Think of buying Area-51

I have a brand new Area 51 desktop and I live in the USA so I can only tell you what they sell here. The CPU is liquid cooled. The rest of the MB and video card is cooled with fans and heat sinks.

Don't buy it because you will never receive and in case if you do it will take you 2-3 months after many delays. And be sure to face most horrible customer service experience in your life ever.

I got my Area 51 in 18 days.

Ordering it now  there is a very good chance you will get your system by the estimated ship date. I say this that now Dell is fully aware of its part inventory load they might have already taken corrective measures.

Here's 16 page of delay posts and frustration posted by customers. Hope you understand that in the end Dell don't care a bit about you, except of course your $$$.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19307727.aspx

I got my Area 51 in 18 days.

All of us weren't as lucky as you.

Ordering it now  there is a very good chance you will get your system by the estimated ship date. I say this that now Dell is fully aware of its part inventory load they might have already taken corrective measures.

Highly doubt it, It's Dell we're speaking of.. again "DELL"

I agree with Imele and congrats to AlienJimmy on the new toy :-) (POST SOME PICS or youtube videos I'd love to see those vents in action!!!). 

Alot of people are getting their systems now so it would seem that the initial issues are over and done with for the most part.

Not everyone posts on these forums typically only people encountering issues and hats off to the Dell guy Chris and the folks trying to help them.  From what I do see, the people who have waited and received their systems are very happy with them.

thanks for the info everyone, but from research i've done and people i've spoken to who have used dell, i''d be an idiot to spend this kind of money with them, too much money to gamble on getting a hassle free order. worst story i heard was dell being 6 weeks late on a garanteed order date, and trying to get the order cancelled so it didn't look bad on their stats, once the order did come through it was just a rebadged product, when their excuse was they were waiting for parts to complete the order (in the past this has been as simple as them not having a box big enough to put it in!) a better product was ordered from a competitors site, for 50% of the price, pre configured and on the desk within 12 hours! this is the quality of service they frequently gave to a company that spent close to, if not more than £1mil a year! if they treat business customers who spend that much money so poorly, why would i get anything better. because of all this, until i hear dell are offering a good service, and a fair price, with good tech and customer support they wont get a penny of my money, and strongly advise others not to touch them either.

What competitor? And I think comparing a "boutique-ish" computer order with a pre-configured business desktop is like comparing apples to space shuttles.

Evil.

Maybe I was lucky, I don't know. It sounds like the Aurora is experiencing more delays than the Area 51. It must be more popular due to it's smaller size. It also could be due to the part of the world you live in. I have had many Dell computers in the past and never had any problems, so making blanket statements about how bad a company is can be misleading.  For example, if someone buys a BrandX and it is a lemon, then all BrandX's are bad. If someone else buys the same BrandX and has no problem, then it is the greatest product in the world. It's all from one person's perspective so you have to take what you read with a grain of salt. What you read on forums like this are mostly the people who are not happy with the product or customer service. Go to any company forum and you will see the same sorts of posts. What you don't see are the people who ARE happy. Posting on a problem you are having gives the company needed feedback, but what's the point of endless sour grapes posting? So far I've never had to deal with Dell's customer service over the phone so I can't say if they are good or bad. In this day in age, the out sourcing of customer service overseas has made it a nightmare to deal with. That goes for all big companies now days.

I suspect that much of the price difference is due to VAT Andy?

As a Brit currently living in the USA I have to say that ordering a AW PC from the UK is indeed very overpriced. I can also tell you that VAT has little to nothing to do with it. The Aurora that I recently ordered cost me around an extra $120 in taxes (8% in Nevada) on top of my $1600 system price. If the system cost the same in the UK then VAT would add around $250 or $130 more than I payed in the USA. Obviously the $130 extra does matter but is not a lot when compared to the $700 price difference that the OP noted.

 It would be good if you could order from the USA and pay the extra shipping costs as they would still be far less than UK prices overall. Obviously that wont happen because Dell would then be eating into the massive profits they make out of UK customers than those the the USA just wouldnt put up with. (I certainly dont miss rip off Britain since I have moved out here)

Yes there are alternatives and I for one would definately NOT have ordered a AW from the UK. Self build is fine if you have the confidence as well as the time to investigate, order and build the system. Otherwise definately get onto custom site where someone will build you a machine for a hundred quid or so on top of the component prices.

