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waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,372
187
Is there any advantage to getting the Dell over the Alienware or vice versa?
They seem very similar. Other than the Dell Xps 15 looking a bit better.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Did you compare the specs? The Alienware is a gaming machine, and it includes a better GPU and I think the cooling is superior to the Dell. The case design is a bit more garish imo, then the understated dell xps.
 

ryanmillercg

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2014
100
136
Toronto, ON
I owned a Dell XPS 15 (2016 edition). I had to RMA it several times. Malfunctioning bluetooth, malfunctioning motherboard, and a swollen battery that wrecked the trackpad. Each of these were an RMA. Not just one faulty unit. Their QA is abysmal and I would never recommend one, with the exception of a used laptop where the owner has had it for a year+ and confirmed no issues. They are also a fingerprint magnet!

Alienware however I've heard good things about.

I'm personally sticking with only Mac laptops and PC desktops.
 
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SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
4,360
4,324
Highlands Ranch, CO
I owned a Dell XPS 15 (2016 edition). I had to RMA it several times. Malfunctioning bluetooth, malfunctioning motherboard, and a swollen battery that wrecked the trackpad. Each of these were an RMA. Not just one faulty unit. Their QA is abysmal and I would never recommend one, with the exception of a used laptop where the owner has had it for a year+ and confirmed no issues. They are also a fingerprint magnet!

Alienware however I've heard good things about.

I'm personally sticking with only Mac laptops and PC desktops.

That's definitely a bummer for sure. Though I could go through the litany of issues I have had so far with 5 2018 MacBook Pro's and argue that Apple isn't much better in terms of QA these days :)

That Asus Studio S may be my next move :)
 
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ryanmillercg

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2014
100
136
Toronto, ON
That's definitely a bummer for sure. Though I could go through the litany of issues I have had so far with 5 2018 MacBook Pro's and argue that Apple isn't much better in terms of QA these days :)

That Asus Studio S may be my next move :)

Yeah, good point. The new MacBooks aren't the most reliable generation. The right speaker of my MacBook 15" 2017 has been damaged for a few months now.

If I had to go with a PC laptop I'd go with the new Razer Blade. Give it a look if you haven't yet. Asus is also generally quite good!
 
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SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
4,360
4,324
Highlands Ranch, CO
Yeah, good point. The new MacBooks aren't the most reliable generation. The right speaker of my MacBook 15" 2017 has been damaged for a few months now.

If I had to go with a PC laptop I'd go with the new Razer Blade. Give it a look if you haven't yet. Asus is also generally quite good!

I am waiting to see some hands on reviews of that new Razer Blade, it’s definitely interesting. I know the previous model had some issues / annoyances that I hope are addressed with the new ones. If I purchased one it would probably be through Amazon or the local MS store so I had someone to work toward resolving any issues rather than dealing directly with Razer.
 

GoldfishRT

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2014
611
350
Somewhere
I’ll simply say I exchanged a total of 5 XPS 15s before giving up. They were just little things, each one had pretty darn severe issues straight away. The 6th unit was good but at that point I walked away. It’s a shame because on paper it might be my perfect laptop.

Even the worst of Razer or Apple seem worse than the issues I had buy your mileage will vary - Dell sells a lot of them. I’ve got terrible luck with electronics though.
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
4,360
4,324
Highlands Ranch, CO
I’ll simply say I exchanged a total of 5 XPS 15s before giving up. They were just little things, each one had pretty darn severe issues straight away. The 6th unit was good but at that point I walked away. It’s a shame because on paper it might be my perfect laptop.

Even the worst of Razer or Apple seem worse than the issues I had buy your mileage will vary - Dell sells a lot of them. I’ve got terrible luck with electronics though.

Your Dell XPS journey sounds much like the one I have had with the 2018 MBP so far. I am still looking for the solution. Apple doesn't seem to be it, Dell doesn't seem to be it. The search goes on :)
 

GoldfishRT

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2014
611
350
Somewhere
Your Dell XPS journey sounds much like the one I have had with the 2018 MBP so far. I am still looking for the solution. Apple doesn't seem to be it, Dell doesn't seem to be it. The search goes on :)

*Meant to type weren't small. iPhone autocorrect still isn't great clearly.

But yeah. They need to get a hold on their supply chain because yeeeeesh. Significant physical issues with them - on top of perhaps being the least stable of any Windows machine I've ever had. Like they can't even get standby working on the 9570. It's hibernate or nothing.

