Alienware from PCBUYIT

Craigy

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Looking at below laptop and they seem to do a much better deal than the official Alienware site including 3 year guarantee, any experiences from this company? also is the warranty for 3 years with Alienware themsleves?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Alienware M15X Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60GHz 15.6" LED Laptop - DVD+/-RW Hard Drive, Windows 7 Professional (Cosmic Black) [N10W1501]

On the web site the warranty is described to be full on site 3 years with Dell. Looks like a good price but no idea what the retailer is like.
 
Looking at below laptop and they seem to do a much better deal than the official Alienware site including 3 year guarantee, any experiences from this company? also is the warranty for 3 years with Alienware themsleves?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Alienware M15X Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60GHz 15.6" LED Laptop - DVD+/-RW Hard Drive, Windows 7 Professional (Cosmic Black) [N10W1501]

DUDE:D a peice of advice. check out some other forums( i mean dedicated laptop ones,) for problems with the M15x ive been scratching my head for weeks looking at 13-15" gaming laptops. the DELL XPS 1640/45 and M15X apparently seem to be suffering from throttling issues.... not trying to spoil your choice just dont like to see you dissapointed, the problem for us UKers is lack of choice in 15"gaming laptops asus do some good ones. and ive been looking at HP as well,. DV6 ot DV7 models.

have not ordered from PCBUYIT my self but everyone ive asked says nothing but good things. as they do some good deals on dell screens etc
 
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DUDE:D a peice of advice. check out some other forums( i mean dedicated laptop ones,) for problems with the M15x ive been scratching my head for weeks looking at 13-15" gaming laptops. the DELL XPS 1640/45 and M15X apparently seem to be suffering from throttling issues.... not trying to spoil your choice just dont like to see you dissapointed, the problem for us UKers is lack of choice in 15"gaming laptops asus do some good ones. and ive been looking at HP as well,. DV6 ot DV7 models.

have not ordered from PCBUYIT my self but everyone ive asked says nothing but good things. as they do some good deals on dell screens etc

Could you take a look at this and tell me what you think please?

Also any links to some great deals would be appreciated, to be honest I am only looking to spend between 12-1500

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/580244/MICRO-STAR-INT.(MSI)-GT729-253BK
 
Could you take a look at this and tell me what you think please?

Also any links to some great deals would be appreciated, to be honest I am only looking to spend between 12-1500

Buy MICRO STAR INT.(MSI) GT729-253BK | 17 inch notebook - Laptops | Comet

offical msi gt729 is out

this is the forums i was on about they have a sub forum for every concievable laptop manu known to man :D the last post on the model you linked to is about oct 09, but at the time does look like it was in demand,

what i would say is spending on ur budget and given laptops are not the best buy for upgrading so if u can buy one as future proofed as possible, now im not saying dual cores have had there day but i built my pc on an i7 core cpu when the jury was still out on them , now they are becoming main stream in laptops, it would be silly not to consider one,
having said that, like in my 1st post some have suffered from throttling, this is were the manufacturer has not given the unit enough power/invested in the correct developement of the laptop/cpu . like DELL! but tested it on there customers instead..


MSI Gaming GT740 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60GHz 17.0" Laptop - Windows 7 Home Premium (GT740-021UK) [GT740-021UK] MSI

this i would say is the later version of the one u pointed out and here is its forum page

offical msi gt729 is out


have a breeze thru, and if u still fancy it check out some better prices and maybe a better place to get one from as that seller has mixed reviews mainly on after service i beleive, i bought all my pc bits from them but they worked so have had no further dealings:D
 
offical msi gt729 is out

this is the forums i was on about they have a sub forum for every concievable laptop manu known to man :D the last post on the model you linked to is about oct 09, but at the time does look like it was in demand,

what i would say is spending on ur budget and given laptops are not the best buy for upgrading so if u can buy one as future proofed as possible, now im not saying dual cores have had there day but i built my pc on an i7 core cpu when the jury was still out on them , now they are becoming main stream in laptops, it would be silly not to consider one,
having said that, like in my 1st post some have suffered from throttling, this is were the manufacturer has not given the unit enough power/invested in the correct developement of the laptop/cpu . like DELL! but tested it on there customers instead..


