My first Alienware experience with my Alienware 17 R2

My experience with this company:

I am an electrical engineering student and I enjoy the kinda geek culture look a bit so I wanted an Alienware, kinda makes sense right? They look cool to me and they're good computers (so I thought). All in all I spent about $2500 on the laptop.


I went through hell trying to buy the laptop, sales people refused to call me to help me order it, denied they had phones. I had to go into chat every day for a week, spending hours a day talking to agents. Some even told me they don't have phone numbers (this was a lie). Eventually I connected to a guy and we haggled and I bought it. He told me the matte screen was as good as a glossy screen since I told him glossy screens hurt my eyes because I strain focusing them (they aren't as clear and defined compared to glossy). He guaranteed this wouldn't happen to me. Also told me I would have the laptop before the 10th of Feb (I ordered it Jan 23rd).

So I bought it and then I got e-mails from him giving me forms related to the purchase. I e-mailed him multiple times asking him what they were for and he told me he'd call me. He never called me. So I went into chat the next few days to talk to him, he would avoid me. So I got agents to connect me to him and he said he would arrange a call soon. So he got someone else to call me. I asked the agent to get me the other guy and he told me he wasn't available. So eventually trying, I got a hold of him and we got this straightened out (he never replied to any more of my e-mails).

So my order was in "Order processing" for almost a week. I called asking why it took so long after 3 days and they told me they were verifying payment. I told them I paid and it went through, she told me it was a glitch in their system and they'd call me back to escalate the issue. So over the next 3 days I talked to 5-6 agents who each told me it wasn't escalated and they'd escalate it for me. Eventually I got sick of it and told them to fix it or I'm canceling. So they said they'd fix it for me and call me back. 1 hour later it was in pre-processing and I had a call back saying it was a glitch in the system and it got pushed through.

So it came to about Feb 1st and I chatted with them seeing what was taking so long to go anywhere. I made this call at least 10 times, all guaranteeing to expedite it (even had a few managers say this) and I asked on each call if it was expedited and they told me no, but they would submit it. Each time I was told they'd give me a call back to let me know what was going on and said I would get a text message when the laptop shipped (I never received a message when it shipped.)

So I had two parts to the order, the laptop and a mouse. The mouse shipped first and it was scheduled to be delivered. It got marked by the service as "Wrong address". Somehow, they got the address I wrote to them wrong. Turns out the agent left off the apartment number. I made 10+ calls to fix this, nothing was changed in the system, it still has this error. So when I have a parcel from them I have to call the shipping company, who then notifies Dell, then I have to call Dell and tell them to call the shipping company. Sounds not so bad, but I have to literally call Dell 4 times to get an agent who will actually call them NOW.


The laptop was still in production on the 5th, so I called alienware again and talked to a bunch of agents. I was told everything from "it's in the final stages and it’s going to ship tomorrow" to "it'll ship next week." etc. I eventually got it on the 11th. I played around with it and used it, it was good but it rattled like there was something loose inside. But it messed up, it was shutting down on me for no reason randomly. Found out that there was a break in the mother board, and pieces were rattling around in it.

So I called tech support who helped diagnose and told me it is overheating. I told him it was a break in the motherboard, he told me it sounds more like overheating. I told him the temperatures didn't go over 50 Celsius. He told me oh that's strange. I told him "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not an idiot when it comes to computers and electricity, I'm an electrical engineering student, I know how to take apart computers and look at circuits, THE BOARD is BROKEN". He said ok then told me he would get a replacement built and sent to me but I have to send the machine I have no back to them before they do anything. I told him to wait and I wasn't going to confirm anything until I talked to someone else (another agent who helped me prior).

He said ok and that he wouldn't send anything and he would call me back the next night. He never called me back, instead he sent the ticket. I got multiple e-mails saying the laptop has to be sent back and they're going to build me a new one. The agent I had help me before told me he would tell them I can keep the half functional laptop I have now and send it back when I get a new one.

