http://www.alienware.com/landings/alpha/?ST=alienware%20alpha&dgc=ST&cid=283812&lid=5419212&acd=123098073120560

(I know this isn't brand new news but besides seeing it displayed at my local Walmart next to the PS4, I've heard nothing about this.)

Any gamer knows that Alienware is known for its "quality" PCs and laptops. I only say this with the word "quality" being completely interchangeable. There was a time when the Alienware brand was recognized as the best pre-built gaming PC money could buy. Along with that title came absolutely ridiculous prices. With the absurd pricing being one of the largest issues, more people than ever are building their own PCs. Gamers that build their own systems have much more benefits that included the ability to customize their rigs to their own preferences even down to the last part, and making them with a much higher and more desirable quality at half the cost and in some cases saving even more money. Gamers realized that when they purchased an Alienware product they were paying crazy prices for nothing more than the brand itself. Alienware quickly drifted off into being known as just false hope and severe lack of quality with gamers only remembering it for the cool Alien insignia with the glowing eyes.


So the Alienware Alpha system is built to play games from Steam. My first thought is that it's a pretty cool idea and fair option for gamers like myself that currently do not posses the money to build ourselves a high standard system. I brought this question here to ask the opinion of members with much more knowledge in the area.

Let me just conclude by saying I have absolutely no interest in buying this thing. I'm intrigued by what you guys think and what it could potentially offer gamers that prefer consoles over PCs, like myself. I'm not sure but it seems like it would make more sense just saving that money and putting it towards building a PC.

I didn't notice this until just now after my original post, but that thing is $500! Wow.

For some reason I thought it was near $200. That's why I didn't bother looking up the price. I have no idea what gaming PCs, laptops, parts and all that currently go for but I'm really curious what the average total comes to after building your own high standard system.

so, basically a Steam Machine? I heard Alienware was coming out with a Steam Machine shortly after the Steam OS was announced.. I dunno anyone who actually purchased one (or even that it was out yet)


I find the whole Steam Machine thing to be a poor route to go down personally... sure one of the potential selling points I see people say is "Hey, you can have the Console experience with PC games", which is not a valid argument since give me $100 to buy a few extension Cords, a wireless Keyboard & Mouse, and Potentially a Converter or two and I can hook up pretty much any modern PC to a HD TV to provide the "console experience" (A maybe a little more depending on what kind of gamepad they want)..

you don't need to spend thousands of Dollars for a decent PC gaming Machine like many people seem to think.. keep an eye on Sales, Mail in Rebates, and parts various Online retailers have on Clearance and you can potentially build a very good gaming machine for $700 or less.. and if you don't know how to assemble parts yourself, there are Numerous stores out there that will assemble them for you.. they will charge you maybe $50 - $80 labor, and possibly the price of anything you don't provide (most commonly Thermal Paste, but Thermal Paste is pretty cheap)..



Now, I know alot of people are (or, were the last time I heard them mentioned) excited about Steam Machines like the one you are talking about, and if they want to get one, hey great for them and i hope they get alot of fun and use out of them.. to me However, not worth the money they charge for one, as I could build a spec equivalent for cheaper..



Disclaimer: thats only my opinion.. not trying to be rude or Start an argument, just saying things as I personally see them

This is why I asked. Currently being soley a console gamer and not having been in the PC market since the early 00's I'm curious about your opinions.

I've never used Steam nor have I heard about this Steam machine until now, but $500 is a lot of money for a system that plays only games from Steam. Since I cannot confidently justify paying that much for this thing, especially with not fully understanding the benefits of Steam, I'll break this down into what I do understand. I bought my Xbox One in late November for $350 and it included two full digital copies of games with one of those games still retailed at $60. I tossed in the point of them being digital downloads because from what I know that is exactly what Steam is. I won't get into what is under the hood because that is where I am weakest in terms of information. I'm also not going to compare the Xbox to this Alpha thing because they both virtually offer different experiences but I just wanted to line them up next to each other.

As you eluded to, people can build great quality systems and keep it under a $1000 budget. You can find countless user videos of people going through the full process of where to buy parts and putting the pieces together and it usually tells you exactly what they paid in both time and labor. Also when you go that route you actually get the full benefits of PC gaming as opposed to just Steam. Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't one of the most desirable aspects of building your own machine being able to switch out and update parts with relative ease?