Dell REFURB Alienware an inexpensive monster for recording......and many other uses

After seeing and hearing the success (and CD sales)  my wife has had with her little Inspiron 15/M- Audio set-up I decided to give the Dell monster a whirl. I buy all my Dells (5 and counting) off the refurb outlet and never had an issue.. My studio DAW is a home built unit I hand pick all the parts from the PS to the MB. But I am not ready to build another since I need a whole need MB/processor et al to go 64bit to use Windows 7 64 and still have programs like WAVES and Toontracks that won;t run on it  so I decided I needed a new portable solution that will cover a lot of my Computing needs. The drawback was the TI FW chipset Express card which I found from RAIN and SIIG

The specs are:

i7 720QM
4GB 1333
ATI 5870 GDDR5 graphics
TWO 320 7200 drives
1440X900 display
Slot load Blue Ray RW
 BT/Wireless N /2mp camera/ facial recognition/
HDMI/USB-Sata port and more USB ports....
Windows 7 Professional (I replaced with Ultimate)
Price...... $1450 delivered in three days. (after 20% off coupon from Techbargains.)
ONE year ONSITE warranty (which I have never used in the past on any refurb)
Purchased a RAIN FW card for TI FW for my Presonus Firebox and Motif XS FW.

One year onsite warranty..

I don;t see how one can go worng with a configuration like that and the refurbs are really gone through after they are returned. I have purchased only From the Dell outlet in the past 10 years and all 3 notebooks are still running.

I just wanted a notebook that would do it all from entertaining to gaming to recording and this oine does. I still use the desktop but it is noisy with 4 fans and the only real advantage is multiple screens.

Don't let anyone tell you you need a "special" recording setup for music UNLESS you are the type to need multiple UADs  and routinely run mega tracks for every little sound recorded.  I know people who use 16 tracks up on drums alone!!
A tad obsessive if you ask me.

 I rarely if ever use more than 25 tracks if that. Less is more in my book. Today's samples are so good they don't need much at all. Hell a Yamaha S910 or better yet a Tyros 3 can fool 99% of everyday listeners into not believing it all came from one keyboard.  At the end of the day the songs are listened to in MP3 format on cheap headphones or plugged up in car inputs and is most always listened to as "background" music.  IT's all about the song...People forgot that along the way and like movies it has become about the technology over story........IT's a shame really a recording like Nebrraska would be beat up mercilessly by most wannabe "home studio" producers

As usual you are correct. Terrible Idea and a "disco notebook"( Hate the lights) ..But fot the money it is.Great for Video editing, Games and USB recording.   But I am  Building another DT system for the studio to use Yamaha XS8 FW interface.  Gigabyte is the only board I know of with TI FW chipsets. Mulling over a Video card. I don't think a powerful VC will cause DPC issues on a 1366/i7 930 system. But I have been worng in the past......see above  

Well I've been a certified system builder for 15 years, and am a twenty-year software developer in the aerospace industry,  my DAW-specific experience is much weaker though... But I currently use and wouldn't use much other than a good Alienware laptop... (disco lights and all, which you can turn off, of course)

The devil is in the details... and AW covers their details better than anyone else... particularly when you are getting a laptop where upgrades often come down to soldering irons and duct tape after a few years

So you get the best you can from the word go... because a laptop usually has to play numerous roles, and has to be competent at them at least...

Alienware usually uses over-spec'd components and as many tweakable components as you can get in a non-custom lappy... and though you may not use those tweaks now, things like the RAID capability and the SLI may come in quite handy in extending the usable life of the thing down-the road... I didn't let go of my last one until the duct-tape was melting, and the RAID 0 went wonky...  it could have gone years longer had I taken more care...

for a portable DAW, I use my 17x Alienware Quad Core with 8 gb and Win 7 Ult 64 with a large variety of audio interfaces  (it does Firewire beautifully, btw...)  and it competes just fine with my custom desktop DAW .. (My main gripe being ASIO setup, and onboard sound... but that's my own naivety, and hatred of vestigial onboard cards)


Like anyone here (I think) it's much nicer to have the customization options of a full-size DAW, but I have yet to be let down by anything about any of my many Alienwares over the years...

(Except that they are owned by Dell and I hate Dell ...personally ...but they seem to let AW stay true to themselves...)


If you are getting an Alien ,  just get a good one, and you'll be glad you did...

PS: Don't expect much from Alienware support...it seems that being a part of Dell hasn't done a thing to improve it...

I use mine for:

Developing (C++ / .NET / and web)
Database
DAW
Web Server
Media Server
The newest Video Games
Adobe Master Collection CS5
Graphics

Often simultaneously, with only the fluffiest of optimizing... which is probably optional anyway...

They can do it, unless you're doing it wrong =D

Cheers...

/twoCents