Alienware Aurora ALX

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY, Abysmal SO CALLED PREMIUM Support, Unreliable computer, repairs half done! – Would NEVER buy another DELL COMPUTER, let alone spend thousands on another stupid, overpriced, unreliable Alienware one, and their so called 'Premium' Service that costs even more is useless. They even dare try to get you testing EVERYTHING, including removing VIDEO CARDS etc....why the HELL did WE PAY FOR PREMIUM???? They will NOT send a Tech out with ALL the parts he may need, they half do it on the cheap, therefore costing YOU THE CONSUMER more time in delays, more days taken off waiting for a Tech, and far MORE frustration! EVERYTHING is done on the cheap only to have to get someone back every few months to fix the SAME problems time and time again. Lucky if you can even understand the stupid operators in Tech Support, as most DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH as a first language...you can't understand them...they can't understand you! Biggest load of garbage we have EVER had. Better and cheaper to have some no name, local computer store build you a custom computer, than pay an absolute fortune for this unreliable, overpriced JUNK! Bad enough this stupid country wouldn't know what customer service is, as ALL these stupid operators think that they can speak down to you like crap and yet you are meant to lick their bottoms to get the unreliable, piece of junk, computer fixed (usually temporarily until something else stuffs up), after spending thousands on purchasing it??? INSULT UPON INJURY!!! Rating is - MINUS 5 STARS

Good hardware, terrible support – I purchased an Aurora R4 from Dell. I needed a fairly high end PC as I run a number of concurrent virtual machines, and the Alienware desktops provided the most configurable way to buy a Dell PC with 32 GB of memory. I also paid for the factory overclock to 4.1GHz, and opted for the 3 years technical support. It was actually a hard decision to get the R4, because a computer with similar specs would have cost several hundred dollars less if I bought a no-name white box from a local PC reseller. But since the PC was for work, I decided that having the support of a big company like Dell was worth the extra money.

I have to say that the hardware is very nice. It is fast, quiet, and runs my three external monitors (purchased separately) from the one NVIDIA GTX 660. The case lights are a novel touch, even if I enderd up turning them off. You also don't get too much crapware, although I did end up uninstalling a lot of the Alienware apps. Sp the PC is everything I could ask for...

Except for the fact that when it arrived the CPU was clocked at the standard 3.2 GHz. At this point I need to make it very clear that the option to overclock the CPU to 4.1 GHz was something that was provided by Dell during the web based configuration of the PC, and was an additional extra that they charged money for.

After 3 hours on the phone with Dell I was given the following explanations:

1. The 4.1 GHz overclock is actually just the standard Intel Turbo Boost feature

2. Overclocking the CPU was not supported and would result in system instability

3. The overclocking settings could be reenabled using the instructions at http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&docid=457874&doclang=en&l=en&s=gen&cs (this didn't work)

4. Because the PC was otherwise functioning OK there was nothing they could do, and that I might have some luck with overclocking instructions "on the internet"

So why 1 star when the hardware is actually pretty good? It's simple - you buy from Dell because you want the security of a known brand and the support that comes with it. Without those things, you might as well go and buy a computer from some corner store PC reseller and save yourself a few hundred dollars. After spending 3 hours on the phone being bumped around at least 6 different departments with support analysts who wanted to know how many megabytes my CPU was running at (yes, megabytes, that is not a typo), it is clear that Dell support is not worth it and that I should have spent the extra money on a nice holiday somewhere. Nice hardware Absolutely terrible technical support which makes the extra money you spend on a Dell pointless

Excellent – This is a great Desktop PC out of the box. Fully customisable from Dell. I use it in the office and for entertainment (gaming etc) and it hasn't let me down. Some may consider the light tacky but they are adjustble. Would buy and Alienware Again Straight out of the Box. Everything included Keyboard Mouse Goes like a bat out of Hell Price is steep as I ussual build my own from scratch. BUt based on the time saved on research and compatibility with hardware it saved $$$

Case weighs a tone. So a LAN box it's not. Not enough USB outlets on the front and positioned poorly.