Dell's Alienware purchase, the week after the morning after

by Vladimir Cole { Apr 16th 2006 at 1:08PM }

Now that the world's had a few weeks to digest the news that Dell acquired Alienware, some more thoughtful analyses are starting to appear.

The basic justification for the merger hasn't changed -- Dell purchased Alienware because Dell repeatedly failed to build credibility in the high-end PC gaming market -- but the analysis has gotten better. Slate's Séan Captain writes the best one yet.

Our readers also suggested a few areas for evaluating the merger. Will Alienware's tech support suffer? Wrote Sloopydrew: "At least now Alienware PC owners will be able to enjoy long chats with underpaid folks in India." And how about the fact that truly hardcore PC gamers would never buy any pre-assembled computer because they know that they can get a faster box for less cash by assembling components purchased separately?

One more thought: now that Apple's released bootcamp (it runs games fast!), maybe the market for pre-assembled gaming rigs will shift to from Star Wars geeky to the sexy brand of geek chic that Apple peddles.

Tags: alienware, apple, dell, gaming rigs, videogame, videogames

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Punisher @ Apr 16th 2006 1:30PM

I think the reasons why this two computer vendors had to buy and sell can be left aside. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter who owns the company itself, but rather leave computer building technics intact and the tech support as it is. I mean, why fix it if it ain't broken. On the other hand, now there's the possibility to combine forces and share tips and experiences in order to make better gaming systems than Alienware already does.

In general, the gaming world shouldn't be affected by who has the company right now, only if machines start being made as if they were for mass production and not towards a specific, high maintanance public.

Mike @ Apr 16th 2006 2:09PM

Dell's isn't dumb... after their high-paying corporate clients voiced displeasure when THEIR tech support calls were routed to India, Dell did The Right Thing and moved their corporate support back to the States.

The folks paying top dollar for high-end rigs know that support is part of that premium (same goes for Apple). Dell would/should continue this trend if they want to keep those folks satisfied.

Mike @ Apr 16th 2006 2:16PM

One other thing to consider is that Dell doesn't make much money on the bulk of their systems. Having an established, reputable, and profitable niche certainly can't hurt. This also means that the Alienware boxes can be more competitive on price due to Dell's purchasing power. Dell also has enough weight to get these systems sold in stores if they desired.

carlos @ Apr 16th 2006 2:33PM

i fucking hate when i call someone and i have to repeat every word i say or i cant understand them its the most annoiyng thing in the world cuz they cant speak english the right way jeez i dont mean to be racist here but its mostly ppl from asia like from india

nojok3 @ Apr 16th 2006 2:37PM

I think the whole reason they wanted this was as in the post, they need credibility. Tests showed Dell's XPS were better than the Alienware system, but people still purchased Alienware. I think they are doing this to get more purchases from people that will buy anything with the Alienware name on it.

Cougar Bait @ Apr 16th 2006 2:49PM

In response to Carlos:

You know what I hate? When I phone tech support and get Americans who do not understand when I say my last name is Zirk, Zed-I-R-K. I hear them pause trying to find the Zed key, before I have to translate it to Zee.

The point is, we live in a world full of accents, sometimes a little partience is needed.

Darrell @ Apr 16th 2006 3:07PM

The realit is that there are alot of people from that part of the world who are damn good with anything computer related. However, just like outsourcing firms such as Convergys and TAG here in the US, they are paying bottom dollar wages. When you pay bottom dollar here, you get people that probably dont have the knowledge or the capability to easily learn it, but need a job. This doesnt change when hiring people in other countries.

Darrell @ Apr 16th 2006 3:10PM

To "nojok": Considering all the junk that Dell included on a their XPS systems (the same junk they put on other machines), I am hard pressed to believe that these machines would be better than an Alienware box without some serious cleaning up. Adware such as "myway", all the trial programs which are unneccessary on a gaming machine, all the many apps loading in the background. Are there any links to actual benchmarks showing the Dell XPS' to be better than an Alienware box?

Sabre @ Apr 16th 2006 4:07PM

Sorry but BOTH Dell XPS and Alienware machines are overprice and way too damn big. We have both machines where I work and the cases for them are ginormous!

