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Alienware Alpha (i3/860M/4GB/500GB) Delivered $599 @ Dell

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Processor
Intel® Core™ i3-4130T dual-core processor (3M Cache, 2.9GHz)
Operating System
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Memory
4GB (1X4GB) Single Channel DDR3 1600MHz SDRAM Memory
Hard Drive
500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
Video Card
Graphics powered by a custom-built NVIDIA ® GeForce ® GTX GPU 2GB GDDR5
Wireless
Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 1x1 + Bluetooth 4.0
Warranty
1Yr Mail-in Pre-Paid Freight Service after Remote Diagnosis


A similar build with parts separately:
http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/ua4 $784
(+wireless, prebuilt, delivery, warranty and I think the Alpha comes with an XBox 360 controller)


Downsides to the Alpha:
-GPU isn't upgradeable
-Only 1 display output

Related Stores

Dell
Dell

closed Comments

  • -1
    • +7

      They usually change the price on the ebay store when they update the price on the Dell Au website with specials, thus the same price on ebay.

        • +8

          Ryudo222 you are full of crap.

          Look at the sales of the very item you have linked to.

          Every single sale is at $699 - dating back as far as January 2015…

          The price is now $599.

          What other BS do you want to tell us now?

        • +5

          @ryudo222:

          So to quote your own message:

          i have been following the alienware alpha on ebay for ages, i can tell you now that its been that price on ebay for months

          Now you say:
          Last time I checked i3 was 599

          The fact is every sale of this unit from January 2015 up until the 2nd of April 2015 (the last time they sold one) was at $699.

          If you have been checking the prices "for months" then you would know it has actually been at $699 in most of those "months"

          Kearnsy is right - Dell try to equalise their EBAY and own web site prices most of the time.

          Guys like you spreading misinformation based on your inflated ego don't help anyone.

        • +1

          http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidsLogin&item…
          It has never been sold for $599 before, the only time it was cheaper was when there was the 20% off sales.

        • -8

          @GreatWhiteHunter: LOL WAY TO EDIT YOUR POST!!! based on my inflated ego? dude have a look at my ozbargain deals and comments, to be completely honest it doesn't even feel like a real deal to me cause you can get it cheaper shipped from america, or when ebay has their 15% off promo.

          The person with the inflated ego is yourself, and like I said if you wanna buy it THEN ITS UP TO YOU, i'm not holding a gun against your head not telling you to buy it….and my apologies if you think my comment was somehow ego motivated, I can assure you that my intentions were not to sway anyone from buying this pc

        • +5

          cause i remember the i3 model was around the same price as a release date xbox one

          Thats how i remembered it being in the 500's

          I reckon @ryudo222 honestly believes in what he's saying. That's the problem with memories, they're totally unreliable.

        • @microsnot: I know right, and this greatwhitehunter guy full on goes on the attack lol, no idea why he became so angry over this though?

        • +1

          "Calm your panties" hehehehehehehehe

        • +1

          @ryudo222: Which still means your memories are wrong and @GreatWhiteHunter is still correct. If everyone were to post deal like you, there will tons of shit deals since from people's memory, this thing was was cheaper but in fact it is not. ozmemorybargain?

        • jv's not going to be getting his usual negs today.

        • @bentan77: 01-Apr-15 12:43:18 AEDST - That's my purchase! :)

  • In case anyone was wondering
    Starting at Weight: 4lbs (1.81 Kg.)

    • +9

      Well no, I wasn't. Because it's a desktop.. 0_o

      • +3

        I was worried if my lap could support all that weight. Thanks lepdawg.

        Also did you know? Lepdawg rhymes with laptop.

        • +1

          LOL that's hilarious.
          Lepdawg.. It's like mecbewk or something HAHAHA

      • My bad. Clearly I was on ozbargain too early on a Saturday morning

      • But what if your entertainment unit is made of wet cardboard?

  • +2

    can it play gta v?

    • http://pclab.pl/art57777-9.html (using 750 Ti)
      At normal settings it should do fine
      CPU heavy situations/higher settings it'll sit around 35-50

    • Not sure you'd want to buy a new machine with an i3 for gaming.

      The mobile GPU is good for a laptop, but if you don't need portability, you could build a pretty good gaming rig for a little more.

