Alienware shrinks the gaming PC

Alienware shrinks the gaming PC

With the announcement of the M51X, Alienware brings PC gaming to a console form factor.

Alienware PCs are historically huge, bulky, powerful gaming beasts. Which makes the Dell subsidiary’s latest announcement all the more exciting. The M51X is a new small form factor PC design, aimed at providing quality PC gaming in a package not much larger than a console.

The Australian variant of the M51X will ship with a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 455 and a 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive. This base level version packs a pricetag of $1299 and promises 34fps in Battlefield 3 with high detail settings at 1920 x 1080 resolution.

dell alienware mx51 gaming desktop

High-end PC gaming in a console-sized package.

As is the way with Alienware systems you can then spec it up in various ways, adding a faster CPU or GPU, more RAM or a Blu-Ray drive. It won’t be capable of fitting the highest end hardware, which is a tradeoff for the system size, but it will deliver a really powerful gaming solution in a tiny package.

Small form factor gaming is nothing new, but this is one of the most tightly integrated packages we have seen. Not only would it make for a tidy little gaming desktop, but it would also be a great machine to plug into a TV for some big screen PC gaming. It also comes with both wired and  802.11n wireless networking connections as standard, which increases its flexibility.

You can find more information about the design of the M51X on the Dell Blog, although keep in mind that the seemingly much lower US pricetag is for a version of the system that only comes with a low-end Core i3 CPU. The systems themselves will go on sale tomorrow here in Australia via the Alienware.com.au and Dell.com.au websites.

While the monitor is sold seperately, you can see just how tiny the M51X is

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See more about:  alienware  |  m51x
 
 

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Comments: 2
TheToid
19 January 2012
34FPS, sorry i need at least 60FPS for my brain to see it as a smooth experience, since when did this trend of 30FPS become enough? Especially in games where motion is the best way to see the enemy.

From Concerned.


Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
Alienware shrinks the gaming PC?
With the announcement of the M51X, Alienware brings PC gaming to a console form factor.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
phillz91
19 January 2012
Atleast 60fps? 60FPS (60hz) is the limit of what the human eye can detect, anything above 60fps makes no difference at all to what you see. 30fps is the minimum frequency that is deemed 'smooth' gameplay and allows for play without stuttering.
Following from this point, that means that on Full HD on High settings the X51 is able to provide smooth gameplay, that is what they are saying. If you want or 'need' 60Fps then bump down the settings, simple.
On a side note, BF3 on console runs at ~30Fps I believe and I have absolutely no problem seeing enemies and playing that game.
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