is Apple on your shitlist?

I already have a G4 titanium laptop, that I love and is not on my shitlist, and i wanted to be able to use AutoCAD and 3ds Max without the laggyness of Virtual PC.

Alienware makes some pretty high-end performance computers for the money that you spend. My only complaint is that their colors stand out way too much, and their laptops overheat really quickly. Other than that, I"m quite happy.

Very good spec but often ugly looking. I'd go as far as to say you'd struggle to get a better pc for the money.

you should look into boxx systems @ www.boxxtech.com..
These are the BEST PC's on the market.....

alienware is an excellent company. they use high end products in all their equipment. my only issue would have to be their case designs, which i dont really like that much. but i guess thats a personal preference. you could also try voodoo pc, or falcon northwest. they're both high end boutique companies.

Sager is another company to look at. I believe Alienware uses a base system with the name of Clevo. Sager uses the same base system and is much cheaper than Alienware. It is still more expensive than what you get in stores, but each laptop is custom built.

I spoke with someone with an Alienware laptop. He was absolutely in love with it, but had a few gripes. One, there is definitely the overheating issue. He found that he had to remove some panels from the case and clean them out about once or twice a month as they collect much dust.

Also, he says they are not for people who might be needing to send it in to get fixed . . . i.e. it is more for "do it yourselfers. While there is tech support, he told me they format the drive every time you send it in. He had to send it in once for something related to the optical drive. They are also picky about their tech support. They would not help him out over the phone because he had installed his own legit copy of WinXP Pro.

Also had a student with a Sager machine. This thing was BEEEEFY! I think well over 1" thick and heavy as hell. Not something you want to carry with you everyday. Fans all over the place . . . like 4 1" fans out the back. It was an impressive machine. He had similar issues to the Ailienware chap. But, he could run 3DStudio and Maya really well. Whatever FireGL or Quadro cards they had in there made for a great modeling experience.

Good luck!

wisof - many companies require you to remove the drive before sending, as it can be damaged and they don't want responsibility.

As for the reformating, that's unfortunately common practice in the lesser skilled gang of tech support. Dell's home division tells you to do that all the time, too, and is one reason I buy only from the Business side.

For tech support, I'd go with Dell's Business (I have their Gold support, although I don't know how I got it, but they are above the reg biz support and I never wait more than 5 minutes - they really know their shit, too).
Also, Dell sends tech guys to you, unlike IBM and others (although someon on here said that they did, the tech guy I met that supported Dell's and IBMs didn't like the IBMs).

Boxxtech is a superb company with an impeccable rep, unforutunately, they are expensive.


Look at a recen comparison between a Boxx and Alienware. Alien won, not sure why, but they were very, very close and very similar.


Personally, tech support = great value. I HATE opening the computer, so anytime they'll send a guy within 24 hrs (and you can get same day) to replace anything is a good deal in my mind.

check out VooDoo computers

dont even bother with alienware, they suck

checkout xi and polywell for better bang to your buck. They dont look as nice as the alienwares or boxxes but they perform.