Alienware, paying for the name?

trisx1x · 12 Feb 2013 at 16:08

Hopefully moving soon and looking at swapping my desktop for a lappy. Looking at the Alienware M17X and the Overclockers UK Destroyer P170EM. I have included the specs for both below which are very similar give or take a bit of ram etc.

But the prices are near £875 different, is that really the price you pay for the Alienware name or am i missing some thing?

Alienware M17x Stealth Black

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M

12288MB 1600MHz Dual Channel DDR3 (2x2GB + 2x4GB )

256GB SSD + 1TB 5,400rpm SATA

LCD 17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD

BluRay Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)

Price £2759

OcUK Destroyer P170EM

Display: 17.3" SuperBright LED True HD Display (1920x1080 Resolution)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5

Intel Core i7-3740QM 2.70GHz (Ivybridge) Mobile Processor - OEM

Corsair Vengeance SODIMM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz SODIMM Kit

Crucial V4 256GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive

Samsung SpinPoint M8 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM HDD

Samsung Slimline 4x BluRay-ROM / 8x DVD-RW Drive - OEM

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit - OEM

Price £1887

ninja2000 · 12 Feb 2013 at 16:23

Well firstly never pay list price for an AW laptop. You can always get a good 20% off if you use coupons/quidco. Also although difficult you can get some bargains at the outlet.

I have owned many AW and Clevo laptops and to be fair, the AW destroys the clevo for the following reasons:

Decent keyboard - AW has good key layout, amazing AlienFX lighting, and great typing feel. Clevo, has terrible cramped layout, missed keystrokes and many other issues.

Great speakers and sound card - Klipsch speakers and a creative soundcard give a good experience with both speakers and headphones, it won't replace your stereo but I am happy listening to mp3's and gaming with it. The clevo suffers from poor speakers and poor quality analogue audio outputs.

Hardware wise, both are very similar but the AW seems to have less cooling issues.

The biggest downside to AW is the glossy screen.

Edit - also to save some cash, get the lowest HDD and ram options and install your own, it is so easy to do and if you are unsure there are plenty of people here that can guide you.

bagaante · 12 Feb 2013 at 16:27

trisx1x said:
Hopefully moving soon and looking at swapping my desktop for a lappy. Looking at the Alienware M17X and the Overclockers UK Destroyer P170EM. I have included the specs for both below which are very similar give or take a bit of ram etc.

But the prices are near £875 different, is that really the price you pay for the Alienware name or am i missing some thing?

Alienware M17x Stealth Black

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M

12288MB 1600MHz Dual Channel DDR3 (2x2GB + 2x4GB )

256GB SSD + 1TB 5,400rpm SATA

LCD 17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD

BluRay Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)

Price £2759

OcUK Destroyer P170EM

Display: 17.3" SuperBright LED True HD Display (1920x1080 Resolution)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5

Intel Core i7-3740QM 2.70GHz (Ivybridge) Mobile Processor - OEM

Corsair Vengeance SODIMM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz SODIMM Kit

Crucial V4 256GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive

Samsung SpinPoint M8 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM HDD

Samsung Slimline 4x BluRay-ROM / 8x DVD-RW Drive - OEM

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit - OEM

Price £1887

Dell were doing voucher codes a few weeks back (20 percent off, which helped me decide on Clevo vs dell)
Have to say I'm not that impressed with how Della dealt with me after they sold me the thing (supposed to get a mouse mat with it, others who bought at same time as me did, dell have spent the last two weeks saying I'm full of it, now I've sent them photographic proof, they are looking into it, but say the mouse mat in question is out of stock anyway)

There are dell reps you can talk to to get discounts (the route I initially went down, also a massive saving on the website price)

Type "Saving £££ in the UK buying ANY Dell/AW" (into google) I'd link the sight but not allowed and on that site talk to a guy called Steve, say I sent you, he's lovely

bagaante · 12 Feb 2013 at 16:31

ninja2000 said:
Edit - also to save some cash, get the lowest HDD and ram options and install your own, it is so easy to do and if you are unsure there are plenty of people here that can guide you.

This

I'm a noob and even I managed to install my own ram and SSd, (mainly by asking on here and watching YouTube vids of others doing it and copying)

Definitely recommend that to keep prices down and dell massively overcharge for storage and ram

I bought my ram and SSd seperate and saved money there too

roughavoc · 12 Feb 2013 at 18:48

ninja2000 said:
Well firstly never pay list price for an AW laptop. You can always get a good 20% off if you use coupons/quidco. Also although difficult you can get some bargains at the outlet.

I have owned many AW and Clevo laptops and to be fair, the AW destroys the clevo for the following reasons:

Decent keyboard - AW has good key layout, amazing AlienFX lighting, and great typing feel. Clevo, has terrible cramped layout, missed keystrokes and many other issues.

Great speakers and sound card - Klipsch speakers and a creative soundcard give a good experience with both speakers and headphones, it won't replace your stereo but I am happy listening to mp3's and gaming with it. The clevo suffers from poor speakers and poor quality analogue audio outputs.

