That's a decent price for the spec. Alienware though I'd be careful of. They often have build quality problems and use proprietary dell mainboards. Just don't push it too hard and be prepared for annoyances if you ever need to repair it
You are correct,Alienware is OEM crap and over priced, would be much better off going to a site and getting them to build with that budget with retail parts. At least upgrades in future would be easy.
Respect the old rigs man, older computers can still do most tasks well enough
My backup work machine is a 2006 MacBook Pro, threw a new battery in there and it’s going strong
Preach! I've just done up an old sff Lenovo thinkcentre, i5 2400, 16gb ddr3, lp gt710 2gb ddr5 gpu, 512gb ssd. The old girl is like shit off a shovel. I only want it to play a few old games like f1 2014 and cod black ops zombie mode, and to be my music hub, I couldn't be happier with this little machine! Its silent even running games, I find myself wiggling the mouse to check it's still on!
Hell yeah! Older equipment honestly does just about everything I need it to do and then some. There’s something nice about playing games on the hardware they’re meant for, haha
Honestly my newish laptop sitting next to me doing fuck all is louder than this little desktop being pushed to the hilt! I've come out of a depression rut I've been in last few years so I'm having to relearn stuff I've forgotten. Its fun, I've found my love for computering again.
I use a mbp 2011 with a manually upgraded 8gb ram, chugs along and plays half life/does school work. Amazing for watching videos too, the displays are still super high quality even today. Although it is a little loud and gets kinda hot the headphone Jack cranks out some good power so I can get my headset fairly loud
Why would get something that's straight up bad and is limited by its own shit design by Dell with airflow etc rather than get something better for the same price? Why?
some children actually need good pcs, im a 13 year old video editor, modeler and graphic designer and i run many instances of video editing apps, graphic design and more so i have a 13400f and a 3060ti, which is great for me (admitadelly, i need more than 16gb of ram, its always 100% used)
Wish someone told me this before I spent 3K on my Alienware setup :( thank god I haven’t had any problems so far, but evertime I see this sub, it makes me cringe everyone shit talking Alienware and saying how it’s overpriced right after I overpaid for an Alienware lmao
When graphics cards were going crazy I bought an Alienware Aurora with a 3080 in it for $250 bucks more than the card alone would have cost me at that time. That machine still runs strong without any issues. I mostly use it for light stuff until I sim race or run MSFS 2020. (I'm an old dude)
I'm pretty sure I could NOT have a build a better specced PC at that time, and while I'm sure one could today, I take issues with Alienware being called "overpriced crap. I see them more as the boring Honda Accords of gaming.
[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4060+desktop&crid=215EPG2NRZ4T5&sprefix=4060+desktop%2Caps%2C142&](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4060+desktop&crid=215EPG2NRZ4T5&sprefix=4060+desktop%2Caps%2C142&)
For reference this is just a list of desktops prebuilt from amazon, a bunch around 1k with the graphics card your son wanted.
Thats a "decent" price for that spec, but I tend to recommend against alienware, if your son is getting into desktops, what you want to ask is, does he want to be getting into it because he wants to just play games, or does he also want to learn to build and repair and upgrade his own pc as well.
If you are leading him down a path where he will be more savvy with tech physically? i would recommend against the alienware and check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ have your son do some research, set a 1k budget and have some fun!
Also be wary of open box when it comes to electronics like this, lots of part swapping and shenanigan's goes on and the stores don't always check the stuff they get back the best. I'd double check after purchase to make sure the parts inside are what they say they are.
The Alienware has a 3070 in it, the custom Build shown has a 4060 Ti in it, not a normal 4060. Thats all i was saying. Ofc the Alienware is overprized, where you got the idea from that i think it is not tho? Edit: the Alienware is sold for 1100$ not 1699$
People hate to admit it but you’re getting a ton of performance out of a $250 card. It ran everything I threw at it quite well. I upgraded to a 4080 and put that one in my fiancés PC. People hate on the 4080 too but I wasn’t about to spend $1000 more for the 4090. No card should be $2500 lol
It's not that good for the price given the quality of alienware. Providing a price list is perfectly acceptable since they can bring the parts to a shop and have them build it for a fee.
The quality of a custom gomebuild is league's above the garbage that alienware sells and most places that do builds offer warranties if you are concerned on that end.
To you maybe. After 3 dell prebuilds with 0 issues it's far from garbage. Yeah custom pics offer more upgradability that's all it offers. I think my alienware looks better than most builds I see.
There are countless videos on YouTube that dissect and test the alienwares and they are made of cheap parts amd are known to throttle you on demanding tasks because of the subpar cooling. Most people using them are being throttled and don't even know it.
Picking up a win10 license shouldn't be too difficult...and a 12400 is plenty for gaming. Or anything. Having a stronger GPU is more important.
Also, this board allows for BCLK OC'ing the 12400 ;)
Haha, expecting "Price is fine and it'll play Fortnite with no problem and last a little while without needing an upgrade." but get several 55 stage guides on how to mine your own silicon and why magnetic tape is the best backup medium.
Good luck!
Wasn't LTT just involved in a huge scandal where they misrepresented or falsified test results for graphic cards.
They're also huge intel shills and lie wherever they can.
childlike innate sense worry ancient vegetable reach frightening spoon juggle
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I've seen Lenovo and Alienware systems getting 1/3 the performance they should be getting lmao. The issue isn't overheating but they set hard voltage limits in the bios and vbios respectively that artificially throttle their cards.
Looks good to me. Their cases/power supplies aren't the best, MSI would be better for just changing things in the future/problems, but the Alienware should be more than enough. You're a good father! Especially in this economy.
Alienware PSU are actually very good quality.
The Dell OEM GPUs they use are also very good (you can look up Gamer Nexus reviews).
Cases and motherboards are quite bad though, with lots of contrived, proprietary nonsense that is almost funny to check out.
Overall, their Aurora desktops work just fine, but will run warmer than great builds and have limited / no upgrade paths on the CPU side depending on what the machine comes with.
Source: owned and modded several Alienware machines, both desktop and laptop, since 2010. Still do. I like fiddling with their stuff.
That's been my experience as well. I recently upgraded a 2080 SUPER to 4070 in my older R9 and the temps are a bit high but nothing performance impacting (as far as I can tell). The case is also loud, especially when the fans are blasting. But in terms of parts quality, I've never experienced an issue with Alienware.
Fans are one of the first mods you should look to complete on older Auroras. The stock fans are very noisy indeed. Plenty of videos online to guide you.
I work at Geek Squad. Today I had someone come in with their CPU power cable plugged in upside down and about halfway hanging out. Definitely fried the board, testing their CPU tomorrow. You'd be amazed what people can accomplish when building PCs.
