It's Worth It, But You WON'T Pay A King's Ransom
Written: Dec 19 '00
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Pros: Great performance, Excellent variety of choice, cool cases
Cons: 30 Days after you place your order to assemble and ship the system
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| fiedler2's Full Review: Alienware Area51:Aurora |
I recently purchased an Alienware Aurora system, and I couldn't possibly be happier with the computer or with the company. Alienware has established a reputation for greatness by producing serious computers for people who care about performance. Plus, you can choose from a wide variety of color schemes, such as "Conspiracy Blue" and "Saucer Silver," for your premium computer.
They also provide an incredible amount of choice in their systems, giving their customers a wide range of options for the components they want in their systems. One such example is "Virtual Channel" SDRAM, which left me dumbfounded when I first saw it listed as an option. "WTF is 'Virtual Channel' memory," I asked. I did a bit of research, and discovered that Virtual Channel Ram is manufactured by NEC, and outpaces regular 133MHz SDRAM by a substantial margin.
Alienware squeezes the best performance possible out of their systems by running the components, such as the CPU and the video card, at a slightly higher speed than they normally operate at, while still ensuring total system stability. This "overclocking" gives Alienware owners more "bang for the buck."
Speaking of money, however, it was proposed by another reviewer that Alienware charges its customers an outlandish amount for the computers they build. My experience shows that this is just not true. The Alienware computer I purchased had a 1.1GHz AMD processor, a 60GB HD, 256MB of 133MHz SDRAM (and contrary to what that same reviewer proposed, the difference between 100MHz SDRAM and 133MHz SDRAM is entirely noticeable), a 64MB GeForce2 Ultra video card, a 16X DVD player, a 32x10x12 CD-RW, and a 19" Viewsonic Optiquest monitor (among other things). The total cost of the system was $3114.53.
For me to simply get all of the components that came with my Alienware Aurora, plus the Windows ME OS, I'd need $2754.59, which does not include incidental costs such as thermal compound for ensuring good heat transfer between the processor and the heat sink, or the multiple cooling fans required to keep the computer from overheating. Also, my Alienware computer comes with a year long 24/7 warranty, which provides access to their 1-800 technical support line, and next day on site service, none of which I'd get by assembling the computer myself. Alienware is a great company, and I strongly recommend their products to anyone interested in a computer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Varies by Customer's Individual Configuration
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
fiedler2
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 4 members
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