So the lady with the "Dispute Expert Team" told me she would have me a new machine built and it would take 2-3 weeks. I told them I was mad because i should have a working machine and now I have to wait for a new one to be built. She asked me if i wanted a new one built and I said I'm not sure yet, why should I give you a second chance? She gave me an answer and told me they would make it right. I told her to make it right at this point, I would need more than what ws given to me. She offered an upgrade. She offered me the glossy screen and RAM upgrade since my eyes strained from the Matte screen. So I said I didn't need the RAM because I have my own in my other laptop. I suggested the CPU upgrade and she said she would send the request.

A few hours later she replied saying my request was approved so I asked her about the screen since I was more concerned about that because of my eyes. She told me she would look into it. She emailed me back a few hours later saying the CPU was denied but she made a mistake so I wasn't getting it. She told me she would try another request for the screen + RAM but I'd have to wait 3 days because of the weekend. So I said ok since she said she'd e-mail me at the beginning of her day. (Before this I talked to her on the phone a bit too about other things).

She didn't reply, so I sent her an e-mail during the last 30 mins of her shift and she told me "oh I was just going to write you now!" I said "cool what news do you have? She told me the upgrade was not approved and that the laptop was already built with the same specs and was going to be shipped. I was furious, I told her I did NOT confirm I wanted the build, I told you multiple times NOT to rebuild because I wasn't going to be available if it shipped soon. I was going to confirm a build ONLY if I could have it delivered AFTER my vacation. She got very rude with me telling me I should be happy with the resolution or I can get a refund. I was told a refund would take 3-4 weeks because of having to send laptops back, plus the new one to come in the mail etc.

I told her she dropped the ball because I was dissatisfied. She told me they had no obligation to give me anything more than a spec-for-spec replacement and that she was pleased that I got the replacement and that I should be happy. She offered me the RAM again saying she would have it sent to me. I asked to speak to her manager. She ignored me and replied telling me that "Well if you are so unhappy with the product, you should just get a refund." I told her in another e-mail "Send me your manager's details I want to speak to them or have them contact me." She never replied and no manager contacted me.


Round 2:


I contacted the facebook support. They basically told me the same thing, they have a policy not to do upgrades for replacements (you know this is a lie because you have a lot of stories on the forum to the contrary). I asked to speak with a manager. A manager called me and was VERY rude to me. He said "You have two options, take the replacement or get a refund. You will not get anything more from anyone, we have no obligation to you now, you will not get anything more, it doesn't matter." I got firm back at him and he told me basically if I wasn't happy then he can't do anything and then he said good bye and hung up.

Honestly, these aren't the only people I've talked to, I've talked to A LOT more and had the same crap happen. I just left it out to be brief (I know this is a long message, still).

So after all of this crap, I talked to more people got nowhere. (BTW the shipment for the spec for spec replacement is on its way, the address is wrong and I won't even be here to receive it, so that's kinda funny).

I got a random PM on the forum from a member here who said he knows I was having issues with Alienware. He gave me the e-mail of the president of Dell Canada. I sent the president an e-mail saying (just re-iterating the above, feel free to skip reading the e-mail):

He actually replied back to me within 3 hours and said:

He would forward me to the head of consumer business for Dell canada.



So I ended up in contact with another guy in the executive team.

He was really cool, gave me his phone number and said:

He was sorry for my experience and would personally make sure I got what was promised.


So I was contacted by a lady who worked for Dell's Resolution Team. This seemed promising, she asked me a bunch of questions and took down what I was promised and said she would get info on this for me to see what they can do. I told her the best times to contact me. She confirmed that they should not have sent a laptop without my confirmation first, also. She told me to refuse the package from the company over the phone since I would not be available to receive it. She called me back the next day and said she needed to do more research, so she would call back the next day. She never called so I called and she wasn't available so a manager told me he would get her to call me. So she called me that night when I told her I was not available, she left a message saying she woudl call me back the next morning. I didn't get a call back so I called 4 hours after her shift began and was told she was busy so she would call me back by the end of the day. I told the guy that was not acceptable and she should call back sooner since I'm unavailable. He said she'd call in two hours or sooner. 3 hours later I called and got connected to her...


