There has always been some sort of competition in the gaming world: console versus PC as a gaming platform: Xbox versus PlayStation for the console lovers, multiplayer versus single-player and the list can go on.
Alienware, however, one of the leading names in the gaming technology industry has decided to do a little spinoff from the top grade gaming desktops and laptops and come up with something completely new.
It’s not exactly a computer, but it’s not a console either. Or rather, you could say it’s both: it’s the Alienware Alpha.
Image Source: MaximumPc
Initial inspiration for the Alpha was undoubtedly the Steam Box initiative, an announced gaming platform to be developed by Valve until the company went completely quiet about it. The original Valve device was supposed to come with the innovative, much acclaimed Steam Controller and a Linux-based operating system meant to turn the Steam Box into a superior gaming experience, bringing all of your favorite Steam games to your wide screen television set.
So when Alienware decided to take it upon itself to deliver that which gamers all over the world craved, they scrapped the original Steam Box idea, and went to ship it with a Windows installed and an Xbox 360 controller.
Alienware Alpha: The Best of Both Worlds
So the Alienware Alpha is in essence, a small-sized desktop (around 20 x 20 x 5cm) that you can hook up to your TV and enjoy all of your regular Steam PC games on a wider display, and by using a regular Xbox controller.
The Alpha models start at $549.00 for a configuration with 4th Generation Intel Core i3 2.9 GHz Processor, 4 GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU 2GB GDDR5 video card for the cheapest and most modest version, ending at a maximum of $899.00. For that price you can get yourself a quad-core i7-4765T with 8 GB of RAM.
Image Source: StaticWorld
For a device that you can carry around even easier than you would a PS or Xbox, the power invested in it is astounding – by using a series of launchers and emulators, the Alienware Alpha manages to give you an experience almost identical to playing on a console but gives you a backup plan for when the power of a computer is needed.
For PC gamers, the Alienware Alpha may prove to be one of the best ideas ever developed – while the Xbox One and PlayStation are very powerful consoles that will render most new releases in terms of games in breathtaking sceneries and incredible effects, PCs simply have more games being released on a monthly basis with support and most games on PC end up giving off better graphical performance than consoles, anyway.
Say Hello to the Alienware Alpha ‘Hybrid’
While the Alpha was thought out of as a PC gaming console hybrid, at its basis it can be very well used just as you would any regular computer. Give up the Steam Big Picture and the Alpha basic UI and you’ll be dealing with a very familiar computer setup. Mouse and keyboard might be necessary for preliminary setup of the console AND in case of particular games that were developed both for mouse & keyboard and controller.
The upside that no emulators or setting up will be needed for the Xbox controller that you get with it. The first time you will be powering up your Alienware Alpha, you will be greeted by the Windows 8 layout that guides you through the initial setup phases. Only on second launch are you taken to the Alpha’s own UI that acts as a user-friendly bridge between the Windows component that makes the Alpha function and the rest of the device – more specifically the Steam implementation and optimization.
Image Source: OtakuGame
The Alpha’s UI does a really good job at protecting you from all the things that disrupt your gaming time on your regular computer – Windows processes, pop-up windows and everything else that might prove to be bothering or disruptive are completely turned off to mimic the gaming console experience. So far, the Alienware Alpha hasn’t given a particular amount of attention towards platforms other than Steam.
Origin games cannot be launched, in spite of downloading and installing working just fine, and developers claim that this is intended due to Origin’s Windows interface not being well-suited to life on a television screen. However, the Alpha is receiving constant updates nearly every month, leading us to believe that it is just a matter of time until we can enjoy the games on our other platforms as well.
Main Specifications
Although the Alienware Alpha could not compare to a full gaming desktop, but rather to your more powerful gaming laptop, it has a critical edge over them. While most laptops that we use for games leave little to no room for upgrades or even basic hardware replacements, the Alpha gives you a lot more space.
The Alienware Alpha’s standard LGA1150-socketed CPU can be upgraded, RAM memory can be completely swapped out for the two SO-DIMM slots and the hard drive is easily removed and replaced. The only note-worthy component that you will have to stick to until the very end is the graphic processing unit, which is slapped to the motherboard and will remain that way.
