidity'.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Quikah]

Where the hell are you getting $7000 off for a 350z? Edmunds doesn't list anything. Seriously, I am going to have to fly their to buy one at that price.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

arent you thinking of technocrat.net

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[geekoid]

if you knwo what your doing, there should be very little fixing your system needs.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[WreathOfBarbs]

There is always the other extreme, Technics. Where it takes 3000 pieces and 4.5 hours to make a battle droid. ;-)

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[geekoid]

".. their rigs too ugly for words, ..."
thats an opinion and nothing to do with the system, or service.

I do not own one, but I know several people who do and the all enjoy them and have had no problems.
Desktops, that is, I have never even seen there laptops.

on the plus side, they probably know HTML.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[geekoid]

way to limit your shildren. I mean lets not give them different shape to be imaginitive with.

Give the kids all the different shapes, they will use them in unexpected ways. Lego do NOT creatine imagination, they are a tool to express ones imaginations.

If you give a kideone of the sets, and all he does is create whats on the box; I say that if you just gave him 'regular' Lego, he would only create rectangular buildings.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[sgant]

Would be fun if you actually were being sarcatic though...but "TheUz" gave you a way out and you took it.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[zippthorne]

erm. what's wrong with hybrids in rallies? As i understand it, there's lots of breaking and accelerating around corners and such.. that would seem ideal for hybrid cars?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[zerocool^]

Try again, pal.

The 350z, advertised at a local dealer here MSRP's for between $30,370 and $42,200, depending on options. That dealer lists the price as low as $28,000, but... who's buying a bottom barrel 350z? If I buy a sports car, I'm not trying to have non-automatic windows. Plus, I'm pretty sure a tricked out Mitsubishi Lancer that you spent $20,000 on the car and $20,000 on the upgrades could blow past a 305z, especially one with the cheapest of the options.

Games are multi-threaded, most of the better ones. Most big titles since quake3 had the option of being run in multi-proc mode, even if you did have to envoke it thusly from the command line. Additionally, as I mentioned before, even if a game isn't multithreaded, you can still set the process affinity to the 2nd processor, leaving it completely in the hands of the video game, while the 1st handles all the OS functions, memory management, etc. This alone will speed things up.

AS STATED BEFORE, the PCI-e 6800GT is more expensive because it supports SLI. The ATI-X800XL (which appearantly is a real card, in as much as any ATI card is a "real" card until you try to find it in a retail store) does NOT support SLI. In fact, no ATI card does. I'm not an NVidia Fanboy (I switched from an X600 to the 6800GT, and I didn't mind ATI), but I am saying that SLI is a huge advantage. Not to mention the X800XL does have less than stellar performance -- from the article you reference:

If you ignore Doom 3, the X800 XL actually does fairly well against NVIDIA's 6800GT, equaling it in many games, outperforming it in Half Life 2, and coming within about 10% in Far Cry/Halo (while still being $100 cheaper). The problem is that Doom 3 [where the 6800GT is 30% faster] is a pretty big blemish on the X800 XL's record that may or may not be indicative of future game performance depending on engine licenses. However, given the $100 reduction in price, we'd be willing to deal with lower Doom 3 performance so long as performance in other games remains competitive.

.

The 6800GT trumps the X800XL or any other X800 based card in another way, too: They're available for sale. I am getting fed up with ATI saying that their cards will be comming out soon, and will be cheaper and faster than NVidia's cards. When the only people that get cards are the review sites, it's a big problem that the benchmarks don't show.

Also, about SLI: How can I possibly not have a clue about gaming hardware? SLI boxes are the bleeding hyperexpensive edge of gaming hardware these days. First, I don't have an SLI box, I didn't want to pay ~$250 for an SLI motherboard when the P-4 dual core procs are on the way, and I don't know if the board will support them. 2.) A 40% performance gain, even if that's all you get, is hugely significant. But, with SLI, the gains are (admittedly not double, but) more in the neighborhood of 60-70%, from what I have read (on review sites and in maximumpc, etc). Also, how can I be a generation of features behind? What is a feature that the 6800GT doesn't support? And if a feature like that exists, what games make use of it?

Of course, you're retarted. You're also an AC because you are, in fact, the origional poster, and you're embarrased to log in and post anything worthwhile.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Dragoon412]

Uhm, no, that wasn't me, or I would've pointed out that I wasn't speaking strictly of new cars, rather than make the asinine argument that a 350z could be had brand new for $10,000 less than it typically goes for.

Also, what games in particular are multi-threaded? I can think of is UT2k4, and I'm not even positive it is.

AS STATED BEFORE, the PCI-e 6800GT is more expensive because it supports SLI.

You seem utterly sold on the idea that SLI is somehow more than a gimmicky technology for the wealthy and that it'll be any different this time around than it was in the Voodoo2 days.

The far more likely truth is that the PCIe 6800GT is more expensive because it can be. Initially I thought it was due to the card being natively AGP, and being made PCIe with the addition of a bridge chip, however, nVidia's price point on the PCIe 6600GT shows that they obviously have the capability to manufacture PCIe-native cards and still be price competetive.

So, neither makes sense; it's obviously not the bridge chip, and it's obviously got nothing to do with SLI (which, if you'll take notice, the 6600GT also supports, yet still manages to remain competetive in price).

As for Doom3 benchmarks, well... who cares? It's one game, using a technology exclusively perpetuated by a single company whose release schedule is something like one game every 3 years. Add to the fact that their games themselves are less games and more shallow tech demos, and... really, it's not all that relevant.

The 6800GT trumps the X800XL or any other X800 based card in another way, too: They're available for sale.

You sound like one of those Slashdotters that rails against Windows bluescreening despite the fact that it hasn't been a problem for years.

The X800XL is available just about anywhere; my local Best Buy and CompUSA even have them in stock, for $300.

Besides, who the hell buys a video card at a brick and mortar store, anyways? You can almost always find better prices online, at places like NewEgg and Monarch Computer (both of which have customer service that's way out of Best Buy and CompuSA's league, too).

Also, about SLI: How can I possibly not have a clue about gaming hardware? SLI boxes are the bleeding hyperexpensive edge of gaming hardware these days.

Yes, they're the bleeding edge, and a giant step backwards in terms of cost effectiveness. Once the newness of the technology wears off, and people stop using it as a buzzword and realize you can use a single 6800 Ultra or X850XT PE and run anything out there at high resolution with all the bells and whistles and still push well over 60FPS, it'll die off just like it did with the Voodoo2. Why spend a premium on a mainboard and slave yourself to some beastly power supply and cooling system just to accommodate a pair of cards whose only benefit over a single-card solution is higher benchmark scores?

And yes, a 40% performance gain is huge, but when are you using it? Up front, when the card's new/current? All that means is paying 200% of the price for 140% of the performance, when in many cases, 100% of the performance is already overkill.

And as an upgrade path, as was pointed out, it's just not viable. You're left a generation behind in features, and 40% performance boost isn't terribly significant in the face of the 100-200% performance gap you typically see between a generation of cards.

As for dual-core, well... perhaps you can explain how games, which are overwhelmingly single threaded, will run faster on one 2ghz core than they would on, say, a 3.8ghz single CPU. Surely background processes aren't eating up nearly 50% of your CPU time.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you advise someone to buy a Dell?

I mean ever, for any reason?

There are plenty of other small PC makers out there.

Isn't water cooling quieter than fans? Besides, my old PC (built by my cousin) had an overheating problem after awhile when the fan got clogged with dust!

I built my own new PC... but it's starting to get dusty!

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or maybe they didn't want to respond to you. Sometimes people write emails where it's clear only one answer will suit them, an answer the recipient of the email will not or cannot give. so instead of giving folks like you fodder to spew vitriol about, they remain silent.

Frankly, I understand why.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[mwvdlee]

Who says I won't be giving any new sets too? Essentially the original stuff is "free" in my case. All I'm saying is that atleast with the original Lego, a kid has the possibility to be creative.

It's about creating the opportunity for the children to reach their potential, whether the kid picks up on it or not is out of my grip but atleast they'll get a chance.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Anonymous Coward]

The cases are still cheesy and cheap.

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[piovere]

since when is physics not nerdy?

Re:This "news article" was sponsored by...

[Reziac]

Remember Shawn Crosby's "Star Wars car" that generated such a storm of comments here a year or so back? Well, way back in the era of the first generation Pentium (specifically a P233, IIRC), this same Shawn tricked out his computer's case so it looked like a droid. Your first thought on seeing it was that it must have been R2-D2 in a previous life.

Oops

[portwojc]

What is thy bidding, my master?

Slashvertisment

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the most blatant one of all, so far.

BSOD

[L0k11]

Meesa sorry, meesa was hungry

Awesome!

[KnightElite]

Look, it even comes with samples of the music from the soundtrack!

It's all about the power

[caluml]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master"

Crazy power freak!

Those systems aren't so hot..

[Sporkinum]

They didn't stand up to a Slashdotting..

Re:Those systems aren't so hot..

[wackysootroom]

Their pitiful systems are no match for the power of slashdot!

Re:Those systems aren't so hot..

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to know, is this news or did the company pay for this advertisement?

Now witness the power...

[Anonymous Coward]

...of this fully operational Slashvertisement.

Re:Now witness the power...

[Golias]

Ben: That's no article. That's an advertizement.

Han: Don't be silly, no honest company would run an advertizement as a front page sto... I've got a bad feeling about this...

Re:Now witness the power...

[FidelCatsro]

Vader: Luke I am your father ,tell me are you happy with your mortage . Sith finances can help you save up to 29%.

Luke:..... Uh no thanks .

