Was it circa 2006? I got a m5750 with x1800 gpu and it died in a year, however, I've had a m11x r2 that has lasted for many years, and is now used simply as a steam box for the living room.
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OS Neutral Anyone considering the Alienware Alpha?
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Was it circa 2006? I got a m5750 with x1800 gpu and it died in a year, however, I've had a m11x r2 that has lasted for many years, and is now used simply as a steam box for the living room.
It releases tomorrow, and here's some early press on it. Very positive, and I'm giddy with excitement. Yeah, I'm 46, but I don't have to act like it! 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/11/20/alienware-alpha-first-impressions-and-gaming-benchmarks/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/11/20/alienware-alpha-first-impressions-and-gaming-benchmarks/
I got it. It took about 20 minutes to set it up and get to Steam Big Picture. It's busy downloading, and probably will be through the night. It's small. Shockingly small. Set two DVD cases side by side. It takes up less room than that. It's been running for three hours now, still cool to the touch. I'll get some benchmarks up after I get some time to test some games on it.
Yes!!!!!!!!
Yes!!!!!!!!
As it sits right now the GPU, derivative of the 2 GB GeForce GTX 860M, has too small a frame buffer and not enough bandwidth to make it viable as a dedicated gaming system. If it had a 3 GB GTX 870M or 970M, then IMO, it would merit more serious consideration.
Saw that upgrading the CPU and ram are super quick. So could order the base system and just upgrade to the i7 or i5 down the way right? Also upgrade the ram.
(GPU is not upgradable)
Can't wait to getting around to grabbing this for a easy solution for the few PC games I want to get that don't come to OS X. (Well at least the ones that take forever and I want to play now.)
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I am very interested on hearing some tests done on some games for it.
(GPU is not upgradable)
Can't wait to getting around to grabbing this for a easy solution for the few PC games I want to get that don't come to OS X. (Well at least the ones that take forever and I want to play now.)
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I am very interested on hearing some tests done on some games for it.
Been really busy at work and with family, so haven't really had a chance to dig in and get some results. I have the top tier, the i7 model. Some impressions:
Launched Borderlands 2. Maxed out settings. Don't know what framerate is, but I have never seen graphics this smooth before. In my life. I am used to underpowered PCs, a few Macs, and an Xbox 360. Graphics are super sharp, detailed, and fluid.
Tomb Raider. Maxed out, ultimate settings, TressFX. Ran benchmark. got 52 FPS. Didn't really like the way the hair looked, turned TressFX off. 60FPS. Incredible.
Skyrim looks amazing, no pop-in, super fluid, shadows are realistic, still no mods installed.
At this point I am super happy with my purchase. I will mod up Skyrim and figure out how to get FPS on that, and Borderlands 2 (those two games are my favorites).
Also, looking forward to trying Bioshock Infinite, and getting a framecount on that.
Probably not going to be able to dig into this thing until after Thanksgiving.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
Launched Borderlands 2. Maxed out settings. Don't know what framerate is, but I have never seen graphics this smooth before. In my life. I am used to underpowered PCs, a few Macs, and an Xbox 360. Graphics are super sharp, detailed, and fluid.
Tomb Raider. Maxed out, ultimate settings, TressFX. Ran benchmark. got 52 FPS. Didn't really like the way the hair looked, turned TressFX off. 60FPS. Incredible.
Skyrim looks amazing, no pop-in, super fluid, shadows are realistic, still no mods installed.
At this point I am super happy with my purchase. I will mod up Skyrim and figure out how to get FPS on that, and Borderlands 2 (those two games are my favorites).
Also, looking forward to trying Bioshock Infinite, and getting a framecount on that.
Probably not going to be able to dig into this thing until after Thanksgiving.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
Wow. I've gone from barely even considering this to really wanting one. If I were to go with the i7, and slap a decent SSD in there (that 5400RPM drive they've got in there by default is the weakest part of it), you'd have a helluva powerful PC in a super tiny package for just a little over $1000.
I'm gonna wait for some more first impressions before I make the plunge, but it looks promising.
I'm gonna wait for some more first impressions before I make the plunge, but it looks promising.
Are you using the AA with a TV, or a traditional computer monitor? Additionally, what audio options exist with the AA? Can you plug headphones into it if you wanted to? i.e; if you weren't using it in a living room, and on a sofa 10 feet away from the box itself.
Check out Digital Storm. When I built my computer, if I had decided not to build my own, Digital Storm had a model close to mine for $100 more than what I paid to build it, although I got an extra hard drive too.
I've done a good bit of research on this, and it does seem like a great buy. It's not the most powerful machine you can get for the price, but its the size of the thing is what interests me the most. I'm tired of futzing around with giant honking towers. I want something I can plop up on my desk, tidy up, and be done with it, and I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of performance to get there. Not too much, but I can accept some.
The Alpha looks like it does just that. It'll handle everything I throw at it, can be upgraded to 16GB ram if I need it, and it can play every game out with the settings jacked up to high at 1080p 30-60FPS.
My only complaint is that Dell uses a slow 5400RPM drive, and gives you absolutely no options to upgrade. But as it turns out, upgrading the drive is as easy as can be. I might buy a 250-500GB SSD alongside it, slap it in, and have the super fast desk saving mini-machine I've always wanted.
The Alpha looks like it does just that. It'll handle everything I throw at it, can be upgraded to 16GB ram if I need it, and it can play every game out with the settings jacked up to high at 1080p 30-60FPS.
My only complaint is that Dell uses a slow 5400RPM drive, and gives you absolutely no options to upgrade. But as it turns out, upgrading the drive is as easy as can be. I might buy a 250-500GB SSD alongside it, slap it in, and have the super fast desk saving mini-machine I've always wanted.
I would think you're better off custom building. Not to jump on the Alienware hate bandwagon but I've owned two that died shortly after the 1 year warranties. One was a desktop that just died during a battleground in WoW. The second one was same situation but a laptop and the thermal paste solidified so it overheated and died shortly after the 1 year.