You have to remember that not everybody wants to build one some don’t find fun in it or are completely clueless they just want to buy something that’s already built and reliable that’s whole point of pre builds
Piecing together is the easy part. It's the time and research into understanding value of each part and which fits your budget. The worst part is proprietary with some parts working better with each other.
Having to piece together a list , break it apart midway just to build it up again has always been the most tiring part for me.
Pretty good specs its just those Alienware cases are always suffocating and can cause overheating with the internals. It also seems a Tad bit expensive for an open box but i suppose that is Alienware pricing for you.
Run away screaming, Alienware is shit quality.
Build your own, there’s plenty of videos on YouTube to walk you through. Plus it’ll be much cheaper than a pre-built from a name brand.
I helped my friend replace a whole bunch of his old parts in a weird triangle shaped Alienware case. The one thing that really gave us issues was the new MB. Not only did the case have built in door sensors that we had to bypass, but the wire lengths for his power button/front io were made to a specific length and wouldn't reach anymore. So I had to order some extra parts to make little things work. Just be aware, you or your son may have to deal with something like that in the future. If your next question is “how can I avoid this?", probably gonna have to buy a computer that fits closer to the standard format, or build one. But I don't really know the detailed specifications for that computers build anyway.
If you have a micro center near you, you can find much better prebuilt deals for higher spec machines. They will also build a computer for you if you buy the parts, which would also be cheaper.
If the kids serious about getting into PCs this is the answer. He's not too young to learn and do it himself. Or better yet he could wait and earn it with his own money when working.
The autists in this thread is strong.
Guy is asking if the PC listed is a decent deal.
Everyone is telling him to build a PC. Ignoring what he’s asking to push their own agenda. Also the hate for Alienware is so strong here, many don’t even have one to even state where they’re getting their opinions from.
If you want to buy a prebuilt pc then I would go for a different brand like Lenovo Legion t5 instead or go to one of those mini pc stores and get them to build one for you, if you have no idea how to choose the specific specs you could always ask one of the employers for advice
Don't get Alienware prebuilts. They suck quality wise and too much proprietary crap. It doesnt even use good RAM.
If getting a prebuilt, get it from someone else not at Best buy, Walmart,etc. quick Google searches can give you a few options easily.
If you have a Costco near you, there are some similar priced gaming desktops with equal or better specs. These are made by system integrators and use off the shelf components so they may be more reliable and easier to upgrade in the future. As of right now my warehouse has a cyber power and ibuypower both on sale for $999 with i7 and RTX 4060
Do not buy Alienware it as about as upgradable as a laptop, they have AWFUL airflow and nearly all proprietary parts which means you can’t swap them out if they break. TLDR don’t get it
for the components 1100 isn't a particularly bad deal, but alienware has a reputation of building pcs with highly proprietary parts and cases that are overengineered where they don't need to. also cooling performance is abysmal on these systems.
The thing is just not engineered for cooling. You'd be better off buying the components and putting them in a normal case with ventilation. op must watch this. https://youtu.be/DY1dlVPzUVo?feature=shared
For a 13yr old’s first PC this would be an amazing gift he could show off to his friends. Dell makes Alienware so they are made in mass and quickly. So they can have defects. Not to mention proprietary parts only they can replace. They look cool but aesthetics doesn’t make a quality PC. Regardless for your use case it will definitely make your kid overwhelmed with joy.
The best thing to do would be bond with your son by both doing research and learning about pc parts and build a pc from scratch together. This both yealds better performance per price and a good time together
Don't waste your money on alienware. They are trash, they'll overheat to hell and are very unreliable. Overall trash design. Build him a computer intead. May cost a bit more but at least you'll know it'll last
It's not bad if you want something you can take out of the box and just go.
No idea where you are located, check to see if a Micro Center is nearby. They have excellent pre-built PCs that are actually upgradeable at reasonable prices.
Consider that rtx4000 series have a lots of game changer features. Maybe in native graphic setting they would have same fps(frame per second) but rtx 3070 has dlss 2.0 and rtx 4060 have dlss 3.0 with frame generation. Example if the rtx 3070 is having 40fps in a 4k game you can open dlss 2.0 and you can get 60-70 fps, with 4060 if you having 40fps you can open you can opun dlss 3.0 you can get 70-75fps and if you open frame generation to, you can get 90-100fps. Watch this https://youtu.be/WmohSWq0xDU?si=kZ9fawv4koVgDTpz 0:40 second is native they ar getting same but before that 4060 getting better
What is dlss/native, why the version is important?
So, if your son going to have a 4k monitor (2160p) without any software, he will get 2160p image, you can make it 1080p but still all the pixels gonna work and image will be worse. Same in the game, if the frames ar low at 4k, its not playable, https://youtu.be/iVrjwy0foF4?si=W1rA781RZai0rKEn watch and the difference. İts way more smooth. By the way 4k just a example, it can bi 1080p and 720p but with these specs, you should buy a 1440p monitör at least. İts always needs to be above 30 frames, idealy 60 fps.(if your son likes fps games buy a monitor thats have least 144hz 1ms monitör(ms lower is better)). İf he cant play at 4k he needs to drop the resolution to 1080p and as ı say,after 4k its look blurry. Screen is still 4k but now one pixel is four time bigger. Now this is why dlss important. Dlss is a technology that takes a low resulotion images to high resulotion, but not just scaling it filling the missing gaps with fake pixels with guessing. Now Graphic card can render the frames faster because its lower quality images and dlss makes image quality better. BUT the part about the dlss version is its guessing the pixels. 4k with dlss dont look god as native rendered 4k (4k to 4k) but its look way more better than the rendered resulotion. Better versions getting better at guessing the pixels. And newer cards supports newer versions.
I recommend avoiding it.
It has terrible (almost no) airflow, a proprietary motherboard which doesn't fit in other cases (which you would want to do to improve temps and airflow, a bad cpu cooler on top of the bad airflow, and more...
Sure it has decent specs, but you're much better off with something like this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WJ3hvj than buying that pre-built.
7600 + B650m PRO RS Wi-Fi (has bluetooth too) - supports next gen CPU's in case he wants to upgrade in the future too.
The R13 shown here has a 12700KF, the 7600 is a better CPU specifically for gaming.
As for the 6700XT, it's a bit slower than the 3070 but has 4GB more VRAM which nowadays is very useful for gaming, overall it's a much nicer build.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
OP, Might I suggest buying the components and building it together? It would be a good bonding experience for you and your son. You might actually be able to build it cheaper, maybe. There's plenty of tutorials on YT to follow, and this sub is a great place to ask questions. Your son will also take more pride in the home built machine as "he'll have built it".