MSI Gaming GT740 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60GHz 17.0" Laptop - Windows 7 Home Premium (GT740-021UK) [GT740-021UK] MSI

this i would say is the later version of the one u pointed out and here is its forum page

offical msi gt729 is out


have a breeze thru, and if u still fancy it check out some better prices and maybe a better place to get one from as that seller has mixed reviews mainly on after service i beleive, i bought all my pc bits from them but they worked so have had no further dealings:D

Thanks again, appreciate the advice.
 
Thanks again, appreciate the advice.

Your welcome, its a shame about the dells latest offerings and alienware...

when i had the XPS1530 it was a cracking machine but i upped for the XPS1340 and it was a heated!!! nightmare, yes another side affect, however, the smaller you go the more heat ur gonna get especailly with dedicated graphics but ur after 15"-17" must 17" models are good, dels XPS1710 and 1730 were monster machines but alas they are only available 2nd hand,,,,

Im about to get a macbook pro, as im really after something 13"3' with abit of sleek design kick ass functionality but again it only has a geforce 9400m graphics chip but not bothered about gaming thats wot the pc is for

Good luck Craigy lets us know what you get ,,,,:smashin:
 
I've just ordered a new gaming laptop and would definitely avoid Alienware.

I ended going with Kobalt. They have a great reputation and to be honest the spec of the 15inch 860 is superb - comes with a GTX280m (£1390 inc vat), and I found its around £500 cheaper than other similar models from other manufacturers

I will post a review here when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Welcome to Kobalt Computers - G860 15.6" Notebook Overview
 
I've just ordered a new gaming laptop and would definitely avoid Alienware.

I ended going with Kobalt. They have a great reputation and to be honest the spec of the 15inch 860 is superb - comes with a GTX280m (£1390 inc vat), and I found its around £500 cheaper than other similar models from other manufacturers

I will post a review here when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Welcome to Kobalt Computers - G860 15.6" Notebook Overview

What spec did you get for that price? did you upgrade the RAM?
 
I upgraded the RAM to 4gb which took the price to £1400, this is the main spec

- Intel® Core™ i7-720QM 1.60 GHz - (45nm, 6MB L2 Cache)
- 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666 RAM at 1333MHz
- NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3
- 15.6" 16:9 LED Backlit 1600 x 900 X-Glass Screen
- 320GB 7200rpm (SATA-II 16MB Cache)
- 1 x Dual Layer 8x DVD±R/W Recorder
- 7 in 1 Card Reader
- Intergrated 7.1 High Definition Audio
- Full sized keyboard with Numeric Key Pad & Windows Hot keys
- Touch Sensor Hot Keys for E-Mail, Web Browser, and Mute
- Intergrated Touchpad with palm-rest typing surface, including scroll functionality
1 x Express Card 54(34) slot
1 x HDMI
1 x eSATA Port
1 x IEEE 1394 Firewire port (400Mbps)
1 x DVI output
S/P DIF out, Headphone out, line-in and microphone in
4 x USB Ports
1 x RJ-11 Modem port
1 x RJ-45 10/100/1000mbps Ethernet Port
1 x Intel WiFi Link Mini PCI Wireless AGN (Intel WiFi Link 5300) adapter
1 x Internal Bluetooth Module
1 x 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
Window 7 Home Premium



I then treated myself more by upgrading the HD to a 160gb intel SSD, which took it to £1645, however this wasn't a critcal upgrade!
 
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Does seem like a good price, only thing is I heard the GeForce 285m was quite a noticable improvement over the 280m but to be honest I am not going to be playing FPS games on it, just some RTS games so I think it could handle it, they given you a 2 week lead time I take it?
 
