Dell Can’t Ship Majority of Alienware Gaming PCs to California, Colorado, and Other States Due to Power Consumption Regulations

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Alienware fans who are interested in getting their hands on a new prebuilt from parent company Dell might be out of luck depending on the state they’re in. As noted in practically every listing, Dell cannot ship the majority of its Alienware options to select states due to power consumption regulations that have been adopted by those areas. The states that are affected include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Only two Alienware configurations appear to comply with CEC power consumption regulations and can be shipped to all states: the Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 gaming desktop (AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with AMD Radeon RX 5600) and Aurora R12 gaming desktop (Intel Core i5-11400F with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER). These models cost $1,289.99 and $1,179.99, respectively...
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Almost every time I see something about California in the news, I come to hate the state just a bit more than I did the day before. What a **** hole. It's not even America anymore at this point.
 
While that is ****ty for people who want to order prebuilt systems in those states... I have some questions around this that I'm too lazy to actually research because I am not in those states.

1. If the systems are assembled in the states themselves do they have the same power consumption requirements?
2. Can you get around this by shipping the video card itself as a distinct line item to be installed by the end user or by an onsite visit from Dell?
3. Can system integrators build custom systems for end users that are local to them and sell to them even though they would bypass the power allotment allowed?
4. Are businesses allowed a different class of hardware power limits? I easily have servers I build that need dual 1100 watt power supply's just to run.

Ok now I'm going to read the article... I know bad reader!

Alright I've done a bit more research here and the requirements are NOT horrendous and only impact consumer devices, meaning Desktops and Laptops.

The vast majority of Laptops even gaming laptops are perfectly fine here. As they are generally consume far less than 30% of their max power draw when sitting idle.

The 'crime' here is that Desktop class computers are consuming greater than 50% of their rated max power draw when sitting just turned on. This should be a easy hurdle to overcome and one I for one actually would like to see.

Yes it sucks in the immediate future but really... wouldn't we all benefit from this. What this requirement isn't is draconian or forcing people to use sub standard systems... (as everyone seems to be reacting to it as.) But more a requirement to say. "Hey when you're not gaming and surfing for online video stimulation (ahem) maybe don't use near the same amount of power just to be turned on?"

I don't see the crime here... If someone can point this out to me it would be great.

It's the same as trucks and cars today that turn off when you're at a stoplight for more that a few seconds but auto start when you want to keep going. It saves on pollution output and keeps things green longer.


Oh and here is the article I found:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/14...y-efficiency-standards-california-first-in-us

Yes this has been known since 2016 as a coming 2021 requirement. This didn't catch Dell or anyone else flat footed. They should have known about this requirement since day well since December of 2016.
 
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Dan_D said:
Almost every time I see something about California in the news, I come to hate the state just a bit more than I did the day before. What a **** hole. It's not even America anymore at this point.
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A lot of people think Texas aint America anymore either.

And here in PA half the state thinks the other half are traitors and communists.

And some don't even need any reason at all to hate, as long as they are told what to hate.

Nothing personal Dan.
 
California sucks and Alienware is the "California" of pre-built computers. No one should ever buy an Alienware computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ulhFi5N2hc
 
Seems like all they need to do is turn on power management if idle draw is the issue. Nearly every price of modern hardware will idle in the single hdigit watts if you let it.
 
I happen to live in California.

I don’t necessarily take offense. There is a stark divide in the state. A lot of the urban areas, including the capital of Sacramento, tend toward more progressive regulation. That represents the majority of the population, but apart from Sacramento is pretty much just along the coast.

The vast majority of the geographic area is probably more conservative than even Texas — the mountain regions, the Central Valley, and the desert areas are a mix of libertarian and extreme conservative. The more libertarian of that group pretty much feel the State can pass whatever laws they want - they are far enough off the beaten path that they don’t worry about enforcement being brought to them. It’s only the conservatives that actually try to fight back against the progressives.

I find myself pretty squarely in the libertarian camp on most things — don’t screw with me and I won’t screw with you. A few things are unavoidable — state taxes, etc.. but most things coming from the State can be fairly well ignored.

Including if I should want to buy an Alienware… I’d just drive over to Nevada or have my brother take delivery in Michigan and ship it over if I really wanted one.
 
This could be a real issue if Alienware wasn't total crap anyway.
 
That's different. Fortunately here in Kansas, that isn't an issue, yet.

