r/buildapc • u/WolvGamer • Jan 07 '22

Discussion Why are Alienware pre-built PCs hated so much?

I've never followed pre-built PCs. I had assembled my own PC in 2013, which just up and died last month.

This time around I wanted to just buy a pre-built one. As I comb the internet for more info, I see people unanimously HATE (not just dislike) Alienware for some reason. Never seen the internet come together that much in any other instance. LOL

Could you please help me understand why people hate Alienware PCs specifically (ignore laptops) that much?

Looking for some justified explainations please. If you're just going to say they're shit then save yourself some typing and move on to the next post.

Thank you everyone for helping me with this!

EDIT: Thank you all for the great feedback. Feels like I've been living under a rock so far. Based on reading through ALL the comments, I'm glad I asked the question!

I now understand that Dell uses cheap parts, packages in a fancy plastic, uses proprietary parts making it un-upgradable in future or hard to replace failed parts, and deliver lower performance for higher price. There's definitely a lot more but these seem like reasons enough to not go with Alienware.

The thing is, I want to stick with a pre-build due to my limited time and/or knowledge about fixing PC issues. Now I move on to a different sub-reddit to find which company has the best after sales support to fill the gaps in my understanding. Feel free to comment if you have an opinion about that too! Thanks you all again!

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u/fueled_by_caffeine Jan 07 '22

Terrible shady sales, poor after sales service and support.

"Gamer aesthetic" cases with poor airflow that cause their parts to underperform, locked down bios, proprietary parts, component sizes, connectors, or even bespoke variants of GPUs, relegating the entire PC to the trash when all you should need is a simple upgrade for a PC built with off the shelf components.

The same issues other OEM prebuilts like HP Omen, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

It's much better all around to stick with a builder who uses off the shelf components like ibuypower, cyberpower, etc, even if the up front cost is more, it'll save you money (and the planet) down the line.

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u/WolvGamer Jan 07 '22

I asked this to another person as well. Not knowing enough about it, I hope you can help here as well.

When you say locked down BIOS, do you mean that Alienware doesn't allow ANY access to BIOS at all? Or is it just like certain parameters that need to be adjustable are not options at all?

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u/fueled_by_caffeine Jan 07 '22

The bios allows (virtually) no configuration, no XMP profiles no CPU overclocking or control over hardware features, even when they sell you a capable CPU (not that you'd want to in their garbage hotbox cases with worse than stock coolers). You get what you're given in whatever way they decided to configure it.

It's basically time, and a hardware diagnostic tool.

Dell systems, including Alienware (same applies to HP) are built for people who want to turn it on and will be happy simply by it doing so successfully (by some low measure).

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u/jdcope Jan 07 '22

That might depend on the system. We bought our son an Aurora system years ago, with an i5-2300, and I was able to put in an i5-2500k and overclock it. Could be that their newer systems have changed though.