Vader: Fair enough , on with the saber swinging.

Luke : I will never turn to the darkside .

Vader : Why not , if you sign up right now ill throw in this free pencil holder and a bretzel.

Luke : Hm , no never .If i do that then there can be no sequal , and i make my money off merchandise.

Re:Now witness the power...

[IainHere]

Tarkin: Would you prefer another advert, a lucrative advert? Then name the vendor! I grow tired of asking this so it'll be the last time: Where is the sales base?
Princess Leia: Kuro5hin. They're on Kuro5hin.
Governor Tarkin: There. See, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable. Continue with the operation. You may advertise when ready.
Princess Leia: What?
Governor Tarkin: You're far too trusting. Kuro5hin is too obscure to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we'll deal with your rusty's friends soon enough.

Re:Now witness the power...

[IainHere]

Holy crap, that's awesome

Just wish I had mod points

I find your lack of mod points disturbing...

Re:Now witness the power...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is "us"?

Re:Now witness the power...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, I see the asswipe with the Offtopic hard-on showed up again.

Re:Now witness the power...

[Anonymous Coward]

From the place that brings you " Free as in beer"
We have "Offtopic as in on-topic"
The post is a parody of/joke about cheesy star wars comercials and cash-ins .
How is that off-topic ,the article is an advertisment for some cheap cheesy star wars Cash-in.

Oh well...

[LegendOfLink]

I thought Alienware was going to be kinda creative and maybe make the case out of the shape of a Millenium Falcon, instead of copping out like the bunch of uncreative money grubbers they are and throwing a crappy graphic on the side of their standard case.

I'm sure fanboys everywhere are rejoicing right now.

Re:Oh well...

[bigman2003]

Yeah, I expected more.

But at least they did use 'classic' graphics, instead of the new crap.

But then we miss Amadala...hmm...Leia or Amadala....

Re:Oh well...

[mmkkbb]

Take a current photo of Carrie Fisher.

Now take a current photo of Natalie Portman.

Re:Oh well...

[R.D.Olivaw]

Amidala

Your Starwars fanclub membership is hereby revoked. Please step out of the waiting line please.

Re:Oh well...

[FidelCatsro]

Kind of Fitting really wouldn't you say, considering many peoples views on the new star wars films as a "bunch of uncreative money grubbers".
Perhaps alien-ware were making a statment .

Re:Oh well...

[dAzED1]

you ARE kidding, right?

I mean...geeze...Natalie has grown up to be quite the hottie. The "competition" was only mildly cute in one scene, imo

Re:Oh well...

[TrappedByMyself]

I'm sure fanboys everywhere are rejoicing right now.

And the cryboys are also rejoicing in their own special way

New Star Wars computers
fanboy: gets credit card, click, click
cryboy: Waaaa, this sucks, waaaa they blew it, waaaa it's all big business, waaaa this doesn't hold a candle to [insert obscure sci-fi author here], waaa how could anyone buy this tripe, gets credit card, click, click

Re:Oh well...

[bigman2003]

Unless of course you are old enough that Natalie could be your daughter...

Re:Oh well...

[The Angry Mick]

Take a current photo of Carrie Fisher.
Now take a current photo of Natalie Portman.

Next, cover both with hot grits . . .

Decision should be easy after that.

Re:Oh well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen! It's about as original as a Star Wars lunch pale!

Re:Oh well...

[glesga_kiss]

Take a current photo of Carrie Fisher.

Now take a current photo of Natalie Portman

Do it the other way around, back in the days when Carrie was hottest, you'll get a free GPS unit for the rest of your days.

Not that appealing

[trawg]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing.

Yeh, but I'm still not going to spend $5k on a tricked-up PC just to do something that I could do in Windows 3.11 ten years ago :)

Re:Not that appealing

[tomzyk]

Honestly, I DID have that as my bootup sound for my Win3.11 machine back in '94.

But you gotta admit, it's a pretty slick lookin case.

Re:Not that appealing

[AndroidCat]

Go for it I tend to use non-verbal short SFX like shields up/down from my Star Fleet Command game CD. (Can't play it with XP, but the wav files are great.)

Re:Not that appealing

[Psykechan]

Well I had that as my startup sound in '92. And we didn't use any fancy schmancy Win3.11 either, we had a program that would play it straight through the PC speaker. Stopped every interrupt it did. Other people on the Token Ring network complained that the network was down because back in my day we didn't have intelligent network cards.

Yep, things were different then...back in good old '92 when Star Wars was still cool.

um

[Anonymous Cowpat]

am I the only person who thinks that those look exactly like standard alienware PC's with pretty pictures featuring starwars characters on the side?

Re:um

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure that they can sue you for that comment.

"you are trying to ruin our business, Are you a communist?!"

Re:um

[Anonymous Coward]

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Re:um

[mwvdlee]

Don't forget the Windows background and kewl bootup sound!

Re:um

[Jeremy.DeGroot]

Just you and Cory Doctorow

Seriously though, just painting the side of a standard case is such a cop-out. I demand an ultra high-end gamer system shaped like the Death Star or Chewbacca's head. The optical drive could be his mouth, and he could even roar every time I inserted a disc.

Re:um

[Deeze]

You have a blinding grip on the obvious.

your?

[circusboy]

Thy, "What is thy bidding, my master?" ;)

Re:your?

[operagost]

Damn Quakers.

Re:your?

[feronti]

Of course if GL had known what he was doing, he would have known that 'thy' is the familiar form. 'You' is the honorific form in English. We just got rid of the familiar form, so 'thy' only sounds more formal... it would in fact be an insult to address someone of higher station using the 'thy' form. It'd be like using 'tu' instead of 'usted' in Spanish. So, the correct way for Vader to address the Emperor would in fact be "What is your bidding my master?"

Re:your?

[wild_berry]

[meta: my response to this has been halted while I wait in silence to know how to respond][/quaker]

Re:your?

[circusboy]

or 'tu' vs. 'Lei' in italian I suppose.

good to know, thanks

Re:your?

[pHatidic]

With Alien Ware it's more like, "What is thy budget, my master."

Re:your?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your understanding of archaic English grammar is not technically correct. The difference between 'thy' and 'your' is the difference between singular and plural in the second person for the possessive case, not between formal and informal. I'm not sure if I really understand myself, but there's a table that explains IT ALL. It sounds more formal, because it's archaic.

Re:your?

[dswensen]

I dub thee Pedanto, lord of picking obscure linguistic nits!

It's a sci-fi movie taking place "a long time ago in a galaxy" etc., so it's doubtful "thy" has the same etymology it does on Earth. GL was probably just going for a brief way to "formalize" the language, which passes muster just fine, I think, in a movie geared towards 12-year-olds.

Re:your?

[Dirtside]

Lucas didn't write the screenplay for Empire; Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett did. So even if your comment was valid (which it isn't; see other replies), it still wouldn't be accurate to place the blame on Lucas.

Re:your?

[feronti]

Huh. Well, that's what I get for basing my knowledge on what I was taught during rehearsals for a Renaissance Faire:) Shoulda done the research myself:) Of course it was years ago, so it's entirely possible that I'm remembering it incorrectly as well (it may have simply been an artistic conceit to drive home to the patrons the difference between the classes... the director in charge of this particular aspect of the Faire was actually very knowledgeable... I think she had done graduate studies in Renaissance English lit). Thanks for pointing out my error. I've been using this little bit of trivia for years... I'm lucky I never used it on anyone who knew any better:) Well, until now, that is;)

Windows-based machines...

[aendeuryu]

Let's see...

Lots of eyecandy, empty interior.
Annoying mascot.
Takes way too long to get going.
Behind the curtain is an evil bastard.
If you paid for it, you paid too much.

So. Am I talking about Windows, or Star Wars, Episode 1?

Re:Windows-based machines...

[AndroidCat]

If we're talking about tricked-out PCs, then surely you mean Star Wars, Episode II?

Attack of the Clones.

Re:Windows-based machines...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, another windows joke, can we please have more of these, I'm not yet sick of the thousands of similarly mindless windows bashing posts.

Re:Windows-based machines...

[sharkey]

So. Am I talking about Windows, or Star Wars, Episode 1?

Trick question. The answer is Alienware.

Finally...

[Slider451]

They can recycle the Windows 3.1 sound themes that were out in the early 90s. Having Luke say "what a piece of junk!" whenever you had an error, and Darth yell "I have you now!" when you you get a GPF. Those were the days.

Re:Finally...

[Vinnie_333]

I know, Star Wars has so many quotable moements:

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything's soft... and smooth...

alternate link for iconset

[Provocateur]

AT deviantart:

http://www.deviantart.com/view/17884431/

Re:alternate link for iconset

[stg]

LOL! The icons are nice enough, but the funniest thing is the R2 recycle bin...

What, no Jar Jar?

[Gloggy]

All that's missing is a pair of floppy ears on the side and a startup sound going "Mesa booting massar..."

Re:What, no Jar Jar?

[wackysootroom]

I can think of some better uses for Jar Jar in consumer products...

Dart Boards.
Archery Targets.
Urinal Cakes.
Toilet Paper.
Clay Pidgeons.
Heavy Bags.

Re:What, no Jar Jar?

[hazah]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if my computer says one word to me, I'm taking the baseball bat to it.

Re:What, no Jar Jar?

[AndroidCat]

I think Jar Jar got it right for once.

eeehh....

[Quiet_Desperation]

pre-pimped with Star Wars themes

That comment, in the words of Spider Jerusalem, really makes me need to shoot something.

Will fancy light sabers be referred to as "bling" next?

Re:eeehh....