I'm getting annoyed just thinking about the amount of time I wasted on it.

And the saga continues of course. That Razer I was falling for? Currently on its way to Best Buy because it developed pink lines on the display. It was a nice week... I guess that's why it was open box.

Meanwhile, due to my positive experience with the 13" MBP and my *need* for more power I'm receiving a 2018 15" 2.6/512 this week.

At least it keeps my coworkers entertained. A new flavor every week. :p
 
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SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
4,360
4,324
Highlands Ranch, CO
*Meant to type weren't small. iPhone autocorrect still isn't great clearly.

But yeah. They need to get a hold on their supply chain because yeeeeesh. Significant physical issues with them - on top of perhaps being the least stable of any Windows machine I've ever had. Like they can't even get standby working on the 9570. It's hibernate or nothing.

I'm getting annoyed just thinking about the amount of time I wasted on it.

And the saga continues of course. That Razer I was falling for? Currently on its way to Best Buy because it developed pink lines on the display. It was a nice week... I guess that's why it was open box.

Meanwhile, due to my positive experience with the 13" MBP and my *need* for more power I'm receiving a 2018 15" 2.6/512 this week.

At least it keeps my coworkers entertained. A new flavor every week. :p

I read it as weren’t small anyway hahaha.

The issues I have had with the 15” MBP have been very frustrating and disappointing. Decided to give it one more chance with the MBP after trying a couple of PC’s thinking the longer holiday return period would provide a much more thorough trial period for evaluation. But here we are at the end of January and the keyboard is begging to act up.

Fool me twice shame on me fool me 5 times...
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Fool me twice shame on me fool me 5 times...
Don't beat yourself up, I did a similar thing this past summer. I had a very nice Razer that I was happy with but returned it, in the hope that the MBP would be a better machine, sadly, it wasn't.
 
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Thysanoptera

macrumors 6502a
Jun 12, 2018
910
873
Pittsburgh, PA
About the XPS, when I bought the 9550 on its first release it was pretty much unusable, crashing couple times an hour. I had to plank the heatplates, bend heatpipes, replace and add some thermal pads, repaste obviously, replace wifi card with Intel, seal fan and heatsink, scour the Asus and Lenovo websites looking for drivers (which Dell forgot to release) and test which ones work. But I have to say, ever since it has been the most reliable electronic device I've even owned, currently upgraded to 4TB SSD total and 32GB RAM and I'm back to using it instead of MBP. @maflynn - how did you sell your MBP?
 

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,372
187
Thanks everyonr for the input. I do believe the Alienware would be better for productivity as I wouldn't game much but will edit photos and videos. (Panasonic 4K).
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
I'm back to using it instead of MBP. @maflynn - how did you sell your MBP?
I went with swappa, Its possible that I could get more via Craigslist, or amazon/facbook's marketplaces. Tbh, I hadn't even thought of those until after the fact. I got 1,800 which swappa told me was smack in the middle of how much other MBPs were selling for. That made me feel a better :)

I also started a feeler thread here at MR, the early posts indicated a price range of 1,900 so I was in the neighborhood of that as well.
 

GoldfishRT

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2014
611
350
Somewhere
I went with swappa, Its possible that I could get more via Craigslist, or amazon/facbook's marketplaces. Tbh, I hadn't even thought of those until after the fact. I got 1,800 which swappa told me was smack in the middle of how much other MBPs were selling for. That made me feel a better :)

I also started a feeler thread here at MR, the early posts indicated a price range of 1,900 so I was in the neighborhood of that as well.

What config? Base?

If not I guess these machines aren’t the lose only $300 a year kind anymore.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
What did you end up replacing it with?
Lenovo X1 Extreme. With the discounts, I could have gotten a model that was equipped similarly to my old MBP for 2,000 so price wise it was nearly a wash. I opted to upgrade to the higher end for more storage. Overall, I'm extremely happy, its a solid laptop, gorgeous 4k screen, and the keyboard is so much better then what I was dealing with
 

Thysanoptera

macrumors 6502a
Jun 12, 2018
910
873
Pittsburgh, PA
I got 1,800 which swappa told me was smack in the middle of how much other MBPs were selling for.
Thanks, will follow in your footsteps. It is going to painful for me, because it is 'base' but upgraded with 32/2TB and have no issues with it other than I depend on Windows too much.

Until the end of this week there is coupon for Alienware m15, AFF15GTX applied at checkout for 15% off. Although I would wait until they release it with RTX.
 
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