Hello,
I am considering purchasing a laptop computer from the high
performance computer company "Alienware". The laptop I am considering
is at this site: http://www.alienware.com/main/system_pages/area51-m.asp

After a little research on the internet, I have read some rumors that
alienware does not make thier own laptops, but purchases them from a
company called "Clevo". "Clevo" supposedly sells their laptops to both
Alienware and Sager. I read this at this site:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/Name_Brand.php3

Alienware sells the laptop for about $2600. So my question is, is this
rumor true? Can I find somewhere else to purchase the same laptop at,
without the Alienware namebrand at perhaps a cheaper price? Thanks!

Hello thenaturalplayboy,

Yes, it's true that many laptop vendors sell rebranded laptops that
are purchased from other manufacturers.  While researching this
question, I found a number of references that suggest that the Clevo
manufactures laptops that are sold by Sager, Alienware, and others. 
The following Usenet newsgroup discussion thread (as indexed from
Google Groups) is particularly relevant:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=66e0fb4b.0207101953.5d7b474%40posting.google.com

You can see from the postings that not only is it general knowledge
that Clevo manufactures these laptops, but that Clevo models are
rebranded and sold by a number of companies.  In your case, the
Alienware Area 51-M is the same as the Sager 5660 (both of which are
rebranded Clevo models).

Clevo's website can be found here: http://www.clevo.com.tw/

On their home page, near the bottom, you can see that they even link
to a MaximumPC article reviewing the Alienware Area 51-M system. 
(Alienware sells other Clevo models too.)

The Usenet posting above includes a number of leads for vendors of
Clevo laptops.  You might also want to check ProStar, another Clevo
reseller:  http://www.pro-star.com/

So, to sum up, the answer is YES, Alienware's Area 51-M is actually
manufactured by Clevo, and YES, you can find vendors selling
essentially the same laptops for quite a bit cheaper.

I hope this fully answers your question.  Should you have any
questions about any of the above, please don't hesitate to post a
Request for Clarification prior to rating.

Thanks,
duncan2-ga

SEARCH STRATEGY
I used Google Groups to search for combinations of the terms Alienware
and Clevo
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=clevo+alienware&btnG=Google+Search

I also performed similar searches with the Google search engine to
find reviews and manufacturer websites.

duncan2-ga,
Thanks for the awesome answer, and you saved me quite a bit of money. Take care!

Good article, duncan2-ga!  After reading this I did some research on
Google and found a Clevo reseller that focuses on selling the same
hardware as Alienware but for less cost.  I found them at
http://www.Alienware-Exposed.com 

After chatting with the live chat support on their site, these guys
are focused on making high performance gaming laptops.  They know a
ton about Alienware and Clevo.  At first I thought they only offered
one Clevo laptop but I found more on their laptops page at
http://www.alienware-exposed.com/alienware_laptop.html

From what I have seen on their site versus the Alienware website it
looks like you can save from $500 to $1000 by buying a Clevo
manufactured laptop through them instead of through Alienware.  Of
course, it will not have the Alienware logo on it which is pretty cool
looking.

I have an Alienware laptop, myself, and it has worked fine for me but
I spent almost $5000 on it.  After seeing the prices on these other
sites, I feel like I could have gotten two laptops from the same
original manufacturer as my Alienware for the price I paid for one at
Alienware.  I guess I'm paying for the ego stroke of having an
Alienware (which is nice, but not quite worth the extra dough).

Thanks for the answer.  It's nice to know that there is an less
expensive option for what seems to be the same hardware when buying a
high performance laptop.

Yes, he did give me good advise. I ended up buying a clevo laptop
(made by Sager). The price is very good & I got the same thing I would
have gotten at Alienware. Here is the link to the place I bought it
from: www.pctorque.com