[operagost]

Check out the rims on my landspeed, dawg!

Re:eeehh....

[Quiet_Desperation]

Argh! How dare- wait... rims on a hovercar?

You need fins, man!

Yawn!

[LaughingLinuxMan]

Airbrushed cases? Yawn. I would be more impressed if they had a Darth Vader helmet or had licensed the Imperial cruiser or Millenium Falcon mods we have gushed over here before.

-LLM

Would not buy it

[squisher]

Despite of being totally overpriced, I think I would never buy any AlienWare after reading some ad in Wired where it said something along the lines:

I can play games, render an animation, listen to mp3 and encode some video, all with very little slowdown to each other! Thank you AlienWare!

Wow. Unless they think that you will be playing Solitaire, I really doubt that that statement could be true. And as such, they are doing false advertisement, something I really hate and so even if I had the money, I would not spend it on their machines, however cool they are.

Re:Would not buy it

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? I can do this with a custom-built pc in an Aria case. Just a 2.2Ghz Althon64 and a couple gigs of RAM is all I have. A couple points: half-life does not require a lot of processing power, animations can be set to render at a lower priority, mp3s take no processing power, and encoding video is also done at a lower priority. Well, at least on SuSE Pro it is.

Re:Would not buy it

[Golias]

"I can play games, render an animation, listen to mp3 and encode some video, all with very little slowdown to each other! Thank you AlienWare!"

Wow. Unless they think that you will be playing Solitaire, I really doubt that that statement could be true. And as such, they are doing false advertisement

That's not false advertizing. You really can do it with their products.

All you gotta do is buy four AlienWare computers.

Re:Would not buy it

[dstewart]

"[...] and so even if I had the money, I would not spend it on their machines."

Then you are not their target demographic.

There are people that put very large, expensive spoilers on their underpowered Honda Civics. They often do this to explicately show that they have the money to purchase said ostentatious add-ons for their cars.

These people also tend to think that the spoilers make their cars go faster.

The same logic applies here.

"Pimped."

Light side looks the best.

[will_die]

However I am sure that the dark side would work equally as well at collecting dust as it sits under my desk.

!=chix

[goodgoing]

girl: what's that?

geek: it's my uber star warz mod pimped out rig that i heard about on the popular tech news website /.

girl: kbye

Re:!=chix

[mwvdlee]

Really, you could have just left out the middle part.

Re:!=chix

[jasonmicron]

Sure it does. In a few days Alienware will be releasing the female version with stickers of Ewoks all over the side!

Awwwww, how cute!

Re:!=chix

[Anonymous Coward]

How did you manage to get the girl to your room in the first place??? I need info!!! I must know!!

Re:!=chix

[alc6379]

How did you manage to get the girl to your room in the first place??? I need info!!! I must know!!

He didn't-- the system fell out of the box in the parking lot of the UPS store he picked it up from...

this is a way

[Amouth]

of sperating lazy people from there money.. personaly if i wanted a theamed computer i do it my self.. not pay crazy prices for someone to sell me a mass produced one.. i though the idea behind computer mods was to be original not to have the same computer your friend does if you both have money

where is the deathstar?

[js3]

looks like a normal pc with pictures on it.

WOW

[siphi]

5k for their standard overpriced crap, with some tacky plastic added to the side! yay.

Re:Alienware suck

[Anonymous Coward]

"Buys that shit"

The Hooker twin sisters?
The Coke?
The poorly built pc?

which?!

I'd take the Twin Sisters!

I'm getting old...

[OneOver137]

They look like toys for an 8-year-old.

Re:I'm getting old...

[djmurdoch]

They look like toys for an 8-year-old.

Did you miss this quote from the submission?

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing.

They are toys for an 8-year-old.

Re:I'm getting old...

[PriceIke]

Toys for 8-year-olds with moneyed parents who grew up with Star Wars .. that's why the graphics are from Eps 4-5-6. AlienWare knows what they're doing.

I'm just surprised they're not marketing them as "collectors items".

Masters

[Anonymous Coward]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

Great. Gay lether fetish PCs. Swell. Maybe you and your computer should get a room?

Yes, it's a troll, but a much justified one.

Re:Masters

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe we could get Hentai or XXX Rated THemed PC casings from AlienWare as well.. I'm sure they could find a way to have a interesting bootup sound and image...

Mirrordot

[wlan0]

http://mirrordot.com/stories/f7a24ef551a6ce58dde7d 5d66f9c6fad/index.html

Beginning to dislike StarWars

[walterbyrd]

I used to love starwars, now it's becoming tiresome. I'm sick to death of all the hype.

The stories have gone down the toilet also.

Obligatory 'I, for one' joke

[c0ldfusi0n]

I, for one, welcome our new Alienware Jedis overlords.

$1499??

[Evro]

$1499 for a PC with an AMD 3000, 512 MB ram and a GeForce 6600, no DVD or CD burner, no screen, and Windows XP Home? I built a PC for about $1000 a year ago with an AMD 3200, 1 gig ram, GF 5700 FX, and a DVD-ROM/CDRW.

Oh, but the case has a nice decal on it, I forgot.

Re:$1499??

[essreenim]

I built a PC for about $1000 a year ago with an AMD 3200, 1 gig ram, GF 5700 FX, and a DVD-ROM/CDRW. Very like mine - AMD Athlon 64 3000+, FX 5700 256md DDR. Asus KV8 (800mhz) with 512 mb 800 mhz DDR, 80 GB Seagate Barracuda HDD s-ata...I built it for just under 1000 Euro ..

I checked a reputable harware magazine and my proc was at number one in terms of ban for your buck!. Screw Alienware BUT it's labo(u)r cost that gets me. I can't deny I spent time screwing around building it..thats where the price adds up.. Put it this way, trhere's no way I would've built it for someone I didn't know without charging about $100. maybe an extra $100 for the Star Wars motif - stillundercutting Alienware. But all in all, It's not total rip off when you factor in service charge, parts, waranty...etc I guess

Re:$1499??

[Evro]

This is true, it took me an hour or three to build the PC, but when it's something I do so rarely (like once a year tops) I find it an enjoyable exercise. And it helps keep me in the loop about new technologies; I wouldn't know anything about SATA if I hadn't seen that the motherboard I wanted (Abit KV8-MAX3) had SATA connectors, so I ended up getting a SATA disk (120 gig included in that $1000) as well. But I'm talking $1000 including tax - the AW machine is pre-shipping and pre-tax, so you can probably tack on another $100-200 to that price, and I don't know any self-respecting gamer who sports 512 megs ram, so another $50 or so for more ram. As for the service, I've heard some not-so-good things about AW support, including some from AW employees.

But yeah, if you don't want to build it yourself you're going to be paying a premium, and ... yeah, that decal. :-|

Re:$1499??

[Dorothy 86]

I work in a computer shop. We sell custom rigs; it takes about 20 minutes to go from parts to installing windows... and that includes zip tying all the annoying power cables inside so they look nice... building them isn't anything that's too difficult.

Re:$1499??

[essreenim]

Yeah, I did exactly such a job too, you really can make it a production line. But, you have to admit it's a bit different when it's it your money..!! You take more care..

Re:$1499??

[drsquare]

You know, not everyone knows how to build a computer. Some people just want to buy it pre-made.

Re:$1499??

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's not difficult when you build computers for a living...duh. Your statement is just like if someone said, "build me a motorcycle". I'm a mechanic and I build them everyday, its not difficult, is it. What...it only takes me 5 hours so it cant be that hard. riiiiiiight. effin idiot.

Re:$1499??

[Dorothy 86]

one would assume that anyone reading slashdot is savvy enough to understand how to use a screwdriver. That's about all the knowledge it takes. I'd not built one before I started working here, and I've only been here for about 2 months. The first one took me a little over 30 minutes. Even then, it's not difficult. Everything is labled and color coded... it's still not hard

Re:$1499??

[Dorothy 86]

There's no production line, lol, it's just me and my boss. And how many places you know tie back all the cables? Care is taken, we don't want to have to see the machines again until they're so infested with spyware by the idiot lusers that we need to reload them. Even then, that's not cool, cause we offer free labor for 3 years. Reloads included. So we don't fuck around. If we gave shitty product, that 3 year warantee would bite us pretty hard in the ass.

Re:$1499??

[Preeminence]

I'm sorry, you forgot to include the million-dollar Star Wars licensing fee. That's where the money's going, not some stamp-on decal.

Re:$1499??

[Big_Al_B]

Put the ingredients and a recipe in front of me, and I can cook anything. Doesn't make me a gourmet chef.

Sorry, you're a recipe follower, not a system builder.

Re:$1499??

[Dorothy 86]

using your logic, no one does anything but follow recipe's. Nevermind the fact that I can do it by memory. What difference does it make if someone follows a set of instructions? If they didn't follow the standard nothing would work. You can't just plug anything anywhere... it just doesn't work that way.

Re:$1499??

[Big_Al_B]

using your logic, no one does anything but follow recipe's.

Uh, no. "Why, any dumb monkey can put together a PC from parts in 20 minutes." That's you.

Here's me, "It takes knowledge and experience to research which parts to include in a system truly built from scratch, and more knowledge and experience to set up the system properly once you've assembled it."

That means researching and purchasing the best pieces/parts for your needs and within your given budget; figuring out which are plug-n-play, and which won't play nice together unless coaxed; assembling it (setting jumpers correctly, if required); configuring BIOS; installing and hardening the OS; setting up RAID (if desired), etc.

Nevermind the fact that I can do it by memory.

I can make Kraft mac&cheese without reading the box. Does that mean I'm making it from scratch? No.

What difference does it make if someone follows a set of instructions?

