Alienware (Dell-subsidiary) is a manufacturer of PC systems specifically designed to meet the needs of computer game consumers and their hardware requirements.
The products of Alienware are made recognizable with a stylized alien head.
Products
Alienware sees itself as a quality supplier and pursues a high price policy and mostly installs components from well-known manufacturers. Many criticize the price/performance ratio, as the PCs are available from other dealers at much lower prices apart from the cases. Alienware has built its image as a Nobel PC retailer through careful workmanship. Until December 2009, the PCs could only be purchased via the Dell or Alienware website until the first Alienware PC appeared at Media Markt. In addition to high-performance gaming PCs, the product range also includes media centre PCs and gaming notebooks.
Since the purchase by Dell there are new cases, one for MicroATX and one for ATX. This is the first time that the Aurora and Area 51 computer series cases have differed from each other.
History
The company was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila in the United States. The company is headquartered in Miami (USA) and has its European headquarters in Ireland. From the outset, Alienware has focused on the gaming sector and has been extremely popular in this sector, despite its high price positioning. On March 23, 2006, it was announced that Alienware had been acquired by Dell but would continue to operate under its own name.
Computer Models
laptops
18″
M18x – 2011, Dual AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series GPUs, Dual Nvidia GeForce 500 Series GPUs
M18x-R2 – 2012 Dual Nvidia GeForce 600 Series GPUs, Dual AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs
Alienware 18 – 2013 Dual Nvidia GeForce 700 Series GPU(s) or Dual AMD Radeon R9 M290X GPUs
Alienware 18 – 2014 Dual Nvidia GeForce 800 Series GPUs
Alienware 18 – 2015 Dual Nvidia GeForce 900 Series GPUs
17″
M17x – 2009 First laptop after Dell acquires the company
M17x-R2 – 2010 Revision of the M17x, Support of the Intel i5 and i7 Processor
M17x-R3 – 2011 Revision of the M17x, exchange of the aluminium case for a simple plastic one, 3D Ready by a 120 Hz screen
M17x-R4 – 2012 Nvidia GeForce 600 Series
Alienware 17 – 2013 Nvidia GeForce 700 Series GPUs or AMD R9 M290X
Alienware 17 R2 – 2015 Nvidia GeForce 900 Series
Alienware 17 R3 – 2015 Nvidia GeForce 900 Series
Alienware 17 R4 – 2016 Nvidia GeForce 1000 Series
Alienware 17 R5 – 2018 Nvidia GeForce 1000 Series
15″
M15x – 2009.
M15x-R2 – 2010 Nvidia GeForce 200 Series and Intel i5 and i7 Processor Support
Alienware 15 – 2015 Nvidia GeForce 900 Series
Alienware 15 R2 – 2015 Intel Skylake Processor Support
Alienware 15 R3 – 2016 Nvidia GeForce 1000 Series
Alienware 15 R4 – 2018 Nvidia GeForce 1000 Series
Alienware m15 – 2018 Nvidia GeForce 1000 Series
14″
M14x – 2011 Nvidia GeForce 500 Series and Intel i5 and i7 Processor Support
M14x-R2 – 2012 Intel Ivybridge Processor and Nvidia GeForce 600 Series Support
Alienware 14 – 2013 Intel Haswell Processor and Nvidia GeForce 700 Series Support
13″
Alienware 13 – 2014 Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M
Alienware 13 R2 – 2015 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M
Alienware 13 R3 – 2016 Nvidia GeForce 1000 series GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5
11.6″
M11x – 2010 Nvidia GeForce GT 335M
M11x-R2 – 2010 Support of the Intel Arrandale Core i5 and i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GT 335M
M11x-R3 – 2011 Nvidia GeForce GT 540M, Nvidia GeForce GT 550M
desktops
aurora
The Aurora R1 (discontinued): This model is based on Intel’s X58 platform (LGA 1366). All offered processors were Intel Core i7 (first generation, Nehalem with 4- or 6-core processors). In order of model number: 920, 930, 940, 950, 960, 965 Extreme, 970 (6 core), 975X, 980 (6 core), 980X (6 core), 990X (6 core) and 995X (6 core). A water cooling system for the processor was installed at the factory. It was possible to choose between AMD’s HD 5000 series or Nvidia’s GT and GTX 400 or 500 series. You could choose between a 525 watt or 875 watt power supply. Both the power supply and the motherboard support SLI and CrossfireX operation.
The Aurora R2 (discontinued): This model was the first Alienware computer that could not only be distributed directly by Alienware. It is the further development of the Aurora R1. It was based on Intel’s P55 platform (LGA 1156). All offered processors were from Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 series (first generation, Lynnfield only 4-core processors). In order of model number: i5 750, i5 760, i7 860, i7 870, i7 875 and i7 880. A water cooling system for the processor was installed at the factory. It was possible to choose between AMD’s HD 5000 series or Nvidia’s GT and GTX 400 or 500 series. You could choose between a 525 Watt or 875 Watt power supply. Both the power supply and the motherboard support SLI and CrossfireX operation.
The Aurora R3 (discontinued): This model is based on Intel’s P67 platform (LGA 1155). All offered processors were from Intel’s Core i5 or Core i7 series (second generation, Sandy Bridge only 4-core processors). In order of model number: i5 2300, i5 2400, i5 2500, i5 2500K, i7 2600, i7 2600K. A water cooling system for the processor was installed at the factory. It was possible to choose between AMD’s HD 5000 series or the HD 6000 series and Nvidia’s GT or GTX 400 and 500 series. You could choose between a 525 watt or 875 watt power supply. Both the power supply and the motherboard support SLI and CrossfireX operation.
The Aurora R4: This model is based on Intel’s X79 platform (LGA 2011). All processors offered are Intel’s Core i7 (third generation, Sandy Bridge Extreme with 4 or 6 core processors). In order of model number: i7 3820, i7 3930K (6 core), i7 3960X (6 core), i7 4820K (4 core), i7 4930K (6 core) processor. A water cooling system for the processor was installed at the factory. You can choose between AMD’s HD 6000 series or HD 7000 series and Nvidia’s GTX 500/600/700 series. You can choose between a 525 watt or 875 watt power supply. Both the power supply and motherboard support SLI and CrossfireX operation.
The Aurora R5: During the E3 video games fair in June 2016, a new Aurora model was presented to the public after a long break. The newly designed case is a visual addition to the manufacturer’s current portfolio and, in addition to a Z170 chiset (socket 1151) and current sixth-generation Intel Skylake processors, offers the option of installing up to two high-performance graphics cards. A swing-out power supply unit and various mechanisms specially designed for the device also make it possible to carry out extensive upgrades or changes to the hardware without the use of tools. The AlienFX lighting system, a selection of interfaces and the possibility of installing up to five SSD´s in 2.5″ format, is effective. The available graphics cards range from entry-level models such as the Nvidia Geforce GTX 950 to the Nvidia GTX 1080 model, thus enabling the use of some spiritual reality hardware.
Alpha
Based on the idea of Valves Steammachines, Alienware released the first Alienware Alpha R1 at the end of 2014. The device has compact dimensions (comparable to game consoles) and high system performance. While the first version of Alpha still had to be based on a classic magnetic hard disk, fourth-generation Intel processors and a modified Geforce GTX 860M (2GB VRAM), the second revision “Alpha R2” now features Intel Skylake processors (socket 1151, Intel Core i5-6400T, Intel Core i7-6700T), an additional M.2 SSD slot and a fast graphics card from the desktop area (GTX 960, 4 GB VRAM).