Image Source: Forbes
But the GPU really does not show signs of disappointment. Out of all the tests run on the Alpha in comparison to Xbox One and PS 4, even with a laptop-made, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M video card the rendering of most games tested scored positive in favor of the Alienware Alpha. Put side by side with the console counterparts, the lower end Alpha models did seem to fall a little behind on frames per second, occasionally recording slight hiccups in FPS or drops.
The Alpha has been gifted with 4 USB slots, two 2.0 on the front for your keyboard and mouse where necessary, and two 3.0 on the back, possibly to compliment the external storage, if the 500 GB of space you get for the lower end version and the 2 TB on the high-end is not enough space for you. Alongside the USBs, the console includes both HDMI in and out ports, similar to the Xbox One.
Gaming Experience Compared to PCs & Consoles
Looking at the Alienware Alpha from some perspectives, the device really does feel like it’s in its alpha stage of development. While the Origin concerns forcing you to switch to the Windows desktop in order to be able to install and run Electronics Arts games such as Titanfall and Crysis 3 are being addressed and patches are incoming every other week or month.
A lot of games seem to not be optimized for the way the Alpha works, forcing you to tinker around with the options and customizations until you actually manage to reach a satisfying display since PC games tend to assume you have less capable hardware than you actually do. Voice chat is definitely possible but still requires you to set it up from the Windows desktop – which, once again, requires a mouse and keyboard to operate.
Image Source: Best of Micro
Another aspect where the Alienware Alpha lacks is the fact that you cannot turn your system on from your couch. Until a fix in installed for this particular issue, Alienware recommended using sleep mode for the console, since it can be woken up by a simple press of a button on the connected controller. Some users, however, have reported issues with this backup plan, claiming their audio would be completely muted upon waking the system up.
There are a few other differences between the Alienware Alpha and its console counterparts still. Xbox One and PS4 offer Blu-eray drives, media apps, livestream for your games and more complex and varied ways of chatting with your friends – both in writing and in voice.
The Alpha cannot play movies in the console mode, has no optical drive, does get access to media as long as you install it in Windows mode but never directly from Steam. A direct live-streaming option from Steam Big Picture is not possible, but once again it can be done if you choose to do it via Twitch from Windows Mode, just like you would on your regular gaming desktop or laptop device.
Chatting has to go through the same “through Windows first” pass, really defining the “wannabe console” concept that still resides at the bottom of the Alienware Alpha.
Verdict: Alienware Alpha is Worth the Effort
From many points of view, the Alpha really does feel like it has been rushed into the slightest. If you are willing to put up with a little more work to set things up and get used to the way the device works, the payoff is pretty immense. Performance-wise, chances are the Alpha is going to make you way happier than you would expect, and couch-potatoing in front of your favorite PC games instead of sitting at your desk for it in front of a limited in size screen is slated to win as well.
Updates are happening all the time, and while the Alienware Alpha cannot afford to proclaim itself the console killer it was originally designed to be, it holds a very solid foundation to build its kingdom on. The company is promising plenty of upgrades including faster performance, faster boot times, more diverse functionality, and more accessible user-computer interaction.
Image Source: PCMag Au
They are also accepting and appreciating user opinion and feedback on their support page which you can access directly here.
In comparison to consoles, the Alpha appears to be a lot quieter and sinks in 2 to 3 times less power usage than its console counterparts. The way that it was built also prevents an unfeasible amount of overheating during heavy load, allowing the performance in game to remain leveled and jitter less than we normally experience on Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
Other downsides reported by users so far also include the current hard disk and GPU options. The hard drives offered even for the high end versions of the Alienware Alpha do not exceed the SATA 5400 rpm status which can really end up dragging down on performance at one point. The other complaint of sorts that users have had against the company’s hardware choices for the Alpha is the relatively limited laptop-model graphics processing unit.
There is no news from the developer whether a full-fledged GPU would at any point be implemented into the device, but it is clear that it would overhaul the processing quality of games at a level that would hardly be contested by the Xbox One and PS4 markets.
The conclusion is that the Alienware Alpha is not a console replacement. Yet. It has done a lot of great things to challenge the status quo of the gaming world and there is no doubt it’s on the right path to go. This is a product meant to appease PC gamers who are looking for an alternative, more pleasurable way to enjoy their favorite controller-driven titles in a more comfortable, high quality manner.
Roxanne Briean
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