Seen this and thought I'd get opinions on it

[Tinkles]

I seen this a few days ago and thought I would get some opinions on the components and overall price.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-x51-r2/pd.aspx

What caught my attention was the payment plans, instead of 'pay for it all now then receive' you can pay it monthly, giving you time to pay it off while owning it.

Sound too good to be true?

[BluBerry]

The link you provided has so many options available to customize what you order that its hard to tell exactly what components you are interested in. Alienware tends to be overpriced for what is inside the machine however, but they make some of the best looking rigs around imo.

Maybe link or post a little bit more detailed specs for us?

 

[Tinkles]

The link you provided has so many options available to customize what you order that its hard to tell exactly what components you are interested in. Alienware tends to be overpriced for what is inside the machine however, but they make some of the best looking rigs around imo.

Maybe link or post a little bit more detailed specs for us?

 

Overall what I'm interested in is a rig that doesn't have a bottleneck. That can play the Aces High with no lag with most eye-candy on, and still play games like skyrim, far cry 3 etc. Yet still be top-of-the-line for at least another 5 years, while still being affordable.  In terms of affordable, I'm not really on a set budget, just getting a hands on of what to look for.

With a case that has room for the parts (pre-built or I make it), and has room for upgrades in the future.

That's basically what I am looking for.

P.S. Like I said before, the only thing that caught my attention about it, was 2 things, #1 they gave Windows 7 Premium editions with the option of grabbing windows 8 instead if you wanted it. Most other sites offer windows 8 as default only, no windows 7 (I want windows 7).  The second thing was they gave options for payment plans for 1 year before interest kicked in, meaning I could purchase it, play on it, while putting a fair chunk of my paycheck to it and paying it off while using it.  Instead of saving up and buying it as a 'whole'.



 

[guncrasher]

be aware that most "no interest for a year" plans will charge you interest from the beginning if not paid within a year.  I just checked dell will charge you interest from the begining if you even owe a dollar over a year.



semp

[BluBerry]

You should check out www.cyberpowerpc.com

It's a great site, you can basically select whatever components you want and build your own PC online and have it shipped to you fully built and tested.
When you compile all of your components it will tell you what is compatible and what isn't, and tell you how much power it uses and expected FPS.
I built a monster machine on this site and spent about 2000 bucks total. Have been building and buying pc's off their site every few years.
Play around there for a little while and see what you come up with. I think you'll be happier there then alienware.

There is also pre-built stuff on the site to buy if you don't want to bring it together yourself, but that's half of the fun. If you have questions about your build, make a forum account and show the fellas what your interested and they will help you get it right.

You can post your build specs here when your done for us to see as well.  

[eagl]

If you can't pay for it up front, you either don't need it or can't afford it.  Those payment plans are for suckers.  Save up the money first and then buy.  Trust me.  Or trust a financial advisor like Dave Ramsey, who will tell you the same thing.  Pay cash or don't get it.

[FLS]

Tinkles, you can't buy a PC with no lag. Lag happens on the internet regardless of your PC specs. 

[BluBerry]

Tinkles, you can't buy a PC with no lag. Lag happens on the internet regardless of your PC specs. 

Your hardware can lag, not all lag is internet related, but majority is.

[FLS]

Your hardware can lag, not all lag is internet related, but majority is.

My bad, perhaps he was referring to playing offline.   

I expect he meant minimal lag.

[BaldEagl]

If you can't pay for it up front, you either don't need it or can't afford it.  Those payment plans are for suckers.  Save up the money first and then buy.  Trust me.  Or trust a financial advisor like Dave Ramsey, who will tell you the same thing.  Pay cash or don't get it.

True enough if you don't have the money to pay for it in the first place but, if you do, then it's wise to use other people's money for as long as possible then pay it off before the interest kicks in.  Even in todays low interest rate environment the earnings on that money over time put you ahead.  Trust me.  I'm in the financial services industry.

It's also why you should use a cash back rewards credit card for most of your monthly purchases but only if you have the resources and discipline to pay it off in full every month.

[eagl]

True enough if you don't have the money to pay for it in the first place but, if you do, then it's wise to use other people's money for as long as possible then pay it off before the interest kicks in.  Even in todays low interest rate environment the earnings on that money over time put you ahead.  Trust me.  I'm in the financial services industry.

It's also why you should use a cash back rewards credit card for most of your monthly purchases but only if you have the resources and discipline to pay it off in full every month.

There are a few market research studies out there that show that even if the credit card is paid off in full at the end of the month, overall spending is up to 17% higher when using credit instead of cash.  It has nothing to do with interest rates and everything to do with psychology and having opportunity cost slap you in the face with EVERY purchase, right at the register.  People who follow your advice deal with opportunity cost up to a month (or even a year in the case of "1 year no payments") later, diluting its effect on spending habits.  People who must confront the opportunity cost ramifications at the time of purchase are far less likely to spend that extra little bit, even when they can afford to.  17% is not chump change, but that's the average spending impact even with people who have the discipline and income to pay off their credit cards at the end of each month and don't carry a balance.

This is why banks and stores always pressure people to get the store credit cards and then offer discounts.  If the store gives you a 10% discount for using their store credit card, you know damn well that their research shows that people who use their cards buy more than 10% more stuff.  The store knows that changing someone from a cash buyer to a card buyer, even a debit card, will net them in excess of 10% more profit from that same customer.  Why do you think they put so much pressure on people to use their cards?  They know darn well they'll get the money back through increased spending due to the psychological effects of not having to confront the opportunity cost of the purchase until well after the purchase has been made, instead of at the time of purchase.

