I decided to go with Alienware after finding out their laptops have upgradable graphics modules, as I was looking for a laptop that I could keep current for at least a few years as I was tired of buying a completely new laptop every two years.
Anyhow, my problems with this company started right off the bat in March of when I purchased it. You have to pay IN ADVANCE, that's right, they won't even start building it until they have your cash in hand, and then it took over a month to ship.
I recieved my laptop in late April of '04, had it for about two weeks, and the video module blew on it. No problem, I'd just call and get another one. I called tech support, only to be treated like a complete idiot and forced to go through troubleshooting steps I had already done. Then, after a few sessions of this, they go from treating me like an idiot to treating me like a technician and telling me to take my laptop apart and check the connection on the memory modules, video module, even the hard drive, etc. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this since I *am* a technician, but I find the sudden the jump in the skill requirements to execute their troubleshooting steps to be disturbing since I didn't do anything to prompt it - I can only imagine someone who doesn't work with electronics every day trying to take apart their laptop (in my Alienware the SODIMM modules and hard drive are located under the keyboard) - it's a recipe for disaster.
After arguing with tech support for a week they finally sent me a new video module. I installed it, everything seemed all and well. But, ever since, and it's been almost a year now, my computer crashes out with a BSOD error, generally PFN_LIST_CORRUPT or THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER. Endless e-mails and calls to tech support have come up with nothing - the answer is always "Verify you have the latest drivers", "Uninstall any custom peripherals you're using", or even "Reinstall windows". I've done all these things and I still have this problem. E-mails for any further advice are ignored, and requests for depot service have been refused countless times. What I had hoped would be a quality and reliable laptop has instead ended up being the most crash-prone computer I have ever owned and something I can't wait to be rid of once it's lifetime is up.
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