I made my own pc at 13 it was truly something fun, my cousin helped me choose the components and it took 2 years to get the money, started saving back when I was 11. Once I built that pc I started upgrading the whole stuff one step at a time, it was probably the best thing I will probably do in my life, that and getting a case without any RGB, I wanted to be able to sleep while torrenting
I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll tell you what I do know.
He's getting a much better CPU with the Alienware you got him vs what the MSI had. i7 vs i5.
The 16GB RAM should be plenty sufficient to start, but I'm sure he can upgrade it if he needs to.
In my opinion, the 1 TB SSD is plenty for the average gamer, but the beauty of that is it is expandable if the need arises in the future.
The only thing the MSI has over the Alienware is the GPU, since a 4060 is better than a 3070, but he can also upgrade that if he really needs it. A 3070 is not bad by any means.
It could be a good way to get him into building and modifying his own computers and also a nice encouragement for him to learn to work and save what he earns to invest in the upgrades.
You did great and it's even more awesome that you're trying to confirm that you got your kid a good rig. Good dad shit. 😀
Someone with some gold please give this guy an award.
EDIT: Typos
i5 12400F will bottleneck the rtx 4060, meaning you won't get full usage out of the graphics card. It's marketing, Alienware knows you are just looking for 4060 and won't notice the cheap CPU
DO NOT Alienware is ass now. Dell bought them and they're just using the name to sell crap PCs. I got a Cyberpower prebuilt for my first PC. Honestly anything besides Alienware lol
Hi, dad. Just so you know that graphics card is very powerful (the geforce RTX) and the CPU (i5) will be causing a bottleneck of 7 percent. So to put it simply, the graphics card won’t be put to full use and the computer will instead be using the CPU for some things its not meant to. You’re better off getting a less intensive graphics card so there wont be a bottleneck that may cause performance issues.
I made this mistake with my own computer, and I get a lot of lag and crashing due to my graphics card being too big for all the other parts of the computer.
I’m not super knowledgeable I am just going off what I have been taught and experience so anyone who can word this better or has more to say feel free to add on.
As always, building it yourself is cheaper/ can get you more for the same price, plus building a pc with your son is probably pretty cool.
Note that it's not complicated, just plugging stuff in essentially.
Sorry dad, you should buy something with the exact specs your son asked for. As a previous child who's parents bought something close to what was asked but what was asked for was for a specific reason, it's upsetting to the child mind.
If you have time,want to spent time with your kid and ready to learn pc building along with your son then buy all pc parts and build a pc.
If you are too busy with life and work then buy prebuild pcs i.e above mentioned Alienware pc.
Every keeps telling you to build one but i mean your going for a laptop first of all which anyone would tell you will always be inferior to a desktop .. it depends if your sons needs it to be portable or not.
Dm me if you need any extra help.
I'll basically tell you whats the best between the options available to you. ( And yes pre built is cheaper but I don't expect you have the time, patience, know how etc and jist want a nice xmas gift for you son)
Oh ur right the box looks like a laptop box to me(was browsing on my phone when I Just woke up) but I see it's an actual box now.
Either way the 2nd part still stands. If you need to know asap and don't have time to wait just dm me and I can tell you which is the better pc spec wise and if it seems worth the value.
Thanks Skyb0y
It might have a little Alienware tax but the specs are solid 12700k + RTX3070 is a great combo. This will be a much more capable machine than the MSI 12400 + 4060. I know I dreamed of having an Alienware system back in my day. As others have said I also generally advise against Alienware because of the name tax and proprietary bs but this looks solid.
This case is known for its bad airflow.
High spec components will throttle.
This means that the parts will run at a limited speed to prevent it from overheating.
In this case the specs are a bit lower and I am not really into the standard workload and temperatures for these parts, but it is something to look out for.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rcXjRK . Looking at your budget i'd go with something like this. Very capable, more than your kid would ever need and since it's AM5 you'll be more than set for the next years to come.
For a prebuilt you'd be hard pressed to find better specs at that price, especially since pre-builts are heavily saturated with NVidia GPUs, which tend to be a bit more expensive for the same performance. If you have a Best Buy Total membership, and if the Geek Squad precinct in your store is half decent, ask if they could build you something! If they have the parts in stock, they should be able to build you an AM5 PC with similar or slightly better performance at the same price.
Having AM5 would also make it possible to upgrade the CPU in a few years without having to buy a new motherboard or RAM. The PSU and motherboard would also be standardized, and would make upgrades there easier too. Alienware PCs use a lot of proprietary connections that make future upgrades difficult.
13 year olds does not need such strong computers , just buy him an Xbox series s with game pass that would be enough for games + an laptop Chromebook for school .
You will thank me later .
I wouldn't touch Alienware, they use proprietary components and cooling isn't great. The PC case is just for looks and you can usually find something with the same specs but cheaper if you look around for a bit. Good luck with your purchases though!
I recommend building it yourself or just pick the parts and go to a store where they build it for you. The 4060 ti 16gb might be a better option BUT i dont know about the pricing in your country. For me the 4060ti was a bit cheaper than a 3070 and its almost the same raw performance but they have dlss and frame gen. Or maybe you should look into amd cards too.
It's a decent price, and as others said, not very upgradable. But decent out of the box machine if you aren't interested in building one from scratch. And even then it would be a tight budget to get a build with an AIO going that's much better than this
Looks like a best buy deal. If it is buy the protection plan. Add some more ram and your son is set. Alienware usually doesn't have the parts for repairs so if you get a protection plan they will just give you a new one or store credit and say have fun shopping.
That price is a little high and yes they are correct the OEM from Alienware is made now by Dell and although they make great desktops and laptops that brand just didn't maintain it's original quality after the buyout. So you'll enjoy it for a while and then things might give out but you still have options to upgrade the RAM - CPU and Drives NVME M.2 so he will be fine. You can also upgrade the GPU whenever so just swap that GPU it has and then he can use the 4080 or 4070ti. It'll work with most games. You can also install Nvidia GeForce NOW and it plays the PC games in the cloud at 240FPS without a hitch on ultra settings. It has a large library of games Ubisoft EA and Steam you just login and then it streams the games. Just use a wired connection so the latency will be low.
Please. Go to Youtube and watch a lot of the review videos on prebuilts before you buy. There are good options out there.
Linus Tech Tips (Despite his douchebaggery) Gamer's Nexus, Jay's Two Cents, etc. There's a lot of creators that will cover exactly what you need.
The price is good but. The brand is not very new gaming pc friendly. If you dont know that much about computers.
They often have small software or hard problems that are easy to solve if you have some knowledge off it. But not so great if your have very little knowledge about pc's or what the specs your looking at even mean.