I just wanted to echo a lot of what people have said here.

Yes Alienware is now fully integrated into the Dell process.  There are positives and negatives to this.

I will say as a long time Dell customer, you get what you pay for.  Try to buy the absolute cheapest desktop/laptop, that's what you're getting.  However, I have mostly experience with their more expensive, high-end XPS line and now just purchased my first Alienware.

I have a lot of friends that are current employees, and the 17% EPP discount (can be used on friends/family) can now be used on Alienware, where last Christmas that was not possible.  This is a major positive for me.  Also, since I have a long standing Dell Financial account, I was able to benefit from 18 month no interest promo and basically defer my payments on this system.  Also, I'm admittedly not as familiar with other gamer-grade builder's warranties, but I've had Dell fully replace a system years into it's life.  

However, I have absolutely had my share of negative customer experience issues on the phone, and to a lesser degree live chat.  But honestly, I have also had great interactions with some as well.  On the same token, I've had really bad calls with the cable company, electric, phone, etc.  If you don't like certain rep's accents, then use live chat, or the community forums here.  I didn't know how helpful these were, I would have posted instead of calling long ago.  I've had a couple of minor problems, but these forums have helped me fix them.

Also, people often say these systems are overpriced.  I just wanted to say that is not so true.  I did a lot of research before I purchased mine, which was roughly $2500 after the coupon, but before tax+shipping.  Here is a link to a parts list at NewEgg, I have my wishlist shared, but not sure if you need to login or what:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?Source=MSWD&WishListNumber=8641189

Adding each item up, my total before tax+shipping is $2452.92.  That is for an i7 920, 6GB DDR3, 2x300GB 10K WD VR, and an ATI 5970.

I picked the equivalent components you can choose with dell.com Area-51.  Not bad considering this doesn't account for the vent and lighting you get with the Alienware.  Sure it is with a 17% coupon, but that's what I am working with, so I'd definitely rather have the vent/lighting, Alienware brand, and Dell warranty support and have someone else do the work :)

Also, in regards to the delays, I ordered mine on 12/14/2009 at 10:28pm (-6 GMT) - estimated delivery 1/11/2010.  I received it on 12/28 (it shipped on 12/23, if I had paid for better shipping I would have had it before Christmas).

A friend ordered a very similar system on 10/28/2009 12:36 am (-6 GMT), - estimated delivery 12/03/2009, and received it on 11/20.

I'm not saying the complaints aren't justified, but as many said, maybe it is just the Aurora.  Also, like others say, I am definitely more inclined to post problems somewhere, but if I am satisfied I'm spending my free time playing instead of writing about positive experiences.  Also wanted to take the time to say if you ever have any issues, DELL-Chris M has been extremely helpful.

@"Evilping" the competitor was uk.insight.com, and i was just using it as an example of the poor service for a customer who spends a lot of money on a regular basis with them, and their failing to deliver a product that was "garanteed".

and i apreciate what vvaldez is saying, but if i could get the computer for the same price as you (without your 17% off) i'd be happy, even happier if i had good support and the same hardware option, but as a uk customer i can only order 1 hdd so 2x300gb 10krpm hdds isn't even an option for me, the cheapest, auror is £1099 ($1789) whereas for the states its £737 ($1199) and im never going to use a company that will charge me more because of where i live without a justified reason ( adn the vat/tax wouldnt effect it much)

thanks everyone but im going to go with"TheRealFireblade"'s advice :)

It would be good if you could order from the USA and pay the extra shipping costs as they would still be far less than UK prices overall.

If those were the only costs - maybe.

But you then have to pay HM C&E their cut, and I suspect import duties on a full PC system would be absolutely horrendous

They'd almost certainly negate any savings you might've made on the system itself?

And then there's the problem of having support transferred to Dell UK.

It should be as simple as completing the international transfer form.  But who knows if it would actually prove to be as simple/quick as it should be?

Dell haven't exactly been 'shining bright' in the support department of late

So I'm in agreement;  a custom build (if self-build isn't an option) is undoubtedly the way to go for a high-end desktop system