Dell can't ship Alienware PCs to certain US states due to newly adopted power consumption...

[Shawn Knight]

Facepalm: Interested in a new gaming PC from Dell’s Alienware brand but happen to reside in one of half a dozen states with strict energy efficiency rules? Well, you’re out of luck, as recently adopted laws are now preventing the company from shipping select configurations to customers in six states.

Per the new rules, Dell is unable to ship select configurations of its Alienware Aurora R10 and R12 gaming desktops to residents of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont or Washington due to recently adopted power consumption regulations.

In a statement issued to The Register, a Dell representative said the California ban was “driven by the California Energy Commission (CEC) Tier 2 implementation that defined a mandatory energy efficiency standard for PCs – including desktops, AIOs and mobile gaming systems.”

According to the Dell rep, the new regulations went into effect on July 1, 2021.

As The Register further highlights, additional regulations are in the pipeline. Starting December 9, 2021, Tier 2 requirements will be expanded to include “computers with high-speed networking capability, multi-screen notebooks, notebooks with cyclical behavior, and monitors with high refresh rates.”

Tom's Hardware notes that the new standards do not encompass DIY PCs, meaning enthusiasts are still free to build whatever system their heart desires (and wallet can accommodate).

It’s unclear if any other manufacturers are currently being affected by the change. A spokesperson for Acer told The Register that they are looking into the matter. HP didn’t reply to a request for comment before the story went live.

We’ll keep our ears open and report back if we hear of any other manufacturers being hit with similar shipping bans.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90575-dell-cant-ship-alienware-pcs-certain-us-states.html

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

Would you look at that... Blue States. I wish I can say I was surprised.

 

[trparky]

Would you look at that... Blue States. I wish I can say I was surprised.

Yeah...

 

[psycros]

Would you look at that... Blue States. I wish I can say I was surprised.

Obviously they need to conserve all that power for the electric cars they'll soon be mandating.

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

Obviously they need to conserve all that power for the electric cars they'll soon be mandating.

The irony huh LOL

 

[GeforcerFX]

The real irony is 3 of those states produce a crapton of electricity and are the easy hot beds for non-hydrocarbon fueled energy.

 

[bviktor]

About friggin time. This madness needs to stop. Back in the day high end GPUs consumed around 40 watts, now we're at 350. Same goes to CPUs.

 

[Lew Zealand]

About friggin time. This madness needs to stop. Back in the day high end GPUs consumed around 40 watts, now we're at 350. Same goes to CPUs.

All cars should have 25HP engines. TVs should be 19" or smaller. Houses 900sq ft, apartments 300 sq ft. Blah blah blah.

Or people could have choices.

 

[VitalyT]

Better off. You won't want to buy one after watching this...

And besides, the time has passed when good CPU-s and video cards were insanely expensive, so it made sense to buy an OEM machine for that reason.

I finished putting together my new desktop just one week ago, and here's the configuration that cost me 3,900 euro (about $4,600 usd):

(minus the monitor, which I had from before), also worth noting that 587 euro of that was for 8TB Samsung SSD, which you don't have to buy at all.

The system performs phenominally.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

These are the laws that Blue states decided were in YOUR best interest. You voted them in, now live with the results. Actions have consequences.

 

[Irata]

Better off. You won't want to buy one after watching this...

Yup, they‘re actually doing consumers a favor here.

Still wonder who‘d be stupid enough to buy an AMD based system from Dell. Heck, their Intel based systems are bad enough (there may be exceptions for top end SKU) and they‘re not even being financially incentivized to make them bad.

That said, in spite of the selective screen shots, Intel based Dell systems should be affected by the ban, as well.

The real irony is 3 of those states produce a crapton of electricity and are the easy hot beds for non-hydrocarbon fueled energy.

And they have world class power grids….(not excluding Texas here btw)

 

[Scrye74]

LOL!

By the time the electric car boondoggle is realized in these states, you won't be able to power a smart watch over power consumption concerns.

Elec cars require about 30kWh of charge per 100 miles. It takes roughly 1lb of coal to produce 1kWh. So 30lbs of coal for 100 miles in an elec car.

The average vehicle in the US gets 25mpg. 4 gallons to get 100 miles.

Hmmm, 30lbs of coal vs 4 gallons of gasoline (24.4lbs).

Oh, and the average home in the US uses 29kWh of elec per day. (without juicing up an elec car).

 

[sreams]

About friggin time. This madness needs to stop. Back in the day high end GPUs consumed around 40 watts, now we're at 350. Same goes to CPUs.

I'd love to see how well your 40W GPU handles modern games at modern resolutions...

 

[m4a4]

Sounds like something the EU would implement....

 

[Theinsanegamer]

LOL!

By the time the electric car boondoggle is realized in these states, you won't be able to power a smart watch over power consumption concerns.

Elec cars require about 30kWh of charge per 100 miles. It takes roughly 1lb of coal to produce 1kWh. So 30lbs of coal for 100 miles in an elec car.

The average vehicle in the US gets 25mpg. 4 gallons to get 100 miles.

