It’s played at 1080p, high res textures, 4x anisotropic filtering and medium level anti-aliasing. The X51 delivers something that’s ”never been done before”, say Alienware.
It’s a ”small form factor” PC for those without space or wallets for bigger or higher end machines. Until now you either had a ”nice-looking small form factor PC,” or a large rig.
”It’s taking enthusiast-class PC gaming and putting it in a small form factor. This is something that has never been done before; there’s no other small form factor PCs out there that offer any sort of a significant gaming experience,” said Eoin Leyden, Alienware senior product manager.
”We’re constantly pushing it; pushing the boundaries. We’re certainly exploring new avenues all the time. I certainly wouldn’t say innovation has stopped or anything like that.”
The desktop PC business has been shrinking and so Alienware were forced to respond with the X51, although the higher end PC market has been ”growing” noted the company. ”Somebody going into a store today looking for a PC basically has to make a choice,” continued Leyden.
”You either have a nice-looking small form factor PC, or you get a gaming PC. And you can’t have both because it doesn’t exist - there is no small form factor PC that offers any sort of good gaming experience.”
”And that, basically, is where X51 came from.”
The technical specifications are quite ranged for the little X51. It can boast an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 class CPU. A 16GB Nvidia GeForce GT 545 or GTX 555 can add to the muscle. RAM ranges from 4GB, 6GB or 8GB DDR3 with a healthy sized 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive. It sports a DVD writer, 7.1 surround sound and 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless.
It comes with HDMI output, RJ-45 for networking, 4x USB 2.0 ports, 2x USB 3.0 as well as surround sound speaker ports. ”It’s really knocking on some pretty serious limitations at this point,” he said, referring to size. ”To get smaller you have to start compromising … And the core thing for Alienware is we’re not willing to trade on performance.”
”The Alienware name carries a reputation for gaming performance. Compromise to a half-height graphics card, and those minimum frame-rates might drop to below-20s. That is not playable in our view. That would not be an acceptable trade-off.” This is just the beginning for Alienware’s new line of small form factor PCs, believes Leyden.
Does the Alienware X51 appeal to your gamer wallet? The cheapest X51 model is priced at £699, with the stepped-up iteration clocking £999 at the checkout but offering a significant boost. Check out the official website.
