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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."
thanks for the advertisement, Slashy. The extra large ones at the top of the page just weren't getting me off.
I'm not here. This isn't happening.
...of this fully operational Slashvertisement.
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?
FGD 135
Thy, "What is thy bidding, my master?" ;)
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
All that's missing is a pair of floppy ears on the side and a startup sound going "Mesa booting massar..."
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.
No reason to lie.
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
They look like toys for an 8-year-old.
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.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Take a current photo of Carrie Fisher.
Now take a current photo of Natalie Portman.
-mkb
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.
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.
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!
Tepp
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.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
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.