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A consolidation of ultra high end computer manufacturers might be the next major shakeup for the PC industry

Rahul Sood, VoodooPC President and occasional DailyTech writer, recently wrote a blog entry about his prediction for Dell to buy Alienware.  Alienware and Dell are both strong competitors of VoodooPC.  Further into the comments of his article, Rahul writes, "The XPS design team has Alienware directly in their crosshairs I think," and that "Dell can’t crack the 'cool' factor with the Dell brand."  Kevin Rollins, CEO of Dell Computers, disputes this fact claiming that Dell's 'XPS desktop lineup grew 20% during a period that was flat overall for desktop growth."

Earlier today, Alienware replied to Sood's blog in an article written by The Inquirer, stating:

Alienware can not and will not comment on any speculative stories such as the one that appeared on Rahul Sood’s blog yesterday. While we do believe that the story is ultimately a strong positive reinforcement of the Alienware brand and the company’s success, we will not comment on speculation or potential future events. As always, Alienware is committed to offering consumers and businesses with the best high-performance, innovative PC products on the market and we remain manically focused on that goal.

Whether or not the speculation proves true, ultimately the consumer benefits by having three major players (four if you include Falcon NW) in the high end market compete for research and scale on the ultra high end.  A consolidation of some of these companies will hurt OEM demand for insanely high end, bleeding edge R&D -- a move that ultimately hurts mainstream consumers as well. Afterall, would projects such as NVIDIA's Quad SLI even exist without competition between Voodoo, Dell and Alienware?

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XPS Laptop
By timmiser on 3/3/2006 6:57:44 PM , Rating: 2
Nobody can beat Dell's price for a high end gaming laptop. If only they supported the dual core Athlon, what bliss that would bring.




RE: XPS Laptop
By Brainonska511 on 3/3/2006 7:37:11 PM , Rating: 2
Why would you want that in a laptop. Dell's idea was to make a gaming laptop that you could actually get a somewhat useable amount of batterylife with.


RE: XPS Laptop
By somasaint on 3/3/2006 8:45:14 PM , Rating: 3
"why would you want that?..."

ANS: a mobileLAN rig that need only connect to power vs.
seperable components..

i would sooner complain about gas mileage after buying
a humvee [H1]...

but i digress

it is my OPINION that the greatest downfall of any dell
xps system is the lack of options concerning amd and other
configurations..

its comparable to the big three selling premodified/tuned
compact/economy "sports" cars..

a civic is a civic.. and a vette has the potential to win leMans..

if battery life WERE a concern in PERFORMANCE/GAMING;
all the users of the clevo chassis wouldnt have a
marketable product..


RE: XPS Laptop
By bamacre on 3/3/2006 8:54:50 PM , Rating: 2
Blah! Bad comparison. The video card is WAY more important than the cpu when it comes to gaming.


RE: XPS Laptop
By timmiser on 3/6/2006 2:05:19 PM , Rating: 2
All depends on what games you play. There are many games that are CPU limited. Not everyone plays just FPS's.


RE: XPS Laptop
By Brainonska511 on 3/3/2006 9:08:33 PM , Rating: 2
And here in reality, the Pentium M found within the confines of the XPS M170 provides ample CPU power to handle the most demanding of today's games. An AMD CPU may get you a few more FPS, but nothing significant to warrant the extra weight or added heat.

And for the Dell not using AMD, big freakin' deal. Get over it. If you don't like it, buy from another company and stop b*tching about Dell.