Hardware wise, both are very similar but the AW seems to have less cooling issues.

The biggest downside to AW is the glossy screen.

Edit - also to save some cash, get the lowest HDD and ram options and install your own, it is so easy to do and if you are unsure there are plenty of people here that can guide you.

This exactly, everything this he said is what made me for AW over Clevo

bagaante said:
Type "Saving £££ in the UK buying ANY Dell/AW" (into google) I'd link the sight but not allowed and on that site talk to a guy called Steve, say I sent you, he's lovely

What I did to get mine, such a nice guy but when you buy from him, youre buying a business transaction so no refunds what so ever, when you buy youre locked in (not scam, just normal buisness stuff my father tells me)

OptimaLnrg · 12 Feb 2013 at 19:43

Good lawd laptops are overpriced lol

trisx1x · 12 Feb 2013 at 20:15

Cheers for the advice and info, found Steve

when the time comes might give him a shout.

thedinks · 12 Feb 2013 at 21:45

roughavoc said:
What I did to get mine, such a nice guy but when you buy from him, youre buying a business transaction so no refunds what so ever, when you buy youre locked in (not scam, just normal buisness stuff my father tells me)

I used him too, when the laptop arrived it had a cosmetic defect and he refunded me 12% or i could have sent it back for a refund or replacement. 4 weeks later my bluetooth stopped working.... 3 motherboards later and I've been offered a full refund or a replacement.

'Harry · 12 Feb 2013 at 22:15

Clevo build quality is poor. Not MSI bad, but not far off.

Keyboard was pathetic on mine, as was the 'premium' speakers. All surrounded in plastic that is more suitable for an 90s telly made by alba.

iv-tecman · 12 Feb 2013 at 22:59

'Harry said:
Clevo build quality is poor. Not MSI bad, but not far off.

Keyboard was pathetic on mine, as was the 'premium' speakers. All surrounded in plastic that is more suitable for an 90s telly made by alba.

Heard the clevo keyboard was a bit poor, and the speakers were not all that, but wow that is quite a damning statement.

Ninja2000 was about spot on, I purchased an AW over Clevo, mine died within a few hours of usage, Dell support we mostly useless until I got someone who did help me, and from then onwards Dell /AW were fantastic, replaced nearly the whole laptop to get me something working, then sent me a whole new one within two weeks, the wait to get my alienware was painful but it was IMO worthwhile.

the machine I've got, in my sig is without doubt a stunning laptop, the whole alienware FX, keyboard, components and screen etc has despite Dell customer service being iffy at times made me feel really good about buying mine..

So, there you go, I got one, it died, it wasn't great, but eventually it got sorted and I use mine daily and play many games and enjoy the performance it gives, but yes they are pricey so look around for coupons..

ScarySquirrel · 13 Feb 2013 at 10:03

ninja2000 said:
I have owned many AW and Clevo laptops and to be fair, the AW destroys the clevo for the following reasons:

Decent keyboard - AW has good key layout, amazing AlienFX lighting, and great typing feel. Clevo, has terrible cramped layout, missed keystrokes and many other issues.

I can't say I agree with this. I haven't used an AW laptop, but I do have a Clevo laptop and I have absolutely zero issues with the keyboard. Do you have particularly big hands?

ninja2000 said:
Great speakers and sound card - Klipsch speakers and a creative soundcard give a good experience with both speakers and headphones, it won't replace your stereo but I am happy listening to mp3's and gaming with it. The clevo suffers from poor speakers and poor quality analogue audio outputs.

This I can agree with. The sound is pretty terrible from my Clevo laptop, however I'll be buying a Fiio E17 soon I hope which should eliminate this issue. There are of course cheaper alternatives to the E17.

ninja2000 said:
Hardware wise, both are very similar but the AW seems to have less cooling issues.

I can't comment on this as I've only had it a little while. I've gamed a fair bit on it though whilst it's sat on my lap and I haven't felt it getting too hot.

ninja2000 said:
The biggest downside to AW is the glossy screen.

I would only say this is a downside if they don't let you have the choice between glossy and matte (I don't know if they do or not). Some people, me included, prefer glossy screens. I wouldn't change my glossy for a matte now that I've got it, I love it!

bagaante · 13 Feb 2013 at 10:56

im wondering if there is something wrong with the audio on my alienware laptop, the volume isnt that loud at all compaired to my wifes dell inspiron 1720

maybe its a setting or something i need to mess with, but i remember when it first arrived thinking it was very quiet, even turned up as loud as it will go on the volume button thing

iv-tecman · 13 Feb 2013 at 11:30

bagaante said:
im wondering if there is something wrong with the audio on my alienware laptop, the volume isnt that loud at all compaired to my wifes dell inspiron 1720

maybe its a setting or something i need to mess with, but i remember when it first arrived thinking it was very quiet, even turned up as loud as it will go on the volume button thing

Nope.. Its not all that loud sadly, I had a Studio XPS to hand when I got my Alienware M17x, the audio on the XPS which was a JBL speakers and realtek audio chipset was a heck of a lot louder, and it had a subwoofer, the M17x however doesn't have a subwoofer, but you plug in some decent headphones or a good set of 5.1 speakers and configure the THX software correctly it sounds pretty good...

sold the Studio, the Alienware lacks a subwoofer, you can notice it.

roughavoc · 13 Feb 2013 at 22:19

ScarySquirrel said:
I can't say I agree with this. I haven't used an AW laptop, but I do have a Clevo laptop and I have absolutely zero issues with the keyboard. Do you have particularly big hands?

