Wow.

[Roland]

If they continued on as competitors dell would have eventually moved into the Alienware market.

And died a horrible flaming death. Dell neither has the balls, brains, nor the RESPECT to compete in the Alienware + crowd (and Alienware is the mere tip of the iceberg; Falcon Northwest and VoodooPC both blow Alienware out of the water, on all fronts). THAT is why they bought them out. Dell has a solid reputation for churning out decent computers at reasonable prices. Where HP sticks to retail stores, Dell sticks strictly to their own wharehouses, and it's worked for them admirably, even if I'm not a huge fan of their products (nor their pricing, many times - I can actually build a great Sentia for hundreds less than an equally- or worse-equipped Dell laptop). Alienware has a reputation for solid product, but more importantly a very fresh look and feel (compared to the "assembly line" feeling of Dells). They have earned their respect in the high end market over the years, and that's something Dell would be very lucky to ever do.

The merger makes sense from a business point, from both of them (more Dell than Alienware), but IMHO it's just another "big corporation swallows the little independents" case, although Alienware is hardly a small independent these days. ;)

I may still buy an Alienware laptop someday, or I may just built my own. All depends on pricing and available options.