Alienware and Razer Lead the Way on New Gaming PC Form Factors
Yuri Walkiw | January 19, 2012 at 3:43 PM 
The personal computing industry is constantly fighting the fact that their products are turning into a commodity. Success at retail has more to do with securing the right quantities of components for the right prices. Consumers just want the most powerful package for the cheapest price. Two gaming oriented companies, Dell's Alienware brand and Razer, are trying to buck the trend with some new untraditional PC form factors.
Up first is the newly announced Alienware X51. When you think of Alienware, you immediately picture massive gaming towers with overstated design features, as well as behemoth laptops that stretch the definition of portability. The X51 is a new product that promises admirable PC gaming specs in a game console form factor.
Everything about the X51 has been designed to make it an ideal gaming PC to use with your TV. It's about the same size as the original PS3 model, and its glossy black facade makes it look very similar as well. The relatively small PC can operate in a horizontal or vertical position, making it a perfect fit for a wide variety of entertainment set-ups. It outputs 3D 1080p video as well as 7.1 surround audio over HDMI 1.4, and an optional Blu-Ray drive can turn it into the center of your home theatre experience. The default $699US configuration isn't at all impressive, but it is still powerful enough to run modern games at 1080p resolution. The stock Core i3 can swapped for an i7 Sandy Bridge, complemented by an Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 and 8GB of RAM. It's still nowhere near the performance of the top of the line Alienware rigs, but it still screams for a compact PC that's under $1200US.
The Alienware X51 is the perfect shape and size for a home theater rack.The classic high build quality of Alienware is present in the X51. Yes, it does feature a set of LED lighting elements that can be programmed to change color. The small Alien emblem is even designed to rotate depending on which orientation the PC is being used in. Attention to detail is clearly Alienware's strong suit. I see the X51 as a perfect product for gamers that enjoy the comfort of their couch and the size of their TV, but prefer PC gaming over what the consoles have to offer. It is worth noting that games on the X51 will look significantly better than their Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts, mostly because they're able to run at full 1080p resolution. For people who are sick of the aging current-gen consoles, and are too impatient to wait for new ones to be announced, the X51 may be the perfect solution. Upgradeability is another bonus. It ships in early February.
Razer's coolest CES announcement is a lot further away from shipping, but is a far more ambitious project. Dubbed "Project Fiona", Razer describes this prototype as the world's first tablet designed specifically for PC gaming. Fiona will not rely on a streaming service like OnLive to make this level of portable gaming possible. Crammed into this 10-inch form factor are all the inner workings of a gaming laptop: the Intel Core i7 architecture, a discrete GPU, an SSD for storage and the Windows operating system. It is able to run high end PC games locally, on its own hardware.
Razer's "Project Fiona" aims to bring PC performance to the tablet market.
"Project Fiona" has a ton of advantages over other tablets. Having the DNA of a gaming laptop means that it will blow away the performance of any iOS or Android products. Basing it on the Windows OS means that Razer will never have to worry about publisher support. The tablet runs the exact same versions of games that any PC would. At CES, Razer was using Steam games to showcase the tablet. Razer is taking a large risk, and hoping that gamers won't be too put off by the disadvantages of "Project Fiona". The battery life is supposed to be "a little under two hours", and I'd imagine that it would generate a considerable amount of heat. There is no exact target for release as of yet, but I'd predict that the tablet will launch soon after Windows 8, either next holiday or early next year. The price point is supposed to be just under $1000.
Alienware, Gaming, PC, Razer, Steam, Technology, Video Games, Windows 
Reader Comments (1)
Battery life of under two hours is not great. Still it's cool to see gaming computers adapting their technology. Maingear is another company that has put together some top gaming computer desktops out there, it's definitely worth a look if you're interested in the stuff Alienware does. Here's their top gaming computer page.