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Area51 posts

Romain Jerome's watch reveals The Truth About Roswell

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 9th 2009 at 6:08AM

It's all here: alien remains, the Yucca Flat tracks of a US Air Force collection vehicle, and the exploded gears of an unearthly aircraft. No, this hellish landscape is not some declassified aerial view taken aboard a Janet Airlines flight. Rather, it's the latest watch face from Romain Jerome's Moon Dust-DNA collection. Unfortunately, the price of The Truth About Roswell watch is all very hush-hush as you'd expect from a Swiss-crafted watch limited to a 9 piece run. Now hurry up and check the un-cropped image after the break -- we're expecting the authorities any second.

[Via A Blog to Read]

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Alienware Area-51 desktops first to score NVIDIA GTX 280 graphics

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 16th 2008 at 3:29PM

NVIDIA just launched its new GeForce GTX 280 graphics cards earlier today, but you know the crazy kids over at Alienware don't like to wait for the latest and greatest -- Dell's gaming division has already announced Area-51 configurations that include the new cards. The Area-51 7500 will support one GTX 280-based card, while the top-of-the-line Area-51 ALX will offer a three-way SLI option that's sure to render an image of your empty wallet in no time -- it's a $1,700 option. No word on when these are scheduled to ship, but seeing as the cards are out tomorrow, we'd guess it'll be soon.

Alienware's more modestly-priced Area-51 7500 gets reviewed

by Donald Melanson, posted May 29th 2008 at 3:41PM

Alienware's Area-51 7500 series of desktops can reach some pretty lofty prices, but the folks at Computer Shopper recently got their hands on one of the company's recent, more modestly-priced configurations, and they've awarded it some considerably higher marks than its pricer predecessors. Of course, at $1,499, it's still not exactly a budget PC, but that does get you a decent 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E8200 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and most importantly, two NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT cards in an SLI configuration. All that, Computer Shopper says, added up to some "excellent performance for the price," including some "flat-out great results" in their gaming tests -- results that only took a slight dip when they bumped things up to the DX10 test. On the downside, you do have to give up some of the more premium features like water-cooling or an upper-tier processor, but if you're looking to keep things well under the two grand mark, Computer Shopper says this one is about as good a bet as any.

Alienware adds the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2, nForce 790i to its Area-51

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Mar 18th 2008 at 12:57PM

Clearly not wanting to lose its status as the most reliable purveyor of nasty gaming rigs, Alienware has re-upped its infamous Area-51 desktops with NVIDIA's latest graphics champ (the GeForce 9800 GX2) and the company's burning hot nForce 790i mobo. Or so we're told in a thrilling press release. The bottom line is this, you can now drop major bank on a seriously up-to-date system that will have friends and foes alike drooling, plotting your murder, or (at the very least) asking to get their game on. Truck over to the site to see the myriad configurations available... but you might want to hide your credit cards first.

Alienware takes the Area-51 m15x lappy to Penryn town

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 19th 2008 at 4:06PM

The mothership has already started slapping Penryn chips in lappies, so it was only a matter of time before Alienware followed suit -- yep, here's the Area-51 m15x laptop, now with your choice of T- and X-series Core 2 Duo processors. Stick with the standard 2.5GHz T9300, upgrade to a 2.6GHz T9500 for $275, or throw caution (and $650) to the wind with the 2.8GHz X9000 Core 2 Extreme option. No word on whether that edge lighting is actually enabled on these bad boys, but hey -- you've still got those Penryn bragging rights, yeah?

Update: Alienware just told us that, as of February 8, all m15x laptops have the sidelights enabled -- rock on.