She told me they can't upgrade because it is a dell policy not to do upgrades for models in stock (another lie, they've done this before, credible people have said so on the forum they got upgrades). So I told her this wasn't true and the executives I talked to told me I would get what I asked for. She told me executives can't break policy so they can't do anything for me. She asked who I spoke to, so I gave her the names and she didn’t know who they were. So I had to tell her they were the president of Dell Canada and Consumer Business Head. I asked for her manager and she refused. She told me I was her only point of contact at this point and I will have to talk to her from now on regardless. She told me there is nothing I can do because I have what I'm getting. I told her ok bye, I'll go talk to the executives again.


I sent him another e-mail telling him what happened, told him how I'm completely unsatisfied I am and how disappointing this has been. He hasn’t replied to this e-mail. It has been about 5 days since I sent it.


I have issues with my anxiety disorder and depression and Alienware have made this a hell. I told him that too.


TIMELINE :


ORDER Jan 23rd

RECEIVED Feb 11th

CALLED TECH SUPPORT Feb 11th

EMAILED PRESIDENT FEB 20th

DEALT WITH RESOLUTION PEOPLE Feb 20th


This was a brief breakdown, the actually complete story Is longer than this with more horrific interactions, but this is the basis of my complaint. I wasn't going to go public with my story, I was going to give them some time to find a good resolution, however they don't appear at this point to be willing to even try. This experience has helped spawn the website in my signature.

So at this point I'm not sure where else to go, but I may speak with a lawyer to determine if I have a course of action.

 

I tried reading through it all but my ADD wondered off. Long story short, bad machine, they offered exact replacement, you refused because you were entitled to free upgrade for the trouble? Sorry to seem short and not trying to be rude..

 

He was going to ask for a refund and they offered him the upgrade and then took it away later.

 

Yeah, this was basically what the story is, in a nutshell.

 

You answered your own questions/suspicions, and reading between the lines, you can understand that "request" and "guarantee" mean nothing with these sales reps.

First off, an order cannot have guaranteed expedition.

An order can "receive" a "request" to get expedited, but it's nothing more than a request, and it can be declined/ignored. These are all different departments and with the sheer size of Dell at this point, it would be extremely naive to believe anything.

As far as upgrades go, the lady was likely trying to hook you. I've gotten discounts when orders have gotten wrong, but it helps knowing how to solve issues with Dell.

Hopefully this thread gets you want you want, but at this point, why even bother? You'll just have to deal with Dell further down the line anyway.

Cut your losses and move on.

 

She told me on the phone she WOULD. I haven't experienced Dell at all, so I wasn't sure how things worked prior, I assume more organization, though. Because I heard people say "blah blah we can guarantee this ____" I figured ok that's good. I bother because I'm deep in it at this point and I don't feel that they should be allowed to just throw this away and should show ownership over their issues.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't bother having to deal with this much ****.. Let's put it this way.. You'd get better service from a small Clevo reseller then a large Dell corporation which will always try to scrww you.. I would take a refund and go get a clevo!

 

It always astounds me how different people can have such vastly different experiences with the same company.

 

There are a lot of bad employees at Dell. I mean, a lot. I'd say their hiring process needs some revamping.

The representatives lie left and right. You have to get email confirmations! That's one thing I've learned.

When I ordered an Alienware 15, they told me they'd refund more (as a discount) after it arrived, and when I asked for an email confirmation of this "promise," he told me he didn't have access to email. LOL! In shock, I was like... It's 2015 and you don't have email? That's a flat out lie.

Just stick with written confirmation or chat logs for deals or promises. You need proof. Phone conversations are recorded sometimes but aren't accessible to sales reps.

Hope you get your money back or something. I'd avoid them altogether if I were in your position.

 

This has been my experience as well. I just keep contacting them until I find that one employee who knows what he's doing and can get things done, then I deal exclusively with them. That's how I got my deal on the AW17 R2 that I just bought (and then sold). I also keep the chat logs in my email - that's how I managed to get my neoprene sleeve and 240w PSU. When I got in touch with Dell after the fact, asking about the sleeve and PSU, they said it wasn't part of the order, blah blah blah.

