My gaming rig is an Alienware box, I don't have the model handy. I'm not running anything other than Steam/SteamVR on it. My buddy bought the same setup and has the exact same issues I have and often txts me to find out how I fixed it on my setup.
This was not my experience at all with Alienware. I'll never buy anything from them again (yes I know they're part of Dell now)
Anyway, I maintain that this part of your experience is anecdotal and not representative of the general experience.