Is an Alienware laptop good for college?

[Celegorm]

I am looking at getting a Dell soon. Mind elaborating. I have heard great things about them from my friends, but I see so many people on the internet say they are horrible. It concerns me. I was looking at getting the Studio XPS 16.

From what I see, they just seem to use lower-quality parts on their low end laptops. In their low-end stuff they use hitachi hard drives which fail all too often in laptops. Not to mention that when something does go bad their techs try to tell you it doesn't need a new part, just a windows reinstall...

The XPS line is better though.

 

[Tommy Boy]

You'll want something ultra-portable for college, 13 to 15 inches is great. Do some research and look at weight and battery life, there are a lot of great laptops out there that aren't very expensive. My buddy bought a real nice laptop at a decent price, I'll have to find out what the exact model is. Pretty sure it's a Toshiba.


OP...Don't buy a Dell!

 

[noingwhat]

From what I see, they just seem to use lower-quality parts on their low end laptops. In their low-end stuff they use hitachi hard drives which fail all too often in laptops. Not to mention that when something does go bad their techs try to tell you it doesn't need a new part, just a windows reinstall...

The XPS line is better though.

OK, great! Thanks for the clear up. Thats good to know.

 

[abowlofrice]

I am a college student and an avid gamer. I have with me an Acer 15.6 inch laptop. You don't need a small laptop for college. Depending on your major, you might never need to take it out of your dorm. If you are an engineering student, you'll need a pencil and notepad to write notes on, not a laptop. For those GE classes, taking your laptop out once in a while isn't that much trouble.

However, Alienware are very expensive for the specs they offer, but if you have the money for it, i'd say go for it. Not many people have it so it will definitely be eye candy.

 

[fulltimer]

Just getting my feet wet here, but for college I would buy a Macbook. If you are looking for a standard size notebook, Macbooks are less expensive than Alienware notebooks ($999 v $1199) and the software that comes with the Macbook is just about all you will need for college. For less expensive and relatively reliable laptops, Dells are OK.

On the Acer discussion, six months ago I bought an Acer netbook and it died within the first month. The retailer replaced it with another one and it also bit the dust, this time in 3 weeks. The full size notebooks might be more reliable.

 

[eslfish]

At the shop I work at Acer and Asus are the best. We sell more of them and see less of them in for service. Consumer dell laptops are horrible though...

Yes, consumer Dells suck flat period. I have one...nuff said! The Dell laptop is like erosion.

 

[Celegorm]

If you are an engineering student, you'll need a pencil and notepad to write notes on, not a laptop. For those GE classes, taking your laptop out once in a while isn't that much trouble.

As an engineering student I must disagree. The only class where I have yet to use my laptop is my math class. Not to mention Office's OneNote kicks butt at helping you take notes and recording the lectures.

 

[Calibound88]

I am a college student and an avid gamer. I have with me an Acer 15.6 inch laptop. You don't need a small laptop for college. Depending on your major, you might never need to take it out of your dorm. If you are an engineering student, you'll need a pencil and notepad to write notes on, not a laptop. For those GE classes, taking your laptop out once in a while isn't that much trouble.

However, Alienware are very expensive for the specs they offer, but if you have the money for it, i'd say go for it. Not many people have it so it will definitely be eye candy.

unless you are programing or using autodesk

 

[madanchi]

Ive heard by word of mouth that Acer have the worst customer service going and they always try to put off any repair even in warranty. Once soemone i knew had their repaired 3 times and each 1 month after, the same thing broke again due to poor repairs

 

[Mutant Corn]

Lenovo and Asus have the best laptops as far as quality goes, and they typically have the best performance for the price as well.