Review: Buying an Alienware Area-51m 7700 Mobile Computer

I could not get a tracking number for days. I’m not sure why, but nobody was able to get the tracking number for the shipment. However, unlike with the videocard, it appears the system was shipped when they said it did, and I got the system from FedEx on February 9, 2006, so just within 7 days which is really fast since I am an international customer. By the time I had already gotten the system, Alienware was still not able to find the tracking number (LOL).

The system was packed really well, but there were some issues. First of all, the screen of the laptop had lots of fingerprints and dust all over it. A rather thick layer of dust. This was certainly not the way I sent it in to Alienware. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s fingerprints and dust on my screen. The rest of the laptop seemed to be clean, so it was just the screen. I wonder why the engineer working in it didn’t take the time to wipe it after he worked on it.

Then I discovered that one of the screws of the LCD panel was not tightened well, and the rubber that is used to cover it was sticking out of its hole. This was the second thing I noticed as soon as I opened the LCD panel. How could the engineer leave it just like that? It is just so obvious, you simply have to notice it. I think this is just evidence how fast the engineer worked on the system. On top of that, the rubber covers for the screws of the LCD panel were not placed correctly either. The rubber covers that go on the top of the screen have a rounded surface that stick a little out of the hole once you put them in. The ones on the bottom are flat. But the way I got the system delivered, some of the rubber covers that should be on the top of the panel were on the bottom and vice versa. This is not something I would expect from Alienware, since they always mention how carefully they build each system. I would have expected more quality from their work.

Apart from those things, the system seemed to work well. I’ve been using it again for almost 2 months now, and haven’t had any issues with it so far. Overall I have to say that I am satisfied with Alienware’s support. One of the things that I really liked was the speed at which I could send the system back to them, and get it back from them. It took much longer since I am an international customer, but it was still faster than I would have expected. I also liked the personal support I got from Alienware representatives who were put on my case, and who I could talk to about any questions that I had. Hopefully my experiences here can help you decide if your next computer system is going to be an Alienware system.