The person who wrote the instructions probably knows what they're doing. The person who's just following them, doesn't need to, as long as they can read. That's the difference.

If they didn't follow the standard nothing would work.

What standard are you referring to? There are many, many, many standards applicable to personal computing. I'm not talking about matching cards to slots or connectors to sockets. I'm talking about knowing whether on-board sound processing is "good enough" or Burr-Brown DSPs on a top-of-the-line sound card is "barely sufficient".

You can't just plug anything anywhere... it just doesn't work that way.

Thanks for the update. I was wondering why my Ultra320 SCSI drive wasn't fitting into my ATA-6 controller. It's so clear now.

Spelling error

[berglin]

Am I the only one that thinks that there's an 'e' too much and an 'l' too little in appalling?

What Is Thy Bidding...

[JohnPerkins]

Ya know...My Tandy Sensation used to boot to that question.

Don't get an Alienware

[Anonymous Coward]

Do yourself a favor and don't get an Alienware. I've got one, and let me just say that their customer service blows... it's at about the level of Dell from 2 years ago. Does it perform well? You bet. Will they cover anything if it breaks? Probably not. Definitely not what I want from a company who would charge you $3000 for a top of the line rig when I can build my own. I think I'll just be buying Sager, or even Apple, from now on.

Sure, but does it run BattlestarOS?

[grazzy]

From the FAQ:
Alienware recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP
Professional.

Re:Sure, but does it run BattlestarOS?

[Zog The Undeniable]

That would fit well with the Dark Side® theme then.

Alienware Affiliate Program

[Fepple]

So, you join a their Affiliate program then post a link with your referal number to slashdot.

At 2.5% per sale you'd be crazy not to invent a news story!

Alienware and Star Wars

[TimeTraveler1884]

Why the hell do shameless plugs for Alienware PCs make good stories but my submission on a life-size X-Wing fighter that was up for auction on eBay is rejected?

In an effort to offer some constructive critisism, perhaps they should add a feature that allows the editors to give a one-liner as to why every story I submit is rejected. Perhaps I don't talk good. But how the hell would I know that is why my submission was rejected?

I'm really starting to dislike this place. But I guess that's just my opinion.

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[Anonymous Coward]

Three possible answers:

Because Slashdot only posts "news" about products they are paid to advertise?

Because Slashdot doesn't want to get into the habit of using fark as a source?

Because someone selling something on ebay isn't news?

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[dAzED1]

Perhaps I don't talk good.

Please tell me that was an attempt at humour?

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats OK. I grew tired of this place too, but then I discovered Anti-Slash (http://www.anti-slash.org./

Anti-Slash is an open community of people that constantly make fun of other people on slashdot. I actually spend more time on slashdot now modding up topics from other Anti-Slash memebers, pointing out the mistakes of others and behaving like a general prick around uneducated, watered down masses that continue to turn slashdot into a shell of its former self.

Thank you Anti-Slash, you've given me purpose again.

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[goodgoing]

In an effort to offer some constructive critisism, perhaps they should add a feature that allows the editors to give a one-liner as to why every story I submit is rejected.

That would be a cool feature, but something more interesting would be a public page containing the day's stories that almost made it, with one liners so new submitters will know what will make it.

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[TimeTraveler1884]

Please tell me that was an attempt at humour?

Yes. Happy now? :)

Re:Alienware and Star Wars

[CreatureComfort]

It's not slashdot, it's Totaldot.

Will they lose money on the deal?

[victor_the_cleaner]

I wonder what Alienware is paying for the 'rights' to use the Star Wars theme? Up-front payment and then royalties?

I doubt that in the end they will recoup their investment. Perhaps we'll be able to pick-up some of the machines real cheap in mid-June with all the other discounted SW toys. How does an Alienware Happy Meal toy sound?

But Alienware is being smart, by not using a completely modified case they can always replace the covers on unsold units.

If you consider buying this...

[spectrokid]

Maybe you should buy a beige box instead and use the rest of your money to buy flowers for a girl...

Re:If you consider buying this...

[Ahnteis]

Where do I buy flower AND girls? Especially for that price?!

[reads again]

Oh.

Sorry 'bout that. Nothing to see here folks.

Tell ya what...

[BaudKarma]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

If that's all you need to complete your Star Wars experience, I can set you up for just a few hundred dollars. No need to shell out thousands for some overpriced computer system!

Coral Cache

[killa62]

http://www.alienware.com.nyud.net:8090/starwars_pa ges/awswaurora.aspx?source=1446
May take a while to load, it's a flash thing..

I can't believe

[R.D.Olivaw]

That it's almost the second page of comments and nobody imagined a Beowulf cluster of these yet!

more like..booting the system to -

[cOdEgUru]

"How dumb can thee be, my master!"

You could be a bitch to Lucas and Alienware, both at the sametime through a single purchase!!Limited Availability!!!

Flashdotting

[Anonymous Coward]

... a new term for slashdotting a page with flash on it.

Boot up sounds are pointless

[aapold]

You want to listen to a sound file, click on it to listen to it. All bootup sounds do is make you tired of a soundfile you used to like, while making it take longer to boot your system.

Re:Boot up sounds are pointless

[Anonymous Coward]

They also verify that the sound system is working.

I would love to buy an alienware computer

[joebp]

However I don't have enough money. I also have a brain which is another sticking point.

For added "realism"

[artifex2004]

...make sure you get them to install Hitachi Deathstars.

Yeah, saw these at Celebration III

[mc_barron]

Saw these at Star Wars Celebration III - they looked cool and all, but the cases were HUGE!
So let's see...waste of money, waste of space...yeah, good luck selling those Alienware.

boot up sounds

[ppz003]

My old roomate already has this. His computer starts up with the "What is thy bidding, my master" followed by one classic Eric Cartman quote "Hey, you get your bitch ass in the kitchen, and make me some pie!"

Anyone else think it'd be funny if...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Dark Side machine came with a Pentium 4 and Windows XP, while the Light Side machine came with an AMD64 and Linux pre-installed?

These are not the PCs you are looking for..

[jolyonr]

move along, move along..

This place...

[vashathastampedo]

Sucks now. Whats a good substitute?

Jedi Penguins

[mathmatt]

Hmm, I always thought that Jedi boxes would run linux.

alienware logo and star wars images?

[artifex2004]

Sorry, but it really seems discordant to mix these.

What's next, 3D shutter glasses that look like Geordi La Forge's visor from Star Trek: TNG?

(actually, those might be cool)

I would love to see the marketing research...

[mcwop]

backing the development of these things. The word that keeps coming to mind is "gay". Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Re:I would love to see the marketing research...

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

How is a computer "gay"?

Re:I would love to see the marketing research...

[mcwop]

By taking a black case and putting cheesy Star Wars pictures on the sides.

I am using gay in the following manner:

adjective: brightly colored and showy (Example: "A dress a bit too gay for her years")

Horrible Products

[paulm]

Please don't waste your money on an AlienWare product. Two friends and I made that mistake years ago and had nothing but problems with their systems. To top it off, their support is rediculous. They are a joke and I hate them because they made me waste my hard earned money on their junk.

Just so you know - I have never worked for AlienWare or any of its competitors.

Oh no

[dtfinch]

Alienware recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

They've turned to the dark side.

Does it come......

[8127972]

..... with instructions on how to use the force to overcome the blue screen of death?

Looks like a van from the 1970s

[DanCentury]

With the airbrushing and all, it looks just like my cousin's van circa the late 1970's. Change the wallpaper to a dayglow Frank Frazetta poster, toss in a can of Ozium and it will be perfect!

Re:Looks like a van from the 1970s

[Anonymous Coward]

No matter how much you pimp up your computer, you're never going to get laid in the back of one.

Re:Looks like a van from the 1970s

[DanCentury]

True. Too many sharp edges.

Although, someone on this board is bound to disagree.

But...

[WormholeFiend]

Does Linux boot first?

Re:But...

[stg]

Only in the first version of the case. In the next version, they will slow it down, so that the "Windows XP Professional Recommended" in their site makes more sense.

After the outcry of the fans, there will be a third version where they both boot at the same time.

Re:But...

[CreatureComfort]

Then someone will post an OS X booting version on a fanfic site and everyone will agree that that is the way it should have been done in the first place.

Get the benefits without shelling out the cash:

[rezza]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

echo "echo 'What is thy bidding, my master' > /dev/speech" >> ~/.xinitrc

slashdotted that biotch

[Electric Eye]

I sure hope the millions of nerds that have brought that site to its knees this mornign are making it worthwhile for Alienware. The site is fux0red.

"what is your bidding my master"

[Senor_Programmer]

Personally my favoite response phrase from the box has always been,

Curley's, "i'm trying think but nothing happens"

if anyone has in any audio format, i'd appreciate a pointer to copy

Pre-pimped systems...

[McBainLives]

...apropos for anyone else who wants to whore out their website.

Reminiscing

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

That was the startup sound on my home machine back in 1994. I wonder if they removed the music from the background of the clip. It was fun for about a week before I replaced it.

Question

[Craig_P92669]

Do they come with Leia and Padme themes? In bikinis?

How to profit

[jasonmicron]

1) Put stickers of Luke & Anakin on computer case
2) Paint black for dark side, white for light side
3) Slashvertise
4) ????
5) Profit!!

SOUNDS???

[Tibor the Hun]

Sounds???
You youngsters and your hip lingo.
Back in my day the only sound computers could make were unitelligible beeps.
The cool thing back then was to change the C:/ prompt to What is Thy bidding, my Master:/, but then of course the great Onion famine of '46 kicked in and we had to sell all of our posessions and move to Idaho.
Idaho back then was not a part of the Union, ...

what is your bidding?