All Alienware (just like some other brands) is a name and all you are paying for is a brand...and since people "think" they're computers are great, they can get away with overpricing their systems.

dsub @ Apr 16th 2006 4:21PM

not even alienware ever had any credibility in my mind. Everything they sold was overpriced just because it carried the alienware name. The king of pre-built gaming rigs is easily cyberpowerpc they give you more bang for your buck than anyone out there, so much that some of there systems are actually cheaper pre-built than they would be if you purchased everything separately. They use all name brand parts (ASUS, MSI, Corsair, etc.) and there service is top notch. Every PC comes with an extended 3 year parts and labor warranty, and they'll replace busted parts (even if you broke it customizing) free of charge. I blew out a motherboard putting ramsinks onto my RAM, because they were coming into contact with the DIMM's, I got it fixed over the phone with the guy, but he went ahead and sent me a new motherboard and CPU just to be safe. You can't beat that.

I also don't see apple taking over the pre-assembled gaming rig market anytime soon. There still way to costly and they have crap for support as far as GPU's goes. The best card you can get for a mac right now is either an X800XT or an X1600. For the $1600 it costs to get an Intel iMac, I could build a dual 7900GT SLI beast with an AMD X2 4200+ or Opeteron Dual Core and 2 gigs of RAM that would offer a helluva lot more in the way of gaming performance than the intel mac would. My PC has an Athlon 3200+ 1 gig of RAM and an X800XT and it offers near equal performance to what the intel mac would. The point...I can build a $500 PC that offers comparable gaming performance to the intel iMac.

dsub @ Apr 16th 2006 4:26PM

also forgot to mention the intel iMacs don't come with bootcamp or XP installed out of the box. This means that they would have to go to the trouble of installing windows and setting up the partitions and stuff. My guess is, if they are buying a pre-built gaming rig, it's probabaly because they want something that will run there games out of the box. Either out of convenvience or because they don't know how to do that kind of stuff. So until apple's can get ATI and nVidia to start making more GPU's for macs and start selling macs pre-loaded with windows, nothing will change. People buy macs for two reasons. They are either not good with computers and want something "easy" to use that comes in a complete all-in-one (but overpriced) package. Or they are doing some serious rendering/workstation type stuff.

Corporate @ Apr 16th 2006 4:34PM

To quote Carlos:

"i fucking hate when i call someone and i have to repeat every word i say or i cant understand them its the most annoiyng thing in the world cuz they cant speak english the right way jeez i dont mean to be racist here but its mostly ppl from asia like from india"

Have you ever considered the fact that they can speak better english than you do and you probably don't make sense to them at all? Your intelligence is established by the way you can't even spell half the words in your response.

bv @ Apr 16th 2006 5:15PM

I bought my computer through monarchcomputers.com. You pick every part down to the power supply. I had them barebones it, which means no OS install. Really cheap and only cost 15 dollars for them to build it for me. I figure if your going to spend around 1800 dollars in high quality parts, might as well pay 15 dollars for someone to put it together for you. Its not that I don't know how to build a machine, but the parts are so expensive that i don't want to make a careless mistake like bending a pin on the motherboard and f'ing my whole system. Check them out, they are fast, customer friendly and give you your moneys worth. Plus you can pick your own case and not be stuck with some gawdy alien head or in your face dell logo.

Sabre @ Apr 16th 2006 5:36PM

"For the $1600 it costs to get an Intel iMac, I could build a dual 7900GT SLI beast with an AMD X2 4200+ or Opeteron Dual Core and 2 gigs of RAM"

Close...but it costs a "little" more then $1699 to build a rig like that. Try maybe $1800-1900 instead.

Razor @ Apr 16th 2006 5:36PM

To Cougar Bait: You attempts to try and play the RACIST AMERICAN card are lame. The fact is I am calling an AMERCIAN TECH SUPPORT NUMBER and expect the person on the other end to speak ENGLISH(understandable english). And it is even more important that I can understand them when discussing technical issues. That's a problem with much of the world, they just want americans to shut-up open our wallet and give them money and if we have any problems oh well that's just typical "american I want it my way only!" Total BS!