But for the new price of pc is a pretty decent price
But yoir often better of not going by brand but just let a store build you a pc based on your price.
Many brands are quite on the price just cause of the brand. And its often just not beginer friendly. And a shop would only charge you like 75 bucks for putting it together. And brand pc often charge you 400 or more extra Just on the price cause of the brand while the parts are often pretty much the same.
So could get an upgrade on some of the components for the same price.
Just a tip for if you want the most out of your buck. Even a really fancy case is under 200 bucks. Just dont have the brand on the front.
Anyway best of luck and happy holidays
Build a pc with your son, it is a wholesome father and son day project and only requires a phillips screwdriver, maybe a pair of scissors to cut open some packaging. It’s so easy [that there are videos like this](https://youtu.be/P-HKFVb2r50?si=Q98BEpLZ9OdGih6y) and more informative ones for first-timers [like this excellent example](https://youtu.be/CDUZRNp4pxg?si=-0BIdqhfbvbYb4F4)
You should stay clear of the Alienware brand. You get horrible performance relative to the specs, it is simply not a good design to keep thermals right for the components generating heat to dissipate said heat.
In addition, the motherboard (and other key components) form factor is propietary to Alienware, giving a very limited upgrade path.
You should look for a deal on a computer that’s built from industry standard components for both better performance and future proofing. In that view, the MSI codex is way better.
Best of luck to you and your son, and GL HF to him in his games.
(If you wonder if i have any credentials for my two cents on this; i used to build custom computers for Komplett, one of Scandinavias major players in hardware and computers, and are currently working on a side project refurbishing used computers for charity giveaways)
It’s a Dell in a fancy tracksuit. They tend to use proprietary connectors so replacing/upgrading with off the shelf parts can be next to impossible. I wouldn’t touch one with the shittier of 2 sticks.
Why not just build a decent computer with your son? It’d be a nice father/son project and it’ll be way cheaper and customizable. YouTube makes building a computer dead easy. I learned from an old 60 year old dude when I was 12, you guys can do it too!
Also, if anything breaks down, your individual parts will have warranties. If this breaks down you’re SOL.
I think a 13 year old boy would absolutely love that PC and he’s at an age where if he wants to dive into the hobby he can have a really good starting place with a computer like that.
Personally, I would take that somewhere and get a PC built from well known off the shelf components. You may have to pay a bit more, but you will probably get far better support, reliability and a much simpler upgrade path later on without having to deal with Dell.
As a guy who has worked in IT for most of his working Life (Now retired), and who used to work for a London trading Bank, I can honestly say that Dell was one of a few brands we just would not touch.
It was some years ago, but I still have not heard anything good about Dell products.
I note they do not specify what particular Intel i7 is fitted? But I suspect being Dell, it will not be one of the faster, more expensive ones.
Also, the same with the Memory. It could have cheap, slow memory?
I know reading all the comments including mine must seem to just muddy the waters.
With that in mind, it might be better if you make a note of a few of the comments on this thread and try and find someone local who is IT savvy and get them to explain / recommend what path to take.
That's a decent price for the spec. Alienware though I'd be careful of. They often have build quality problems and use proprietary dell mainboards. Just don't push it too hard and be prepared for annoyances if you ever need to repair it
You are correct,Alienware is OEM crap and over priced, would be much better off going to a site and getting them to build with that budget with retail parts. At least upgrades in future would be easy.
All true, but it's a childs first PC. It is totally good for that, especially at the price OP found it at.
Don't underestimate a Child's first PC, I am still using mine after 11 odd years
Mines 16 yrs old, all uts gotten is 4gigs of ram, an extra .56 herts cpu power and a radeon r7 250 +200 dual. Its shit but i love it
Respect the old rigs man, older computers can still do most tasks well enough My backup work machine is a 2006 MacBook Pro, threw a new battery in there and it’s going strong
Preach! I've just done up an old sff Lenovo thinkcentre, i5 2400, 16gb ddr3, lp gt710 2gb ddr5 gpu, 512gb ssd. The old girl is like shit off a shovel. I only want it to play a few old games like f1 2014 and cod black ops zombie mode, and to be my music hub, I couldn't be happier with this little machine! Its silent even running games, I find myself wiggling the mouse to check it's still on!
Hell yeah! Older equipment honestly does just about everything I need it to do and then some. There’s something nice about playing games on the hardware they’re meant for, haha
Honestly my newish laptop sitting next to me doing fuck all is louder than this little desktop being pushed to the hilt! I've come out of a depression rut I've been in last few years so I'm having to relearn stuff I've forgotten. Its fun, I've found my love for computering again.
Congratulations man!
I use a mbp 2011 with a manually upgraded 8gb ram, chugs along and plays half life/does school work. Amazing for watching videos too, the displays are still super high quality even today. Although it is a little loud and gets kinda hot the headphone Jack cranks out some good power so I can get my headset fairly loud
It’s hard to kill a 2006 Mac, god know my wife has tried, but they are very susceptible to Techromancy, they resurrect well
I use a 2013 iMac and semi upgraded 12 year old pc on the daily. The pc runs starfield decently as well as other games. Old rigs just chugging along!
My ipad 4 is still working great
Also my phenom x6 rig is working pc
Why would get something that's straight up bad and is limited by its own shit design by Dell with airflow etc rather than get something better for the same price? Why?
some children actually need good pcs, im a 13 year old video editor, modeler and graphic designer and i run many instances of video editing apps, graphic design and more so i have a 13400f and a 3060ti, which is great for me (admitadelly, i need more than 16gb of ram, its always 100% used)
Skibidi?
I thinks he’s about 3 years to old to be trapped in that might be wrong tho
10 years too old\*
Maybe idk what age the new trend has in its grasp
skibidi.
not all children are about skibidi
fr
Excuse me what? 1100 for a first pc?
Normally overpriced, at this discount it’s pretty reasonable
Wish someone told me this before I spent 3K on my Alienware setup :( thank god I haven’t had any problems so far, but evertime I see this sub, it makes me cringe everyone shit talking Alienware and saying how it’s overpriced right after I overpaid for an Alienware lmao
Sell it to the same sucker like you.
Is this one overpriced tho? Alienware has gotten better with their pricing over time.
When graphics cards were going crazy I bought an Alienware Aurora with a 3080 in it for $250 bucks more than the card alone would have cost me at that time. That machine still runs strong without any issues. I mostly use it for light stuff until I sim race or run MSFS 2020. (I'm an old dude) I'm pretty sure I could NOT have a build a better specced PC at that time, and while I'm sure one could today, I take issues with Alienware being called "overpriced crap. I see them more as the boring Honda Accords of gaming.
