Lots of Alienwares.

[alienware]

Some more pics. I decided to hotwire the PSU so I could open the front door to do some more cleaning.

Here is my beloved Patriot Convoy SSD hot swap box.



You unlock it then it opens like so.



Then you pull the lever open and the drive comes out



Then just for a laugh I figured I would give you guys an idea of how well this thing is built. Note - these are 25kg scales.



Error. Why? well, the case weighs 30kg empty :lol:

 

[alpenwasser]

well, the case weighs 30kg empty :lol:

If the design were a bit more understated (sry ), that would defo be something for me,
I love myself some build quality :lol:

 

[alienware]

It's such a pig to move tbh. I'm thinking of getting some Lian Li wheels but I'm worried they won't take the weight :S

 

[alpenwasser]

It's such a pig to move tbh. I'm thinking of getting some Lian Li wheels but I'm worried they won't take the weight :S

After having packed everything into my Elysium it totally crushed its wheels (the original ones
that came with the case). After that I just started mounting felt pads under my PC cases (will
be doing the same with my Caselabs). Looks a lot better, and is just as good as wheels on a
hard wood/stone floor (doesn't work on carpet, obiously ).

You'd probably be able to get some heavy duty casters off eBay for little money though, or
even in your local DIY store. I recently found some small (~ 30 mm IIRC) casters that can
take 40 kg each, so you'd probably be able to find something somewhere.

 

[alienware]

Yeah I was thinking about building some sort of stand with wheels on.

 

[dalewakelin]

Im sure your local scrap yard will have 2 old axles from a car that could probably support it...

 

[alienware]

:lol: it would need it tbh.

It's made worse that it doesn't have any handles whatsoever and the front door is quite fragile.

 

[alpenwasser]

Im sure your local scrap yard will have 2 old axles from a car that could probably support it...

I am trying to picture Alien attempting to explain to his fiancée why he needs to have car
axles for his PC in their apartment (assuming they're living together). :rollinglaugh:

It's made worse that it doesn't have any handles whatsoever and the front door is quite fragile.

That does sound rather annoying affair, logistically speaking

 

[alienware]

Right now we live in a 1920s farm house with 4 acres of land.

It's set to change though as we're moving in a few months

 

[alpenwasser]

Right now we live in a 1920s farm house with 4 acres of land.

It's set to change though as we're moving in a few months

Depending on the estate's shape that sounds somewhere between rather romantic and
picturesque to leaking-roof-nightmare material. :lol:

I would love to have an old house fixed up to modern living standards (electrics, heating,
insulation, internet connection etc.) some day. Somewhere at a forest's edge at a river, a lake
or the sea, with a gigabit internet connection and near the mountains to go skiing in winter :wub:

 

[alienware]

Exterior wise it's in great shape. Interior wise? well it's huge. £650,000 huge, so it needs a lot of decorating. Given we're not going to be here after this summer I've been hesitant to decorate any more than the main rooms we use (first living room our bedroom and the bathroom).

Long story dude tbh...

My fiancee used to breed cats (£4000+ a time cats) but was forced to stop by her local council.

So it's being sold soon and we're downsizing and moving nearer my family as we're right in the middle of nowhere here.

 

[Sprite]

The Area 51 ALX that you purchased off ebay, was it from somewhere in Surrey? Those pictures you put up look a lot like a computer shop I used to work in!

 

[alienware]

The Area 51 ALX that you purchased off ebay, was it from somewhere in Surrey? Those pictures you put up look a lot like a computer shop I used to work in!

Hi Sprite

I got it from mcscomuk who I think are based in Hampshire. Having checked they list their location as

SP6 1BN

Which comes back as Fordingbridge which yeah, is in Hampshire.

TBH they weren't a very good company to deal with. They listed it as having a dead IO board and when I asked any specific questions they were pretty dismissing and rude.

I've a long history of using Alienwares so I know that sometimes when people think things are broken they're not, yet when I asked about it they just said "Look, it's broken OK?" and that was that.

Oddly enough it took me about two minutes to sort it out and get it all working properly

Simple fix, the main PSU plug was not in straight and the IO board wasn't getting any power. I made sure to email them and gleefully tell them this :lol:

 

[Zoot]

the case weighs 30kg empty :lol:

Lulz. That was the very reason I got rid of the Cooler Master Stacker back years ago, it was nowhere near that heavy though.

 

[Sprite]

Ah Hampshire, not the place I used to work for then.

Usually not a massive fan of Alienware cases but the 51 ALX I could definitely go for!

 

[Mysterae]

I tell you what, I used to think that Alienware cases were overpriced and didn't know what all the fuss was about; Power Ranger looks etc. But your posts and videos have given me a new opinion of them, respect were due. There's a lot more to them than I thought. Those vents opening at a given temperature is fun and functional, excellent!