[jchawk]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."...

You boot your system more then once?

Re:what is your bidding?

[dioscaido]

what do you do when a new linux kernel security patch comes out? buy a new pc? :)

Re:what is your bidding?

[jchawk]

there has been patches out that let you bring up a new kernel without having to reboot for sometime now!

Well *I* think it's tough...

[Dunkirk]

And I'm not ashamed to admit it. If for nothing else, I like this development because it's simply a great business idea. I've been a fan of Alienware for a long time. I've never had the money to buy one of their rigs, but if I did, I would. My home-brew Frankenstein's-monster dual Athlon has given me no end of problems over the past two years. After 3 power supplies, 4 hard drives, a new RAID card, two new video cards, 3 keyboards, 3 KVM's, and, finally 2 replacement mobo's, I think it's finally settling down. (I think some bad power screwed up a lot of stuff.) It would be nice to hand over some cash for a tested "god box," to use the Ars Technica term, with a warranty. And getting one pre-pimped with some pretty lights appeals to me. My problem is that, if I got started modding my box, I wouldn't know where to stop. I'd *really* like to get an LCD monitor on it somewhere, but, with my case, that means cutting metal, and I get nervous thinking about that. Getting one already setup with some lights would be... nice. I'm getting to an age in my life where I'm tired of doing everything myself. I need to spend more time with my wife and kids, not with my junky hardware. And tying all of this in with Star Wars? Well, that's one way to do it, and not a bad way, to my eye. It's too bad Ep. 1 & 2 stunk, but I still like the thought of the story as a whole enough to think this is a neat idea.

And, NO!, I'm NOT a shill. I have no ties to Alienware in any way. I've just admired them from a distance. And, NO!, I DON'T mind this being posted to Slashdot; how does this NOT fall under "News for Nerds?" So sue me.

Come on Slashdot!!

[Lithos]

I saw this 2 weeks ago on Gizmodo.com.. I thought this was supposed to be cutting edge news for nerds.

This does meet one important marketing niche

[Badgerman]

For people who need to go out of their way to say they're geeks.

(Where as geeks with nothing to prove make an R2-D2 case mod on their own).

Re:This does meet one important marketing niche

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the target demographic is: People that want others to think that they're geeks, and have 'way more money than sense or taste.

Re:This does meet one important marketing niche

[Badgerman]

A good point. Fakegeeks. Or Posergeeks.

I suppose some deep, True Geek part of me looks at something like a computer so primped and themed and marketed and finds it somehow just "wrong" to do to a machine.

aw, man!

[sootman]

I just made the last payment on my Ferrari laptop!

I'll be impressed...

[east coast]

I'll be impressed when they put out the Mean Girls 2 PC. Any sucker can do Star Wars, it takes an artist to get the Mean Girls 2 theme down.

Re:I'll be impressed...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll be impressed when they come out with the "Anal Asians vol 23" PC mod.

Eeeew, why is the mouse sticky?

WRONG!

[Anonymous Coward]

its "What is THY bidding my master?"

and you call yourself a warsie.

Not what you might think

[El_Smack]

I ordered one a bit ago and got an early version of the "Dark Side" model. All it did was whine and get all angsty when I asked it to do even the simplest tasks.
They are promising the next model of Dark Side will be more mature, though.

Millenium Falcon Case Mod

[Hoi Polloi]

Umm, you mean like this? Millenium Falcon Case Mod

From Boing Boing

This isn't news.

[peetoose]

Waste of bandwidth and time. It was a waste of time to even write this comment

Whoops

[GotenXiao]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

Correction: "What is thy bidding, my master."

I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[tepp]

And it's really not worth the money I paid for it.

I am very disappointed with it. I can't wait for my next computer - which will NOT be alienware!

This computer runs real hot. So hot, that if you put it in your lap, you can get second degree burns within a few minutes. I got blisters all over my thighs once that took a week to go away. I put a pillow between me and it the next time, and the pillow's polyester fill melted. Now I use a wooden cutting board. What a hassle!

The computer runs so hot, you can't use any wireless cards on it. Those cards burn up, then cause the computer to freeze. Ach! I finally got it to be wireless by using one of those usb wireless cards, which because it hangs off the back, was able to stay cool enough to function. But I can never use my card slot on this computer, ever.

My graphics card - the ATI mobility radeon 9000 - is sorely outdated. It barely dragged its butt through thief III, but when I put Everquest II on it, it just choked. It's underpowered and most games are designed with a NVIDIA in mind, so my ATI mobility card looks even worse.

It weighs a ton. At 20 lbs, it wears me down if I have to take it long distances. Gah.

It's LOUD. The fan in the computer sounds like a hurricane. Plus even the power supply is loud! The power supply goes HISSSSS all the time, even when the computer is shut off, and it's very annoying. One guest thought we had escaping gas... turned out he was just hearing the power supply.

I cannot afford a new computer until December, but I am so looking forward to it. I have learned my lesson. I do not want my high end gaming machine on a laptop. I will keep my gaming machine in a tower so I can upgrade it properly, and get a LIGHTWEIGHT, SILENT, and COOL-RUNNING laptop that I can carry around with me so I can program wherever I go. This noisy, hot, heavy beast is just too cumbersome to program on, let alone play any games on its outdated graphics card!

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[Anonymous Coward]

A 20 lb laptop!? What did it run on? A car battery?

I assume it had a warranty. If it was burning your legs and melting pillows why didn't you send it back? If some woman can sue over hot coffee I'm sure you can make a case for a laptop that can fry an egg.

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[micromuncher]

I heard once that running such beasts can sterilize you - so don't use if you wanna have kids. ;-)

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[geekoid]

I have my doubts as to the honesty of this post.

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[hehman]

It weighs a ton. At 20 lbs...

Maybe that's your problem. Given that the 51-m weighs under 10 pounds, maybe you were accidentally sent 2 laptops stuck together. That would explain the heat and noise also.

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you talking about? This is the best thing that can happen to you slashbots!

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[poofyhairguy82]

Get a Sager next time buddy. I don't work for them, but I hate to see people paying to much for crap like Dell and Alienware.

For a little more money, I think Toshibas make the best laptops ever...

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[eggsome]

I also bought an alienware 51M in 2003, but I went for a Nvidia 5600go.
I must admit that it is heavy, and not quiet, but then I expected it to be a "luggable" not a real portable.
It's much easier going to LAN parties with it than a regular PC and the rest of the time it sits on my desk. It was expensive, but I've been quite happy with it.
Oh and the only reason I bought it was because it was the ONLY laptop at the time that had a nVidia chipset and a 1600x1200 screen.
I still haven't found a laptop with those two features combined.

Re:I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003

[romrom97]

Hey Tepp,

Don't give up on gaming on a laptop. I got an Inspiron 9300 from Dell, 1.6 Centrino, with an Nvidia Go 6800 256mb vid card, 1gig ram, 7200rmp HD. The performance is outstanding. I've played City of Heroes, EQ, and World of Warcraft with all options maxed out and it runs beautifully.

The beauty of it is that it is fairly quiet. I can hear the HD in the background but it's pretty low. I'm sure the 5400 rpm one would have been quieter but I choose performance over noise.

As for the heat, it never gets too hot. It does get warm but never to the point that it's uncomfortable on my lap. You definately won't be getting any burns from this. You might want to look into this laptop and look at others' reviews of it.

Rom

relationships

[nounderscores]

Perhaps GL was trying to imply that The Emperor and Vader were very close. To imply that relationship between the Emperor Palpatine and his apprentice was as close as God was to his Son, only evil.

Re:relationships

[Anonymous Coward]

It is far more likely that he fucked up.

"THY" Master!!!!

[oiarbovnb]

Shouldn't it be: "What is thy bidding, my master?"

Thay make you pay $31 for a Recovery disk

[Anonymous Coward]

Video Performance Optimizer $31
I once say a power cord for $30 or more form them.

WOW a sticker !!!! Plus its "pre-pimped"

[bxbaser]

Im gonna call my webhost and see if they have stickers on thier servers to make sure thier good. Slashdot must have 1000 stickers on thier servers cause they have to server some many hits every day. Woooh instant computer fixer for your own home http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=50939&item=7512616706&rd=1STICKERS Plus if you wear this you can double your computers speed http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=82161&item=5576924817&rd=1BE A PIMP Im still looking for some slashdot linking sticj\kers and some spelling stickers too

I think people are missing the point...

[khellendros1984]

Computer mods are supposed to be something to make your rig unique, to be something to show off and say that you did yourself. Why call these custom cases? Someone else did the design, someone else did the assembly. Sure, it looks nice, but all it says is that you can plop down some cash for a computer! It's like the use of leetspeak or netspeak or whatever...hackers used to use it to get around newsgroup text filters. Now people use it to sound cool. "Custom" cases....just another group jumping on a different bandwagon.

Re:WOW a sticker !!!! Plus its "pre-pimped"

[bxbaser]

ohmanmystickerforpunctiationandformastingfelloffag ainialsonnedsomegoodstickerglue

Genius!

[SuperKendall]

Another example of George Lucas's genius, obviously. Even then he was trying to provide a hint of Anakins rebellious nature. :-)

Hardly life-size

[JPelorat]

Bah, that's not a 1:1 scale X-Wing or astromech droid... so disappointing =)

Lego Bricks != Legos

[USCG]

No, you mean Lego BRICKS, or Lego TOYS.

"Legos" is piss-poor American slang and nothing less. Any serious Lego consumer/user says Lego and not "Legos." Check any enthusiast site and see for yourself.

