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Dell's spring lineup is filled with all-in-ones and gaming PCs
Dell's spring PC lineup is focused on all in one machines, as well as a refresh of its Inspiron gaming laptops, now known as the Dell G Series. And of course, there are also a few Alienware laptop upgrades coming too. The company's latest batch of all in ones might be compelling enough to tempt away people who are used to a traditional desktop and monitor setup. And gamers will probably appreciate having a wider variety of inexpensive machines to choose from.
Alienware's control hub redesign folds in your game library
It's "New year, new me" for Dell's Alienware Command Center. The software control hub that comes preinstalled in Alienware computers now has a unified gaming library that pulls all your titles regardless of source, so you can see them all in one place. You can also set profiles for specific games, tailoring your system's thermals, power management, overclocking, lighting and peripheral controls to your favorite first person shooter or RPG. Those who have been curious about overclocking but worried about breaking their computers can also experiment with the redesigned tool that lets you toy with clock speeds and voltage. Before you can save your custom overclocking profiles, Alienware's system will test your settings and won't let you use your new setups unless they're safe.
Magic Leap One: All the things we still don’t know
It's that time of year again: the special season when everybody's favorite mythical creature makes its annual appearance. That's right, it's Magic Leap hardware teaser season! Seemingly once a year, the secretive startup reveals what it's been up to, and on Wednesday it revealed renderings of its latest AR headset prototype. The company even deigned to allow a Rolling Stone reporter to take the system for a spin. But for everything that Magic Leap showed off, the demonstrations and teaser materials still raise as many questions as they answer. There's a whole lot about the Magic Leap system that we don't know, so maybe let's hold off on losing our minds about the perceived imminent AR revolution until we do.
The best gifts for the PC gamer in your life
Of the more than two dozen sections in our massive holiday gift guide, the PC gaming is one of the largest. That's because there are so many directions you can go in here: You can splurge on a laptop (we recommend three here) or pick up any number of accessories like headphones, a mouse, keyboard, mic or webcam. Or, you know, you can pick up some actual games. Find all that in our guide at the link below, and while you're there, check out the 100-plus other items in there.
Alienware's 34-inch curved monitor supports NVIDIA G-Sync
Gaming monitors are becoming more specialized and less useful for regular movies thanks to widescreen and often curved designs. Alienware is a good example with its latest 34-inch displays, the curved AW3418DW and flat AW3418HW (or the "A W 3 4 1 8 H W," as some genius Alienware typography designer wrote it). Both use 21:9 widescreen designs, with 3,440 x 1,440 and 2,560 x 1,080 resolutions, respectively.
The best PC-gaming gear for students
While many of you will likely make your school computer some sort of all-purpose laptop, a few of you need something that can also withstand extensive gameplay sessions. For that reason, we've included in our back-to-school guide a handful of gaming-specific notebooks along with three GPUs, should your existing rig be due for an upgrade. Already have a system you're happy with? Treat yourself to a mouse, keyboard, or a game or three.
E3 hasn’t forgotten about PC gaming
While consoles hog the bulk of the spotlight at E3, PC gaming is still a big part of the convention. Intel held its first-ever E3 event yesterday, where it announced the VR Challenger League, an esports competition dedicated solely to virtual reality games like The Unspoken and Echo Arena. It's partnering with Oculus and ESL to make that happen, so it actually has a shot at making VR esports a thing. During E3's PC Gaming Show yesterday, we saw some long-awaited upgrades for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (vaulting and weather, oh my!), and Microsoft unveiled Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, a completely remastered version of its classic RTS. Additionally, we caught glimpses of Battletech, the new strategy game in the MechWarrior universe; Cliff Bleszinski's multiplayer shooter LawBreakers; and Total War: Warhammer 2.
Alienware's E3 is all about gaming monitors and accessories
It might surprise you to learn that Dell is one of the best monitor makers around. At E3 today, the company announced that it's taking its display expertise deeper into the gaming arena with the launch of new Alienware monitors. They sport the brand's more elaborate aesthetic, but most importantly, they pack in fast refresh rates and support for either NVIDA's G-SYNC technology or AMD's Freesync (which reduces image tearing and choppinesss). Additionally, Alienware is launching a new suite of accessories, and it's bringing Intel and AMD's most powerful CPUs to its flagship Area 51 desktop.
Alienware 15 review: Bigger, but not necessarily better
Getting your hands on a bleeding-edge gaming laptop is an exercise in chasing chip architecture. It's sort of a waiting game. You wait for Intel and NVIDIA to upgrade their GPU and CPU standards, you wait for early adopter manufacturers to put them through their paces and, finally, you wait for the machine you want to hit the market with the new bells and whistles. In spring, we saw Dell's Alienware 13 kitted out with Intel's new Kaby Lake Core i7-7700HQ CPU and NVIDIA Pascal graphics -- and now that same combo is available in the company's larger 15-inch notebook.
Dell intros the $799 Inspiron 7000, details Alienware CPU upgrades
The XPS 13 two-in-one might be Dell's biggest laptop news at CES this year, but the company also has some major updates in store for gamers. Take the new Inspiron 7000 for one, a $799 laptop that pushes the boundaries of what you'd call a budget machine. The company's Alienware laptops are also getting another performance boost, thanks to the addition of Intel's latest seventh-generation CPUs.
