Thinking about a new PC.
Thinking about purchasing a an ALIENWARE, and are they worth the money they say they are. Because I will mostly using it for gaming, and using my laptop for less gaming and more workity type stuff and wondering what, you guys thought?
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
Viruses are hardly a worry too, because virus creators have hardly bothered to take the time to make viruses for MACs. If you run Windows through BOOTCAMP, you'll still have relatively few virus worries.
The Alienware is pretty-looking, pre-built, has STELLAR customer service from what I'm told, but will cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars more.
Also what games do you wanna play? Aside from all our awesome games, of course
Of course all of telltales wonderful games. Some of the newest games, on the market.
I'm going to college for computer programing soon, so I want something that I can play stellar games, and also a computer with a big enough hard drive for codes I have to have store.
And the problem with building a computer for me is that a lot of my friends, don't know how to build one, and like you said if something goes wrong, then I just blew all of my money.
I highly recommend going to newegg.com and checking out their prebuilts if building your own is absolutely out of the question. HP computers are another good choice.
What about prebuilt gaming machines, because I have my laptop wich I use now, I'm looking for a desktop so I can game on, and use my laptop for school and the such.
Almost all of the mainstream manufacturers have a gaming line, but they do ratchet the prices up on those. Still cheaper than Alienware, though.
Not quite, you'd have to be extra talented to ruin an ENTIRE computer when something goes wrong. Pretty much the only things that ever fail in my computers are the fans and the power supplies. And I just pop in new ones when they go.
I personally think it's worth agonizing over researching a new computer project for a few weeks, and going for it. I have to relearn everything when I build new PCs ever four years or so. You could probably have a tower ready for any new game PC for $1000. There's nothing like hitting the power switch on something you built Feel accomplished, save monies.
In my case, having no proprietary software bundled with Windows left it as a blank slate that almost never crashes, and haven't had a single hint of a hardware failure in the last year.
But in the end it's just a cost v. convenience thing.
I built a middle-of-the-road gaming PC for $300. It's not the most powerful thing out there, but it plays new releases just fine, and as Shauntron mentioned, the lack of useless proprietaries keeps things buttery smooth.
We Spent 3 hours trying to sort it out over the phone, before he told me to hang up, and try some other things, which i did. So the next day we rang up again, another three hours, and still nothing. Then they said they would have to replace the drive, and spent 15 minutes trying to sell me a two year guarantee. Then they tried to sell it to my mother, before finally giving up and sending out someone to replace the drive (we were still within 28 days manufacturers guarantee). They took it and replaced the BD drive, they claimed it was tested, and when we got it back, it was worse. They sent out a repair man, he spent 10 minutes looking at it before saying that he wasn't qualified to sort it out. So we gave up, got a refund (with some trouble) and went to Sony Vaio. (no problems so far. We got a far better deal aswell).
I'm sure this is not the case for everyone, and i don't mind the fact (well, i do, but thats not my main point) that the laptop didn't work properly, it's the customer service that i didn't like. When you get frustrated over something you don't like, having to explain it 4 times over the phone, to someone who doesn't understand you properly (don't get me wrong, they are intelligent people, but the language barrier is a problem) really doesn't help things.. I'm not sure what Dell are like stateside, but they've gone downhill over here.
[/rant]
Pretty much this. I recently, within the last week, built my first gaming PC price including windows 7 was under £600 (probably under £550). It takes everything I have given it to play happily. Even in the hands of a compete novice, me, I found plenty of guides to help those who are undertaking their first build.
Dependant on what you want to spend I would recommend an AMD Phenom II processor or an i5 if you have more money. Alienware are only worth it if you can afford to spend double what the components are worth.
One major point that almost anyone will tell you: never skimp on the power supply go for a named brand such as Corsair, Hiper, Antec or OCZ.
My spec is:
-Antec 300 case
-OCZ ModXStream PSU
-Gigabyte UD3 mobo
-Corsair XMS ram 2gb (upgrading to 6 when I have more money)
-AMD Phenom II X4 955 running at 3.2Ghz stock
-Gigabyte ATI 4870 1gb
-Windows 7 Pro
the insides look a little like this but tidier.
Building your own machine would be a good idea if you plan to upgrade it, as you will know the machine better if you follow my meaning.
This includes:
new octocore i7 mobo+CPU
8gb RAM (upgradeable to 32gb IIRC)
1TB HD
~1gb Video
PCI soundcard
Linux Ubuntu OS
Now keep in mind, there are no fancy grills, no LEDs, no lighted fans, not even a front-pannel display. (though for another $200 or less you can add liquid cooling) It wont come even close to the awe factor of an alienware, but with the $3000 you saved I think you can add some of your own mods to bring it up to par
Newegg is good, Tigerdirect is better on most things. so far I've had great luck on ebay with HDs and Video/Sound cards.
If you insist on buying a prebuilt, I reccomend Compaq, HP, or Gateway. DO NOT buy Dell. Not only for the CS issue, but they are customizing many of their parts so they MUST be replaced by DELL parts, not generic...
And @ aweful: Linux is just as good at protecting form Viruses and uses generic hardware. (Biggest gripe about Apples is their hardware is all proprietary so it costs 10x as much)
a) Do not skimp in the power source. A bad or insufficient power source may hinder your system performance, it can produce crashes and shorten components' life
b) Do not forget cooling. It's important to invest in a good cooling solution. Today's video cards do need separate cooling (and a good cooling system)
c) Plan ahead. It's better to spend a couple of hundred for a newer model than saving that money and getting stuck with an obsolete computer that needs almost complete computer replacement instead of a discrete component upgrade.
d) IF YOU DON'T KNOW SOMETHING... ASK! It's almost impossible to screw things completely, but it's no fun at all to burn a couple of components for doing a wrong assembly (specially the wiring)
e) Be careful with static discharges. Remove all metallic, wool and electrical conductors from yourself and around the assembly area. Try to do the assembly in a wooden table/workbench and touch wood (to discharge your body). Try to buy (and use )a static-discharge wrist band.