Just this week the Alienware Alpha PC gaming console released on the market starting at $549.99. At midnight tonight that price drops to $499.99 from eBay Powerseller “antonline”. They’ve got two configurations in stock with the first notable price drop ever.
- Alienware Alpha 1 Console is $499.99 (list $550)
Core i3-4130T, GeForce GTX 860M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD - Alienware Alpha 2 Console is $649.99 (list $700)
Core i3-4130T, GeForce GTX 860M, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD
Again, the discount goes live at Midnight Eastern on November 26th, or if you’re on the West coast it’s live at 9PM Pacific on November 25th. The seller has in stock 150 of each configuration at this discount price. Shipping is free in the continental US. Sales tax is charged by the seller only if you live in California or Georgia.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1614203,"post_type":"sponsored","post_chan":"sponsored","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"C"}']While originally conceived as a “Steam Machine”, the Alpha is shipping with Windows 8 since Valve did not have the Steam OS ready to go by its Summer 2014 deadline. The PC is controlled by your run of the mill Xbox 360 controller and not with a keyboard/mouse. While we have no idea how well it will do, certainly is a cheap way to enter the PC gaming market.
The Alienware Alpha is upgradeable, but only partially. The compact design is relatively easy to open by removing 4 phillips head screws, where you get access to all the components. Beefing up the RAM or swapping out the HDD for an SSD should be a breeze, but unfortunately the graphics card and CPU are both soldered into the motherboard and cannot be upgraded. While the graphics card is only a GeForce GTX 860M (a mobile graphics card) it’ll still pump out images far superior to an Xbox One.
Is the Alienware worth while at the $500 price point? Ultimately it’s up to each individual, but overall someone looking for a cheap way into the PC gaming world this isn’t a bad purchase by any means. At $500 it’s reasonably priced… for an Alienware product anyway.