Slashdot Mirror
New Alienware PC an Overpriced Underperformer
Steve Kerrison writes "Alienware has jumped on board the Core 2 bandwagon and rightfully so, but their new Area-51 7500 loses out to cheaper and faster solutions from other companies. From HEXUS.net's review 'No matter which way we dress up the Alienware's performance and feature-set, it's relatively poor in comparison to SKUs that we've reviewed recently. Value for money may not be the greatest concern in this sector of the pre-built market but when you can get substantially more for less, it becomes impossible to recommend this particular Area-51 7500.'
"
Its a Dell.
When you buy Alienware you buy the name, and the spiffy injection molded case.
The rest is a good solid markup of 30% or more.
[In some glass-walled corner office in Round Rock, TX...] "Oh, come on, just paint the box some bright color, put the 'Core 2 Duo' badge on it, then slap on an 'Alienware' label and no one will be the wiser."
Oh, well...
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
Give me your lunch money.
There is 1 single advantage that I found in buying pre-made crap :
Yes, even the "High-end special first introduction rebate !! $$$ !!" may contain outdated hardware, or cheap and limited hardware (hardware sensors lack near most of the popular pre-built brands).
But this old hardware is here, because the company took time to test it, is sure that there are no incompatibility and they could throw on it any installation (OS, bundeled-in softs, etc...)
Installing Windows XP on brand new 64bits Athlons used to be a real PITA back when those babies were new and friends and I started building systems around them. (By luck most of us friends happened to be both patient and able to do our work using linux distros in the meanwhile). I'm not sure, once the new "Next generation" of hardware arises, that we won't see similar difficulties.
So even if mounting a new system is getting very easy those days (Plug'n'Play got rid of arcane jumper settings, SATA removed the necessity to perform voodoo magic to get all SCSI devices to work together, and RAM is now sold pre-matched and pre-overclocked so it's possible to buy with less prior readings, noisy but sufficent cooling is bundled with most hardware) and could almost be done by a (motivated) Joe-Sixpack, mounting your system your-self is still ridden with the complexity of geting the software play nice with the hardware, chasing BIOS and Driver update, trying to get the installation work in the first place, BEFORE those drivers could be injected into the system, and/or using in the meanwhile an OS that installs more resiliently but that isn't the one preferred by the average Joe 6-pack.
In the meanwhile, most
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
You pay extra (over the XPS or the custom-built machine) in exchange for extra service/support and the style factor. That's all it is. Quality parts assembled by a quality manufacturer in a sleek case.
Sounds suspiciously like Apple.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
No, see, it's not truly Dell support - all of their support ops sound as if they are Russian/Ukrainian/former Soviet Bloc instead of Indian, which means I spend my numerous support calls thinking "Mahst get Mooce and Sqvirrel!" instead of "Welcome to Kwik-E Mart.
It's an entertaining diversion, to be sure. The support still sucks, though.
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.