Alienware Launch

Sydney Australia, 29th of October 2009
By Ho Wong

Alienware and gamers have had a love affair of sorts ever since the computer manufacturer started producing machines with both enough style and enough grunt to keep even the hardest gamers happy.  Gamers were up in arms when Dell took over, fearing their beloved company will change but for the most part, things have stayed the same.  Alienware’s presence in Australia has been reasonably low profile and niche, but there now is a visible push from Dell in order to target not only the gamers but catch some of the public who would never have considered Alienware before.  Alienware are releasing five new products – the 15″ m15x laptop, a 17″ m17x laptop, the Area 51 desktop, the Area 51 ALX desktop and a 21″ monitor.  We take a brief first look at the offerings.

All the products exude Alienware style with bold lighting, polished metallic surfaces and edgy cases. (All except maybe the AU$399 21″ monitor, whose distinguishing feature is not its black rectangular look but its true 1080p). I won’t go too much into the specifications of the new laptops and desktops as these are available online but each sports impressive specs that  allows the gamer to squeeze some extra frames per seconds.

The new laptops (starting with the m15x from AU$2499) are stylish and are as much a fashion accessory as a piece of hardware. The metallic sheen of the cases and the lights (customisable through the control centre) which border the laptop and light the keyboard would even make Mac owners envious. One warning with the m17x laptop though: factor in a chiropractor’s bill as this is one heavy beast. The laptops also can optionally switch between discrete GPU and integrated video, discrete being a must for the portable gamer.  The m17x also has SLI GPUs as an option.

With the new desktops (starting with the Alienware Area 51 from AU$3699), Alienware has well and truly incorporated Dell’s customisability. The customisation of the desktops include components above and beyond those normally available to other companies, like HP, and this sets Alienware apart.  The basic models are beefier than run-of-the-mill desktops.  Gamers, though, will have no hesitation upgrading the hard disk in the basic Area 51 (It includes only 500G for a primary drive).  On the plus side, the option of a solid state is certainly welcome and is indicative of the type of customisation available. Alienware boast future-proofing and making these kind of options available go a long way towards this ambitious claim.

On price points, Alienware are now able to compete with better known offerings from HP and Sony.  Prices used to be only for the extreme gamer, extreme in monetary terms too but these new products don’t have this legacy – the prices of the models have dropped. A slight disappointment is the reasonably large discrepancy between the prices for US market and the Australian market which is difficult to explain away by shipping and the usual spiel about living in Australia.  For example, the Area 51 is priced from USD$1999 while in Australia, it’s priced from $3699. Why do we in Australia put up with paying so much more for things, even though the Aussie dollar is going so strong? 

Alienware have a difficult balance to uphold in order to not alienate their extreme gamers niche but for now, there’s enough to keep the core gamers happy and introduce Alienware to a new audience.