I then sent the chat logs to that one guy, and he worked it out. My sleeve arrived a few days later, and my PSU is scheduled to be delivered today.

So yes, get everything in writing (either email or keep the chat logs on file). Then, once you find that one employee who seems capable, send everything to them.

 

Well, now that the products are nothing special (crippled BGA garbage, clock-blocked vBIOS, flash-protected system BIOS, BIOS gimping that requires an eGPU to get full-bore MXM-grade performance, no meaningful CPU overclocking, wimpy AC adapters, etc.) it's not even worth the effort any more. Just buy something better and spare yourself the hassle and grief. Even if everything was absolutely perfect in the service and support arena the product wouldn't be worth it at this point in the game. They have a lot of work that needs to be done to get things back on track with product line before the service and support can be viewed as an added-value side benefit.

 

Looks like the entire product (the physical laptop and the customer service) is taking a nose dive.

Not a good direction to be going in.

 

Fair play it sounds like you've been through hell, and I do feel for you, but I was thinking it and Mr Fox put it perfectly. Is it even worth now? These laptops are a step back in terms of what Alienware used to do, and there's a lot more out there that can do more and give you the flexibility in the future in terms of upgrades, last thing you want to do is put $2500 dollars down and not be able to upgrade it in a few years, plus it's clear these new line of laptops are hardly worthy of the Alienware name and should be sent back to the R&D department.

My advice would be to cut your losses and go elsewhere, failing that if you still want an Alienware see if they can get you an Alienware 17 R1, or at the very least because of your troubles the Alienware 18 R1. I'm sure they must still have stock somewhere?

I hope they sort this out for you, and if you want to keep with the 17 at the very least they should be shipping you out the 17 with the top specs, or extended warranty, hell you should also get the amplifer just for sakes.

 

So I e-mailed Frank Azor and he replied saying he was aware of my issues and that he would get Eddie and Umar Khan in a conference call with me.

So I talked to Eddie and Khan on the (conference call) phone for about a half hour. They both told me there is ABSOLUTELY nothing they can do except a refund in this case. Khan told me he hopes I would reorder from them again in the future if I go for a refund. My girlfriend thinks I should try to give the company one more chance -.-. As of yet I don't want to see laptops or computers again for a bit and I'm kind of turned off gaming now.

So I don't really consider a refund to be a resolution at all because they just took the easy way out. We'll see what happens.

 

Please go back and delete the content of correspondence in your posts. Posting it is against NBR Forum Rules. You can summarize what it said or meant, and say who said it, just not post the actual email or chat content. When you see examples of others doing the same thing, please click the "Report" button so a moderator can fix it.

Refund is not the easy way out. This is against policy and they are making an exception as a gesture of good will to help you. That says a lot about Frank's team (Eddie and Umar) and their desire for you to be happy. They bent the rules here and this is rare. Take the refund and say thank you.

 

Fixed.

Yes, it was the easy way out because it was not against policy from what I was told before I bought the laptop. I was told I had a 30 day window to return it for whatever reason, this was within that window. No rules were bent for me at all.

 

Ooops, yeah, my bad... "RECEIVED Feb 11th" (was thinking January). You've got a week to spare, more or less.

I still recommend taking the refund. Even if you planned on buying the same thing, you're better off starting over with a new order/clean slate, without a checkered history associated with a service tag on a screwed up machine.

Thanks for taking care of that other thing.

 

So what did I learn? They're going to give you hell and lie to you and then give you nothing.

I can't believe my girlfriend told me I should try them again.

 

There are always exceptions, but as a general rule, don't listen to girlfriends or wives where technology is concerned. There are some gals that rock at it, kind of like some really know their guns, cars and motorcycles, all of which I find really attractive in a lady, but it is not very common. She's doing the right thing trying to play nice and give a second chance. That's probably the best approach for most things in life, but here I think not. They have used up all of their second chances several times already.

 

You at least got some notable people to talk to you about this, and that's a step forward (even though the response was odd).
But yeah, I think you should stay away from Dell for some time (get refund). It would be weird to go and reorder from them after what happened.

