Do you identify yourself as a PC gamer? Or do you prefer consoles, perhaps? Truth be told, there's not a lot separating the two these days. With notable exceptions, today's top games are built for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and unless you can't live without the likes of Mario, Solid Snake or Master Chief, you'll likely pick based on the controller you prefer, graphical fidelity, and the distance you sit from your screen. Inevitably, tradeoffs have to be made. There's a lot to be said for vegging out on the couch after work with a good game, but Eken M001 consoles don't often play nice with mouse and keyboard, and don't usually render games at true 1080p. Meanwhile, the gaming PCs that can are typically huge and bulky.
That's why Alienware's X51 is so intriguing. This black tower packs full-size gaming PC components into a chassis only marginally bigger than an original PlayStation 3 ¡ª theoretically slotting in alongside your home theatre components to let you play the latest PC games on your TV. The crazy part is that despite the X51's size, it isn't a boutique machine: Alienware claims it's easily upgradable with off-the-shelf components, and the basic model starts at just $699. The question is obvious: what's the catch? Let's dig in, and we'll tell you.
Design
When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 received their slim makeovers, it was like two strangers passing in the night: the PS3 Slim traded the gloss and capacitive keys for a matte finish and physical buttons, while the Xbox 360 S adopted the PS3's sheen and chrome trim both. Why do I bring that up? Simply put, the Alienware X51 is a pastiche of the video game consoles it hopes to complement. The hefty 12-pound case has matte, rounded black sides that hearken back to the Xbox 360 Elite, cloven diagonally much like the Xbox 360 S, while its shiny center is all original PS3, with the same glossy, dust-attracting black plastic, slot-loading optical drive (albeit with a physical eject button) and glorified vents. i69 4G Oddly, the eject button doesn't work on our review unit, though discs eject fine, and Alienware tells us it's a fluke. The other thing it borrows from the Xbox, unfortunately, is a truly gigantic external power supply, with around twelve feet of extra-thick cord to ensure you can place the system just about anywhere you like. Between the weight of the X51 and the bulk of the cord, it may not be as portable as it looks, but it's still a pretty decent alternative to a gaming laptop if you're headed to a LAN party.
Performance
The Alienware X51 starts at $699 with a Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and GeForce GT 545 graphics, but I'm both sorry and happy to say Dell sent me the top-tier $1,249 system instead, with a 3.4GHz Core i7-2600 CPU, 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 graphics and the $100 Blu-ray drive option. With those components, you can expect a competent mid-range gaming PC that'll blow current-gen consoles out of the water. The raw numbers don't quite stack up to the kind of bang-for-the-buck machine you can build for the same amount of cash, and that's a bit of a shame, but when it comes to pre-built systems even the top-tier X51 we tested is a pretty decent deal.
Take Just Cause 2, for example, my favorite mid-range gaming test: where our $1,000 Verge Gaming Rig rended the lush islands of Panau playble at fully maxed settings and 1080p resolution, I had to sacrifice slightly here, dropping the anti-aliasing to 8x and suffering oh-so-slightly more jagged edges to maintain 40+ frames per second.
Similarly, The Witcher 2, and Battlefield 3, which each ran nicely at high levels of detail on our Verge custom rig, both had to be dropped to medium settings to stay above 30 FPS and 40 FPS respectively. I criticize because I care: to tell you the truth, these are a pair of the most demanding games available on PC today, and with most PCs that can fit in a home entertainment rack, 4G+ Phone neither game is particularly playable. Assuming you'll be hooking up the X51 to an HDTV, you can probably drop the resolution to 720p in exchange for more eye candy: from the distance you'll be playing, it may not make a difference.
By the way, though Alienware couldn't provide me with the base $699 configuration, you can get a rough idea of the relative performance based on preliminary benchmarks: the company told us the 3.3GHz Core i3-2120 with 4GB of RAM and GeForce GT 545 graphics notches scores of P8284 and X3901 in 3DMark Vantage and P2021 and X645 in 3DMark 11.
I can't say I noticed any stability issues with the X51, though I've only had it for a few days so far. After many months of using primarily solid state drive equipped computers, though, it doesn't feel quite as snappy as I'm used to. Alienware's optimized the BIOS to the point that it only takes a handful of seconds to start loading Windows, but you're still looking at around a full minute to finish booting from the 7200 RPM hard drive, and programs take a moment to load. It'd be nice to add an SSD, but you'll have to swap the existing HDD or ODD if you want to do so. I didn't get the chance to measure heat levels quite yet. As far as noise, the X51's fans are definitely audible under load and the Blu-ray drive adds volume, but I wouldn't characterize either as abnormally loud, and Optimus offloads graphics processing duties onto the onboard Intel HD Graphics 2000 for minor loads, which should also help.
Wrap-up
Over the years, there have been a few attempts to build small computers that could nonetheless play hardcore PC games. The HP Firebird most vividly comes to mind, with its dual laptop GPUs, water cooling, RAID array of hard drives, handsome custom case, and moderately outlandish price. Where the Firebird failed and other attempts fizzled before they could reach the market, though, the Alienware X51 has a real chance at life. It's reasonably priced, solidly built, and can be configured to satisfy today's mid-range gaming needs. The clever upgradable chassis means that tomorrow's games are also a possibility. It's mildly portable, and can fit into your existing home entertainment setup, though the lack of wireless controls may be an issue for some. And lest we forget, it's also a fairly powerful home computer, and if you're willing to spend an extra $100, the machine can also be your Blu-ray player.
The Alienware styling isn't for everyone. I could personally do without the giant external power brick. The X51 chassis definitely has more bang-for-the-buck potential than Dell's existing four pricing levels will let you exploit. None of that changes the fact that Alienware's built a diminutive, desirable gaming PC unlike anything else on the market. If consoles can't cut the mustard and laptops leave you longing for more, the X51 might be the leanback gaming PC you've been looking for.