Alienware refreshes its X51 desktop and laptops in time for PAX Prime

Alienware is launching a refresh of its Alienware X51 desktop computer and three new laptops with 4K performance. The machines carry the signature alien logo and are aimed squarely at gamers.

These new 4K-capable machines are likely to run the new Intel Skylake central processing unit, but those chips aren’t formally announced yet. So Alienware can’t say exactly what the pricing will be just yet for machines that use Skylake. The introduction is one of many fall refreshes that the industry will launch at the PAX Prime fan event in Seattle from August 28 to August 31. Alienware sees the X51 desktop as a machine that you can easily carry to events such as LAN parties.

“This is about having the perfect combination of performance, size, and price,” said Eddie Goyanes, product marketing manager at Dell’s Alienware division.

Starting today, the machines are available with older Haswell-based Intel processors and DDR3 memory. As soon as Intel ships Skylake, the machines will be available with the upgraded processors and DDR4 memory chips.

Alienware launched its original X51 desktop three and a half years ago for $700 and up. The new machine will have virtually the same chassis and the same starting price. But it will feature a connector for the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, a $300, separately sold accessory that can add the performance of another graphics card to the computer. It also has a custom liquid-cooling module, and universal serial bus (USB) 3.1 ports. It also has a PCIe solid state drive to speed application loading.

“We made the liquid cooling special for this machine,” Goyanes said.

The X51 ships at the end of September around the world at $700-plus. Skylake-based machines will likely start at $1,100. With Skylake, it will be a lot easier to overclock the processor, or run it at higher than factory-recommended speeds. That’s becoming increasingly important for gamers, Goyanes said. The X51 will also feature the Nvidia GTX 960 graphics.

With Skylake, the machine will work with DDR4 memory, and with the graphics amplifier, you’ll be able to connect an Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X to the machine. All of those features can drastically improve gaming performance.

Meanwhile, Alienware is launching its new 13, 15, and 17-inch laptops. And for a limited time, it will also offer its Alienware 18 laptop. The new machines are likely to feature Skylake processors with dynamic overclocking capabilities. Each notebook includes USB Type-C ports for USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 technology support. They will also have PCIe SSD technology and Killer Wireless-AC 1535 and Killer E2400 High-Performance Gigabit Ethernet controllers.

All of these notebooks will also ship Windows 10 and will also support Windows 8.1. They’re also all capable of running UltraHD 4K graphics when connected to an Alienware Graphics Amplifier with another graphics card. Battery life isn’t published yet, but it could be about six hours for the biggest laptops and eight hours for the smallest. The Alienware 15 is configurable with AMD Radeon R9 M395X graphics.

“What we keep hearing from gamers is that they want wired Internet,” Goyanes said.

Lastly, Dell said it will launch a Dell 27 gaming monitor, available for $800 on October 20. A curved Dell 27 monitor will be available for $400 starting September 15.