 

Take the refund, the fact that it was offered is a nice touch, they could have kept you waiting longer, or even tried to entice you to keep hold of your money, in truth it's not an easy way out for them as this has cost them another sale, plus word of mouth of what happened will carry more damage then a simple refund, they know this, and are well aware of threads like this becoming more common on this and other forums.

Like I said if you are still hell bent on an Alienware, have a look at the dell outlet, or even ebay (just make sure it's all legit and still has warranty left on it) Alienware used to make some fanastic products, the fiancée loves her M17x R4 and I love my 17 R1. Either that or spend some time and do a lot of research especially if you are throwing that amount of money down, for example look at what other people are buying such as Mr. Fox, MickyD1234 and various others.

There's a lesson to be learnt here, and it's not just you learning it either, Dell/Alienware are just learning the hard way.

 

Another detail to the story, an executive e-mailed me back apologizing he took so long to reply. Said he didn't want to come back with no progress report for me and he was finding someone in the tech support team to get a resolution on my side. Told me he was aware with my speaking with Khan.

So I called him and left a message on his voicemail and asked him to call me back first. So we'll see what happens.

 

If you're inclined to take the refund, just do it now and be done with it. Your time window for a refund it going to expire soon. They know that. Getting the "exception" I mentioned (which was wrong) will be like pulling teeth if you let the clock run out. Don't play games... get your money back while you still can and then decide if you want to place another order for a like machine, with a new service tag and clean history behind it, or go buy something else. Trust me, you don't want the service and support history/log of issues associated with your current service tag to complicate life for you down the road.

 

Get the refund; they just sent out new mystery coupons so you may be able to get a better deal than your original one by ordering a completely new machine (IF you decide to reorder).

However, I don't think I'd try again unless you do find some amazing deal; it's pretty obvious that their quality control is crap, at least it is from my experiences. You can find a better machine for cheaper (P650SE/P650SG and P750ZM), plus you can order from places with better customer service.

 

Please dont buy another Alienware. The company has gone complete trash. I had a m18x r2 for over 2 years, I dont have it anymore.

I kinda went through something similar with 2 7970m xfire that went bad. Had it replaced under warranty but it took 3 weeks to replace. When it was replaced, I sold them, downsized to 6970m xfire until Cloudfire sold me his sli 880m but got lost by USPS.

I finally ended selling the laptop in parts and buying a Clevo p370sm. I am much happier going back to Clevo or Sager. I have dealt with them in the past and more in the future.

 

Hmm.

To me mate, the refund or replacement were offered pretty early in the whole ordeal, seems like you spat your dummy because you didn't get a free upgrade, got a bit shirty with sales people and they then treated you accordingly...

Just my 2 cents...

 

"Lost" by USPS

 

You are entitled to your opinion however if someone says something to you, you come to expect it, I would think, right? I'm not even sure what you're trying to say I don't understand some of the slang you're using. But if I think it is what it is, I was never rude to anyone on the phone. I was polite unless they were rude with me first, in which case I would tell them to connect me with someone else instead.

 

So for the 'Australian-isms' haha.

Spat your dummy = cracked the ****s
Shirty = angry

Well no attack on you mate, but from what I gleaned in your original post, it seemed a little bit entitled. Which seems to pop up a bit on these forums when it comes to warranty issues..

It was probably this bit that got my hackles up "She gave me an answer and told me they would make it right. I told her to make it right at this point, I would need more than what ws given to me. "

Bad sales people and lemon machines happen, that's what refunds and replacements are for, not for people to try to take advantage and push for something they didn't purchase..

 

Ah, makes sense. Maybe just my wording? Before this I had agents telling me they'd compensate me and crap with "ohh you should not have been through this". So I do believe I was "entitled" for some crap and everyone was telling me this doesn't happen blah blah. Maybe I am entitled, but I don't think I am. Judging by the average reaction to this, they don't think I am, I don't think even some of the Alienware top guys think I am either. But you're entitled to your opinion.