7-10 days build. Just I need to arrange for delivey when I'm going to be at home, so its a bit longer for me.

285m might be better but when I've compared other laptops around the £1400 they seem to have the 260m. So the 280m seems a pretty good addition for the price bracket.
 
7-10 days build. Just I need to arrange for delivey when I'm going to be at home, so its a bit longer for me.

285m might be better but when I've compared other laptops around the £1400 they seem to have the 260m. So the 280m seems a pretty good addition for the price bracket.

Best of luck then!
 
I've just ordered a new gaming laptop and would definitely avoid Alienware.

I ended going with Kobalt. They have a great reputation and to be honest the spec of the 15inch 860 is superb - comes with a GTX280m (£1390 inc vat), and I found its around £500 cheaper than other similar models from other manufacturers

I will post a review here when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Welcome to Kobalt Computers - G860 15.6" Notebook Overview

Please may I ask what is your past dealing or ownership of Alienware laptops? Making a comment like that must mean you're an expert in this field, or is it possibly just a flippant one?


Working in the industry myself I will beg to differ, you may call be bias due to sitting typing this on the M15x at the moment, but this is just one of a number of laptops I have at home.

For build quality you will have to go a very long way to get better, performance is exemplary there again this one I am using is a 920xm and will set you back double the purchase price you have mentioned. Saying this the M15x at base level is a very hard unit to beat for all round performance; but hay what do I know I only do this for a living.

Please enjoy your new purchase, I'm sure you will; but please do not talk rubbish about things you clearly can only speculate over.

PS The 280 is a better card for out and out FPS games (very easy upgrade to achieve on the M15x as this one proves) but the 260 runs cooler and is far more power efficient if you don't need what the 280 gives.
 
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LoL you must be an Alienware fanboy. Yes I am an expert, but you don't need to be, just a few google searches will bring up the issues people have, and the awful service they are getting from Alienware. Check out notebook review as one example:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1018

I've also just be informed that the Kolbalt is shipping with the 285gtx now at no extra cost. You might be able to 'upgrade' you Alienware but at what cost! it's already over priced.

That said I'm glad you are enjoying yours and I hope you don't experience any problems.
 
LoL you must be an Alienware fanboy.

You really did not get the point did you; working in the industry means I can have what ever I fancy FOC so how on earth could I be classed Fan Boy? It also gives me a very good insight into what’s good and what stands out above others.

Working on a Dell M1735 at the moment, will be on a Mac Book Pro15 when this one is sorted (hate having to take my work home).

I spend most of my personal time using a trusty NC10; and yes I will enjoy playing with the M15X for a week or two till I get myself something else to tinker with.

Enjoy.. :smashin:
 
PCBUYIT is the web trading name for a major Dell Reseller so far as I understand it so I think that buying from them is quite safe. The warranty is with Dell anyway although that could be the issue to be concerned about.

I bought an expensive Dell monitor from these guys and saved quite a bit. No complaints with packaging and delivery was excellent.

I have bought a lot of Dell kit and, at the right price, it's normally an excellent purchase. Recently, I have seen a lot of horror stories in the forums from disgruntled customers who are having a nightmare experience with Dell customer service. I personally find this quite sad but I have to say that it's put me off buying Dell at the moment.

The Alienware laptops are very high quality and very desirable so a bargain from PCBUYIT is quite tempting (I'm currently in the market for a new laptop myself). I think that there have been a few issues which I'm sure will get sorted but therein lies the problem. This is a very expensive purchase so you'll not be happy if you find that customer service falls below the level that you would expect.

I have also looked at the Kobalt and it is certainly on my short list although I haven't had the chance to conduct too much research yet on their track record for customer service. It's quite a small company I think but I do like the look of them.

I'm also looking at the Sony Vaio VPCF11Z1E/BI which should be available in the next few weeks. I think the quoted price on the sonystyle website is quite a good price for a core i7 notebook and blue ray writer as well. Again, I'm not sure what to expect from a Sony laptop ownership experience.

