Games may be the center stage at the ongoing Pax Prime event in Seattle, Wash., but there are few notable announcements that coincided with its opening on Friday.
Such announcements include Alienware's unveiling of its third generation X51 gaming personal computer (PC) brand, which includes a desktop and several laptop variants. The company notes that they have not introduced a drastic redesign to the product line, but they have instead upgraded and improved key features.
For the X51 desktop, Alienware has adopted the newest, sixth-generation Intel CPU called Skylake. This is a marked improvement from the earlier X51 version, which was outfitted by Haswell, the fourth-generation Intel CPU. The new X51 desktops will either come in Core i5 or Core i7 Skylake CPUs. It can also be powered by an Nvidia GTX 745, AMD Radeon R9 370 or an Nvidia GTX 960, according to The Verge.
Alienware is also adding an optional liquid cooling feature to the X51 desktops. The technology involves tubes filled with liquid - in addition to fans attached - to the motherboard so that it can be safely overclocked, CNET reported. This contraption was manufactured by Sankyo Denkin and is tiny, taking very little space in the gaming machine. The caveat, however, is that the cooling mechanism is installed at the expense of the optical drive, PC World noted.
Improvements in the laptop line are quite extensive as well. These include the shift to USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, faster storage, and a modified software that allows users easier overclocking. Consumers will also have the option to choose a 4K IGZO display or a 13-inch QHD+ screen with a whooping 3200 x 100 resolution. Alienware also boasts an "all-day" battery for each. The Skylake version of the X51 will have a base price of $1,049, and the U.S. International pricing is yet to be announced.
