As I wrote about previously, I made a notable decision a few weeks ago. I decided to buy a commercially available computer system rather than build my own as I have had in the past. This was driven primarily by the financial realization that I couldn't buy the parts as cheaply on my own as a manufacturer could. And then of course, I still had to put it together. That's not a huge chore anymore, since I've done it enough times previous, but clearly the math didn't add up for the "roll your own" approach any longer.
I had chosen an Alienware Aurora system, which is the low end of Dell's high-end line that they acquired some years ago. This was primarily because I was able to get exactly the hardware I wanted, but also because I was eligible for an EPP price discount since my company has a purchasing relationship with Dell. That's a win-win as they say.
The system was expected to get here on February 18th, 2010. Dell under-promised and over-delivered - it was here on the 8th. So let's talk about the experience. First of all, the Aurora is supposed to be the "small" Alienware system, so I was a little shocked by the size and weight of the box that arrived. Colored in all black, when standing on end, it was in excess of 3 feet tall and had plenty of bulk in all directions. This was definitely a concern for me - I did not want nor need a giant machine.
I cracked open the box to find that it was merely an external shell to the system inside. There was ample crush space on every side and the large corner packing pieces were both effective and easy to remove. They were made out of plastic which meant no peanuts or flaky styro-foam to have to clean up. Thank you Alienware! I have enough to do without creating more of a mess in my life.
Once the inner box was removed, it was clear that the system was going to be more like the size I had expected. The smaller, system block slid out and was designed nicely as well. No need to cut open the box and lift the computer out of the top - just pop 4 plastic tabs and then lift the box top off, leaving the computer behind. This is similar to the way flat screen TVs are shipped.
Once complete, the computer was sitting in the box tray on the floor, wrapped in an all black protective cover. Lifting the unit up wasn't too bad, though there is a significant amount of weight in the Alienware chassis. As I carried it over to the desk, there were no rattles or clanks so it seemed to have made it through shipping. Nonetheless, after sliding the cover off, I popped open the side panel to take a look inside.
Everything was neat and clean. The cables are all tucked away for good airflow. The CPU is configured with a water cooler so there was no large heat sink to worry about and over all it was a very cleanly laid out system. A nice bonus is that power and SATA interface cables were already pre-run to all 4 drive bays in the system even though I had only bought the machine with one hard drive.
So far, I was very pleased with the visual results, the build quality and the shipping. All of these had been done with care, in a quality manner and is setup for someone who is going to do things with and to their computer. It seems like a good fit so far. So let's power it up. (to be continued...)
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