      • I have an i3 2100 (with an AMD HD 7870) in my HTPC and that plays game perfectly fine. Sure they're not an absolute speed demon, but does fine :-)

        • it is not a demon
          or they're not demons

  • +2

    Wow, that 860M is actually a competent GPU. Tomb Raider at 45 FPS with Ultra settings, at 1080p:

    http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-860M-…

    They say i3 will start to bottleneck heavily multithreaded games pretty soon, but they've been saying that for a while.

    It'll play PC games beautifully for years, just not always with settings maxxed.

    Not sure you could do much better on a custom build with only $600, especially in this small form factor.

    • +1

      I love my 860m in my Alienware 13. I love squeezing all the performance out of it.

      • +2

        You could say you got a lot of juice out of it.

  • +1

    for an extra $250, I would buy this
    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DELL-Alienware-Alpha-ASM100-7980-…

    Worth the 2 weeks wait for delivery i think, but manufactured refurbished with 1 year warranty.

    • Its a refurb, do you get international warranty?

      • All Dell warranty is international as far as I know.

  • +2

    I was contemplating one of these but the hard drive is rubbish. There's only a single 2.5" slot - I ended up just building a HTPC for $800, quite better value.

  • I'd imagine 1080p is probably the threshold for most modern games on this?

    • +1

      Yes but more comfortable at 720P.

    • Define modern games… Some FPS can be very demanding with Tessellation, etc.

      I have a lappy with 765m, I play all current titles at 1080, most settings are high, but my lappy has a huge cooling system allowing a stable OC.

  • +1

    Can it be a good htpc or regular desktop replacement with the alienware UI?

    Like it would need to have Netflix, plex, and obviously it will do video playback right?

    • I'm not sure but this is pushing STEAMOS a.k.a linux so you will need to use chrome (maybe chromium) to use netflix….not sure about plex.

      • +1

        It's pushing AlphaUI, not SteamOS. (Although this may change in future).

        Dell got sick of waiting for SteamOS to reach mainstream/production ready, so this is their own take.

        I exit to desktop mode most of the time, but you can add some programs to be launched from Steam (and Dell are slowly working on being able to launch some apps direct from Alpha UI, such as Kodi).

        • Cheers for the clarification.

    • For Netflix, Plex and Video Playback this would be more than adequate for your needs. Building your own HTPC would be best bang for buck.

      • Well it would replace my ageing pc and act as a htpc if I were to move it in the lounge.

        Is this a pc as well? (desktop mode)

        With the added bonus of a steam/alien os add on?

        • This would be fine as a HTPC - it runs full Windows 8.1 with an Alienware Skin on top (easily taken off).

          As from my point below my major concern is that it's running a fairly slow hard drive - a 5000rpm 2.5" 500gb. You can upgrade it with a hybrid 2.5" SSHD (16gb SSD drive with a 1TB) but it's no match for a full SSD.

          Overall it's a pretty nice kit and you can't do too much wrong - just don't expect major performance from it.

        • +1

          @DrStinge:
          Thanks, I would take out the hard drive and swap in my current SSD instead.
          I do not need that much space as I have a NAS for that.

        • I'm mostly using this as a HTPC. It's amazingly quiet/silent.
          I found some time to play 25% of Fez the other day, a game I've actually enjoyed playing with a controller!

  • +2

    You'll be surprised at how competent this little box is for playing games. Bought one when it was 20% off and also came with a free Dell venue 8 pro. Now that was a bargain.

  • GPU is the deal killer. I am in market for a gaming PC (building from scratch). I thought this would be a very good basis to build the rest on until I read the GPU isn't upgradable. Also I am assuming there is no way I will be able to upgrade the CPU in the future, e.g. move to an i7.

    • +2

      It's essentially a gaming laptop motherboard in a desktop case - you can upgrade the ram and hard drive only.

      • +1

        Actually the processor is desktop grade.

        • Thanks! I didn't notice this

      • Also does that mean - throw a second stick of RAM in to make it 8GB or replace existing one only?
        there is two slots right?

        • Yep there's two slots, apparently you can put up to 16gb (2x8gb) in it.

        • I just chucked in a second 4GB stick (second hand off ebay). I don't see myself needing more as other limitations will apply first (cpu, gpu). If I'm stupid enough to open 30+ chrome tabs, a reboot will fix that.

  • Hey Bentan - will this go great with your $199 netbook? :p

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