 

I don't get it why you don't just return the laptop and get a MSI GT70.

 

I know quite a few women who destroy our knowledge of tech I'm afraid Mr.Fox, they just don't deal with computers like this but work at CERN and are IT consultants for servers

 

The package was "lost" at the last post office before being delivered to me.

 

Even if Alienware has turned to BGA crap, the quality is still better than MSI. I will never use MSI again. Sure, they pack a punch (performance wise), but they are made of cheap plastic and bend when picked up or when adjusting the screen. And to top that off, they're loud and hot. Maybe they've changed since I used them about two years ago, but I remain skeptical.

The only time I'd recommend purchasing an Alienware is if you have a coupon of at least 15% off because they're simply not worth anything anymore. These new Alienware PC's depreciate faster than ever before. I'd say the previous Alienware 17 holds more value than the new R2. Just sold mine for more than a maxed out R2. That alone proves Alienware is headed in the wrong direction.

Seems the entire "gaming laptop" market is full of crap now. It looks like desktops are next but not for a few years. The death of this era is seemingly inevitable. Too bad there aren't any companies out there fighting this. It's almost as though everyone is kissing Intel's a** and are whipped.

Oh, and I'd just like to add: What Michael Dell said when he took the company private was obviously a lie. I'd say things only got worse.

 

You are not bound to anything that you did not purchase. Simple as that.
They could request for an upgrade or something better, to make you 'happier,' but they have all the right to turn it down - you didn't pay for it.
They give you the option of a full refund. Take it and be done with.

 

This. Despite being a step down compared to the previous generation, the new AW are still far better in terms of build quality and warranty/support than pretty much anything else out there. Especially if you can get them at comparable prices, there really is no reason to get anything but an AW (assuming you're in the market for this type of BGA laptop). Which is probably part of the problem. When these new AW machines, despite their flaws, are still the best in their respective category, what incentive does Dell have to change?

 

If an agent tells you something over the phone, the company is liable for it as they are a representative of the company. It happened in a company I used to work for. A rookie agent offered a customer an upgrade for her product. Manager denied the upgrade, she took the company to court and ended up winning. Laws vary by province/state/country, though.

 

Swapping one BGA turd for another... that makes a lot of sense... NOT. Something with a socketed CPU would be a much better option.

Yeah, bad wording on my part. I'm only talking in the context of the gamer and enthusiast realm. They're not as common here, although the interest level is growing. Almost non-existent in the "middle-age" group where gaming and overclock was popular among boys when we were young.

 

As I've mentioned in the past, I still think that as far as BGA turds go, you're far better off with the AW turd than most others.

Not that I mean to re-open that discussion/can of worms.

 

I think six of one, half dozen of the other. BGA stinks no matter what brand. As long as there is a better (sockets and slots) option there is no reason for anyone to "settle" for less and provide financial support for the dumbing down of high performance notebooks. Best "bigger picture" approach is for as many people as possible to vote "no" with their wallet. We owe it to ourselves to do what we can to facilitate the failure of the product model across all brands.

 

I did just that. Sold off my R2 and bought a good used R1. Very happy with that decision. Aside from the inferior display panel, this thing is a gem.

 

Awesome! Thanks for doing that, too.

 

Once components reach a level of performance high enough, upgradeability will be obsolete in itself as newer technology will begin to sway people to replace as opposed to upgrade. For example, the $999 you spend on a 980M may be better spent investing in an entirely new system with even more new technology. But we are not there yet. I'd say there are at least 2-3 more generations before that point hits us.

Try to imagine a graph with upgrading on the left, and performance or "worthiness" of upgrading on the right. Where they meet is yet to come, probably within the next 2-3 years. We are still at a point where upgrading makes more sense than replacing. But as costs decrease on both ends - manufacturing and price - we will start trending toward replacing.

I'm not trying to justify BGA filth (as Mr. Fox says with my utmost support), but this is what the market is trending toward because we are the minority and the majority are idiots that will buy new technology every 2 years because of hype as opposed to "investing" in something and protecting it.