Re:Lego Bricks != Legos

[alc6379]

...After all, we've got to be SERIOUS about the TOYS we PLAY with.

I'm lucky enough to have my niece call them "nemmmagegno's".

Re:Lego Bricks != Legos

[Hrothgar The Great]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

I read the parent's post and scrolled through all of these KNOWING there would be one irritating, pompous pedant like you calling him out for the HORRIBLE CRIME OF PLURALIZING A TRADEMARK. Oh god, the horror!!!

Seriously, do you work for Lego? If not, then WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH?

Re:Lego Bricks != Legos

[USCG]

A limited number of so-called geeks prefer to propagate ignorance about a toy that is highly respected by engineers.

I'm trying to reverse that trend just a little bit with my purposeful comment. I'm going to guess that the person who modded me as troll would also prefer to maintain ignorance, even though it's more of an educational thing.

As for a child calling Lego bricks whatever, well, I'm only calling out adults (assuming the parent is an adult) in this instance. Why it's so hard for some people who claim to be geeks to be respectful is beyond me.

LEGO means "play well" and was never intended to be in the plural, which is what "LEGOS" implies.

Re:Lego Bricks != Legos

[alc6379]

I wouldn't have modded you troll for your comment, personally, but I'm not incredibly picky about what they're called.

It's the same thing as calling a NIC a "NIC card", I guess, so I could see where you were coming from. However, I think it's overkill saying calling them Legos is disrespectful-- it's no more disrespectful to call all soft drinks "Cokes", all cotton swabs "Q-tips". "Lego", in American terminology, at least, has been the singular term for an interlocking plastic brick that can be used to build a bunch of different structures.

Anyways, my point is that your energy on such a quest could be better spent. If someone were calling Lego bricks "them damn sticky bricks", then maybe I'd join the cause.

Re:Lego Bricks != Legos

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to guess that the person who modded me as troll would also prefer to maintain ignorance, even though it's more of an educational thing.

I downmodded your initial post (I was not the one who modded you -1 Troll, I modded you -1 Overrated to avoid negative metamoderation by some other Lego Nomenclature Zealot).

My downmodding of you had nothing to do with "maintaining ignorance", rather, it had to do with the fact that there is a small, vocal minority of geeks out there who pick nits regarding the pluralization of "Lego" (you are a part of this minority). You guys spend a lot of time arguing a point that is nothing more than a marketing issue. Calling them "Legos" or "Lego bricks" does not change a person's enjoyment and appreciation of the toy, and indeed, most kids I know end up calling the damn things "Legos".

Who cares? (don't answer that, I know *you* do)

If the terminology was of a technical nature that modified the usage or enjoyment of the blocks, I would see your point, but you, and all the other Lego nomenclature nit-pickers are really just regurgitating marketing spiel that has no real meaning or value when it comes down to it. So please, get over it and STFU.

--Posting AC becuase this discussion is not worth affecting my karma--

Languages are alive

[FreeUser]

Of course if GL had known what he was doing, he would have known that 'thy' is the familiar form. 'You' is the honorific form in English. We just got rid of the familiar form, so 'thy' only sounds more formal...

I don't much care for Lucas, or the latest abominations he has foisted upon us in the last few years, but in his defense it should be pointed out that ...

Languages are living, mutating things. They aren't static, and what was true in 1500 by and large isn't true today.

Thy may have been the more informal form in older English. However, it has only survived because of religious zealots grovelling before their god, using the form as an honorific.

So, the fact that it sounds more formal to our ears, and is used as a more formal form of the language by the only people who still use it, means that, in today's language, it in fact has become the more formal form of the pronoun. Linguistic pedants, as usual, lag far behind the actual state of the language.

It is an interesting bit of etemology and linguistic history that "thy" and "your" have reversed meanings, in that "thee," "thy," etc. have come to mean an honorific form of "you," "your," etc. while "you," "your," etc. have come to mean the more familiar, natural form. It is even more interesting that this change in the language has occurred because of the exclusive use of these pronouns by the religous. What is less interesting is the degree to which many linguistic pedants will ignore the linguistic reality of the last century and a half (in terms of how the language is used and understood by those who speak it) in favor of a historical fact that bears no relevance to modern colloquialisms, particularly modern religious colloquialisms.

George Lucas may be an idiot about many things, but using "thy" to elevate Darth's relationship with the Emporor to one of worship rather than mere subservience was both correct in terms of the modern day language, and in terms of the effect it achieved.

Re:Languages are alive

[Anonymous Coward]

So, the fact that it sounds more formal to our ears, and is used as a more formal form of the language by the only people who still use it, means that, in today's language, it in fact has become the more formal form of the pronoun.

So what part of a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, don't you understand? :)

Re:Languages are alive

[IthnkImParanoid]

I'd say it's fairly important for those religious people to realize thou is the familiar form, since that would change the tone of the ten commandments significantly. Also, it seems important that people in the new testament refer to god with thou, indicating they had a familiar relationship with him.

So, while language may be continually evolving, there's something to be said for knowing its history, since so many works that are a part of our culture take on an entirely different meaning otherwise. How else to do that than point out when people are wrong?

Re:Languages are alive

[poot_rootbeer]

Anyone who argues over the English linguistic accuracy in the Star Wars movies is forgetting that the series happened "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

Speaks backwards Yoda does, PS.

Re:Languages are alive

[glesga_kiss]

I'd say it's fairly important for those religious people to realize thou is the familiar form, since that would change the tone of the ten commandments significantly.

Not that it matters; they weren't written in English you know! All of the holy books have been rewritten at least three times, and translated through multiple lanaguages. Micro-analysing the language is moronic! If anything, the current new testament is basically based on 16th century English, as that is when it last undertook a major rewrite. (King James) That's where you are getting all your "thou"'s!

Re:Languages are alive

[Bob Uhl]

Thy may have been the more informal form in older English. However, it has only survived because of religious zealots grovelling before their god, using the form as an honorific.

No, it's actually used in addressing God specifically because it's informal, to indicate that our God is not some distant and remote sort but rather one Who loves us personally.

But a lot of people prefer the idea of a remote god, and because of them we nowadays tend to think that 'thou' is formal.

Re:Languages are alive

[feronti]

Languages are living, mutating things. They aren't static, and what was true in 1500 by and large isn't true today.

That's correct. And today, the use of the familiar form at all is largely gone. So, using it as an honorific is still technically incorrect, because in modern usage, it's use at all is just wierd:) I wouldn't say that 'thy' and 'your' have reversed meanings... they're just used so rarely that nobody understands their use anymore. I would argue that in the KJV of the bible (the version that most popularized the use of the familiar form) it was intended to actually show that while God is greater than Man, Man's relationship with God is a personal one. Besides, poetically, it often works better. Nor would I say that the meanings have reversed because of their use by the religious; I would argue that Victorian formality and American linguistic laziness had more to do with it than religion. As society became more and more impersonal, there was less and less need for a separate familiar form, so people became accustomed to simply addressing everyone using the honorific, and the familiar form simply fell out of usage. Once the separation between familiar and unfamiliar was effectively gone, the familiar form was restricted to usage in older texts (like the KJV, or for a more secular example, in Shakespeare) where it seemed to be a more formal use of language (because it made a distinction between the two forms). So, in fact, since 'thee', 'thy', and 'thou' are now effectively no longer a part of Modern English, using them incorrectly really is a sign of ignorance of how they should be used in the style of language the speaker is trying to evoke.

It's not a question of pedantry. Like I said, the familiar form is effectively dead, so if you're using it, you're trying to evoke an earlier version of the language, and so, you should use it correctly within that earlier version. Otherwise, more educated people (who actually care about history, as opposed to most people who seem to pretty much ignore it) will laugh at your ignorance.

Re:Languages are alive

[Anonymous Coward]

You spelled etymology incorrectly :)

Re:Languages are alive

[Dirtside]

I'd say it's fairly important for those religious people to realize thou is the familiar form, since that would change the tone of the ten commandments significantly.

I hate to break this to you, but the Ten Commandments weren't written in English originally.

Re:Languages are alive

[FreeUser]

But a lot of people prefer the idea of a remote god, and because of them we nowadays tend to think that 'thou' is formal.

People don't "prefer" it so much as they have been taught it by their religions. Whether it is the Pope in Rome, the mormon Prophet in Salt Lake, the Arch Bishop of Cantabury (spelling probably wrong), or INSERT YOUR FAVORITE CULT LEADER HERE in INSERT YOUR FAVORITE PLACE HERE, the message is almost universally "you get to God through being obedient to us," which often very explicity includes "You don't talk to God, you talk to us" and even when not, certainly implies implicitly "you're not qualified to talk to God without our guidance."

The zealots' God isn't remote because the zealots necessarilly want it that way, s/he's remote because they've been taught that that's the way it is, by organizations that profit directly from being the liaison between the believers and their God.

Re:Languages are alive

[kbielefe]

Thank you. Reminds me of the people who could accept genetically engineered creatures in "Lord of the Rings" but not a cherry tomato, or who quibbled over differences between the book and the movie because "that's not how it really happened".

They should focus on the really important details like why spaceships don't have bathrooms, why most user interfaces don't have labels on the buttons, the deplorable lack of network security on the death star, and why spoken galactic basic sounds like english but the written language is totally different.

It's a story, people, not "historical documents".

Re:Languages are alive

[Reziac]

Another point that has fallen out of the language (and not just English; familiar vs formal is distinguished in many other languages):

One major use of the familiar form was to express personal superiority or greater personal power. So if God addressed Moses as "Thou", God was informing Moses that Moses was God's social inferior, and/or that God had more power than Moses.

