Should I? *calling all computer geeks!*

[SinisterDeath]

Sometime around june 25th my pc stopped working. I was gone at the time and someone else was using it. I had them bring it into GeekSquad to see what was wrong with it.. They said the hard drive had Fried.

2 weeks later the new hard drive fried... So we called in, they would replace it free of charge.

2 weeks later and 2 hard drives with it, they finally concluded that the chance of me getting 4 defaulty Hard Drives in a row is greater then that of winning the lottery... So they said the problem is obviously the motherboard.....

So I sent it in to the manufacturer *only toke 2 weeks to get ahold of them through email*

 

So recently I was pondering 'what if they said there was nothing wrong with my mother board and thusly can't fix or replace it?' I very well can't go about constantly frying hard drives every 6 days....

So I went to dell and alienware websites to see exactly how 'overpriced' there pc's are... Well suprisingly Dell and Alienware aren't nearly as overpriced as they used to be a few years ago!

 

So the question of this thread is this.

Should I break down and buy a $2,200 odd pc from Alienware/Dell or should I take the bigger risk and wait for my mother board to come back new or old and possibly still not have a working pc?

 

Theres also a kicker to it. At the end of august = bad time, since I'll be moving away to do things like college :P

So I basically have 2 choices. Get a new pc now, and say 'screw you old pc!' or wait to see if the new/old mother board works. If I wait until after I get the mother board, I'll have moved, and getting a pc around the 20th of september wouldn't be to fun at all... Of course the bigger debate is alien ware vs dell?!

 

Dells universally suck. Not the hardware, they just seem to have 'aids' or something. I have never seen a Dell with out at least 5 virus's on it! On the other hand Dells are awesome when it regards there 'broken pc' things. They practically hand out the stuff if something goes wrong. "of course any new parts I can't put in, because it'll void the warrenty, and just cleaning it would void it...'

On the other hand Alien ware for approximately the same price = 1ghz less in processor speed, and no warrenty does come with a case with built in cooling system. Better graphics card, and the option for better/more ram.

Dell comes with a bigger powersupply..

 

So whatcha all think Should I get the dell/alien ware or stick to my ol' pc which might not work even if I get a new motherboard?

*Btw, old pc stats = 1.8ghz processor amd, 256 geforce 6600, 1gig ram. New pc would be an intell 2.2ghz dual proccessor. 2 gigs ram and a 512 geforce 7900 gt "or a 1024 geforce 7950 but I don't know if I'd want to go with that.

All alienware and dell goes with Intell/pentium for some reason, and the only amd they go with is 64bit.. and I havent been hearing good things regarding 64 bit and gaming...

 

O yea, dell comes with a 15" flat wide screen monitor with speakers built in, Alienware comes with a 17" flat screen. "Of course both sites have a monthly payment type thing for them so a direct payment isn't really possible for me but $70 a month for 3 years is. And considering the pc I had before it decided to go scitzo on me 7 months ago and then 1 month was approximately 5 years old. :P

[Guest Egwene]

Both my husband and myself work on lap tops and the PC sits unused next door. Lap tops have come down in price so much and you can plug in everywhere... can't see myself go back to a PC.

 

Good luck with your purchase whichever one you go for. It's still more likely that you'll have problems with the new one though, than winning that jackpot, I think

[Guest Karana Majin]

But I can tell, just from the way he displayed his stats (and that he's considering an alienware) that he MUST be a gamer. And true gamers just can't operate on laptops.

 

I say go for the alienware, my friend got one and he loves it.

[Sillmarillion]

I'm a gamer as well, I play The Battle for Middle-Earth and Call of Duty; two different types of games. And i play them on a lap top and I wouldn't say that it's worse. I can pick my lappi with me anytime I want and thanks to WLAN I can play anywhere I want.

Thats impossible with a normal PC.

 

You can get a Lap Top which is as good as a normal PC.

 

Adam

[JenniferL]

Dells are good, solid macines. Both our laptops are Dells and all the computers we purchased for my school are Dells. (My husband heads the IT Committee at Amana, so yes, we got a say in it.)I don't know about them being full of viruses, as I've never had a serious problem. They do come completely overloaded with junk, so you'll have to spend an hour or so after you get it uninstalling AOL and adjusting your settings, but thats pretty much any PC.

 

My husband is a gamer and he uses his laptop for most of his games. He bought a wireless mouse and seems perfectly happy.

[SinisterDeath]

Well I don't need a laptop, since the classes I take in college require one, and part of the grants/loans will be paying for it. I do my gaming on a desktop and leave the laptop for other things.. Including focusing fustration on it. *I don't have a good history with laptops, especialy if they don't have a keyboard and mouse.. I go 2001 a space oddysey monkey style on them.* :P

 

So do you think I should say 'screw you old' pc'? Or should I stick with the old' lady who keeps breakin down? :P

[JenniferL]

Personally, I'd just go ahead and get a new one. If your old one turns out to be repairable, you can always sell it to someone who desperately needs one. But I wouldn't sink more money into it, especially when your options on a new one are so great.

[SinisterDeath]

Personally' date=' I'd just go ahead and get a new one. If your old one turns out to be repairable, you can always sell it to someone who desperately needs one. But I wouldn't sink more money into it, especially when your options on a new one are so great.[/quote']

 

hehe good point. =) Well I'll give it a day to at least see how stupid the manufacturer really is.. In the mean time I'll be buried in the shadows for the next 2 months while I'm playing a new expansion Beta! Weeeeeeee

[Jhaenara]

I've heard good and bad things with Dell. The two Dell desktops I've had have been perfectly fine. No problems whatsoever. I do a lot of gaming too... mainly MMORPGs. I don't think my husband had a problem with his Dell laptop either (until he brought it to Iraq with him and it got really sandy and dusty... well duh... lol).