Sabre @ Apr 16th 2006 5:38PM

"People buy macs for two reasons. They are either not good with computers and want something "easy" to use that comes in a complete all-in-one (but overpriced) package. Or they are doing some serious rendering/workstation type stuff."

I dunno about the rendering/workstation stuff since there is only one "real" 3D program on the Mac and that is Maya. Even with that PCs are still way better for using 3D programs like Softimage, Maya and 3dsmax.

embassy @ Apr 16th 2006 7:25PM

this has nothing to do with racism...this is business...

i too have had multiple problems with dells " award-winning" customer support...its just really annoying when you're in a rush on a cell phone..trying to get sumthin resolved and u end up spending more time on the phone deciphering wat the rep is saying....its a total pain in the ass no matter wat their native country..i wud have the same problem if it was someone with a heavy new york or southern accent...strong accents in general just arent good for customer service..especially in a melting pot like america...

Moogle @ Apr 16th 2006 7:50PM

""For the $1600 it costs to get an Intel iMac, I could build a dual 7900GT SLI beast with an AMD X2 4200+ or Opeteron Dual Core and 2 gigs of RAM"

Close...but it costs a "little" more then $1699 to build a rig like that. Try maybe $1800-1900 instead."
-------
I'm always dubious when someone specifies prices.
Well, let's check pricewatch (shipping included):
AMD x2 4200: $355
Asus mobo w/ SLI: $111
2 gigs DDR3200 ram: $143
geforce 7900GT: $330
geforce 7900GT: $330
SATA 250 gig HD: $73
DVD+-RW 16x: $50
Case + power:

Moogle @ Apr 16th 2006 8:02PM

Doh, it swallowed the rest of my post. Now I'm too lazy to look the rest up/write it all up again. Well, in summation, with any $100 windows OS it came to $1892 - Sabre's estimation skills impress me.

The Mac, however, has $653 less in hardware (512 megs ram, x1600 128), ignoring the processor.

Is $600 worth it for Apple tech support and a pretty case? Maybe.

Dell's equivilant: $2789 - $1000 for Dell's tech support? Pffft.

Alienware's equiv: $3274 - yikes. Hope they don't have Dell's tech support.

The lesson here? Never use less than and dollar sign next to each other on Joystiq.

Testing:
ampcode: <$
lt$:
Anything?

carlos @ Apr 16th 2006 8:02PM

hey its me and im "mexican" as an unintellegent american would call me cuz im spanish and i can speak english without an accent or anything like so i didnt mean to be racist if thats wat u ppl thought

Kevin, Princess Warrior @ Apr 16th 2006 9:58PM

I think that people buy alienware computers because they look like aliens.
It would be totally awesome to have a hard drive that looked just like an alien. Whenever I'd have company over I'd show them my computer room and they'd be like
"Dude, There's an alien in place of your hard drive!"
and I'd be like:
"No man, that's just my computer"
"Oh"

Matt @ Apr 16th 2006 10:21PM

Pointing out that most tech support that happens to be in India includes people who you can't understand isn't racist, it's a fact of the business. The same holds true for many computer parts manufacturers: they often have people of asian descent for tech support (often times Taiwan), and they rarely speak good english either. That isn't to say they don't provide excellent service, they simply aren't intelligible half the time, to those of us who speak English that is.

Bob @ Apr 16th 2006 10:51PM

Dell's XPS line was fine, IMO. Now that they have purchased Alienware, it's probably going to be just the same, except for the replacement of "XPS" with "Alienware" and several more gaming rig options to customize with. I purchased an super customized XPS M170 laptop for $1500 on eBay before Christmas, but it turned out to be a scam (and it wasn't those regular Asian and African Escrow scams, it was with Paypal and the guy was from England). After that, I was going to purchase one directly from Dell, but I had to wait a while. And thank God I waited: I heard about Apple's Macbook Pro with Intel Dual Core processing, and told myself I had to get one. Fortunately, I received mine a week after Boot Camp was released, so Windows XP installation was a breeze. I definetly have to say that the Macbook Pro blows away the competition. It's better than any laptop Dell or Alienware could ever make. Thank you so much Apple.