Alienware: VR rigs will become the new Wii thanks to laptops
Almost exactly seven years ago, Alienware joined the Tokyo Game Show for the first time to launch its redesigned machines since Dell's acquisition. This week, the American company is once again present there to launch the Alienware 17 and 15 laptops for Japan, with one of their main selling points being their VR capability, courtesy of NVIDIA GTX 10-Series graphics. While this won't change the fact that high-end VR rigs are still relatively expensive, global marketing director Joe Olmsted reckons the mobility aspect will be enough to turn VR into the new home party machine that can be shared between friends -- much like what he did with the Nintendo Wii back in the days.
Dell's latest Alienware laptops are VR ready
Dell has revealed a 13-, 15- and 17-inch lineup of thinner, VR-ready Alienware laptops that pack new designs and whiz-bang eye-tracking features. For gamers, the main attraction is support for the latest NVIDIA laptop cards. The big-screen Alienware 17 gets the top-end NVIDIA GTX 1080 chip, while the Alienware 15 and 13 get the GTX 1070 and 1060, respectively. That means that all three models will be "VR-ready" for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.
Alienware banks on VR with the new Aurora desktop
Alienware's last Aurora, the R4, is most (in)famous for the "ALX" option, which adds fins that flip open when the machine gets hot. Dell has just relaunched the Alienware Aurora desktop that sadly lacks that geeky option. In exchange, you do get a smaller, tool-less mid-tower that retains the minimalist gaming design flare that the original was known for. It also packs a punch with powerful CPU options and optional dual graphics cards, including NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 1080.
E3 will hold a public gaming event this year
For years, E3 has largely been limited to game industry tradespeople and the press. That's somewhat necessary (it's difficult to wade through the show as it is), but it also locks out thousands of players dying to get a peek at the future of their favorite hobby. Thankfully, that's about to change: the Entertainment Software Association has announced E3 Live, a free public event that gives you a taste of what you're missing. The ticketed gathering, which runs alongside E3 itself (June 14th through 16th), promises the opportunity to "test-drive" new games, meet developers in person and try new experiences before anyone else.
Pre-order Oculus Rift-ready PCs starting on February 16th
If you want an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset but realize that your existing PC just won't cut it, don't panic -- you can get a guaranteed-ready system very shortly. Oculus has announced that pre-orders for both Oculus Ready PCs and those with Rift bundles will start on February 16th at 11AM Eastern, or 8AM Pacific. Amazon, Best Buy and the Microsoft Store will offer a handful of certified systems from Alienware, its parent company Dell and ASUS. Should you pull the trigger, you should get your rig sometime in April.
Playdate: Trying out Steam Machines and Valve's new controller
For years, Valve's been teasing us with the promise of a new kind of gaming device: a PC that lives in your entertainment center, outperforms traditional consoles and has more games available for it than you can count. Now it's finally here: I have a Steam Machine in my house, and I'm going to share it with you. Join me and Tim Seppala as we put the Alienware Steam Machine, its Linux-based SteamOS and the Valve Steam Controller through their paces. The fun starts right here in this post, on Twitch.tv/joystiq and on the Engadget gaming homepage at 6PM ET (3PM PT).
Alienware Steam Machine review: A gaming PC for your living room
I laughed when the rumors started back in 2012: "Valve is building a PC-based game console for living rooms." Sure it is, I thought. Imagine my shock when "Steam Machines" turned out to be real. The project promised a bizarre, revolutionary controller, a Linux-based operating system designed specifically to play PC games and in-home game streaming for titles that required Windows to run properly. The proposal was unbelievable, but it's finally here; it's real. As of today, I have an Alienware Steam Machine nestled in my entertainment center that delivers on almost everything those original rumors promised. Let's talk about that.
Alienware will give recent laptop buyers a free upgrade
It's tough to buy a laptop when new processors are imminent -- you can't help but feel that the system you just bought will be rendered obsolete weeks later. That might not be a problem if you snagged one of Alienware's latest laptops, though. The Dell-owned PC maker is promising free upgrades if you bought one of its updated portables (those introduced on August 27th) and new processors reach the relevant Alienware line within 30 days. In other words, you're not hosed if a Skylake-based system shows up while you're still getting used to your days-old machine. The company tells us it has "high confidence" that Skylake will show up by late September, so you'll be future-proofed as long as there isn't a delay.
Dell revives the Alienware 18, upgrades its smaller gaming laptops
It's a rare, satisfying feeling when a community rallies together to ask a company to bring back a discontinued product and it actually works. Today is one of those days: Dell announced at PAX that it's bringing back the Alienware 18 -- the most powerful portable gaming machine the company's ever made. The revived 18-inch rig is being touted as a 'special edition' and will pack in a 4th Generation Intel i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD (with an optional 512GB SSD) dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M or 980M graphics, depending on the configuration. Too big? Too much? No worries --- Alienware is refreshing its 13-, 15- and 17-inch laptops, too.
Which gaming laptops are worth buying?
For years, the wisdom has been that if you wanted a dedicated gaming machine, you bought a desktop. Gaming components were too unwieldy to fit in a notebook form factor, and if you tried to put together a machine with desktop-caliber components, it always ended up too big and heavy to be truly portable. However, recent gaming laptops have defied that history, packing lots of power into thinner and lighter chassis. They're still not as slim as Ultrabooks, and meanwhile there's still a gap in performance versus desktop machines. Even so, your days of lugging around a large desktop tower to LAN parties are over. We've taken a look at some of the more recent entries in the race to build a smaller gaming machine to find ones that can fit your needs -- and budget.