Doesnt the US layout + '£' bother you?

For me I havent had a single hardware problem, I might call them up though as the 'Y' key seems to be printed slightly off to an angle and the Tab button can be pressed by breathing on it which comes into major problems when playing games. Other than that I have no had a single problem out than of my own fault.
I have to say one thing though, Its like I am using windows 95 again, restarting at least once a day, coming out of sleep with Crucial M4 runs me into problems 75% of the time (low FPS, Alien FX software being on but keyboard lights off, being stuck on power save mode and other little things I never had on my desktop)

ninja2000 · 14 Feb 2013 at 06:18

ScarySquirrel said:
I can't say I agree with this. I haven't used an AW laptop, but I do have a Clevo laptop and I have absolutely zero issues with the keyboard. Do you have particularly big hands?

This I can agree with. The sound is pretty terrible from my Clevo laptop, however I'll be buying a Fiio E17 soon I hope which should eliminate this issue. There are of course cheaper alternatives to the E17.

I can't comment on this as I've only had it a little while. I've gamed a fair bit on it though whilst it's sat on my lap and I haven't felt it getting too hot.

I would only say this is a downside if they don't let you have the choice between glossy and matte (I don't know if they do or not). Some people, me included, prefer glossy screens. I wouldn't change my glossy for a matte now that I've got it, I love it!

The problem with the keyboard for me is the following:
1. the layout, I found the clevo layout terrible, plus I hate the way the numberpad merges with the keyboard and the right shift is in an awkward position
2. the key feel. The keys have a cheap clatter, I also had issues with missed key strokes and a sticky space bar on a couple of clevo's. I have owned about 6 clevo's so am not basing this on 1 machine.

With regards to the glossy screen, the m17x has a plexiglass sheet in front of the screen which gives an extra glossy finish, worse than a glossy screen on a clevo.

thedinks · 14 Feb 2013 at 07:55

roughavoc said:
Doesnt the US layout + '£' bother you?

For me I havent had a single hardware problem, I might call them up though as the 'Y' key seems to be printed slightly off to an angle and the Tab button can be pressed by breathing on it which comes into major problems when playing games. Other than that I have no had a single problem out than of my own fault.
I have to say one thing though, Its like I am using windows 95 again, restarting at least once a day, coming out of sleep with Crucial M4 runs me into problems 75% of the time (low FPS, Alien FX software being on but keyboard lights off, being stuck on power save mode and other little things I never had on my desktop)

What firmware are you on with the M4? I had terrible trouble with mine on the M17x. Using an earlier firmware solved all my problems.

roughavoc · 14 Feb 2013 at 10:54

thedinks said:
What firmware are you on with the M4? I had terrible trouble with mine on the M17x. Using an earlier firmware solved all my problems.

A10, I only have these problems after putting the device to sleep. Shut down isn't a problem, only takes a few seconds to power on via SSD

ScarySquirrel · 14 Feb 2013 at 14:51

roughavoc said:
Doesnt the US layout + '£' bother you?

For me I havent had a single hardware problem, I might call them up though as the 'Y' key seems to be printed slightly off to an angle and the Tab button can be pressed by breathing on it which comes into major problems when playing games. Other than that I have no had a single problem out than of my own fault.
I have to say one thing though, Its like I am using windows 95 again, restarting at least once a day, coming out of sleep with Crucial M4 runs me into problems 75% of the time (low FPS, Alien FX software being on but keyboard lights off, being stuck on power save mode and other little things I never had on my desktop)

My keyboard has a UK layout.

ninja2000 said:
The problem with the keyboard for me is the following:
1. the layout, I found the clevo layout terrible, plus I hate the way the numberpad merges with the keyboard and the right shift is in an awkward position
2. the key feel. The keys have a cheap clatter, I also had issues with missed key strokes and a sticky space bar on a couple of clevo's. I have owned about 6 clevo's so am not basing this on 1 machine.

With regards to the glossy screen, the m17x has a plexiglass sheet in front of the screen which gives an extra glossy finish, worse than a glossy screen on a clevo.

Fair enough, I guess this kind of thing is subjective, but even after only 3 days use I'm typing quickly and easily on it without any errors.

ninja2000 · 14 Feb 2013 at 17:42

ScarySquirrel said:
My keyboard has a UK layout.

Fair enough, I guess this kind of thing is subjective, but even after only 3 days use I'm typing quickly and easily on it without any errors.

Yes it definitely is, and I am incredibly picky. But I do a lot of typing and I cannot forgive such a poor (IMHO) layout. I found I would keep hiiting the up arrow instead of shift and I didn't like the way the enter was right up against the number pad.