RE: XPS Laptop
By Xenoterranos on 3/4/2006 3:59:46 AM , Rating: 2
That's pretty much everyone's point. If you're going to buy a "Gaming Laptop" It's going to be a DTR formfactor for the video card and cooling alone. Since you're already stuck with a DTR formfactor, might as well opt for the high-end AMD CPU. About the same price, slightly better performance, a little less battery life (like that even matters with a DTR). So no Dell option there. And if you're gonna get a Pentium-M ina DTR, you really don't know what you want to begin with (or you like throwing money away buying a cpu that's gonna net you an extra 30min on a 12lb laptop)


RE: XPS Laptop
By Brainonska511 on 3/4/2006 11:35:36 AM , Rating: 2
But it isn't 12 pounds either. So you don't know what you are really talking about. The XPS M170 weighs in at only 8.6lbs. Probably 10 with the PSU brick. Anyway, what's wrong with having a gaming laptop that runs cooler than some kind of DTR with a Athlon in it? Just b/c you are searching for something to be a DTR, doesn't mean that you can get something that can run as cool as it can be designed to run and being as light as it could be.


I can't believe people pay those prices...
By AppaYipYip on 3/3/2006 7:37:01 PM , Rating: 2
for systems from Vooodo, Dell, Alienware, etc. I laugh when I hear of people paying those rediculous prices, and in a way I feel pity for them. Voodoo's prices are the most outrageous of the bunch! I can build a better system for less.




RE: I can't believe people pay those prices...
By GnomeCop on 3/3/2006 7:47:23 PM , Rating: 2
Thats just it, YOU have to BUILD a system for less, or go with one of the "cheaper" places and hope they are offering the components you want.

I always built my systems when I was in college and high school. Now, out of college, I have MUCH more money and MUCH less time to mess around with ordering and building. If I were going to buy something pre built, id want it to look bad ass.
I got 2 Voodoos now and I dont even have to eat ramen for a month to make up for it. Its worth it for me.


RE: I can't believe people pay those prices...
By mxzrider2 on 3/3/2006 9:20:06 PM , Rating: 2
if you have time to play u have time to biuld. a simply biuld can take less than 2 hours. even with the quality of voodoo systems. the only thing i would even think bout buying from a builder company would be a laptop. but now that there are a bunch more barebone laptops with configs that i want i am going to go that route. besides if you dont have time to biuld , thus not having time to play, why work so much to make money. i have enough time to play and biuld, in college and make 200k a year all at the same time, just you have to learn not to sleep much


By masher2 (blog) on 3/3/2006 9:55:33 PM , Rating: 3
> "if you have time to play u have time to biuld"...

If you have time to play, you have time to go clean a few dozen public toilets also. That doesn't mean you want to do it, however, now does it?



By Jkm3141 on 3/4/2006 6:09:16 PM , Rating: 2
Mabye people enjoy building PC's. I for one build my own PC's for three reasons. One, Price. To me the price is still better than buying a prebuilt one. (think cost of assembly???, might make up for the assembler's access to cheaper parts). Two, Knowing the hardware inside and out. You can never know your computer as well as when you build, as far as I can tell. It has helped me out of hardware problems many times. and Three, Fun. I simply love building PC's and playing around with hardware. If I had to pay the same price to build a PC as to buy one prebuilt, I would always choose to build it because I love building PC's, and I get to choose each part, more than the major companys let you choose, such as brand of hard drive, ram, which motherboard and so on instead of just the CPU, Video card and so on.


By Xenoterranos on 3/4/2006 4:00:37 AM , Rating: 2
200K what exactly? Yen?


By abhaxus on 3/4/2006 8:43:02 AM , Rating: 2
a friend of mine just got a dell XPS as a graduation present b/c his computer died. heading to a graphic design grad school.

i cried tears of sadness for him when he told me the price tag on it. of course he has a 2405w so maybe i don't feel so bad for him. at least it had a pentium d. i've tried not to tell him that my PC cost 1/4 the price and is still faster D:


Uh uh...
By Phantronius on 3/3/2006 6:32:25 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, i'll just stick with building my own machines and not get charged up the ass....mkay?




RE: Uh uh...
By bamacre on 3/3/2006 8:49:13 PM , Rating: 2
While there are certainly advantages in building your own PC, price is no longr one of them. If one knows what he's doing, Dell is certainly cheaper than the cost of building.