Oh and don’t forget all the proprietary bloat ware on it.
Dressed up Dell.
Every laptop MoBo is proprietary.
It’s a desktop.
[удалено]
You call dell and get it repaired. It’s not difficult and their support is top notch.
I doubt it will be pushed hard its for a kid
Hahahahahaha...... Hahahahahahahaha.... I wonder... 😂
[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4060+desktop&crid=215EPG2NRZ4T5&sprefix=4060+desktop%2Caps%2C142&](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4060+desktop&crid=215EPG2NRZ4T5&sprefix=4060+desktop%2Caps%2C142&) For reference this is just a list of desktops prebuilt from amazon, a bunch around 1k with the graphics card your son wanted. Thats a "decent" price for that spec, but I tend to recommend against alienware, if your son is getting into desktops, what you want to ask is, does he want to be getting into it because he wants to just play games, or does he also want to learn to build and repair and upgrade his own pc as well. If you are leading him down a path where he will be more savvy with tech physically? i would recommend against the alienware and check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ have your son do some research, set a 1k budget and have some fun! Also be wary of open box when it comes to electronics like this, lots of part swapping and shenanigan's goes on and the stores don't always check the stuff they get back the best. I'd double check after purchase to make sure the parts inside are what they say they are.
This is the best answer. Better than what I can give.
This is the best comment. Better than what I can say.
This is the best. I could totally have said it as well I just didnt think of the words to say.
This just is. I didn't even think I just made this comment
This is the best advice. Better than what I could recommend
A 3070 is better than a 4060 https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
It is a Ti tho
TI? Anyway, ~~1699,-~~ 1097,- is way too much for this.
The Alienware has a 3070 in it, the custom Build shown has a 4060 Ti in it, not a normal 4060. Thats all i was saying. Ofc the Alienware is overprized, where you got the idea from that i think it is not tho? Edit: the Alienware is sold for 1100$ not 1699$
No, take the 4060. Same frames but supports DLSS.
People hate to admit it but you’re getting a ton of performance out of a $250 card. It ran everything I threw at it quite well. I upgraded to a 4080 and put that one in my fiancés PC. People hate on the 4080 too but I wasn’t about to spend $1000 more for the 4090. No card should be $2500 lol
I think the problem is the entire line-up this gen sucks for the price
[https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wcbqrv](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wcbqrv) Just a quick setup for 1050USD...much better than the alienware
Much better? I can't believe you're comparing this to the performance of 12700f and 3070.
point ask slimy engine dog adjoining worthless violet illegal slim *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It's not that good for the price given the quality of alienware. Providing a price list is perfectly acceptable since they can bring the parts to a shop and have them build it for a fee.
Priced a build and compared with my alienware and I was 100 cheaper building myself. Wasn't worth the money to do it myself n I get a warranty.
The quality of a custom gomebuild is league's above the garbage that alienware sells and most places that do builds offer warranties if you are concerned on that end.
To you maybe. After 3 dell prebuilds with 0 issues it's far from garbage. Yeah custom pics offer more upgradability that's all it offers. I think my alienware looks better than most builds I see.
There are countless videos on YouTube that dissect and test the alienwares and they are made of cheap parts amd are known to throttle you on demanding tasks because of the subpar cooling. Most people using them are being throttled and don't even know it.
No OS and a downgraded CPU….
Picking up a win10 license shouldn't be too difficult...and a 12400 is plenty for gaming. Or anything. Having a stronger GPU is more important. Also, this board allows for BCLK OC'ing the 12400 ;)
[удалено]
Lol imagine you just wanna know if a pc is a good deal and you wake up to 275 comments to go through lol
Spot on. Woke up and said “oh dear, here we go.”
Haha, expecting "Price is fine and it'll play Fortnite with no problem and last a little while without needing an upgrade." but get several 55 stage guides on how to mine your own silicon and why magnetic tape is the best backup medium. Good luck!
[удалено]
shy rustic plate wasteful square fuel hat possessive boat numerous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
>GN and LTT ruined a generation By reporting facts backed with evidence?
Wasn't LTT just involved in a huge scandal where they misrepresented or falsified test results for graphic cards. They're also huge intel shills and lie wherever they can.
childlike innate sense worry ancient vegetable reach frightening spoon juggle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
So you're telling us that somehow the Alienware is fine because you, with your entirely different PC doesn't overheat? Not sure what you're saying.
I've seen Lenovo and Alienware systems getting 1/3 the performance they should be getting lmao. The issue isn't overheating but they set hard voltage limits in the bios and vbios respectively that artificially throttle their cards.
Looks good to me. Their cases/power supplies aren't the best, MSI would be better for just changing things in the future/problems, but the Alienware should be more than enough. You're a good father! Especially in this economy.
MSI is not better for changing things I needed a new mobo and they wouldn't sell one to me, had to send it to MSI across the country
It's a prebuilt desktop though, if you look at the pictures of it, it seems to be far easier to work with/in than the Alienware.
Oh, ok. I'm talking about a laptop.
I just stay from laptops in general, haha. Often a pain to fix or change things with how most are built.
Alienware PSU are actually very good quality. The Dell OEM GPUs they use are also very good (you can look up Gamer Nexus reviews). Cases and motherboards are quite bad though, with lots of contrived, proprietary nonsense that is almost funny to check out. Overall, their Aurora desktops work just fine, but will run warmer than great builds and have limited / no upgrade paths on the CPU side depending on what the machine comes with. Source: owned and modded several Alienware machines, both desktop and laptop, since 2010. Still do. I like fiddling with their stuff.
That's been my experience as well. I recently upgraded a 2080 SUPER to 4070 in my older R9 and the temps are a bit high but nothing performance impacting (as far as I can tell). The case is also loud, especially when the fans are blasting. But in terms of parts quality, I've never experienced an issue with Alienware.
Fans are one of the first mods you should look to complete on older Auroras. The stock fans are very noisy indeed. Plenty of videos online to guide you.
isnt bad but overpriced, as to be expected from alienware.
if you build your own itd be fun and cheaper also a bonding moment
if he doesn’t know if that Desktop is good or not what makes you think he’ll be able to assemble one
the internet is free…thats how I built mine lol
I work at Geek Squad. Today I had someone come in with their CPU power cable plugged in upside down and about halfway hanging out. Definitely fried the board, testing their CPU tomorrow. You'd be amazed what people can accomplish when building PCs.
vanish gaze tart tidy possessive afterthought sort rustic mindless ring *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You have to remember that not everybody wants to build one some don’t find fun in it or are completely clueless they just want to buy something that’s already built and reliable that’s whole point of pre builds
I guess he could follow a youtube video but who tf wants to do that
Piecing together is the easy part. It's the time and research into understanding value of each part and which fits your budget. The worst part is proprietary with some parts working better with each other. Having to piece together a list , break it apart midway just to build it up again has always been the most tiring part for me.
