alienware posts

If you believe the hype, tablets are all the rage nowadays and the PC is slowly dying off (where have we heard that before?). So will your next gaming PC actually be a tablet-like device from, say, Alienware? IGN reports that's something that could be in the cards.

In a presentation to announced their new M14x and the upcoming M18x, the subject of a gaming PC tablet was brought up. Alienware VP Frank Azor said, "We're looking at all form factors and how we can provide value to gamers using all of the different factors. The answer isn't no, but it isn't also yes yet."

Making a portable PC-based device that's powerful enough to run most PC game is also the dream of Razer who have already introduced its Switchblade mobile PC device concept earlier this year. Alienware launched its 4.5 pound M11x gaming laptop in 2010 and have since upgraded it with more powerful processors and graphics cards.

As teased a few days ago, Alienware has now expanded its gaming PC laptop line with a new model, the Alienware M14x. This new 14 inch screen product is designed to be more powerful but not quite as light as the Alienware M11x, (launched in 2010) and lighter than the big desktop replacements the Alienware M15x and M17x (both launched in 2009).

The M14x, which weighs less than seven pounds and supposedly works with a decent six hours of battery life, is now on sale starting at $1,119. Another rumored laptop product, the massive Alienware M18x, has yet to go on sale.

It's looking like Dell's Alienware gaming PC unit is prepping for a major revamp of its gaming laptop line. An M14x laptop that is in the "just right" category of performance and weight was first revealed a few days ago. Now it looks like Alienware will release its biggest gaming PC laptop yet, the M18x.

According to our sister site Engadget, the laptop will have a huge 18.4 inch screen, an Intel i7 Extreme processor that can be overclocked to 4 Ghz, support for both Nvidia SLI or AMD Crossfire graphics set ups and up to 32 GB of RAM. There's no word on the weight or the price point for the M18x but we imagine both numbers will be on the high end.

At the moment if you want a gaming laptop from Dell's Alienware unit you had either a 4.5 pound M11x model or the desktop replacement M15x and M17x models that start at 9 pounds to choose from. Now our sister site Engadget has word that Alienware may be prepping for a launch of a "just right" gaming laptop.

The site got word of some online manuals for a previously unannounced M14x gaming laptop. According to the manuals, the 14 inch screen based laptop will be powered by Nvidia's new GT555M graphics chip and an 8-cell battery. More importantly the laptop's weight is 6.35 pounds, making this laptop much more portable than the M15x and M17x. There's no word on when this new model will go on sale nor any word on pricing.

Last year at CES, Dell's Alienware unit surprised the crowd with the launch of the M11x gaming PC laptop, a very small notebook that could still handle games. Today the Alienware announcements from Dell were not as exciting but still packed a punch, especially with the new version of the M17x laptop.

This 17-inch "desktop replacement" notebook is the first one in the Alienware lineup to support 3D graphics, along with new and more powerful options for both graphics and processors. Also the MircoATX form factor based Aurora desktop has gotten its own upgrades with support for Intel's new Core processors, new liquid cooling for the processors and more. The new versions of the M17x and the Aurora will be available for sale on January 10.

The founder of a well-know gaming PC maker has now got himself a new job. Rahul Sood, the founder of VoodooPC, announced this week on his official web site has now joined Microsoft as the general manager of "System Experience in the Interactive Entertainment Business." If you are wondering what that means, Sood doesn't give us much more saying, "I'll be working on some really....really...really cool stuff come January 2011."

Sood founded VoodooPC in 1991 and in the late 1990s and early 2000s began gaining a foothold in the gaming PC market thanks to its well designed systems. In 2006, VoodooPC was bought by HP. However the marriage between the two companies didn't seem to work with HP releasing only a few new VoodooPC products since the merger. HP no longer sells PCs with the VoodooPC label.

[Via Engadget]

As 2010 draws to a close, we look back and marvel at how far PC gaming has come over the past decade. The start of the new millennium brought technology and trends that will resonate for years to come. So we take this opportunity to examine some of those technology trends and see how they might grow over or fizzle out over the next ten years. Here are our predictions of what PC gaming might look like in 2020.

While Black Friday and indeed the entire holiday shopping season is in full swing, PC gamers live not just by the games they play but the PC gaming rigs, controllers and other hardware set-ups they play their games on. We've already given you our list of PC games to gift for the holidays but now we have another list featuring various PC hardware rigs and other items that your PC gamer might love to get.

The items here range from the reasonably priced to stuff that's, well, something to perhaps dream about getting this year (or if you win the lottery or have a rich uncle). We have full PC game rigs to tell you about today along with some other items like PC gaming mice, keyboards and more. As always be sure to shop around and ask your potential holiday gift target what he or she wants beforehand.

Earlier this month we reported that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick would like to see more gaming PCs hooked up to televisions. There have been a number of attempts to bring PCs into the living room but with limited success so far.

But is Dell's Alienware unit planning to launch a gaming-themed TV-based PC? The Alienware Arena community site has a quote from Alienware project manager Bryan de Zayas on that matter. While he would not admit directly to such a product being in the works he did state, "I can assure you that Alienware is constantly looking into new concepts all the time and asking ourselves if this the right time to pursue specific form factors..." Considering that this quote is posted on an Alienware-run web site it's possible that Alienware is hinting strongly that such a project may be in the works.

Dell's Alienware unit has gotten lots of great reviews, including one here at Big Download, for their M11x laptop. Today Alienware has revealed two big upgrades to the M11x that are being included as options. First, the M11x now has options to put in an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor in addition to the previous Core 2 Duo processor. Putting in either the i5 or i7 processor will naturally raise the starting price of the notebook although we have been told that the i5 processor still keeps the m11x at below $1,000.

The other major update is Nvidia Optimus, the new technology that will allow people who use the M11x laptop to switch between the integrated graphics and the laptop's Nvidia GT 335M graphics chip automatically if they are playing, say, Left 4 Dead 2. Previously switching between the two was done manually by hitting the F6 button.