Introduction

Hi.

My name's Cem Kaner. I'm a Computer Science professor.

Sometimes I also do consumer protection work for people with computer-related problems. One of the things I ask frustrated consumers to do is to report their problems to the public, so the rest of us can learn from them. This is my report.

This blog is about a year (almost) of frustration with the Alienware company and a $5000 Roswell 3150 computer that I bought from them.

There's too much to write in one entry--and too much to read--so I'll write this saga over a series of posts.

The problems are not resolved. Well, in one sense they are. After repeated failing efforts to make this lemon more reliable, today I finally ordered a Dell XPS Gen 5 to replace it. I don't know what will happen to my investment in the Alienware machine, but it has been down so much, lost so much data, and cost so much troubleshooting time and fruitless discussions with Alienware tech support that as an engine for getting work done, I've concluded that the machine is a lost cause, that Alienware's willingness/ability to provide reasonable support for the machine is insufficient, and that if I am going to get work done, I need to do the work with a more reliable computer, from a more responsible vendor.

So I'll use some of the time to write this blog that I would have wasted playing let's-try-to-fix-the-Alienware-computer-again. The rest, I'll spend getting real work done.

=============

A Preliminary Note

I am allowing comments on my postings (at least for now). I will remove obvious spams and comments that appear to me, in a quick review, to be foul or abusive or otherwise outrageous. But beyond that, I have no way to check the assertions people will make in their comments. I am not soliciting these comments. I do not endorse them or attest to their accuracy. They are the words of the people who wrote them, and if you, dear reader, decide that you want to sue someone for libel or copyright infringement based on that person's comments, please oh please, sue them and not me.