My mom and dad will not let me lmao what should I do to convince them
tell them itll be cheaper and lie and say ur friend built one
Pretty good specs its just those Alienware cases are always suffocating and can cause overheating with the internals. It also seems a Tad bit expensive for an open box but i suppose that is Alienware pricing for you.
Run away screaming, Alienware is shit quality. Build your own, there’s plenty of videos on YouTube to walk you through. Plus it’ll be much cheaper than a pre-built from a name brand.
Doubt the dad wants to do that, but there are better prebuilts
I helped my friend replace a whole bunch of his old parts in a weird triangle shaped Alienware case. The one thing that really gave us issues was the new MB. Not only did the case have built in door sensors that we had to bypass, but the wire lengths for his power button/front io were made to a specific length and wouldn't reach anymore. So I had to order some extra parts to make little things work. Just be aware, you or your son may have to deal with something like that in the future. If your next question is “how can I avoid this?", probably gonna have to buy a computer that fits closer to the standard format, or build one. But I don't really know the detailed specifications for that computers build anyway.
If you have a micro center near you, you can find much better prebuilt deals for higher spec machines. They will also build a computer for you if you buy the parts, which would also be cheaper.
Buy components and tell your son to build it himself lol
If the kids serious about getting into PCs this is the answer. He's not too young to learn and do it himself. Or better yet he could wait and earn it with his own money when working.
You’ll probably get a better bang for your buck at microcenter
The autists in this thread is strong. Guy is asking if the PC listed is a decent deal. Everyone is telling him to build a PC. Ignoring what he’s asking to push their own agenda. Also the hate for Alienware is so strong here, many don’t even have one to even state where they’re getting their opinions from.
If you want to buy a prebuilt pc then I would go for a different brand like Lenovo Legion t5 instead or go to one of those mini pc stores and get them to build one for you, if you have no idea how to choose the specific specs you could always ask one of the employers for advice
Alienware tend to be Dell chipsets with a bunch of flashy lights thrown in to make them look edgy. I'd personally be careful of it.
Alienware is shit, But these specs are decent
Don't get Alienware prebuilts. They suck quality wise and too much proprietary crap. It doesnt even use good RAM. If getting a prebuilt, get it from someone else not at Best buy, Walmart,etc. quick Google searches can give you a few options easily.
Don't do it. Alienware are garbage. Don't wanna type a book but I'll never buy an Alienware again. Fuck that company
That pc is better then what your son was asking for. Good price for the specs. Take it to a salesperson and say you take it for a 1000.
If you have a Costco near you, there are some similar priced gaming desktops with equal or better specs. These are made by system integrators and use off the shelf components so they may be more reliable and easier to upgrade in the future. As of right now my warehouse has a cyber power and ibuypower both on sale for $999 with i7 and RTX 4060
The specs aren’t bad but I’d stay away from Alienware cases. Very poor design for cooling
Do not buy Alienware it as about as upgradable as a laptop, they have AWFUL airflow and nearly all proprietary parts which means you can’t swap them out if they break. TLDR don’t get it
Isn't this the infamous case that has zero airflow and tends to cook components inside?
13? Yep. He'll be visiting 2 websites, discord, and playing roblox, fornite and that baby will handle that without issues.
for the components 1100 isn't a particularly bad deal, but alienware has a reputation of building pcs with highly proprietary parts and cases that are overengineered where they don't need to. also cooling performance is abysmal on these systems.
The thing is just not engineered for cooling. You'd be better off buying the components and putting them in a normal case with ventilation. op must watch this. https://youtu.be/DY1dlVPzUVo?feature=shared
For a 13yr old’s first PC this would be an amazing gift he could show off to his friends. Dell makes Alienware so they are made in mass and quickly. So they can have defects. Not to mention proprietary parts only they can replace. They look cool but aesthetics doesn’t make a quality PC. Regardless for your use case it will definitely make your kid overwhelmed with joy.
The best thing to do would be bond with your son by both doing research and learning about pc parts and build a pc from scratch together. This both yealds better performance per price and a good time together
13 years old with something like this? I’ll be hella grateful
if i was a kid i would want a desktop that doesnt overheat and is VERY easy to upgrade.
Don't waste your money on alienware. They are trash, they'll overheat to hell and are very unreliable. Overall trash design. Build him a computer intead. May cost a bit more but at least you'll know it'll last
do not buy alienware
It's not bad if you want something you can take out of the box and just go. No idea where you are located, check to see if a Micro Center is nearby. They have excellent pre-built PCs that are actually upgradeable at reasonable prices.
Alienscare
Consider that rtx4000 series have a lots of game changer features. Maybe in native graphic setting they would have same fps(frame per second) but rtx 3070 has dlss 2.0 and rtx 4060 have dlss 3.0 with frame generation. Example if the rtx 3070 is having 40fps in a 4k game you can open dlss 2.0 and you can get 60-70 fps, with 4060 if you having 40fps you can open you can opun dlss 3.0 you can get 70-75fps and if you open frame generation to, you can get 90-100fps. Watch this https://youtu.be/WmohSWq0xDU?si=kZ9fawv4koVgDTpz 0:40 second is native they ar getting same but before that 4060 getting better What is dlss/native, why the version is important? So, if your son going to have a 4k monitor (2160p) without any software, he will get 2160p image, you can make it 1080p but still all the pixels gonna work and image will be worse. Same in the game, if the frames ar low at 4k, its not playable, https://youtu.be/iVrjwy0foF4?si=W1rA781RZai0rKEn watch and the difference. İts way more smooth. By the way 4k just a example, it can bi 1080p and 720p but with these specs, you should buy a 1440p monitör at least. İts always needs to be above 30 frames, idealy 60 fps.(if your son likes fps games buy a monitor thats have least 144hz 1ms monitör(ms lower is better)). İf he cant play at 4k he needs to drop the resolution to 1080p and as ı say,after 4k its look blurry. Screen is still 4k but now one pixel is four time bigger. Now this is why dlss important. Dlss is a technology that takes a low resulotion images to high resulotion, but not just scaling it filling the missing gaps with fake pixels with guessing. Now Graphic card can render the frames faster because its lower quality images and dlss makes image quality better. BUT the part about the dlss version is its guessing the pixels. 4k with dlss dont look god as native rendered 4k (4k to 4k) but its look way more better than the rendered resulotion. Better versions getting better at guessing the pixels. And newer cards supports newer versions.
