Alienware: the Quest for the Most Expensive Computer Possible

A couple days ago, while we were bumming around the internet, my friend challenged me to find a computer for sale for over ten thousand dollars. "Can't be done," I said. However, after a few google searches, I came up with alienware.com, the website of a company that is, well, known for expensive computers.

The first question that came to mind upon finding this page was, "who the hell would shell out that kind of money?" Computers are notorious for going out of date within a couple of years, and are available for around a thousand dollars. Why, then, pay so much?

Of course, as it turns out, Alienware's primary clientele seems to be made up of gamers. Rich ones, evidently. The company, a subsidiary of Dell, specializes in building incredibly elaborate customized systems, put together from highest quality components, and housed in space-age casings, which look nothing at all like traditional computer housings.

Are the computers really good enough to justify their price? According to the reviewers on epinions.com, yes. Gamers, one reviewer said, are very demanding when it comes to their computers, and frequently find themselves needing to upgrade more than once a year. However, this reviewer said that his two year old alienware was still chugging away.

Apparently, the entire alienware experience is quite wonderful, for those who can afford it. The process begins by piecing together your system online. While the ability to customize your computer is now common to many computer manufacturers, alienware was apparently one of the pioneers of this method, and still offer many more options than other companies. Rather than just being able to specify between the cheaper option and the better one, the customer can pick out exactly what variety of each part he wants, being guided in his choice by alienware's exceptionally helpful customer service.

The computer comes with extensive documentation, specific to your own unique system, useful directions as to how to put it together, software to tweak settings non gamers wouldn't even know existed, and a free tee shirt. Being optimized for gamers, the computer comes with its processor already overclocked to a safe speed, and other settings tweaked for optimum performance. Apparently, even after several years, these computers can still play demanding games.

Against the allegations of absurd markups, it turns out that alienware actually offers a reasonable deal on the systems it sells, rather than just charging for its (not very well known) image. The components of an alienware system (say, for example, as super high speed 300 GB hard disk-worth three times as much as a regular 300 GB hard disk) do justify its price, and, according to one reviewer, add up to only about $250 shy of the final price.

The only lingering question in my mind is why the people who buy these computers don't just assemble them themselves. It obviously takes something of a technological junky to be able to even appreciate the features of one of these machines, and once you have that level of expertise, it seems, why not just put the thing together yourself? At least personally, all the gamers I have known with systems of this caliber have assembled them themselves.