Dell acquires Alienware. +1 extra "zing"

You never know, maybe Dell will stop claiming they can't supply nVidia cards other than Quadros in the process as well...

Do we have Alienware computers distributed here in Australia though?

Didnt dell try their own brand of gaming PCs that sold badly? If you can't penatrate, buy out!

quote:Originally posted by MoonUnit

Didnt dell try their own brand of gaming PCs that sold badly? If you can't penatrate, buy out!

Dell are an amazingly efficient company (I'm not saying their computers are any good btw). We were doing case studies on the way their business works in Management Information Systems at La Trobe- which I'm profoundly glad not to be teaching anymore [;)]

Basically they have every single possible way of saving money covered. One example is monitors: Dell never even see the monitors. They are shipped direct from the factory/distributor's warehouse (it used to be Sony, don't know about now), and Dell leave it up to the shipping company to ensure the monitor and the PC arrive together. Those Dell badges were placed on the monitors in Sony's factories... Never seeing the monitors saves them a bucketload- monitors take up lots of space, are fragile, heavy, etc. There are plenty more examples but I'd have to look things up (it's been a year since I looked at it) and it's off topic.

I've found how some business streamline things pretty interesting. Ikea are pretty efficient too.

I've got a Dell tower that I bought off a friend ages ago, and having a history of self assembled towers and computers, I must say that having a preassembled Dell computer is pretty cool. [:D]

quote:Originally posted by Yug

Do we have Alienware computers distributed here in Australia though?

Certainly do...[url]www.alienwaresystems.com.au[/url]
I've been looking at Alienware stuff for a while, but then I started coming across websites like [url]alienwareorder.blogspot.com[/url]. So I wonder if Dell has made such a wise purchase, but then, given their tech support reputation, maybe it's a perfect fit. [;)]

There's a great article over at [url="http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,18536349%5E16681%5E%5En…"]AustralianIT on Alienware[/url]'s history, from humble beginnings to the Dell sale. quote:JUST a few months after cleaning out his bank account and quitting his job to help start up a childhood friend's new computer company, Alex Aguila sat alone in the fledgling firm's office and began to have second thoughts.

Banks had laughed at their concept of selling expensive PCs for video gamers at a time when other computer companies were cutting prices to grab more customers. The fact that the new company, Alienware, took its name from UFO lore did not help either.

Aguila and his friend, Nelson Gonzalez, had just $US10,000 ($13,500) between them.

"I was there and all the walls were black and the phones were sitting there and not ringing and I was thinking, what have I done," Aguila says.

Ten 10 years on, Alienware is widely acclaimed by video gamers and on track to hit $US225 million in sales this year, up from $US172 million in 2005.

Dell is pretty cool as long as you don't try to add any components to it that aren't also branded Dell.