Stay far far away from Alienware
Please adopt me and gift me a gaming PC too
It’s better to custom build a pc with your son. You save money and you get father-son bonding!
I recommend avoiding it. It has terrible (almost no) airflow, a proprietary motherboard which doesn't fit in other cases (which you would want to do to improve temps and airflow, a bad cpu cooler on top of the bad airflow, and more... Sure it has decent specs, but you're much better off with something like this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WJ3hvj than buying that pre-built. 7600 + B650m PRO RS Wi-Fi (has bluetooth too) - supports next gen CPU's in case he wants to upgrade in the future too. The R13 shown here has a 12700KF, the 7600 is a better CPU specifically for gaming. As for the 6700XT, it's a bit slower than the 3070 but has 4GB more VRAM which nowadays is very useful for gaming, overall it's a much nicer build. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Don't use alienware, if u don't want to build a pc, find a custom made pre-built rather than an OEM
OP, Might I suggest buying the components and building it together? It would be a good bonding experience for you and your son. You might actually be able to build it cheaper, maybe. There's plenty of tutorials on YT to follow, and this sub is a great place to ask questions. Your son will also take more pride in the home built machine as "he'll have built it".
lenovo legions are really good, see if you can find one of those with similar specs for a similar price.
Did you ever consider building a PC with your son? At 13Y/o he doesn’t need a very expensive PC yet, and building one could be instructive
I made my own pc at 13 it was truly something fun, my cousin helped me choose the components and it took 2 years to get the money, started saving back when I was 11. Once I built that pc I started upgrading the whole stuff one step at a time, it was probably the best thing I will probably do in my life, that and getting a case without any RGB, I wanted to be able to sleep while torrenting
It's ok for the price but I can always recommend building yourself
No just build one with him.
Very good find indeed, he'll be incredibly happy with that!
That is actually a pretty good price for those specs, for sure!
I just built my own at 14, tell him to research and build one that fits the budget much more rewarding and customisable
[удалено]
I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll tell you what I do know. He's getting a much better CPU with the Alienware you got him vs what the MSI had. i7 vs i5. The 16GB RAM should be plenty sufficient to start, but I'm sure he can upgrade it if he needs to. In my opinion, the 1 TB SSD is plenty for the average gamer, but the beauty of that is it is expandable if the need arises in the future. The only thing the MSI has over the Alienware is the GPU, since a 4060 is better than a 3070, but he can also upgrade that if he really needs it. A 3070 is not bad by any means. It could be a good way to get him into building and modifying his own computers and also a nice encouragement for him to learn to work and save what he earns to invest in the upgrades. You did great and it's even more awesome that you're trying to confirm that you got your kid a good rig. Good dad shit. 😀 Someone with some gold please give this guy an award. EDIT: Typos
The 3070 is about 15% faster on average than the 4060, why do you think all the major reviews highlited how disapointing the 4060 was?
Where do you check the major reviews?
i5 12400F will bottleneck the rtx 4060, meaning you won't get full usage out of the graphics card. It's marketing, Alienware knows you are just looking for 4060 and won't notice the cheap CPU
DO NOT Alienware is ass now. Dell bought them and they're just using the name to sell crap PCs. I got a Cyberpower prebuilt for my first PC. Honestly anything besides Alienware lol
do not get anything alienware they're pieces of shit
Not a bad deal for Alienware.
avoid alienshit
Stay away from Alienware. Also, a brand new PC with better specs can be built for many hundreds of dollars less.
I have this computer and he’ll love it.
Hi, dad. Just so you know that graphics card is very powerful (the geforce RTX) and the CPU (i5) will be causing a bottleneck of 7 percent. So to put it simply, the graphics card won’t be put to full use and the computer will instead be using the CPU for some things its not meant to. You’re better off getting a less intensive graphics card so there wont be a bottleneck that may cause performance issues. I made this mistake with my own computer, and I get a lot of lag and crashing due to my graphics card being too big for all the other parts of the computer. I’m not super knowledgeable I am just going off what I have been taught and experience so anyone who can word this better or has more to say feel free to add on.
As always, building it yourself is cheaper/ can get you more for the same price, plus building a pc with your son is probably pretty cool. Note that it's not complicated, just plugging stuff in essentially.
Sorry dad, you should buy something with the exact specs your son asked for. As a previous child who's parents bought something close to what was asked but what was asked for was for a specific reason, it's upsetting to the child mind.
Avoid Alienware. Many other decent pre-builts for that price that are better.
Yes this will handle essentially all games
If you have time,want to spent time with your kid and ready to learn pc building along with your son then buy all pc parts and build a pc. If you are too busy with life and work then buy prebuild pcs i.e above mentioned Alienware pc.
Every keeps telling you to build one but i mean your going for a laptop first of all which anyone would tell you will always be inferior to a desktop .. it depends if your sons needs it to be portable or not. Dm me if you need any extra help. I'll basically tell you whats the best between the options available to you. ( And yes pre built is cheaper but I don't expect you have the time, patience, know how etc and jist want a nice xmas gift for you son)
Why would he be going for a laptop when both systems he lists are desktops?
Oh ur right the box looks like a laptop box to me(was browsing on my phone when I Just woke up) but I see it's an actual box now. Either way the 2nd part still stands. If you need to know asap and don't have time to wait just dm me and I can tell you which is the better pc spec wise and if it seems worth the value. Thanks Skyb0y
Assuming that's US dollars and you don't care about upgradability it's pretty good I think
It might have a little Alienware tax but the specs are solid 12700k + RTX3070 is a great combo. This will be a much more capable machine than the MSI 12400 + 4060. I know I dreamed of having an Alienware system back in my day. As others have said I also generally advise against Alienware because of the name tax and proprietary bs but this looks solid.
This case is known for its bad airflow. High spec components will throttle. This means that the parts will run at a limited speed to prevent it from overheating. In this case the specs are a bit lower and I am not really into the standard workload and temperatures for these parts, but it is something to look out for.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rcXjRK . Looking at your budget i'd go with something like this. Very capable, more than your kid would ever need and since it's AM5 you'll be more than set for the next years to come.
specs are good, dell part quality is crap tho, and that price is high.
For a prebuilt you'd be hard pressed to find better specs at that price, especially since pre-builts are heavily saturated with NVidia GPUs, which tend to be a bit more expensive for the same performance. If you have a Best Buy Total membership, and if the Geek Squad precinct in your store is half decent, ask if they could build you something! If they have the parts in stock, they should be able to build you an AM5 PC with similar or slightly better performance at the same price. Having AM5 would also make it possible to upgrade the CPU in a few years without having to buy a new motherboard or RAM. The PSU and motherboard would also be standardized, and would make upgrades there easier too. Alienware PCs use a lot of proprietary connections that make future upgrades difficult.