Probably can be counteracted with methane generator. Just need to figure out an inverter and proper placement for an outlet on the local livestock.

Probably could be adapted to work on transients.
 
Grimlakin said:
While that is ****ty for people who want to order prebuilt systems in those states... I have some questions around this that I'm too lazy to actually research because I am not in those states.

1. If the systems are assembled in the states themselves do they have the same power consumption requirements?
2. Can you get around this by shipping the video card itself as a distinct line item to be installed by the end user or by an onsite visit from Dell?
3. Can system integrators build custom systems for end users that are local to them and sell to them even though they would bypass the power allotment allowed?
4. Are businesses allowed a different class of hardware power limits? I easily have servers I build that need dual 1100 watt power supply's just to run.

Ok now I'm going to read the article... I know bad reader!

Alright I've done a bit more research here and the requirements are NOT horrendous and only impact consumer devices, meaning Desktops and Laptops.

The vast majority of Laptops even gaming laptops are perfectly fine here. As they are generally consume far less than 30% of their max power draw when sitting idle.

The 'crime' here is that Desktop class computers are consuming greater than 50% of their rated max power draw when sitting just turned on. This should be a easy hurdle to overcome and one I for one actually would like to see.

Yes it sucks in the immediate future but really... wouldn't we all benefit from this. What this requirement isn't is draconian or forcing people to use sub standard systems... (as everyone seems to be reacting to it as.) But more a requirement to say. "Hey when you're not gaming and surfing for online video stimulation (ahem) maybe don't use near the same amount of power just to be turned on?"

I don't see the crime here... If someone can point this out to me it would be great.

It's the same as trucks and cars today that turn off when you're at a stoplight for more that a few seconds but auto start when you want to keep going. It saves on pollution output and keeps things green longer.


Oh and here is the article I found:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/14...y-efficiency-standards-california-first-in-us

Yes this has been known since 2016 as a coming 2021 requirement. This didn't catch Dell or anyone else flat footed. They should have known about this requirement since day well since December of 2016.
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I totally agree with this post. I mind Dell selling crap power supplies with terrible standby power configurations than I do a few stats regulating it and basically calling them out on selling crap.

Despite my best efforts, I still occasionally have family / friends that buy junk mass market PCs. if this kind of thing saves them from buying the junkiest of junk, it will be beneficial to me in the long run.
 
Brian_B said:
I happen to live in California.

I don’t necessarily take offense. There is a stark divide in the state. A lot of the urban areas, including the capital of Sacramento, tend toward more progressive regulation. That represents the majority of the population, but apart from Sacramento is pretty much just along the coast.

The vast majority of the geographic area is probably more conservative than even Texas — the mountain regions, the Central Valley, and the desert areas are a mix of libertarian and extreme conservative. The more libertarian of that group pretty much feel the State can pass whatever laws they want - they are far enough off the beaten path that they don’t worry about enforcement being brought to them. It’s only the conservatives that actually try to fight back against the progressives.

I find myself pretty squarely in the libertarian camp on most things — don’t screw with me and I won’t screw with you. A few things are unavoidable — state taxes, etc.. but most things coming from the State can be fairly well ignored.

Including if I should want to buy an Alienware… I’d just drive over to Nevada or have my brother take delivery in Michigan and ship it over if I really wanted one.
Click to expand...

TLDR: The minority of the population that occupies the majority of the land love to complain about the state while reaping the benefits of living within said state.

Freeway or little gold slices to travel on private roads. Man, I just...cannot...tell... which would be more preferable...
 
rat said:
TLDR: The minority of the population that occupies the majority of the land love to complain about the state while reaping the benefits of living within said state.

Freeway or little gold slices to travel on private roads. Man, I just...cannot...tell... which would be more preferable...
Click to expand...
Not entirely inaccurate
 
Well this is some straight bullshit. Are you f*cking kidding me?!
Dan_D said:
Almost every time I see something about California in the news, I come to hate the state just a bit more than I did the day before. What a **** hole. It's not even America anymore at this point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this was pissing me off recently: https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a37022836/california-ecu-tune-during-smog-checks/

This was bullshit too, but I see the article was updated, and Porsche was able to somehow work something out with mule-headed California: https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a36741701/porsche-911-gt3-manual-fails-californias-noise-test/

Now if only we can get the EPA to stop being a bunch of @ssholes and going after tuner/performance parts shops, then we wouldn't need the f*cking RPM Act.
 
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