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Dell to Buy Alienware?
An anonymous reader writes "Well, looks like rumors are flying, and Dell may have bought Alienware according to an article on cnet.
It really would fit Dell well. They are the last big manufacturer not to use AMD, and this would fill that void. Acquiring this company would also help them grow their business to where they want it to be ($80 billion anually). One can only hope that Alienware support and hardware won't be ill effected by this acquisition."
Dude.... you're getting an Alien!
"One can only hope that Alienware support and hardware won't be ill effected by this acquisition." Whoa!..Alienware has so many post purchase CS complaints...Hell its hard to even talk to a competant rep once you get your laptop/desktop..When i ordered mone in November 18, 2005...and the did not get it to me until January 31 2006..Thats a little bit of a problem..You actually think Dell buying them out will help this..Maybe the will help with the 8 Stuck pixels that my laptop came with, that Alienware CS is still insisting that they will not replace the laptop for, because it is not center of the screen..When has it ever been ok to release a completely faulty product!
~~"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." ~~Dennis Miller
All the while lining the pockets of good ol' Mike Dell.
I'll keep building my own, thanks.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
Thank you, thank you, I'll not be here all week.
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
It's affected not effected.
Effected means to have actioned. Affected means influenced by.
AlienWare starts systems with about the same level of hardware as Dell. Last time I looked at their lineup, they were trying to sell a system with embedded video. We know how bad Dell support is, and they will likely move their alienware support devision to india too. The only good thing I can see coming of this is lower prices. This really makes sense, if you want a high quality system and support, you should go to a PC shop or a friend.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
http://www.cnet.com.au/desktops/pcs/0,39029439,400 61082,00.htm
A local Dell spokesman has effectively denied rumours that it's acquired rival PC vendor Alienware, suggesting that all speculation should be taken "with a grain of salt".
Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. Yes is the answer.
Alienware support??? You're kidding, right? Have you ever spoken to Alienware support? Over the 15-16 times I had to call up (my video card on my desktop replacement heated to the point of bubbling) I found myself wishing I could deal with Dell.
When 2 of my keys fell off on the 4th day I owned the laptop, the CS Rep (Juan) informed me that he couldn't replace the keyboard because it was more than 3 days old, but he "off the record" suggested superglue to me.
Because this article states otherwise.
Left 4 Dead Gaming Group - http://www.l4dgg.com
If true, this smells like Dell trying to make an end-run around Samsung and the other OEM builders for Dell's notebooks.
With this, they'd get a company that makes it's own AND gain access to some supply of AMD without having to bring it in as a full mass market Dell product with the supply issues that would cause.
Samsung would probably jump for joy as they would no longer be embargoed from selling computers under their own name in the US.
Who knows. Voodoo says it's true. Dell denies it. Alienware will neither confirm nor deny. If these were politicians speaking, Dell's denial would be laughable and Alienware's respose would be code for confirmation.
Sig for hire.
It'd fit with the whole aliens-abducting-cows thing.
...sorry.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
I wrote the first story backing up Rahul's blog here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30043
and then got more info the other day that also backed up the CNet and AMDZone versions, so I wrote this:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30289
Then the new CNet 'backpedal' piece came out, and it looks like someone is spreading hardcore FUD. So, I spent the morning tracking down rumors and leads, calling sources to see who their sources are and the like.
Short story, the sources are not talking to each other, and contrary to the CNet implications, it is not a grand plot by Rahul. I was told last week that it is a done deal, and nothing has changed that view since, but a lot has bolstered it.
The tepid denials (A friend of a guy who knew someone from Dell Australia) and the like are not what I would call good evidence. I have talked to three people who gave me some very convincing evidence about the purchase.
All that said, take it with a grain of salt, but when you start hearing about anouncement dates, it may be more than smoke and mirrors.
-Charlie
Here's how we get good support from Dell:
First we buy the higher-end support options from Dell.
Second, and most important, we take the Dell Certified Service Engineer Exams. There is a cost to this, but by keeping Dell-Certified Techs onsite in our own organization we never have to sit on the phone while someone with less ability (or even no clue at all) tries to 'diagnose' the problem. We find the problem, order the part, and Dell ships it or sends a install tech the next day.
Granted, we're a large organization with 20,000 or so systems, but the Dell Cert process is only a few hundred dollars and would pay even with a few hundred systems.
Moderation in All Things... Especially Moderation - gurutc
I had a alienware sentia laptop. after 1 year and 4 months (1 year warranty) the laptop totally died on me. So I call up to get out of warranty repair, I was expecting to pay. After playing the phone support game with a couple of their techs it came down to:
-Model is discontinued, and they have 0 parts for this model.
-They have no competitive upgrade, I would have bought a newer laptop if they would have given me something for the old one.
-Alienware said "sorry" and referred me to a company in CA who does laptop component repairs.
At this point I sent it to the company in CA who said the MB was totally shot. they gave me some money for the case and the LCD and shipped me my hardrive back.
Hopefully Alienware can learn a few things from Dell on how to support their products.
A totally disatisfied customer.