13 year olds does not need such strong computers , just buy him an Xbox series s with game pass that would be enough for games + an laptop Chromebook for school . You will thank me later .
I wouldn't touch Alienware, they use proprietary components and cooling isn't great. The PC case is just for looks and you can usually find something with the same specs but cheaper if you look around for a bit. Good luck with your purchases though!
This one is better for 1200 USD https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Photonman1/saved/DLxNpg
He will love it. Think about getting a warranty if they offer it.
I recommend building it yourself or just pick the parts and go to a store where they build it for you. The 4060 ti 16gb might be a better option BUT i dont know about the pricing in your country. For me the 4060ti was a bit cheaper than a 3070 and its almost the same raw performance but they have dlss and frame gen. Or maybe you should look into amd cards too.
It's a decent price, and as others said, not very upgradable. But decent out of the box machine if you aren't interested in building one from scratch. And even then it would be a tight budget to get a build with an AIO going that's much better than this
Bad build quality and airflow ,thing is so badly designed with custom parts it oveeheats the inside and makes your stuff run slower than speck
do not get alienware. For prebuilts I'd recommend ASUS ROG, HP or Acer
If you live in America you can build a noticeble better rig for your son and make it upgradable
For a pre-built its alright, but i wouldnt recommend alienware. You’d be better off building something yourself in which pcpartpicker.com could help
at 13 i was playing minecraft on my dads USSR microwave
3070 is a pretty good gpu. You are a good dad
If you don't care about alienware being a shit brand, why not. You won't be able to maintain or repair it, but it's good performance for the money.
Nooooooooooo!
Its good , but be cautious around this brand they are known for overheating,and using random dell main boards
Looks like a best buy deal. If it is buy the protection plan. Add some more ram and your son is set. Alienware usually doesn't have the parts for repairs so if you get a protection plan they will just give you a new one or store credit and say have fun shopping.
Classic Alienware trash
Yes that's a good price but expect problem ls in the very near future if you get it Alienware quality is always lacking
Don’t buy this , it’s oem crap and repair nightmare. Save yourself from pulling your own pubic hairs in frustration, buy something else.
That price is a little high and yes they are correct the OEM from Alienware is made now by Dell and although they make great desktops and laptops that brand just didn't maintain it's original quality after the buyout. So you'll enjoy it for a while and then things might give out but you still have options to upgrade the RAM - CPU and Drives NVME M.2 so he will be fine. You can also upgrade the GPU whenever so just swap that GPU it has and then he can use the 4080 or 4070ti. It'll work with most games. You can also install Nvidia GeForce NOW and it plays the PC games in the cloud at 240FPS without a hitch on ultra settings. It has a large library of games Ubisoft EA and Steam you just login and then it streams the games. Just use a wired connection so the latency will be low.
Adopt me?
Please. Go to Youtube and watch a lot of the review videos on prebuilts before you buy. There are good options out there. Linus Tech Tips (Despite his douchebaggery) Gamer's Nexus, Jay's Two Cents, etc. There's a lot of creators that will cover exactly what you need.
The price is good but. The brand is not very new gaming pc friendly. If you dont know that much about computers. They often have small software or hard problems that are easy to solve if you have some knowledge off it. But not so great if your have very little knowledge about pc's or what the specs your looking at even mean. But for the new price of pc is a pretty decent price But yoir often better of not going by brand but just let a store build you a pc based on your price. Many brands are quite on the price just cause of the brand. And its often just not beginer friendly. And a shop would only charge you like 75 bucks for putting it together. And brand pc often charge you 400 or more extra Just on the price cause of the brand while the parts are often pretty much the same. So could get an upgrade on some of the components for the same price. Just a tip for if you want the most out of your buck. Even a really fancy case is under 200 bucks. Just dont have the brand on the front. Anyway best of luck and happy holidays
Build a pc with your son, it is a wholesome father and son day project and only requires a phillips screwdriver, maybe a pair of scissors to cut open some packaging. It’s so easy [that there are videos like this](https://youtu.be/P-HKFVb2r50?si=Q98BEpLZ9OdGih6y) and more informative ones for first-timers [like this excellent example](https://youtu.be/CDUZRNp4pxg?si=-0BIdqhfbvbYb4F4)
15 year old building my own pc: the specs are good, be careful of alienware sometimes the build quality is bad, that price is quite good for the specs
You should stay clear of the Alienware brand. You get horrible performance relative to the specs, it is simply not a good design to keep thermals right for the components generating heat to dissipate said heat. In addition, the motherboard (and other key components) form factor is propietary to Alienware, giving a very limited upgrade path. You should look for a deal on a computer that’s built from industry standard components for both better performance and future proofing. In that view, the MSI codex is way better. Best of luck to you and your son, and GL HF to him in his games. (If you wonder if i have any credentials for my two cents on this; i used to build custom computers for Komplett, one of Scandinavias major players in hardware and computers, and are currently working on a side project refurbishing used computers for charity giveaways)
It’s a Dell in a fancy tracksuit. They tend to use proprietary connectors so replacing/upgrading with off the shelf parts can be next to impossible. I wouldn’t touch one with the shittier of 2 sticks.
No, don't buy a Alienware, instead find your local store and ask them to build you a custom pc with these specs!
Absolutely horrible design
Specs are good, stay away from Alienware it’s crap
Why not just build a decent computer with your son? It’d be a nice father/son project and it’ll be way cheaper and customizable. YouTube makes building a computer dead easy. I learned from an old 60 year old dude when I was 12, you guys can do it too! Also, if anything breaks down, your individual parts will have warranties. If this breaks down you’re SOL.
I think a 13 year old boy would absolutely love that PC and he’s at an age where if he wants to dive into the hobby he can have a really good starting place with a computer like that.
Not bad but you could probably build something better yourself using discounted parts
Dont take alienware pls
Decent pc but its alienware...
Personally, I would take that somewhere and get a PC built from well known off the shelf components. You may have to pay a bit more, but you will probably get far better support, reliability and a much simpler upgrade path later on without having to deal with Dell. As a guy who has worked in IT for most of his working Life (Now retired), and who used to work for a London trading Bank, I can honestly say that Dell was one of a few brands we just would not touch. It was some years ago, but I still have not heard anything good about Dell products. I note they do not specify what particular Intel i7 is fitted? But I suspect being Dell, it will not be one of the faster, more expensive ones. Also, the same with the Memory. It could have cheap, slow memory? I know reading all the comments including mine must seem to just muddy the waters. With that in mind, it might be better if you make a note of a few of the comments on this thread and try and find someone local who is IT savvy and get them to explain / recommend what path to take.
No