My status has changed from enthusiast to laptop gamer, and now laptop gamer to observer because I'm watching as the market adjusts and seeing where I should set roots, if at all. Desktops seem like the best place for me, both for upgradeability and cost. We will see...

Wish I was at a PC to write more, lol.

 

One thing to keep in mind when considering upgrade costs - you can (and should) sell your old components.

I bought a GTX 970M for around $700, but I can probably sell my GTX 770M for around $300-$350 (these are CAD$). So my net cost will probably be at most $400.

Which isn't too far off the cost of a desktop GPU upgrade. The GTX 970 runs around $450, and if you can sell your old card for $200, your net cost of $250 is not that much worse than the laptop upgrade.

 

I wish they would have innovated a little bit since they dropped down to BGA systems and released something comparable to the Blade/Omen/Ghost (thin, light, aluminum, etc.). Instead they just half-a**ed it by releasing their "thinnest and lightest systems yet" which are still nearly twice the weight and thickness of the competition. At that size, they should of stuck with socketed CPUs and MXM GPUs. It's obvious they no longer have any interest in the enthusiast market; they're just cashing out on the younger crowd who've always wanted an Alienware and who can now afford one due to the drop in prices because of BGA parts and cheaper materials.

EDIT: It's funny how the keyboard still manages to get warm on idle on these things considering the cooling capabilities they should have at that size. I've never noticed the keys on my MacBook Pro getting warm like that, and its CPU sits at 99 degrees Celsius when gaming.

 

To be honest, BGA parts don't bother me, I've only owned laptops that were BGA and that's the only world I know. The upgradeability of laptops is still to expensive for my like, I'd rather just end up buying a new one by that time. Wasteful, I know, but just my preference. But I do think its crap they would abandon one of their good qualities that enthusiasts loved. Turning your back on your old customers is poor business IMO.

The keyboard does get warm, but my Asus was the same, so I wasn't too upset about that. It was typical for me for most laptops I've used.



Edit:

Just got off the phone with one of the execs. He addressed my concerns, I won't go into detail right now with what is happening right now, but will go into more detail when things are fully concluded.

 

BGA doesn't bother me either because I personally don't care about upgrading my laptop. I just buy one, make it last 3-5 years, and get the newest thing out when I really need it. I'm not an enthusiast in terms of overclocking and benchmarking so I have no need of owning the latest components every year or two. It's just sad that Alienware's have gone from being something "special" to mainstream junk.

 

Yeah, I agree. I can't afford to upgrade my laptop yearly, just once every few years. By that time the wear and tear is on my laptop enough that a new one is a better idea. My opinion will change when I'm out of university, probably But I do appreciate Mr.Fox's cause for the upgradeability.


I'm just pleased now it seems someone from the company gave me a good resolution from the sound of it.

 

Upgrades are only part of it. The other part is, none of the BGA CPUs are actually worth a damn. Even the best (4980HQ) is a pathetic product compared to a 49XXMQ or 49X0MX. Also consider that the silicon lottery is not very kind any more. If you get lucky and get a good 4980HQ CPU and a nice overclocking 980M GPU, pray you don't need a mobo replacements because you might draw a short straw next time. On top of that you can create quite a list of reasons BGA is bad for end users. Need a mobo out of warranty? Expect between $250-400 for most laptops with sockets and slots. Wonder how much that mobo with a 4980HQ and 980M welded to it is going to run? Won't be cheap. There are already tons of threads with rage against it, so no point in doing it here.

It's easy for enthusiasts to understand that not everyone is an overclocker, not interested in upgrades, etc. Que sera, sera... to each his own... whatever, right? However, it not easy to understand why anyone would think a horrible engineering abortion designed to put more money in the pockets of ODMs and give OEMs absolute god-like control over what end users can do with their personal property would ever be OK. Yeah, ASUS and MSI have done it for years. So what... had Alienware customers wanted trash like that they could have saved a few bucks and bought it a long time ago. Seeing this kind of filth viewed as acceptable by Alienware or a portion of their customer base is about like the three monkeys that hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

 

GT70 is PGA and MXM