Moogle @ Apr 17th 2006 12:30AM

My GF's workplace has to deal with companies in India so much, one guy actually got T-shirts with "Please do the needful." printed on them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English

It's a well documented problem. Like making a recording of a recording of a recording, it's a result of each generation teaching the next in isolation. It has nothing to do with race or nationality.

It can really mess up tech support. From Wikipedia:
>> The verb "repair" in southern India is used as a noun for a broken object as in, "The TV became repair."
Tell me THAT wouldn't be confusing.

In India's defense, they're nowhere near as bad as the horror stories I've heard of Japlish. It's gotten a LOT better, but supposedly at least in the 80s there were clubs in Japan where Japanese people would speak the english they learned in school. Americans who thought they could communicate and went to meetings found that they could not even tell that what they were speaking was *supposed* to be english.

There really just aren't enough speakers of american/british-english present to correct some of the wierd things that crop up.

James @ Apr 17th 2006 1:22AM

There's one thing that I've always been dying to know when threads like these pop up:

Is it completely free to have somebody build a computer? Free as in beer free. People are always spouting about how Company X is overpriced because they can get all the parts cheaper from some random place. They then list the price of all the parts, add them up, show how it's cheaper than what Company X charges for the same pre-built system, and call it a day.

So, am I to assume that the going rate for computer assembly is exactly $0. Because if everyone is telling me that they build computers for $0 I have a deal for you. I will buy all the parts for exactly 1000 corporate PCs. I will pay you exactly $1 each (American) to build them. That's infinitely more than what you were making before, so it's win-win. You make $1000 building PCs every hour of everyday for a month, and I make hundreds-of -thousands in profit since I get to charge dirt-cheap component prices to my corporate customers.

Why the fuck to people think that their time is worth nothing!!! What is a reasonable labor price for computer assembly? Figure that out, and ADD IT to the price of your pre-built systems before you make every economists' head explode.

Zsavior @ Apr 17th 2006 2:14AM

Well James as much as you think they are trying to hurt your economist head( I don't see how) they are not. Because along with you pre-built AWESOME corporate system. CAME AWESOME BUILT IN CRIPPLEWARE, and other crap like highly expense Licensing that you didn't Need.

Second they weren't talking about corporate computers, Dell bought ALienware, to get the Highend game performance machine crowd. What does that mean you ask? It means for 15 dollars and probably a deal on parts, people who are tech savy about high end gaming machines visit monarchcomputers.com tell them to put in EXACTLY what they want and send that. Which means bv got his computer with No crippleware in it and he didn't pay anything in licensing fees for software he never intended to use on his computer.

SO what you are angry about really doesn't deal wth this topic, you are right building a corporate machine would probably take alot more to it. But they are also wielding corporate accounts, we are talking about personalize computers built for one thing. I also agree with Dsub, alineware was a horrible scam after a while. My friend spent over two grand on his computer, he could brag about how much fans he had, and how fast it got, but the damn thing didn't come with a dvd drive. It also got so hot that the power supply went dead, when he called to have alienware replace it, they told him (In perfect english may I add) that yes he may have a warranty but if they deem it is his fault for the power supply going bad he will still have to pay for it.

SO who compensates for is hours of labor that he took and spent on an ALienware. Which he bought an extra waranty for, but didn't have the Hubble telescope to read the fine print, that basically told him he may still have to pay for a part on his expensive computer he thought was covered. So do you think Alienware cared about his man hours working to pay for their computer?

Sabre @ Apr 17th 2006 2:42AM

"I'm always dubious when someone specifies prices.
Well, let's check pricewatch (shipping included):
AMD x2 4200: $355
Asus mobo w/ SLI: $111
2 gigs DDR3200 ram: $143
geforce 7900GT: $330
geforce 7900GT: $330
SATA 250 gig HD: $73
DVD+-RW 16x: $50
Case + power:"

Any old power supply can't be used with a system like that. You need a GOOD power supply and those usually cost ~$100. Plus if you are going to shell out that kind of cash, you forgot to add in an Audigy sound card which are at least $75 (Auidgy 2 ZS). There is also the mouse and keyboard (since those are kind of required) and also a monitor.

zero2dash @ Apr 17th 2006 10:08AM

XPS + Alienware are both overpriced overhyped pieces of crap. I can build a monster A64 X2 4800+ system with SLi + a Raptor SATA raid + 2+ gigs of RAM for less than the price that a base system from either would cost.