 

[alpenwasser]

I tell you what, I used to think that Alienware cases were overpriced and didn't know what all the fuss was about; Power Ranger looks etc. But your posts and videos have given me a new opinion of them, respect were due. There's a lot more to them than I thought. Those vents opening at a given temperature is fun and functional, excellent!

Yeah I'm starting to think the problem was one of marketing. The engineering that went into
these was really quite extensive, and even though I was quite up-to-date with current PC
trends for a while and was totally aware of Alienware's existence, I never once heard them or
anyone else mention this.

 

[alienware]

Yeah I'm starting to think the problem was one of marketing. The engineering that went into
these was really quite extensive, and even though I was quite up-to-date with current PC
trends for a while and was totally aware of Alienware's existence, I never once heard them or
anyone else mention this.

Alienware used to work on supplying rich spoiled kids with a computer. Seriously, I really can't stand the stereotypical Alienware user. Ones like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfwVZJt32kg

Seriously want to make me commit murder. How any parent could spoil their child that much is beyond me. I was raised properly and in a very similar fashion to Average Ninja - IE I got what other kids got until I was 16 and then my mother said "you want it, you earn it" so that's what I had to do. I've never gone directly to Alienware or Dell because I could never afford to.

But.

Alienware have a lot we should thank them for. Like, for example, bringing us PCs that actually looked nice and not just some generic beige box. Whether people want to admit it or not it was Alienware that made people think about how they wanted their computer to look.

Each one of their PCs have been pretty revolutionary. The original used fancy fan grilles and lighting long before we could even get the mod parts to do that stuff. Then there is the case design, and whilst I accept that it's not for every one at least they have pushed the boundaries. Seriously, when you have a huge handful of case companies knocking out horrible "look a likes" you know you've done something right. Imitation and all that.

I've always liked them because of the way they did things. They did chit that no one had done before them like the Star Wars chassis, War Of The Worlds, Superman....

Since then the whole "themed build" was born but again we have them to thank for putting the ideas out there. It was them that brought a lot of the ideas we see today to the forefront.

 

[alpenwasser]

Alienware used to work on supplying rich spoiled kids with a computer. Seriously, I really can't stand the stereotypical Alienware user. Ones like this.

[...vid...]

Seriously want to make me commit murder. How any parent could spoil their child that much is beyond me. I was raised properly and in a very similar fashion to Average Ninja - IE I got what other kids got until I was 16 and then my mother said "you want it, you earn it" so that's what I had to do. I've never gone directly to Alienware or Dell because I could never afford to.

Tbh I don't mind the kid so much. Sure he doesn't seem too bright, but more than anything
else his ignorance seems to primarily stem from inexperience. How any parent could not
assist him with unpacking that system is beyond me (as is why they would get it for him in
the first place, and this is assuming that his parents paid for it of course). So yes, I have a
much bigger problem with his parents than with the kid himself.

Anyway, my first PC I got when I was ~15, and I'd been saving up for around two years for
that baby (Thunderbird C, 1.4 GHz :rock: ).

But.

-passionate speech-

The longer I think about it, the more I think that they just targeted the wrong crowd (either
on purpose or by accident, that I'm not sure about). They did have some pretty cool ideas
as you say, but those ideas just seem to have been wasted on most of their customers as
far as I can tell.

 

[alienware]

The longer I think about it, the more I think that they just targeted the wrong crowd (either
on purpose or by accident, that I'm not sure about). They did have some pretty cool ideas
as you say, but those ideas just seem to have been wasted on most of their customers as
far as I can tell.

To all of us true enthusiasts they did it all wrong. The thing is? on a business model they couldn't put a foot wrong.

Firstly they started the "You can't afford it,ner ner na ner ner" phase which just drove rich people with too much money to buy maxed out systems from them with no care about the price, and then they made it even harder to afford them because they came out with crazy computers like the original ALX model in 2005 that had a Koolance water cooling system built into the case.Base price? $4800.

You're right though. Nearly every one that buys one doesn't even realise what it can do because they don't care. It's elitism, snobbery, something that was introduced to computers originally by Nvidia because until they started their GPU war with 3DFX every one was happy to just play Quake in OGL.

It was Nvidia who started the whole bragging rights phenomenon and it's just gone on from there. The most recent one that springs to mind? Corsair Dom Plats. They sell based on looks, because there are plenty of cheaper modules that will do those kinds of speeds.

What it comes down to though is business. Which, tbh? is never pleasurable. Alienware did what they did so well that even Dell could not beat them so they simply bought the competition, for millions of dollars.

Lately? well it turned out to be a bad move because financially the good times are over and even the rich are having trouble convincing themselves they really need a $5000 computer. Every one is tightening their belts and I would imagine that's why Dell did away with the Area 51 ALX and introduced the tiny X51 that works out pretty cheap and affordable whilst doing away with their flagship £1800 minimum spend huge great PC.