Alienware Announces New Entry Level X51

Think Alienware, and you likely think big—full-sized towers, liquid cooling solutions, and multi-GPU configurations. The company's latest X51 system, however, is aimed at gamers who want a system they can slip into a nook, while still allowing for some upgrades post-purchase.


"The Alienware X51 allows us to bring the exciting nature of high-definition, immersive gaming within reach of more gamers than ever before," said Arthur Lewis, vice-president, Alienware and Product Management for Consumer, Small and Medium Business. "With the X51, we've expanded our gaming desktop offering to cater to all gamers in addition to our core enthusiast and competitive gamers. Now everyone can enjoy the latest games on a sleek, powerful, compact and customizable system. The X51 desktop delivers an incredible feature set for its size and price."


The system starts at $699 and includes dual-core i3-2120 (3MB cache, 3.3GHz), 4GB of RAM, and a GeForce GT545.  Available upgrades include Intel's quad-core i7-2600 (3.4GHz, 8MB cache), a Blu-ray drive, and a GTX 555. 802.11n wireless is also integrated as standard.


Alienware claims that the basic configuration is capable of 34 fps in Battlefield 3 at 1920x1080 in high detail mode, and while that's not exactly record-setting, it's a respectable achievement for a machine in this price range and size. Anyone interested in the system should keep an eye on the PSU if they plan to upgrade. The base config ships with a 240W unit by default and the upgrade option only bumps total power to 330W.