The merger can only help. We bought a handful of Alienwares (desktops and laptops) for our employees - we are a government software development research lab. The desktops have been okay, but the laptops are horrible. Every one of them has had some major problems and mine (Sentia) has had the keyboard replaced twice and the optical drive replaced once. I have personally spent hours waiting on the phone for an answer from their technical support. The other two Sentia laptops we bought are in worse shape than mine. All of these problems cropped up within a year of owning the machine. Add this post to the long list of Alienware beefs that is resident on the Web...or should I say ALEMONWARE?
I know people tote Alienware's hardware and support, but every time I have had to interact with their support it has been horrible.
Most recently I have had a problem with the little screws falling out of my laptop and with my AC adapter dying.
1. I shouldn't have had to call in to get mailed screws (which is aside from the fact that screws shouldn't have been falling out of my laptop in the first place). This should have been simple enough to handle via e-mail, but no, I had to call.
2. I shouldn't have had to wait for 40 minutes on hold when I *did* finally call Alienware.
3. I shouldn't have been lied to by the first person I spoke with, who told me that part was all set and that I'd receive it shortly. When it didn't arrive and I called back they said they were out of stock and they'd ship it when it was back in stock.
4. They really shouldn't have been out of stock of the AC adapter for a laptop STILL UNDER WARRANTY.
5. When the DID finally ship it they shipped it do an address that I haven't used with them in YEARS. I then had to have people I knew at said address (it was a previous employer) ship me the part.
All of this is on my second Alienware laptop, whose only major problem is that it resets if you bump the DVD-ROM the wrong way (this is annoying, but avoidable, and I didn't feel like sending it to them to fix it). This is my second laptop only because THEY HAD TO REPLACE my first one after months of tech support, three round trips back to Alienware TO FIX THE SAME PROBLEM, and TENS OF HOURS on the phone.
The alienware store works a LOT like the dell store does now. Upselling Norton, the warranties are a lot like Dell's now...it just reminds me of when I bought my laptop.
This is rather wierd feeling.
In regards to Alienware's horrible customer service, I've got to weigh in. Last year I bought a laptop from them expecting a 15" 4:3 screen as pictured on their website when I ordered it. It took over a month to arrive, and what I got was a 15" widescreen with a 1680x1050 resolution -- I'm a young guy with decent vision (with corrective lenses) but this was too damn small for me and not what I ordered.
Add to that my X, C, and V keys were DOA, and when I powered up the computer it informed me the CMOS battery was dead. Alienware advertises extensive power-on load testing -- if any of that were true, they would have found and corrected this problem as soon as they tried to power it up! Additionally the video card and wifi drivers were not installed, so their marketing B.S. about fine-tuning drivers for you is just that.
To top this all off, I had to pay a 15% restocking fee to return my laptop for a refund. That was a $4k machine. Even after their false advertising as to the laptop design and absolutely no in-house testing -- despite the falsified testing sheet that came with it -- I lost $600 to them and it was two full months until I got the 17" Gateway laptop I now have. And it runs great.
So maybe Dell will bring some credibility to Alienware, because it's totally bullshit. Do some Googling and you'll find hundreds of stories like mine.
Shaun
It's not like it'd be a big difference if Dell did buy out Alienware. It used to be back a few years ago that Alienware computers were the envy of the gaming world. You got a fully loaded, high quality computer with a very attractive case and very nice peripherals, and an even more attractive warranty and support package. You could rest completely assured that it'd play anything, and play it better than any other gaming computer on the market, and if it broke, you'd get it fixed right away. Of course, times change. Dell computers used to be a hot item, too.
Now that Alienware has sunk to Dell's inferior standards, it's only logical that they allow themselves to be bought out. Dell and Alienware are practically the same thing, only one of them sells office hardware and servers, too. Think about it - overpriced, overhyped piece of shit computers sold in attractive cases? Piss-poor technical support that can't speak a word of English? The only thing these two companies still have going for them is a barely-par warranty package, and even then they're both flaky about that. They're both washed-up computer manufacturers peddling electronic turds wrapped in pretty packages.
What a drag, but hey. If you're going to build a computer right, you do it yourself.
This is highly unlikely.
First of all, if you REALLY have an HP Mainframe, you are paying a LOT in maintenance costs. I've never seen the actual costs for Himalaya support plans (only IBM 360's) but there is NO WAY that the costs are less than what Dell charges for even Premium Platinum Server Support per machine. I'm thinking the HP stuff would run probably a grand or two per month (and that's not that unreasonable since the mainframes start at the $250K mark - 10% of the value per year is normal for support).
Dell's would be at max around a grand or two per year, which makes sense given their systems start at around the 2K - 3K range, though can obviously get up to the $10K - $20K range.
If you had difficulty getting a hard drive (3 Days???) you didn't purchase the premium support plan, which will have a guarantee to have replacement parts ONSITE in 4 hours. Dell maintains distribution centers all over the world stocked with spare parts for these customers.
If you have "Critical" systems, you spend the extra money on premium support, PERIOD. That's true if you buy from HP, IBM, Dell, or whoever. ABSOLUTELY NO VENDOR makes the 4-hour guarantee (which IMO is essential for anyone running "Critical" systems) without charging you extra.
I'm a Dell employee, but these are not necessarily the opinions of my employer...you know the drill.
Bryan "BJ" Hoffpauir