Alienware is a rip off

I plan to get an X800 XT in a few months

I plan to get a X900 Pro whenever that comes out(9.0c, SM3.0)

sweet, I didnt even think about that. I'll probably wait and get one of those instead. Except I'll try to get the XT version.

Too rich for my blood, Im the kind of person that gets a new computer every 5 years and only ABSOLUTLY when my games won't run anymore. I'll wait for the x900 and build me a AMD64 box in about 1 year or 2, or ill wait for the card series that comes out to serve longhorn/DirectX10, and then build whatever is out at the time.

(my 850mhz, 256ram, Intergrated 8 meg served me fine for 5 years, until 2 years ago, then it got a geforce4, and it lived for 1 more year, now its just my play around linux box)

Fine Orion, your smart. It is stupid to write in a hurricane. The point isn't that ABS can build a computer for less, The point is people are willing to pay for the Alienware name for a number of reasons some making no sense some making alot of sense. BUT thats true of everything in life and there is nothing WRONG with lux items.

no exadgeration, 30 seconds after i posted back to orion a tree down the street caught fire, fried the cable sent a surge threw my whole house covering my window in a ridiculous blinding light shattering the breaker box and blowing every transformer on my block blew up one by one, that was arond 6 pm friday, i just got my power back aparently sometime when i was at work, so between noon and now today.
anyway the highest wind speed i was hit by was 100mph, ocala got bombed with 150+ mile per hour winds, we got a heavy rain, strong wind, no power for 3 days, but no serious damage at all.
oh yeah and about the alienware discussion you also forgot software, and call me crazy but i do beleive they ship with that little aspect of a computer pre installed. add windows xp whatever edition they use, anti virus and god knows what else software to your 500 dollars of robbery. after that go to best buy, look at the prices for generic hardware equivelants of what you would buy off say, newegg, and then ask someone shopping there if they ever buy parts offline.

i did this in orlando at a bestbuy, a mother and her son droped 75 dollars on a geforceMX440 with 64 mb ddr and i said, you should buy some parts offline, its alot cheaper, and better blah blah etc etc. and she gave me a blank stare and said "bestbuy has an online store?"
while at the same time customers around marveled at a show case of a laptop housing "the unparalleled power of intel mobile technology and intel integrated 3d graphics excelleration power!" housing 512mb ddr ram memory, a 40gb hard drive, and virtualy nothing of any eye catching splendor or superiority for a mere 1,999$ after rebates and free printer.

that said i have no idea where im going with this, i havent slept in 2 days due to lack of air conditioning and ungodly amounts of humidity, and mosquitoes. im going to bed.

oh yeah and "who the f**k is dumb enough to sit on the computer when a huricane is outside"
do you live in florida? have you ever been through a hurricane? im thinking no.
u make a good point maybe i should sit in some other part of my house and do nothing, as my computer amplifies the hazard to the uber extreme. my dad is an architect. hes vice president of architects institute of america- florida chapter(soon to be elected treasurer). he specialiazes in area efficient design and ultimate energey efficiency. some examples of this are cinemaworld 16 digital projection movie complex, designed with the utmost energy efficiency, rock solid foundation worthy of withstanding the heaviest of storms, to say a few features. another example would be walt disney twin hotels with his own designed dual building airconditioning and severe storm and tornado restructuring for worst case scenarios. did i mention he also designed and built my house, which if you havent guessed, is pretty sturdy itself.
put that reassurance ontop of a wise ass i dont give a f**k attitude and you have my reasons for being so dumb. btw, i sat on my upstairs porch and watched the storm until i got tired, and slept through the rest of it.