RE: Uh uh...
By DigitalFreak on 3/3/2006 8:55:25 PM , Rating: 3
Cheaper? I think not. Maybe for their low end 1xx series, but definately not the XPS stuff.


RE: Uh uh...
By bamacre on 3/3/2006 9:00:36 PM , Rating: 2
Like I said, "if one knows what he's doing."


RE: Uh uh...
By pcmatt1024 on 3/4/2006 12:57:48 PM , Rating: 2
like waiting for dell to dump supply through late night outlet store sales?


RE: Uh uh...
By Jedi2155 on 3/4/2006 3:36:36 PM , Rating: 2
Hooah soldier!

Like times when you get XPS's for $1000 off a $1500 XPS!


Errr...
By masher2 (blog) on 3/3/2006 6:23:42 PM , Rating: 3
> "A consolidation of some of these companies will hurt OEM demand for insanely high end, bleeding edge R&D"

Lol, what "R&D" is Alienware doing? They're simply a component assembler.




RE: Errr...
By The Cheeba on 3/3/2006 6:24:54 PM , Rating: 2
RE: Errr...
By masher2 (blog) on 3/3/2006 6:39:57 PM , Rating: 3
I'm not sure if simply mounting 16 hard drives in a case counts as 'research and development'. :p


RE: Errr...
By Knish on 3/3/2006 6:41:13 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I'm not sure if simply mounting 16 hard drives in a case counts as 'research and development'. :p

Amen. Same with cramming 4 7800GTXs into an XPS too.


RE: Errr...
By Brainonska511 on 3/3/2006 7:36:27 PM , Rating: 2
Not really 4 individual 7800GTXs, only 2 dual GPU 7800GTXs.


Falcon NW!
By blckgrffn on 3/4/2006 7:05:56 PM , Rating: 2
I *heart* Falcon NW. They are the only people I have ever bought tower from and they treated me right. Every PC I now build is an ispiration from the thorough & thoughtful design of that Talon tower. Tech support is awesome, and everything about the experience is right on the money, right down the packaging.

Bottom line is if you have never purchased a highend PC from Falcon, Voodoo, or Alienware, you can't really appreciate the awesomeness of having a highly tweaked PC that has warranty and tech support that is above worrying about.

Nat




RE: Falcon NW!
By joex444 on 3/4/2006 7:36:47 PM , Rating: 2
I don't have to buy a PC from any of those high builders to appreciate that awesomeness. You see, when I build a PC, the motherboard is high-end and the whole computer is highly tweakable. Indeed, it is highly tweaked. The warranty? I take comfort in the warranty provided on each component and the fact that if something fails I probably don't want a replacement and/or it's a chance to upgrade. Why replace a failed 4x DVD burner with a 4x? Get a 16x, see how it works.


RE: Falcon NW!
By timmiser on 3/6/2006 2:22:44 PM , Rating: 2
Falcon NW is a few notches above even Alienware and VoodooPC. Kind of like the Lamborghini of computers!


By DallasTexas on 3/3/2006 6:44:13 PM , Rating: 2
Clearly Voodoo has a wonderful line up that really competes with the other goofy box builder - alienware. I think these are great niche markets where ;lime green and fans with colors appeal to the teenager.

In the long term, these boxes will die off when teenagers figure out a can of spray paint and perhaps some styrofoam can create the Ooooh Ahhhhh factor.





By rudy on 3/3/2006 8:06:35 PM , Rating: 1
not really lots of teenagers who grow up and get jobs realize they dont have the time but do have the money and will continue to buy, even many people here who build PCs themself will end up in that situation.

There is always a market for high end products finished for you.


By RallyMaster on 3/3/2006 8:18:13 PM , Rating: 2
Is it going to be their way of getting AMD into their lineup?




A shame
By Griswold on 3/4/2006 10:28:12 AM , Rating: 2
Its a shame that there is even a market for something trivial as "cool" computers. Then again, its good for the people making money with the stupidity of others. Go capitalism!




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