Alienware makes good machines for the money. However, the only hardware advantage they have is in GPU’s.
You don’t buy Apple hardware to save money. If you want a fantastic notebook at a cost representative of what you are getting, Apple has it.
Isn’t the firewall issue retarded. I have students on an almost daily basis that “can’t connect to the wireless”. Most the time the firewall is on and when I turn it off it will pull an address. Sometimes though like you said…firewall on or off makes no difference and the prefs are jacked. Oh well…beats a backup and full restore from a rootkit and festering infection I suppose. 
I fucking hate rootkits they make my life a living hell
whelp bought a macbook pro today from best buy. I got a GREAT deal. $100 off student discount along with a $100 gift card. Put the gift card toward a go pro HD. It was like an early Xmas! 
:tup: doing the right thing
Don’t forget Microsoft’s discounted student stuff, like Office.