[Thanks, Alienwarez]

Alienware's Area-51 m15x and m17x specs laid bare

by Nilay Patel, posted Nov 16th 2007 at 3:52PM

Man, that Google cache is really something -- Alienware apparently set the upcoming Area-51 m17x's BTO page live for a short time a couple days ago and then took it down, but the Big G's hive has kept it perfectly preserved for your eager eyes. Looks like those rumors about NVIDIA 8800M graphics were true -- and an extra grand will actually get you two of the 512MB cards running in SLI. The processor list is similarly hot, topping out with a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme for another $800, and Alienware isn't even trying to keep the pricetag subtle with a $1000 64GB SSD option. All maxed out, you're looking at an easy $5500 with Vista Ultimate -- and we can't believe we're saying this, but that actually seems somewhat reasonable. Better start dancing for change right away, though, because these bad boys should hit on Monday.

[Thanks, Brad]

Alienware's Area-51 ALX CF the first to use 45nm processors

by Nilay Patel, posted Nov 12th 2007 at 1:10PM

Well, that didn't take long -- just a few hours after Intel confirmed that those hot new 45nm Penryn processors are shipping, Alienware blasted out a press release announcing the Area-51 ALX CF, the first machine to use the new chips. The QX9650-equipped machines can be ordered overclocked up to 4.0GHz, and Alienware also bumped the graphics to dual CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 3870 cards. All that power won't come cheap, though -- the CF line starts at $5499.

Alienware laptops now sporting 640GB of storage

by Nilay Patel, posted Sep 20th 2007 at 6:02PM

We've seen a couple monster laptops with internal RAID arrays before, but Alienware is the first manufacturer we've seen to load its machines up with two 2.5-inch 320GB drives -- letting you lug around over half a terabyte of data. "Lug" is definitely the operative word, of course -- only the 17-inch Area 51 m9750 and Aurora m9700 offer the option, and each weighs 8.5 pounds -- but that's still some serious capacity for a portable.

[Via TG Daily]

Alienware Area 51 m5500 notebook reviewed

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 24th 2006 at 8:45AM

While Alienware is a name commonly spoken in any high-end notebook discussion, its managed to mingle in less elite crowds by offering more financially manageable options. The Area 51 m5500 is a mid-range laptop with all the "prestigious styling cues" associated with the company, but lacks some of the bleeding-edge hardware found in the upper-echelon offerings. Reghardware's review model was actually a scaled-down version of the current machine (albeit with the same price), but it still performed fairly admirably. The finalized units will receive an Intel Core Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, either a Mobility Radeon X1400 or a GeForce Go 7600 with 256MB of RAM, 100GB SATA HD, a DVD-playing CD burner, a 15.4-inch display sporting a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, a trio of USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire connector, and the standard wireless suite (WiFi and Bluetooth). The subtle beast faired well considering the tame innards required to hit the £899 (and up) price point; the biggest gripes came from the weak battery life (1:30-2:00) and the rubber grips atop the lid that "added unnecessary weight," but it's possible the bragging rights you'll gain would far outweigh any extra pounds they add. If you're scouting a gaming laptop, there's definitely a world of options, but if you need that element of extraterrestrial distinction to set you apart from the rest, the m5500 will be landing in August.

Alienware's Superman-themed limited-edition Area-51 systems

by Stan Horaczek, posted Jun 7th 2006 at 9:20AM

Not to be outdone by parent company Dell's X-men-themed XPS machine, Alienware fired up their factory on the planet Krypton to produce a limited number of their Area-51 laptops (limited to 350) and desktops (limited to 250) with artwork, themes and a mousepad from the upcoming movie Superman Returns. The desktop, which is emblazoned with an impressive mural by comic artist Tommy Lee, starts at $1,899 (without a monitor, of course) but quickly heads skyward when you add upgrades like a 3.4GHz Pentium D dual core processor, liquid cooling, 1TB of storage and the ability to turn back time by reversing the earth's rotation. The 17-inch Core Duo notebook starts at around $2,500 and is slightly less bawdy in appearance, ditching the mural for a sleek blue finish and the Superman shield in place of the usual alien head. You can keep track of how many of the individually-numbered systems are sold via Alienware's website, so we'd recommend you move faster than a speeding something-or-other should you want one.