 

I don't know much about Alienware other than I've heard it's expensive for what you get. You're paying more for the pretty box maybe... I dunno.

[JenniferL]

The only problem I have with my Dell Inspiron is some idiot designer decided to have the vents on the bottom. So it overheats very easily and it actually burns my legs pretty frequently. Its also a bit heavier than I'd like and the batteries last only a few hours, so its not quite as portable as it could be.

 

But I've had it for about a year and a half now, so it can't be THAT terrible, right?

[TheDiceAgain...]

Can't tell you much about Dells because I've never had one, but I'd go with Kathana on this one and say go for the new system. It seems that before your current troubles, your old system more than gave you your money's worth...

 

Personally, Alienware systems are nice, they've got some good stuff in them and they're pretty, but it's not worth the premium you pay for it unless you must have the best of everything, which changes every 2 months anyway...

 

I personally got completely away from my desktop. I now do everything on my HP nw8440. It's fast enough to do everything I need, the graphics card is great (and upgradable, not something you can always do with a laptop). I can have multiple monitors going off the same card and I'm able to do all the gaming I like with no noticable problems. Also got a docking station in the deal so now my desk at home has my full sized keyboard and mouse with 20" and 17" flatscreens side by side. Frankly, I'm not sure why I still have a TV at this point....

 

And Kathana... Laptop is such a misnomer, you should never actually put the system on your lap. I've seen people actually get burned by them. It can be dangerous, although admittedly more so for men...

[Zardi]

I agree that you should go with a new one. Don't waste more money "fixing" a computer that is already old and may soon break again.

 

As for the brand...if it were me, I'd go with the company that has a good customer support system, just in case a problem creeps up that I can't solve myself. I have heard that Alienware doesn't have that.

 

I've also heard about Alienware being overpriced compared to other companies, but I haven't checked them out myself. I don't know about Dell, either. I have a Sony VAIO, myself. It's 3 years old and still works beautifully. I've only had one major problem with it, and it was all my fault anyway. (I installed Symantec Antivirus, not knowing that McAfee had come pre-installed. Evidently, having two such programs is a big no-no. :roll:)

 

Speaking of viruses, I don't understand why a Dell would be more susceptible than an Alienware. They both run Windows. Just uninstall the extra programs that come on it and make sure you get a good firewall/antivirus package and anti-spyware programs, which ever brand you go with. *shrug*

[SinisterDeath]

Hehe, well Like I said earlier, Alienware was more expensive at one time, but now.. They are actually a competing company that doesn't just cater to 'lil rich kids with to much money' :P

Both dell and alienware have relatively the same specs.

Both have Intel Processors.

Both have Geforce 7900's.

Both have the option to go to 256/512 geforce 7900's x2. "I'll just go with the single 512"

Though one has a GT the other a GS??

The processor speeds on alienware are a little bit lower then dell. However dell pc's don't come with built in cooling with the case. *obviously your paying money for the case but they consider it 'free' like the 'xp home edition' is free... It's added into the price, but if you want a bigger/better version you pay through the nose for it. Both dell and alienware have there ups/downs.

Alienware you pay extra for 1 year warrenty.

Dell you get 1 year warrenty free.

Dell includes the option to not have a keyboard/mouse *I already have a $140 wireless mouse/keybaord*

Alienware it comes with it. 'which adds about $80 to the price.

Dell comes with a monitor.

So does Alienware

The difference is, you pay extra for dell monitor that comes with it. Alienware you don't.

You also get the option to not get a monitor for both of them. Alienware you get a bigger cut.

speaking of monitors.. Dell only has 'widescreen' monitors. Else I pay an extra $120's..

So really both dell and alienware in the $2000 range have pretty close machines in comparison, afew slight differences. But really, who doesn't wish their pc had that kick ass case with liquid cooling system built in!? :P

[Werthead]

You can get a Lap Top which is as good as a normal PC.

 

Call of Duty 1 and Battle for Middle-earth 1 are both pretty old now and even the sequels of each are not state-of-the-art any more. The problem with laptops is inability to customise (you won't be playing Crysis or STALKER on your laptop, but you might be able to manage Medieval 2).

 

So, whilst you can get a laptop which is as good as a 'normal' PC, you cannot get a laptop which is as good as a decent 'gaming' PC (which is somewhat different).

 

I'd definitely go for a new PC, although not a Dell as they sometimes use their own components which can be a devil to replace. I got my new PC in February and it's great, but I'm annoyed I didn't hold off for another couple of months so I could go dual-core. Still a great machine though.

[SinisterDeath]

If I go through Alienware I can get a free upgrade with the above computer to replace the Geforce 512 MB 7900 GT to a

1024MB Gefoce 7950 GT2.

Which is basically 2 512MB geforce 7900's fused together and go into one 'video card slot'.

Meaning escentially if the slots are spaced far enough, You have a nucklear power plant, you could run 2 of those bad boys together. :P

/drools at the idea of playing the best of the best graphic games with a resolution of 6144x4608 running just as well as a normal pc at 1024x768.

that pc would definately earn drools amongst the geeker crowds.. At least for the first 2-3 years.

If it lasts that long. :P