LOL

Brian, your insights are valid and you said it right, some people are just willing to spend more money because of the name.

hulabaleet, you are correct. I completely forgot about software. But we all know they get major discounts when it comes to software and like I said since they are already saving on hardware, they can afford to add the software and still have alot left over. Do you understand what I am trying to say? I'm having a hard time putting it in writing lol so I'll just make a list:

-$2,000 plus tax for a system with no monitor,
-true cost of hardware comes out to, let's say than $1,500, around $1300. After all they do order in bulk so the prices trop alot,
-add software, Windows XP (HOME not PRO because that is what they were offering), PowerDVD or WinDVD, Roxio, whatever else,
-the software costs them hardly anything, again because they order in bulk so the prices are lower,
-the DVD software barely costs them anything, keep in mind that whenever you order a DVD drive from Newegg, it comes with PowerDVD for free so I am sure Alienware gets a good deal on PowerDVD or even WinDVD,

The thing is I am pulling all this outta my ass. I really do not know how the $2,000 in broken down. You just have to look at the facts and come to your own conclusion. Alienware saves alot of money on hardware and software because they order in bulk. In my first post, I configured a system that was almost identical to Alienware's and ended up saving close to $600 (Alienware's price is $2,000 plus tax and shipping). If I were to add Windows XP and a monitor, I would still be under $2,000. I understand it is because I am doing it myself but other companies like Dell or ABS offer almost identical systems for less money and a monitor is included. Granted Dell and ABS' offerings might not be as optimized as Alienware's or as cool looking (even though Dell's XPS cases look pretty sweet).

It is possible that it does cost Alienware close to $2,000 to build this system and cover their end. They have to pay their employees, their overhead, the custom case, software installation and optimization, painting of the keyboard and mouse. After all these expenses I could understand why it could be so pricey but give me a break. They have been around for a while now and I am sure, because they have been overcharging people since they first started, that they made quite a bit of money to cover most of their initial expenses.

The bottom line is we all know it is cheaper to do it yourself and that there are other companies that offer the same product for less money minus the custom Alienware case. The only way to really know the true cost of that $2,000 system is to either speak with someone who works for the company, i.e. a friend or relative, or to call and ask the salesman. I highly doubt the salesman would share that information or even know it and I am sure the people who work for Alienware are asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement preventing them with divulging such information if they want to keep their job.

I really was just upset with the notion that if I were going to spend $2,000 for an Alienware system, I would have to pay extra for a monitor. Personally, I think that is ridiculous considering everything I have been mentioning so far.

One more thing. Alienware installs Windows XP and a bunch of other miscellaneous software but they don't include any games, at least I didn't notice any included. If you were going to add some games, take a look at their insane prices. A few months ago I was looking at what their prices were for games. They were still selling C&C Generals for 50 bucks and a whole bunch of newer games for the same price. You can go to Walmart and buy Raven Shield for $19.90. I bought Far Cry for 30 bucks and I paid the same amount for BF: Vietnam. Again, another good example of jacked up prices. But like Brian mentioned they have shareholders to worry about. I am not dissing you Brian I am just saying.

LOL, hubaleet edited his post and I just noticed it. hubaleet you are a prick and everyone knows it including yourself. You have to flame in order to get a point across. Like I said before, you don't have to curse in order to get your point across. You brought this on yourself when you decided to call me a smartass, when I wasn't being one, and then continuing by putting other people down to make yourself look smarter. I can tell you this kid, and I know you are a kid, because you argue like one and because you just told me you live with your parents (nothing wrong with that by the way, enjoy it while you can).

You assumed again making an ass out of yourself again. I was in Florida during hurricane Andrew and I had to evacuate because my family had a house right on the water at the time. We stayed in a hotel and there was no way I would have stayed home after seeing the shit I saw.

I don't give a f**k what your father does. So long as your proud of him that is all that matters. No need to mention who built your house or any of the other irrelevent info. "My house can withstand a hurricane and this is why I can afford to stay home" would have been enough.

You replied and everything was cool but then you had to flame lol. Can't help yourself? I put you in your f**king place and you couldn't handle it. I bet if I were to take just the first page of this thread and post it on another forum, people would come to the same conclusion, you are a bitch. Either grow up or get the f**k out.

LOCK THIS PLEASE.

It shouldn't be locked if people still have contricitary things to say, it would be unfair to not let people voice their opinion(like interman didn't let me in the latest ATi-v-Nvidia thread)