Similarly, in some cultures it's a mortal insult to refer to your superiors in the familiar voice, since one only addresses equals or underlings in familiar mode.

Historically, I expect that "thou" was used quite correctly by early biblical translators, per the social expectations of the day and the languages involved.

Bootup sounds

[gothzilla]

"What is thy bidding, my master" would be appropriate if you were running *nix, but if you're running windows I think Yoda saying "Anger, fear, agression, the dark side of the force are they." would be more appropriate.

Sure

[Minwee]

Yeah, having that five second long .wav file preinstalled really makes it worth the extra $1000 you'll spend on this PC.

Laaaaaaammmmeeee.........

[Cervantes]

Since when does this crap count as a "pimped out rig"? Really, from the look of it, it's a stock alienware case (which, nowadays, I can do down to my local IT vendor and get something remarkably close for $75CDN) with a graphic on the side. Oooooh, wow, check out the l33t rig! Oh, my GAWD, you PREINSTALLED the STAR WARS DESKTOP THEME too? I'm totally sold! Can I please give you my money and wait 4-6 weeks for delivery??? Can I buy 10, in case they become a collectors item?

Worst. "Mod". Ever.

I'd have some respect for it if it was something a little more hardcore. Light sabre that shoots out from the 5 1/4" bay if your biometric doesn't scan right. A nice custom case shaped like a stormtroopers helmet. Hell, even a nicely cut out side panel with back lighting. This? This is a fuckin ironed-on graphic. Ooooh, wow.

Of course, we all know the best Star Wars mod ever was the Millenium Falcon PC. Now, we know what the lamest was too.

Thanks Slashdot.

I bought my 4 year old daughter lego last..

[3.5 stripes]

.. month, it was the classic bricks, 1000 pieces, and I'll be going back for more soon, she's still a bit young, but she enjoys when I make her stuff for her dolls.. she even does simple stuff herself now.

Of course, I live in europe, maybe they don't seel these sort of things in the US anymore.

Anyone ever get their $500 rebates?

[Anonymous Coward]

The "12-24 weeks" has gone by and I still haven't received mine.

Money

[slapout]

1. Spend server maintaince money on expensive "Star Wars" license: Good
2. Get story posted to Slashdot front page: Good
3. Servers get slashdotted: Bad

Kind of neat but...

[uncoveror]

I still want a HAL 9000 case.

The horror! The horror!

[plopez]

"Misah thinks you're writing a letter. Misah help!"

or how about:

"an illegal operation performed has been. Shutting down, program is."

Re:The horror! The horror!

[svtmunk]

I wonder if the dark side model will force choke anyone trying to gain unautorized access....

Do NOT buy from Alienware

[emarkp]

I have a nice laptop from them, but their support absolutely sucks. They require a password-protected login to download drivers, and you aren't "allowed" to sell or give the laptop to someone else, because your support is tied to you the person, not

I haven't seen a video driver update in months (even though ATI is releasing a new Catalyst every month). Lucky for me there's Omega drivers (now I can use OpenGL 2.0--thanks for nothing Alienware!).

And who makes a "gaming" laptop with a widescreen display that can't scale resolution to fit the display while maintaining aspect ratio? Any game that requires 4:3 ratio on my 16:10 display gets stretched or uses a tiny portion of the screen.

Re:Do NOT buy from Alienware

[Anonymous Coward]

I will second that sentiment. We have a half-dozen Alienware laptops where I work and a couple desktops, including one at home, all bought because of their great marketing and nothing to do with their performance, which is sub-par in all respects.

Here's a thought

[Bassman59]

Computer cases should be hidden out of the way. I built my PC in a rack-mount chassis, which fits right into my Middle Atlantic studio furniture desk. This way, it takes up zero desk and floor space. The USB 2.0 CD-RW sits on the desk near the monitors, and I've got USB cables plugged into the back of the machine and brought up as a little bundle. There's no need to even look at the front panel, except maybe to turn it off.

Alienware Area-51m v2.0: Horror Story

[Str8Dog]

Alienware has thte worst reputation for customer service and quality of any company selling PCs today. There 200 point inspection process constantly produces DOA machines. They have a 15% restocking fee on all returned merchandies and will refuse to cross ship replacement parts with out a credit card for a deposit on the new part.

Alienware is a scam.

Here is a snipit from a article on alienware up on my homepage. You can read the rest of it and MANY MANY more here.

So my wife decided to buy me a laptop for my birthday. She knew that I have been drooling over the Alienware Area 51-m. She went to check out the site and noticed that they were offering financing, so she applied.

One week later, she had not heard a peep from Alienware, so she called. The person she spoke with told her she was accepted and gave her the number to use to place an order.

My wife ordered me a very nice $3200 laptop in Saucer Silver. At this point, I had no idea any of this was going on. That is until I got home the night she ordered it and listened to the message on our answering machine from Alienware confirming the order, which completely ruined the entire experience for my wife.

Anyway, after a week of sitting on edge watching the Alienware order status page not move an inch, I asked my wife to call.

The person she talked to said that they had to send some paperwork to her to sign before the order would be processed. Basically they needed to send us the credit application and get her to sign it and return it. None of this is documented on their site. She asked if they could fax the document, the response was they were not set up to do that.

So our only choice was to wait for this form to be snail mailed to us. Now I would like to point out, this is three weeks after my wife filled out their form online. You know the fastest way to obtain financing!

Slow News Day?

[CrazyTalk]

Seriously, I have to wonder how many Star Wars related stories, no matter how trivial, we are going to see between now and the the release of Ep. III (not to mention the nitpicking that will follow the release).

I'm a purist

[USCG]

What does working for the Lego corporation have to do with this?

Name calling too eh?

Someone ought to mod YOU as troll, unless that's simply your standard behavior.

It's basically inexcusable for slashdotters to refer to Lego Bricks as "Legos" because they are supposedly not of the same mentality level for such topics as the general public, which is traditionally ignorant to such things.

Re:I'm a purist

[djlowe]

"because they are supposedly not of the same mentality level for such topics as the general public"

You're new here, aren't you?

Gansta Rap

[serjinn]

Vader: "What is thy bidding, my master?"
Emperor: "It's a disater. Skywalker we're after."
Vader: "What if he can be turned to the Dark side?"
Emperor: "Yes. He'd be a powerful ally -- another Dark Jedi."
Vader: "He will join us or die. We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "We got Death Star!"
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "And you know that we got it."
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "And you know that we got it."
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Vader: "And you know that we got it."
Emperor: "Death Star!"
Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition

An excellent way to improve Slashdot

[Infonaut]

Anti-Slash is an open community of people that constantly make fun of other people on slashdot.

So in an attempt to show how rediculous the unpaid advertising is on Slashdot, you put up your own advertisement for a site that essentially functions as a leech. It could not live without Slashdot, yet its purpose is to bash on Slashdot. That's constructive, AC.

Re:An excellent way to improve Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep.

Flashback...

[skuzzlebutt]

I was waiting for flash animation of a Guild Navigator to float out of the front of one of those boxes...

Maybe the first time.. Maybe.

[Digital Pizza]

I admit, booting the system to "what is your bidding my master", sounds appealing."

That sort of thing would get old really fast.

This thing's for 8-year-olds. Rich 8-year-olds. As for adults, it's OK for to like Star Wars, but this crosses a line - to the side that is in Mom and Dad's basement.

I worked for alienware

[javcrapa]

Besides their overpricing, one of their main ways to get money from you was to sell you the extended warranty, for example a salesperson will get a higher comission when selling a 1k system with 3 year warranty, than from a 5 system with a 1 year warranty (oo, adn their commissions suck)

Ummm....

[merky1]

I have a dogbert stress ball sitting on my case, does that mean I have "pimped" my computer with a dilbert theme?

If this is considered modding / pimping, then maybe I too can be a master modder.

Pff..

[YeEntrancemperium]

Go make your own computer. No Dell or AlienWare please.

There's a big difference ...

[arhar]

The examples that you give - cleaning, fixing refigerator, getting from point A to point B, are all useful things that you somehow HAVE to do. You don't do them for your own enjoyment. Of course, when you're talking about laundry, paying someone else to do it means saving time for yourself.

Now, painting a Star Wars picture on a computer can't possibly qualify as a useful task. The reason people do it is for their own enjoyment. A more valid comparison would be paying somebody to put together a model of a F-19 plane to put on your desk. Now, whether it's stupid to do so is another argument entirely - you can argue both points. But you can't compare it to work.

"Pimp"? Oh, give it a rest.

[Anonymous Coward]

I speak, apparently, for nobody but myself when I say that "pimp", as a noun, verb, and adjective, is so thoroughly over-exposed that it ought no longer to be used even in sarcasm.

As is "bitch". More so if you spell it in some uncreatively unreadable way.

And all of this from people who'd wet their pants if they met a gangster in real life...

wrong, wrong, narrow minded, uncreative, and wrong

[geekoid]

"It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?"

Those are just more pieces to be creative with.
We have lego sets, and my son usually builds the set as displayed..once. then he taks it apart, and the next thing you know he has laser, thrusters, monster build with the non-square pieces.

If you can't think of something to build with those pieces other then whats on the picture, the problem is with you, not the extra pieces.

A couple of plastic panels 'round the same frame .

[crovira]

Big deal... I can't believe that this waste of space (physical) wasted my time.

Case mods by some geeks, a 'one off,' are a bad enough waste of bandwith (though they are sometimes fun to look at,) but a mass produced mod is a pointless pursuit.

All advertising aside...

