Alienware X51: The Xbox With Teeth
by Dustin Sklavos on February 17, 2012 12:00 AM ESTConclusion: Gaming Made Fun Size
It's hard not to walk away from the Alienware X51 feeling at least a little impressed. While I have to wonder a why Dell and Alienware didn't opt to wait for Kepler and Ivy Bridge, at the same time we can probably be certain that a refresh with those technologies will be en route once they launch. In the meantime, Alienware has produced a system that wouldn't look at all out of place next to other gaming consoles or other home entertainment hardware.
What's inside counts just as much, though, if not more, and here Alienware again delivers. The internal design of the X51 is smart, consisting of standardized hardware that's assembled in such a way as to allow the end user a measure of freedom and configurability while also doing an excellent job of keeping the internals organized. More importantly, the system runs coolly and quietly. While the 150-watt limitation on the graphics card does hurt at least a little bit, 150-watt cards have been perfectly adequate for gaming at 1080p for a while now, and we're already on the eve of another refresh that should continue to push impressive performance into tighter and tighter thermal envelopes.
If we had to find fault with the X51, the glossy plastic front finish is definitely going to be prone to smudges (not to mention just looking cheap in general), and there's really no reason for the front USB ports not to be 3.0 capable. That front finish also seems to be at least a little bit on the fragile side. Understanding that SSDs are still on the expensive side, I also wish that Alienware had made an allowance for including a 2.5" drive inside the system; there should be at least a little space beneath the optical drive for one, and SSDs don't exactly throw off a lot of heat. Having to live with a single 3.5" hard drive really hampers performance and thus the user experience somewhat. An SSD doesn't need to be mandatory and it would drive the price up, but the option should exist.
Ultimately, though, the X51 is a heck of a product. It's essentially Alienware's "budget" PC, but it's also very capable, and the small form factor and low power consumption make it compelling in ways that transcend Alienware's target market. A visit to NewEgg reveals virtually nothing in the way of competition on price, either; only pre-built machines from CyberpowerPC compete, and those don't have the benefit of being small form factor, let alone everything else the X51 brings to the table. Were it not for the quibbles with the finish and connectivity, the X51 would be in the running for a silver or even gold Editor's Choice award. As it stands, though, it's certainly worth of a Bronze Editor's Choice Award and a place on the shortlist of anyone looking for a relatively inexpensive but powerful gaming desktop.
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Meaker10 - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
Xotic pc 16f2 barebone.Dustin Sklavos - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
Except a barebone doesn't come with a CPU, or hard drive bays, or memory.Dustin Sklavos - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
Er...or hard drives. Derp.Meaker10 - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
This is a customised barebone, so the price includes a dual core CPU, 8GB of ram, HDD, wireless and OS.It would also ship with brackets for a second HDD.
Plus it supports raid.
kasakka - Sunday, February 19, 2012 - link
The mobile graphics chips are nowhere close to the speed of their desktop counterparts. A GTX460M or whatever they've rebranded it as 5xx is about the same as a desktop GTX260, a several years old GPU.Personally I'd love to see more gaming PCs like this, but simply ditch the optical drive for more space so a bigger PSU, graphics card and cooler can fit in.
Death666Angel - Sunday, February 19, 2012 - link
This thing has no PSU inside the case, so ditching the ODD would not give you more space for the PSU and without a bigger PSU you can't have a beefier GPU.Mark_Hughes - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
I like this system, If I where looking right now this would certainly be high on my list, I normally use laptops, but one of my laptops hardly ever moves from the desk, this would make a great replacement when the time comes.Swirlser - Friday, February 17, 2012 - link
Congrats to Dell on once again messing up and being blinded by its continuing race to the bottom.As if it wasnt bad enough a few years back when they bought Alienware and began pegging their XPS against it and now have taken what little was left of the BRAND and killed it with this bargain basement offering, quintessentially the opposite of what Alienware *was* about.
Im embarrassed that once upon a time I bought an Alienware, it cost 5,100 euro (monitor not incl). It was without a doubt the worst purchase Ive ever made, Ive had rather expensive cars experience less depreciation than that did! In the 6 weeks it took to deliver it, a dual core version of what I bought had come out (that'll give an idea how long ago it was). While money isnt particularly an issue and whether you like it or not, theres always something better around the corner, it still stung that before I even opened the box it was outdated. Fine, that was my own fault for not doing more research - in fact I did none. So my bad on that! BUT, even ignoring that, it was still a stupidly overpriced box that within a year I was itching for an upgrade.
Thankfully, I've since seen the light. I have done the lego route on my last 4ish rigs and its been a joy. Forget the cheaper price tag, just being able to hand pick each part, incl the case, the motherboard, the ram (none of which you get control over with an Alienware). Heck last time I checked they did away with picking a colour scheme (cba to check if its back or not).
Dell have a bargin basement brand already, its called Dell. A shrinking niche market the Alienware brand may have been, but it *was* that - a brand. Not anymore.
KitsuneKnight - Saturday, February 18, 2012 - link
Are you seriously lamenting that Dell is making Alienware sell more reasonably priced machines in the same post as you tell us the wonderful story of how the "worst purchase [you've] ever made" was a 5,100 euro Alienware machine that was an overpriced piece of junk, and outdated by the time you opened the box?Um... what?
seapeople - Saturday, February 18, 2012 - link
I was talking to a guy at work once who had just built his first new computer and I asked him why he didn't just get one from Dell, since you don't save all that much money. He used the argument about how great it is that you can pick each an every single component, whatever motherboard you want, the CPU, ram, etc...I then asked him "Oh, ok.. what CPU did you get?"
His response was "Um, I don't remember. I think it was Intel something or other. It was a quad core I'm pretty sure." (He had just finished building it about a week before)
So I said, "You mean, like a Q6600? Did you overclock it?"
"I... I just don't remember. Overclock? What's that?"
Then he went on to tell me how his computer kept crashing every few minutes, but he didn't know what to do so he just used it like that. It's people like you that lead poor, unknowledgeable saps like this astray.