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0.5 stars
"Trouble with Alienware"
Pros: 17" Monitor is decent quality
Cons: Frequently shuts down, games seize, Speakers are of poor quality
Summary: I want to take the opportunity to post my experiences with the Area 51m. I've had the system for 100 days and this is what I have gone through. The system I have has the 3.4GHz processor, 1GB Ram, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra, x2 60GB 7200rpm hard drives, and built in Camera.
Initially when I received the laptop the system continually shut off while playing games so Alienware sent out a technician to determine if the videocard was overheating and causing the problem (only after I insisted with two dozen phone calls). The card was overheating so I sent the system in and they replaced the video card, which was about a 7 day process.
I had been reporting problems with the sound card, but they said it was working perfectly. I still can't hear sound from more than 2 feet away, even though the Laptop has 4 speakers and a built in subwoofer.
The monitor had several dead pixels on it when I received it and with a dozen more phone calls they agreed to replace it. Furthermore, the hard drive always hangs when loading files and more often than not the entire system restarts itself to fix the problem. For the second time I sent it back to Alienware, I asked them to look at the Monitor, Sound, and hard drives. This time it took 40 days for me to get the system back and they only replaced the monitor and said everything else was fine. And conveniently the system had now passed the 90 warranty deadline. I had wanted the three year warranty, but while trying to buy the system the sales people had troubles getting the warranty added and at $400 extra I decided to hold off and hope the product was as good as Alienware said it was.
In conclusion, the video card still runs so hot my left hand continually sweats while typing. It is impossible to hear a DVD from across the room and the hard drives always hangs and only about 50% of the time does it recover without resetting the OS. And finally, after 100 days the keyboard is now shutting down on me, on the right side. Several keys now don't work and I've tried everything to get them working (new drivers, cleaning, etc.) Alienware refuses to help and hangs up on me every time I call. They say the only thing I can do is pay about $60 to send my system FedEx back to Alienware and $20 for a new keyboard and $50 in labor.
Alienware took me for $4600 don't let it happen to you.
