welcome to the party, pal

First thing is to decide what your need is, usually every day needs.   Some get an economy car, some a van, a pickup truck.  I see a lot of pickup trucks where folks mostly never use the back.  They bought a Pickup because, some day they thought they would need to move -something.  

Sometimes I think I should have bought a basic laptop from WalMart, and replace it every year.   I now have had an Alienware 15 R2 for three years.  I have carried it around nearly every day.  I mostly have never bumped it.   At least not enough of a bump to leave damage marks on it. 

This thing is extremely reliable, sturdy and just keeps on going.  Well, I am about to send it in to have the LCD replaced, but it has not failed.   Just LCD is not up to the brand new specs.  

Be of good cheer, likely your personal files are likely still on the hard drive, and you will get those back.  This might become another story of, "Oh gosh, I knew I should back up my files.  I just have been putting it off, and did not want to spend the buckitos to buy an external hard drive.   I have been busy."     

Alienware support has been quite good to me.   They are competent.  Some folks have problems because they are not in the USA, and have difficulty with a local support group, or shipping.  Laws regarding shipping, delays and such.  Hard to be without a computer.  

That is the bottom line, it is hard to be without a computer.  There is also some kind of law that they fail just when you really really have something you need the computer for. 

If the system is still under warranty send me a private message with the Service Tag and I will be more than glad to assist you. Otherwise you can always contact our out of warranty department at 866 287 6727 opt#4 for more options.