Hmmm, 30lbs of coal vs 4 gallons of gasoline (24.4lbs).

Oh, and the average home in the US uses 29kWh of elec per day. (without juicing up an elec car).

Shhh.....didnt you know that math is a racist lie perpetuated by the white supremacist patriarchy? Just accept the pods and eat the bugs. Oh yeah, hope you didnt want a gaming computer to pass the time while we keep you locked in your homes to protect you from the Super Coof.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

Don’t be stupid. Everyone knows that all the electricity used to power your Tesla comes from windmills, solar panels and unicorns dancing on rainbows. That’s why they have a “0” carbon footprint.

 

[Jrfeimst2]

Good thing

LOL!

By the time the electric car boondoggle is realized in these states, you won't be able to power a smart watch over power consumption concerns.

Elec cars require about 30kWh of charge per 100 miles. It takes roughly 1lb of coal to produce 1kWh. So 30lbs of coal for 100 miles in an elec car.

The average vehicle in the US gets 25mpg. 4 gallons to get 100 miles.

Hmmm, 30lbs of coal vs 4 gallons of gasoline (24.4lbs).

Oh, and the average home in the US uses 29kWh of elec per day. (without juicing up an elec car).

Good thing I use solar energy.

 

[wiak]

Would you look at that... Blue States. I wish I can say I was surprised.

sounds like people might be getting much better (efficient) power supplies in those states due to the new regulations, politics aint eveything you know

 

[wiak]

Sounds like something the EU would implement....

I would think the eu already implemented something similar years ago

 

[p51d007]

Obviously they need to conserve all that power for the electric cars they'll soon be mandating.

Yeah, it's the dumbest thing around. Oh! Look at me! I drive an electric vehicle! I'm saving the planet! And most of the generated electricity (I'm using the USA because that is where I live) still comes from COAL plants. But they are building wind farms & solar. Yeah, but the electrical grid
is kind of maxed out as it is now. What do you think will happen, when all the gas powered goes to electric, say around 5-8pm when people get home? Big strain on the electrical grid.

 

[scavengerspc]

And most of the generated electricity (I'm using the USA because that is where I live) still comes from COAL plants.

Less than 20% of our power comes from coal. It was 40% just 6 years ago.

Coal power in the United States - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A Wiki link, with all sources and links to the facts.

Oh! Look at me! I drive an electric vehicle! I'm saving the planet!

They are not saving the planet. They are helping to save the planet.
There is no escaping the nut bags man. Some people are just so hung up on clean air and water. Real sickos. /s

Yeah, but the electrical grid
is kind of maxed out as it is now

Not even close. If 80% of all vehicles were electric it would lead to a total increase of 10-15% in electricity consumption. We already have an electrical infrastructure to support that.

Myth buster: Electric vehicles will overload the power grid | Virta

Some argue that EVs will make the grid unstable, which could mean hefty investments. Facts and data show why they are wrong.

www.virta.global

 

[Austinturner]

If anyone read the reg’s article, it seems that it is not based on power when in use, the regulation limits the power the system draws when not being used in idle/ sleep states. Basically to meet regulations it looks like a system shouldn’t be drawing much power when not in use (which is just wasting the customer’s money anyway).

But it looks like Techspot didn’t think that was important and people just want to complain that donkeys or elephants are better.
For the people talking about cars, the equivalent seems to be how much fuel it can burn while sitting in park.

 

[scavengerspc]

If anyone read the reg’s article, it seems that it is not based on power when in use, the regulation limits the power the system draws when not being used in idle/ sleep states. Basically to meet regulations it looks like a system shouldn’t be drawing much power when not in use (which is just wasting the customer’s money anyway).

But it looks like Techspot didn’t think that was important and people just want to complain that donkeys or elephants are better.

Things like that seem to be happening more and more lately.

 

[gamerk2]

And most of the generated electricity (I'm using the USA because that is where I live) still comes from COAL plants.

20% and falling rapidly. Because Coal is now significantly more expensive than all other forms of energy generations, sans nuclear. The majority of the grid is ALREADY renewables, yet the grid hasn't collapsed.

But they are building wind farms & solar. Yeah, but the electrical grid
is kind of maxed out as it is now. What do you think will happen, when all the gas powered goes to electric, say around 5-8pm when people get home? Big strain on the electrical grid.

Not true, given that entire countries have basically moved to renewable infrastructure without the grid falling apart. Nevermind that electric demand drops during night hours, or that there's significant supply of stored power/battery backups or other forms of energy generation to meet that demand.

 

[jpuroila]

If anyone read the reg’s article, it seems that it is not based on power when in use, the regulation limits the power the system draws when not being used in idle/ sleep states. Basically to meet regulations it looks like a system shouldn’t be drawing much power when not in use (which is just wasting the customer’s money anyway).

But it looks like Techspot didn’t think that was important and people just want to complain that donkeys or elephants are better.
For the people talking about cars, the equivalent seems to be how much fuel it can burn while sitting in park.

Yeah, talk about quality reporting. Far be it for a journalist to actually read the legislation in question or do any research beyond reading articles on other tech sites.