Those financing deals are for suckers, period.  They're so good at explaining why it's a "good deal" that even "financial experts" have bought into it.  Its funny, the MBA types (I have an MBA btw) know exactly what scam they're running when they offer those financing deals, because the fundamentals of that sort of thing is part of the syllabus.  At least, my MBA course had enough of that to let me see exactly what's going on there.  People are horrible about understanding opportunity cost when it isn't an immediate decision.  That's the scam, and the big stores and banks are raking in the bucks every time a financial expert recommends using those financing "good deals" because of the psych effects it has on even financially secure and disciplined people.

[eagl]

I'm a pretty financially responsible kind of guy... I wanted to buy a corvette about 12 years ago, but would have had to finance part of it so I waited.  Some pay raises kicked in, and just a couple of years later I had enough cash to get that corvette, and suddenly it looked like a waste of money.  When I had only $20k to put down on a new vette (at 5 year 1% financing and no interest the first year), the opportunity cost looked like $20k, which at my salary level could be made back in a year, no problem.  When I had $70k saved up to get the vette, suddenly the opportunity cost thought process was holy crap look at all these other much better things I can do with $70k, no way I'm going to dump it into a stupid car.

Everyone gets bit by this.  It's why Dave Ramsey almost always starts off with "sell the car", when people in financial trouble have expensive cars or big car loans, even when they have very low interest rate on the car loan.  If you want to be rich, act like rich people.  They're not financing their cars or computers just because of a low interest rate or deferred payment, and those rich people didn't do that before they were rich either.

I know this is sort of off topic, but the OP was discussing financing deals, and the answer there is that the company is offering those financing deals because THEY benefit from it, not the buyer.  They know darn well that buyers will act more sensibly if they pay cash, up front.  Deferring the payments leads to spending more, and the companies offering those payment plans know this because they hire MBAs instead of personal financial advisors 

[morfiend]

Eagl,


  Thats some of the best advice I've ever heard on these boards,and I understand when you have saved up and have the cash that just got to have car,boat,plane,etc. really makes you think twice before parting with those hard saved dollars!

 About the only place I'd break from this is in buying a house but unless you're born with a silver spoon most people just have no choice but to borrow. I was lucky with this,my wife is a banker,or was and she got great rates and we paid the mortgasge off weekly!  Ya weekly,it's tough to get that first month under your belt because you end up paying 2 payments that first month but after that it's really no different than paying off monthly!  Well except the amertization goes from 25 to 13 years..... ,then if you can make just a small payment on the principle,usually allowed on the aniversery,you can cut that further! and save about 1/2 the cost of your mortgage.

  This can be done on loans or CC payments,though you should check your regulations closely but if you make a payment even just 2 or 3 days early you can save considerably.  This is a major reason for direct pay and auto banking,the banks make huge profits from people not understanding all the facts and there rights!

  I'm not rich by any standard,but I owe nothing and have a couple of bucks in the bank for a rainy day or that just have to have Vet!!!!


   

 PS: Like you Eagl I cant part with it!

[PJ_Godzilla]

What caught my attention was the payment plans, instead of 'pay for it all now then receive' you can pay it monthly, giving you time to pay it off while owning it.

Sound too good to be true?

It's called "financing" Tinkles, and while it may look too good to be true, the truth is that money, like everything else, has a price. What you pay for with financing is time utility - i.e., you can have something now but pay for it later. As for that part about paying: multiply the payment times the number of payments to know the total nominal cost of borrowing. I say "nominal" because future money is worth something less than money now, but that's a topic for some time later in your life.


My advice: don't carry a lot of debt in your life - instead carry a lot of cash.

[eagl]

Morfiend

You're right, the exception to the cash-only rule is the house mortgage.  You can minimize the impact on your life by going with a 15 yr mortgage, and again accepting the hard reality that if you can't make the payment for a 15 yr mortgage, then maybe you need to wait a bit longer to build up the down payment, or pick a smaller house.

That said, I recently had to both buy a new house and refinance another house I own and am having trouble selling.  To make that work, I did the re-fi at 15 years and the new purchase at 30 years.  I'm putting whatever I can budget against the 30 yr mortgage to get it closer to that 15 yr term, but I also know that I broke a basic rule of thumb.  By "the rules", I would have been better off renting a smaller house until I settled the old house by selling it or getting it stabilized as a rental, and only then buying the new house.  But I landed in Las Vegas at the very bottom of a huge housing market crash, and gambling mentality is so freaking infectious that I couldn't resist buying at the low point.  So I'm stuck with 2 mortgages and my renters just moved out.  So now I'm double glad I never got the vette, haha.

Well, there is one other exception to cash only...  If you can't keep food on the table or the power/water on in the house, you do what you gotta do including feeding the kids on credit and just not paying off the CC until you figure something out or increase income or sell everything non-essential, move to a cheaper place, etc etc.  But someone feeding their kids on credit probably shouldn't own any car but a $500 beater, shouldn't own a TV or smartphone, shouldn't have cable tv service, etc.  Lots of "essentials" really aren't, and those should be ditched long before it gets to that point.