Anyone dumb enough to purchase either an XPS or an Alienware (especially if it's 'cause they're too stupid to built their own) deserves to get screwed with prices like those.

Rocket Punch @ Apr 17th 2006 11:05AM

If the tech support weren't in India, everyone will be pay "extra" for American tech support (which still sucks!)

Everyone wants good old fashion American made/built products with American tech support/service WITHOUT paying the American price. The Japanese are very good at minimize out sourcing production of any products that are being sold in Japan to foreign countries. Yes they all pay premium price for it but they NEVER complain and very proud of it.....and that's the difference.

Just ask yourself this, you want a $399 Xbox360 that made in China with sucky tech support? or a $799 xbox360 that made in America with sucky "english" tech support?

Wal-Mart doesn't exist because American wants China product, it exist because American wants cheap goods.

ger @ Apr 17th 2006 1:46PM

yeah i'm a little saddened by the dell purchase of alieanware, once upon a time dell had a great product and good support, those things have changed and now the company i work for doesn't buy their product anymore. we've switched over to HP and over all the change has been for the better. As for the mac thing, i'd really love to see more uni binaries instead of people using boot camp. although the boot camp thing is a good idea i'd rather just play native in OSX. and for the guy that said people who buy macs are bascially lame and only buy them because they don't know windows(lookin at you dsub). i'm gonna have to disagree. it's becasue i know windows that i bought a mac. :-) it's not perfect, it has it's flaws but so far no problems with mine.

Moogle @ Apr 17th 2006 2:15PM

Sabre, a 20" LCD was included in that list (~$350) but was cut off. Sorry for the confusion. I removed the mouse and keyboard from the Dell and Alienware computers. The motherboard includes high-quality sound, the audigy won't really get you anything for your money (Opinion! I'm not an audiophile. Audiophiles tend to be a gullible bunch anyway, since quality is so subjective.)

As for the quality of the power supply, I'm sure companies that sell $100 power supplies will expound on the benefits of a good PSU, but since I generally don't splurge on PSUs and I've never had a power-related problem, I tend to disbelieve. The mobo and devices will probably compensate for most small power quality issues, and an aluminum case with 650 PSU is still under $50. I'm sure really crappy PSUs would have problems, so I budgeted a bit more for the case in my numbers (that didn't show up) than the cheapest aluminium case on pricewatch.

James: Yeah, I tend to forget about that because I enjoy building my own computer and consider it entertainment. I have time to spare as well, that I don't WANT to spend doing more work for more money. Technical knowledge of how to assemble the computer is also something I disregarded, so some people can't build it themselves. But since I've had people ask for help assembling computers, I'm sure other people can find a friends as well.

We're specifically NOT talking about enterprise level/business computers. These are for hardcore gamers.

Sabre @ Apr 17th 2006 2:45PM

@ Moogle:

For a SLI rig though (I built myself a AMD Dual Core 3800+, SLI Geforce 7800 GT, 2GB RAM, Audigy 2 ZS rig), it is better to error on spending a little more and get a SLI certified power supply.

pitied by T @ Apr 17th 2006 4:20PM

This thing looks like one of the Zoq-Fot-Pik characters from Star Control II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ZoqFotPik.png

Moogle @ Apr 17th 2006 5:15PM

Sabre: Oh, certainly, if you're already splurging for such a ridiculous box anyway, $100 on a PSU is nothing at all. If you buy a system like that, let's face it, you're spending money for the sake of spending money.

I was trying to hit a specific price point with specific hardware, and just fleshed the rest out with what someone might feasibly have. (I left off kbd/mouse because you wouldn't stick with the dell/alienware defaults anyway, if you're that hardcore)