Dell drops the price on the Warcraft laptop
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 27th 2008 at 9:00PM
Just in case the original $5k was too much for you on that Dell Warcraft laptop deal, Dell has apparently dropped the price to a still pretty high $4k, or $3999. That's still more than our questionable pricing out of the laptop and all of the goodies that come with it, but then again, it is a sweet gaming-spec, Warcraft branded laptop -- can you really put a price on a paradise like that?
And yes, it still does come with all the old stuff, including Alliance or Horde branding, all the Warcraft software, and a bunch of other goodies including those beta keys that we still have no idea are for. Where Dell found $1000 to cut out of that deal we can't figure either, unless... you don't think they were just topping more than a cool grand of straight profit on this deal, were they? Sneaky moneymaking bastards!
Update: Apparently we now know where they got $1000 out of the deal --it doesn't come with all the extras any more. According to reader DevilStick, who chatted with a Dell sales rep, all it comes with is the mousepad and possibly a laptop bag. So the novels, the beta keys, and all of the books and other goodies were limited time only.
Update II: Dell themselves have contacted us with the news that the sales rep DevilStick chatted with was wrong: even at the lower price, it still does come with all the goodies. So if $5k was too much, but $4k is worth it to you to have "the ultimate Warcraft laptop," order away.
And yes, it still does come with all the old stuff, including Alliance or Horde branding, all the Warcraft software, and a bunch of other goodies including those beta keys that we still have no idea are for. Where Dell found $1000 to cut out of that deal we can't figure either, unless... you don't think they were just topping more than a cool grand of straight profit on this deal, were they? Sneaky moneymaking bastards!
Update: Apparently we now know where they got $1000 out of the deal --
Update II: Dell themselves have contacted us with the news that the sales rep DevilStick chatted with was wrong: even at the lower price, it still does come with all the goodies. So if $5k was too much, but $4k is worth it to you to have "the ultimate Warcraft laptop," order away.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Muu Mar 27th 2008 9:09PM
*cough*RIPOFF*cough*
breezer Mar 27th 2008 9:21PM
Word of warning from someone who just got done filing a complaint with the better business bureau about dell.
In the 2 years I've had my M170, I had the motherboard replaced within 2 weeks of receiving it, then had the whole laptop replaced. In the subsequent laptop, I've had the motherboard replaced 8 times. EIGHT.
Dell replaced faulty parts with the same faulty parts 9 times...
Dell lures you in with offering top of the line components at low prices. But the reason the price is low is that those high end components are held together with the cheapest pieces of junk possible. In my case, the computer was literally not designed to cope with the components it was built with. So the motherboard basically melts every 2 months.
They've had 15,000 complaints registered with the BBB in the past 36 months, and several class action lawsuits have been attempted (though there is something that completely protects Dell from responsilbility even though they knowingly build their computers with parts they know will fail).
DO NOT BUY A DELL LAPTOP.
Angry Joe Mar 27th 2008 11:07PM
Also, don't forget that Alienware=Dell.
Liel Mar 28th 2008 8:38AM
I have bought 1 Dell XPS1710 and a XPS 420 desktop and only had issues with the laptop once and they came out and replaced the video card.
Not sure who you were dealing with but they are supposed to replace the whole machine after the third failure and write it off as a lemon.
At my last job we had Dell Servers, laptops and desktops. Due to complaints with customer service outsourcing Dell switched their support back to US companies rather than India.
I had no problems with their customer support when ever I had to call in replacement parts for our machines.
Not sure where you got the 15K number I checked and it was 12465, which if you compared their market share on the home user market reflects appropriately since Gateway computers had almost 2,000 complaints in the same time period.
Sakerin Mar 28th 2008 10:30AM
Alienware doesn't equal Dell. Alienware is OWNED by Dell, but is still building computers with different components than the Dell computers.
Brian Mar 29th 2008 3:14AM
@ Liel: So does Dell pay well? You guys get good benefits?
As I've been dealing with Dell customer service the past few days. I think I know why they never replaced the whole laptop (a 3rd time) (which btw, I've never heard they were supposed to do that, not that it matters because they same faulty part would be in a new one), because they've conveniently lost all of my records before last July. They're not in India. They're not in Texas. Supervisors can't access them. According to them, my laptop has only been repaired twice. After 3 hours on the phone with them yesterday, Oh woops! They found a third time. In 2007. So between June-Dec. 2007, I had 3 new motherboards.
Oh, only 13k reports to the better business bureau in the past 36 months. That's not bad. Oh wait. Yes, yes it is.
Matt Mar 28th 2008 2:13PM
alienware uses alot of the same components...they will just use higher end ones on some products...the main problem with buying a dell or any name brand is the crap they put on your PC for no reason...just annoying...
Scrooge Mar 27th 2008 9:22PM
Hey, why does it show it as 2999.00 on the actual site?
Izbay Mar 27th 2008 9:32PM
they got sued again and need to make the money back fast! :O
Jay Mar 27th 2008 9:41PM
Lol... I like how the label on the picture above says "New low price"
If you really want a top of the range computer designed to play games specifically, first off you would not settle for a laptop for obvious reasons... and DELL?, the only reason someone would get one of these computers is purely because its for collection purposes, they have too much money or they won it.
ScytheNoire Mar 27th 2008 11:22PM
It's $2,999 for the Alliance one and $2,969 for the Horde one. Still not worth it, as it's a Dell, but hey, if someone really wants one, this price is more worth it than the previous ones.
Angry Joe Mar 28th 2008 9:30AM
Not only that, but the Horde one is actually better.
It has a better network card.
My guess is that the alliance laptop is selling less.
prudychick Mar 27th 2008 11:29PM
New Low Price: $4000. I might need a heal as I may have injured myself falling out of my chair laughing.
Ouka Mar 28th 2008 3:38PM
well im glad the price went down .. becuase im getting that in june ^.^
ThorinII Mar 28th 2008 9:06AM
I don't have a problem with Dell. I've had plenty of Dells on the job over the years. No more or less problems with them than any other brand.
BUT, this one is still WAY over priced!
Jason Mar 28th 2008 9:25AM
It's obviously not targeted at you guys. Sure it's overpriced for the hardware. But there are those people out there who are hardcore into wow and have the money and want a unique wow item.
If I was hardcore into WoW(which i'm not) and had the money(which I don't) I would buy it.
Naix Mar 28th 2008 9:29AM
$4 for a computer?!? I just built a bad a$$ rig for $1100
Abit ddr3 1333 fsb
p4 3.0 ghz duel core with 6mb of L2 cache
4 gigs of ram
512 meg sli video card
raid 0 WD 7200 rpm 16 meg cache hard drives
It rocks.
Kusa Mar 29th 2008 3:04AM
But can you take it to 6 different Starbucks within 2 hours without breaking you rback?
Matt Mar 28th 2008 2:18PM
GRATZ!! o.O... alot of it is the goodies that come with the damn pc tho...
DevilStick Apr 2nd 2008 2:38PM
It appears the laptop only includes a mouse pad and backpack now. I just contacted a sales rep since I didn't see anything in the product description.