I too would encourage you to build your own - but it does take an interest and committment of time. In return you get a computer at much lower cost, which you can later upgrade at an even greater savings (less than half the cost of store bought if you reuse basic components like case, DVD, and PSU and upgrade only the the mobo, CPU, and RAM - the things that change). You also get personal satisfaction, a feeling of accomplishment, confidence in doing upgrades -after a total build changing out components is easy, and no bloatware. Off course you don't get a single point of contact to fix problems and will spend several days total by the time you configure the system, order and receive parts, and assembly and test the computer, and troubleshoot glitches, if any, along the way.
If you still want store bought - and it is the best option for most who do not want to invest the time - then from your list I would say that Alienware and Falcon both have excellent reputations but are also about the most expensive computers you can buy - the other two I have not heard of.
I suggest also considering CyberPower PC. The let you configure your own system using quality components and the prices are reasonable. You should be able to get a top flight system from them for under $1500 - depending on your requirements off course.
You can go there and "look around" or tell us your requirements and I will be glad to help you configure a system. If you choose the later, please first go to the forum for Hardware/Home Built Systems/New System Build and read the stickee posted at the top that describes how to best define your requirements so others can help. Then post that info on this forum and we can help. Or if you choose, post it on the New Sysem Build forum as the component selection process is similar to configuring a home built - you just have a liimited range of options with CyberPower - but a good range of options for quality components that you will see are exactly like those being recommended for BYO systems.
Message edited by rockyjohn on 11-10-2009 at 07:16:02 AM
Falcon isn't a bad brand from what I have read about them. However, like others are saying, you should definitely look into building your own. You can have all the features in one of the above-mentioned brands for half the cost. Tom's is a great place to start to learn about building your own machine, i.e. tons of supports and tutorials.
-------------------------------Kevin
Desktop: Q9400(stock,lapped,SpinTechQ)/Intel DP43TF/VTEK 4850(512)/8GB DDR2 800Mhz/X-Fi Titanium Pro/Liteon BD-ROM/Velociraptor/Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Laptop: Little Toshiba Satellite (M305)/T6400/4GB DDR2 800Mhz/Windows 7 RC 64-bit (for now
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