[poppen_fresh]

These things are effing ugly!
You know those "Indian" paintings of wolves that you can get at flea markets and truck stops? It looks like those, but with star wars characters instead of wolves.

three grand for what I did in 1993?

[krinsh]

my first 486 had screen-printed star wars logos (self-made) and booted to "what is thy bidding, my master". of course it shut down with "contemplate this on the tree of woe" - I wasn't fascinated enough with Star Wars soundbytes at the time. Seems like this third movie and the Clone Wars cartoons may have enough to round out a good SW sound theme.

The zealots aren't "evoking an earlier version"

[FreeUser]

It's not a question of pedantry. Like I said, the familiar form is effectively dead, so if you're using it, you're trying to evoke an earlier version of the language, and so, you should use it correctly within that earlier version.

The point is, there are literally tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) using "thee," "thy", etc. today (more's the pity), and virtually none of them are trying to "evoke an earlier version of the language." They are almost without exception using it as an honoric, to address, plead with, or grovel before their God. The meaning, as it is used by these millions, is in fact on honorific. I will concede that knowing the history is useful (and might take some of the edge off the usual toxicity that eminates from the religious right, though I'm skeptical of that), but the fact of the matter is that the terminology, used today, is an honorific and very formal version of "you."

You're right, the familiar form in English is dead. "Thee," "thy", et. al. in their day-to-day meaning among those who use the words today has become exactly the opposite of its historical meaning. Which is why when Lucas used the phrase "What is thy bidding, my master" it evoked a much more submissive, worshipful relationship between Vader and the Emporer than "what is your bidding, my master" would have. The language, as it is used by millions upon millions of people, has changed.

As an aside, I wish "thee," "thy," etc. truly were dead. I think we'd all be a lot better off without the engine of religion that has preserved and changed the meaning of those words over the centuries...but that's a topic of discussion for another day.

Re:The zealots aren't "evoking an earlier version"

[feronti]

While I've already conceded that my actual understanding of 'thee', 'thy' et. al. is actually wrong , I can't help but notice you seem to have a rather vitriolic opinion of religion. While I am myself no true believer (nor even really a false believer:), I think you may want to rethink your apparent hatred. It makes you seem no better than the zealots about whom you are foaming. Perhaps I am wrong on this point?

Of course it's amazing that my little off-handed comment has generated so much discussion. Kinda indicates how thoroughly content-free the actual article was, eh?

Re:The zealots aren't "evoking an earlier version"

[FreeUser]

While I've already conceded that my actual understanding of 'thee', 'thy' et. al. is actually wrong , I can't help but notice you seem to have a rather vitriolic opinion of religion. While I am myself no true believer (nor even really a false believer:), I think you may want to rethink your apparent hatred.

I'm not sure what I could possibly have said that would be considered hateful of the religious. Dismissive of their beliefs, yes, but hateful? I have merely pointed out that their use of language, in particular their use of "thee" and "thy," is in the form of an honorific, not the "informal" form it once represented, and that therefor, given that tens of millions (at least) use it in that way, and virtually NO ONE uses it in the informal sense, the meaning of the words has in fact changed to that of a formalized honorific.

How any of that can be construed as hatred for the religious is beyond me. Perhaps because I am not fawningly "respectful" of demonstrably silly beliefs, as modern day political correctness has come to require?

Re:The zealots aren't "evoking an earlier version"

[feronti]

Well, referring to all of them as zealots is a start:) Specificity towards Christianity is a second. Complete intolerance was the final clue. I'm sorry, but your intolerance makes you no different than the "zealots" you rail against. You seem to be just as closed minded as they. Perhaps you're still too young to realize that civility and respect are not signs of weakness, nor political correctness, but rather that which makes "civil"ization possible.

I understand your sentiment... I was as vehement as you once--then I realized that first of all, no matter what logical arguments I made to the contrary, there simply was no way to sway the believers from their belief, secondly, that their belief (with the exception of a rather obnoxious and loud few) didn't really hurt me in any way, and thirdly, it actually made living with them better to be civil than it was to call them fools and stupid. Attacking them really gained me nothing, and just made them dislike me.

Re:The zealots aren't "evoking an earlier version"

[FreeUser]

Well, referring to all of them as zealots is a start.

I didn't refer to "all of them" as zealots, I referred to religious zealots, who in particular make use of the colloquialisms being discussed, in my experience to a far greater degree than religious moderates.

Specificity towards Christianity is a second.

Again, we were referring to the modern day use of "thee", "thy" and "thou." That is specific to Christianity--one doesn't hear buddhists, wiccans, muslims, or jews using those particular terms. Specificity to Christianity was part and parcel to the discussion at hand.

You seem to be just as closed minded as they.

Examining a belief, determining it is ignorant and foolish, and dismissing it is not "closed minded." Failure to examine the belief in the first place would be, but that is hardly the case here.

Perhaps you're still too young to realize that civility and respect are not signs of weakness, nor political correctness

No, but being required to pretend nonsense is "reasonable," and being forbidden from stating the obvious is a form of political correctness. In the case of Christianity (and, to be fair, plenty of other religions) such "politeness" is in reality simply a form of refusing to voice the obvious fact that the emporer wears no clothes. OTOH etiquette and modern poltical correctness doesn't place evangelists under any such constraints, leaving us in the position where religious dogma is preached and expounded upon ad nauseum, while the rational are forbidden from offering a counterpoint for fear of being labelled "impolite," "closed minded," or inteloerant, as I have by you.

then I realized that first of all, no matter what logical arguments I made to the contrary, there simply was no way to sway the believers from their belief,

True, but you can help dissuade others from falling under their influence. Stopping the meme from spreading is a positive result, even if you cannot help those who've already succumbed. I speak with personal experience, having a sibling and parent who succumbed to Mormonism.

Secondly, that their belief (with the exception of a rather obnoxious and loud few) didn't really hurt me in any way

If you live in the US, it has already hurt you. The evangelicals have hijacked our government, are in the process of dismantling the separation of church and state, and are driving an agenda that has already devalued our currency by 40% and threatens the medium and long term financial and political strength of the nation itself. That is harm, caused in no small part as a direct result of religious zealotry and the incapacitating effect it has on people's ability to think critically.

it actually made living with them better to be civil than it was to call them fools and stupid.

That's all fine and dandy, but you do help create an environment where they can recruit vulnerable people with little or no trouble. This is contrasted with an environment in other, more secular societies (such as parts of Europe) where the assoiciation of religious zealotry with stupidyt and foolishness makes selling their message to the vulnerable more difficult. Again, it helps slow, stop, and even reverse the spread of the meme, which is to everyone's benefit.

In short, its better to call it as you see it than to stand silent or smiling and thereby help facilitate its spread. Oh, and by the way, there are worse things than being disliked by a few people because you're outspoken against their beliefs ... like living in a theocracy, which is where the USA is currently headed (and, lest you think it can only happen here, I would urge you to take a good, hard look at the political policies of the Vatican vis-a-vis divorce in Ireland--only recently made legal--, in South America, and their policies with respect to Eastern Europe. Their agenda is ugly by any measure to anyone who values a secular society).

Freedom of religion must include freedom from religion, particularly in education and government, and that requires that people not be afraid to speak out against it.

A very disappointing look to those cases.

[stuartkahler]

Combo-ing their Area-51 alien styled case (which is getting old) with Star Wars graphics seems quite bastardizing. Like washing down chocolate with orange juice. You can certainly argue that either one is very cool, but they just don't go together.

As a side note, I've always considered the alienware cases to be very cheap and flimsy feeling, in addition to the cheesy look. I'd much rather have one of the Falcon Northwest cases with a nice paint job. Either way, it seems like you can build two mundane looking machines for the price of one of their pimped out boxes with the same specs. And that trumps it for me.

more like...

[Anonymous Coward]

girl: what's that?

geek: it's a japanese manufactured tribute to my star-wars Yaoi jedi/darkside collection.

girl: jibbor me teraflops; kbye

(and what's with some 'tards typing without correct english penmanship; punctuation, inflections, and sentence termination, in particular)

Re:more like...

[Mancat]

(and what's with some 'tards typing without correct english penmanship; punctuation, inflections, and sentence termination, in particular)

I don't know. Why don't you tell us!

Lame Vader

[Anonymous Coward]

Yer Jar Compooter: Is'sa massa git a happy stick an' blowa chunkess at meesa monitor? Hoosa thut uggly on thuh screend? Meesa send frameboofer captoors to all yoor frens with yoosa chatcam captoor inside.

Darkside: Hulk smash!

Star Wars Kid Screensaver?

[vicparedes]

Well, does it come with it?

The original, the best, star wars case

[Anonymous Coward]

"As seen on TechTV"

The Millenium Falcon PC

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/falcon-itx/

and

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=5&Arti cleID=51&P=1

"A letter writing you are?"

[Muhammar]

that nasty green little buggar - is it improvement over Snoopy?

At the top of the page

[Trogre]

Alienware recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional.

I wonder how much they were paid to put that one up.

onion themed peecees coming soon

[The_Rook]

soon to come will be peecees pre-equipped with themes from the popular newsweekly, "The Onion". initial offering will be jenny teasdale, smooth b, and jimmy anchower themes.

Atrocious Service

[Anonymous Coward]

I own a high end Alienware machine ($7000)

The machine is sweet, but I will never buy from them again as their customer service is awful.

I was willing to pay to get good service. They sent me a whole bunch of souveniers and other trash instead.

"high end"

[Doppler00]

I don't consider a computer that still utilizes floppy disk technology "high end" regardless of the other system components. It would be nice if they would let you take it out as an option like Dell does.

SAD

[TheJMan]

So very very sad