It's an awkward time to be buying a high spec laptop I think.
 
Cheers for the post above, to be honest I find the alienware possibly a little too expensive and that kobalt one is a very similar spec, might give them a call soon...
 
You really did not get the point did you; working in the industry means I can have what ever I fancy FOC so how on earth could I be classed Fan Boy? It also gives me a very good insight into what's good and what stands out above others.

Working on a Dell M1735 at the moment, will be on a Mac Book Pro15 when this one is sorted (hate having to take my work home).

I spend most of my personal time using a trusty NC10; and yes I will enjoy playing with the M15X for a week or two till I get myself something else to tinker with.

Enjoy.. :smashin:

Planetse I'm not going to hijack this thread discussing your expertise with laptops - start another thread if you want and we can continue. Clearly laptops are provided for you and you don't have to spend your own money on them - if you did you would realise the importance of customer service when things go wrong.

You say "Saying this the M15x at base level is a very hard unit to beat for all round performance" have you actually looked at what they charge for a base unit and compared it to the market - I some how doubt it.

Craigy wants opinions and mine are valid - end of.
 
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Craigy wants opinions and mine are valid - end of.
Mod Comment: Everyone's opinions are valid :thumbsup:

Keep on track and answer the OP else I will start deleting posts.

Thanks
 
Thanks Jameson couldn't of said it better myself
 
darren68uk said offical msi gt729 is out


This was reviewed vs the Kobalt 860 a couple of issues back in Custom PC and got a howler. Their main problem with it was the Core 2 Quad processor they deemed too slow alongside the ATI 4850 (Fixed 2 mhz iirc). If looking at MSIs I'd be more interested in the 740.

The Kobalt 860 got a good review, I nearly bought one myself but in the end the GPU is OP for what I need and the audio seemed to be a bit mediocre, got an I7 Dell Studio 16 XPS with an ATI 4670 instead as multimedia/gaming is probably more where I sit (No issues with it, working fine on an old XPS 1710 PSU)

I find the Alienwares plain ugly, but even if they were bonny the price is offputting vs the likes of Kobalt, and I had a few conversations with the guys at Kobalt and really thought I would've trusted them with my money if I'd taken the plunge. Their warranties are very cheap too vs Dell/Alienware.

The price in the OP looks good by comparison though if your heart is set on Alienware.
 
darren68uk said offical msi gt729 is out


This was reviewed vs the Kobalt 860 a couple of issues back in Custom PC and got a howler. Their main problem with it was the Core 2 Quad processor they deemed too slow alongside the ATI 4850 (Fixed 2 mhz iirc). If looking at MSIs I'd be more interested in the 740.

hmm youve made that sound like I advised the Op to go for the GT729 which I did not. sorry:smashin: if thats not what you meant, as you have said I suggested the GT 740 myself for slightly different reasons:D
 
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hmm youve made that sound like I advised the Op to go for the GT729 which I did not. sorry:smashin: if thats not what you meant, as you have said I suggested the GT 740 myself for slightly different reasons:D

Aye, sorry mate, wasnt meant to come across that way. Out of interest, do you (or anyone) know if theres any substance in the theory that the Advent flagships are actually MSI's to all intents (in the case of the 729 it would be the 7555)? If true it makes them a more attractive option for bargain gaming than they appear initially.
 
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Aye, sorry mate, wasnt meant to come across that way. Out of interest, do you (or anyone) know if theres any substance in the theory that the Advent flagships are actually MSI's to all intents (in the case of the 729 it would be the 7555)? If true it makes them a more attractive option for bargain gaming than they appear initially.

Advent 7555 GX - MSI GT725 again?

like i said great forum (of course not as great as AV:D)

would suggest its the GT725!! there seems to be slight differences with bios/keyboards and screens.,,,but cant find anything conclusively to say they are MSI's:smashin:
 
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