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Alienware is an
American computer hardware company and a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell Computer
Corporation. It has a reputation for offering
the latest technologies for desktops and
laptops that are specialized for video
editing, audio editing, and especially gaming.
The company is based in Miami, Florida, and
was founded in 1996 by its current CEO, Nelson
Gonzalez, and COO, Alex Aguila.
History
Established in 1996, Alienware manufactures
high-performance desktop, notebook, media
center, and professional systems. Operating
under the philosophy of “build it as if it
were your own,” Alienware has earned numerous
awards for excellence and has become a
respected brand name worldwide with systems
available direct within the United States,
Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. According
to employees, the Alienware name was chosen
because of the founders' fondness for the hit
television series The X-Files, hence the theme
to their products, with names such as Grey and
Area-51. Alienware was originally established
to tap a niche in the high performance game
market, which back then was not on the radar
of the major PC manufacturers such as Dell.
Since high-end game hardware was not widely
distributed, the company's founders formed an
OEM that sold personal computers with the
highest performing hardware and settings
according to benchmarks.
Operations
Alienware brought in upwards of $170 million
USD in annual sales, while minimizing expenses
to aid an international expansion initiative
launched in 2003 to maintain a presence in
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, United
Kingdom and Costa Rica. In 2002, Alienware
distributed their systems through Best Buy and
CompUSA at retail locations. Because of
complications with that method of
distribution, Alienware decided to better
service the customer via direct sales and have
since eschewed such an indirect retail
presence. Alienware has had a call center in
Costa Rica to handle all sales and support
calls for a number of years.
Competitors
Alienware has traditionally competed with
companies such as Falcon Northwest, Vigor
Gaming, Velocity Micro and VoodooPC which is
now part of Dell's biggest competitor,
Hewlett-Packard. Alienware also formerly
competed against Dell XPS gaming systems which
they considered their biggest rival before
their acquisition.
Acquisition
On March 22, 2006, Dell agreed to purchase
Alienware. Alienware will continue to operate
under its own brand name. This is noticeable
in many regards including the similar looking
homepages. This has caused a lot of
controversy with gamers as Alienware was a
favorite among them while Dell supposedly
caters to general computer users. However,
Dell's acquisition seems to have had little
effect on Alienware's reputation.
AlienGUIse
Alienware computers come with a set of
Stardock compatible desktop themes
preinstalled called AlienGUIse Desktop
Manager. This is not currently compatible with
Windows Vista. It can also be downloaded from
the Alienware website for use without the need
for an Alienware system.
Products
Alienware manufactures high-performance
desktops, notebooks, media centers, and
professional systems. Alienware systems
include hardware from Intel, AMD, Nvidia,
Creative and many more high-end vendors.
Alienware's most famous series of desktops are
the Aurora and Area-51 lines; Alienware also
sells high-end laptops to which their most
famous is the Area-51m. Recently Alienware
launched a luxury system line branded with the
name ALX, this line has grown into their
mobile line as well.
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Alienware Aurora mALX
Laptop
Powered by AMD® Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology
Draw first blood in the technology war with
the most advanced performance ever infused
into our exclusive mobile desktop.
Advantages:
Windows® Vista™ Home Premium
Dual GeForce Go 7900 GTX
Expansive 19” Wide Display
Luxurious Ownership Experience
AMD 64-bit Processors
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Alienware Area 51
m5550
Powered by Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors
Balancing high performance technology within a
thin and light design, for users that demand
power and portability.
Advantages:
Windows® Vista™
Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
High-Performance Nvidia/ATI Graphics |
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Alienware Aurora
m9700 Laptop
Choose your colour and become judge, jury and
executioner on the first 17” notebook to come
loaded with dual graphics cards and 1GB of GPU
memory.
Advantages:
Windows® Vista™ Home Premium
Dual GeForce Go 7900 GS
Up to 1GB of GPU Memory
Customisable Colour Options
Dual Hard Drives - Up to 320GB
AMD 64-bit Processors
Powered by AMD® Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology |
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Alienware Sentia
m3450 Laptop
Powered by Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors
A compact design and the latest mobile
features combine to give you a vast array of
functionality that can easily be transported
anywhere.
Advantages:
Windows® Vista™
Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
Thin and Light Design
Enhanced Wireless Connectivity
Low Latency |
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Alienware Area 51
7500 SLI Desktop
Fueled by Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor
Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad core processors and
NVIDIA SLI dual graphics technology make this
system a performance powerhouse.
Advantages:
Intel® Core™2 Extreme
NVIDIA® SLI™ + DirectX10
Low Latency DDR2 Memory
Up to 3TB of Storage
Blu-ray Optical Drive
Ageia PhysX™ processor |
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Alienware Area 51
7500 Desktop
Fueled by Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor
Intel® Core™2 Extreme dual core processors and
NVIDIA® graphics technology give you the
stability you demand paired with award-winning
performance.
Advantages:
Intel® Core™2 Extreme
NVIDIA® Single GPU
800Mhz DDR2 Memory
Up to 3TB of Storage
18X Dual Layer DVD±R/W
Ageia PhysX™ processor
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Alienware Aurora 7500
Desktop
Fueled by AMD® Athlon™ X2 dual core processor
AMD-based PCs outfitted with Athlon™ X2
dual-core processors, giving you the finest
cutting-edge technology of today that keeps
you ready for tomorrow.
Advantages:
Windows® Vista™ Home Premium
AMD 64-bit Athlon™ X2 processors
NVIDIA SLI Dual GPUs
Low-Latency DDR2 memory
Ageia PhysX processors |
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Alienware Area 51 ALX
Fueled by Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor
Intel-based PC armed with the Intel® Core™2
Extreme processor and the most powerful
NVIDIA® Dual SLI™ graphics and DDR2 memory
available to make this the fastest PC on the
market.
Advantages:
Intel® Core™2 Extreme
NVIDIA® SLI™ + DirectX10
1066Mhz DDR2 Memory
Up to 3TB of Storage
Blu-ray Optical Drive
Ageia PhysX™ processor |
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Alienware Aurora ALX
Desktop
Fueled AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 6000+ with HT
Technology.
AMD-based PC primed with the AMD Athlon 64 X2
6000+ processor and NVIDIA® Dual SLI™ graphics
to make this a high-definition performance
beast.
Advantages:
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 6000+
NVIDIA® SLI™ + DirectX10
800Mhz DDR2 Memory
Up to 3TB of Storage
Blu-ray Optical Drive
Ageia PhysX™ processor
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Alienware MJ-12 8550a
Desktop
Powered by up to two dual-core AMD Opteron
processors to represent the creative
professional's dream machine.
Product Features
Genuine Windows® XP Professional with SP2
AMD® Opteron™ 2210 1.8 GHz 1000 MHz FSB with
2MB Cache & Dual Core
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 Registered ECC at 667MHz
NVIDIA® Quadro™ FX 1500 PCI-E 256MB GDDR3
Dimensions
width 19.81cm
depth 51.05cm
height 42.42cm |
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Alienware MJ-12 8550i
Desktop
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processing collides with
four-drive storage capability and incredible
memory capacity for unbeatable workstation
performance.
Product Features
Genuine Windows® XP Professional with SP2
Intel® Xeon™ 5130 2.00 GHz 1333 MHz FSB with
4MB Cache
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 FBDIMM at 667MHz
NVIDIA® Quadro™ FX 350 PCI-E 128MB DDR2
Dimensions
width 19.81cm
depth 51.05cm
height 42.42cm |
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Alienware Aurora ALX
Ultimate Perfomance
Equipped with Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX SLI
enabled video card and exclusive Alienware
Liquid Chilled solution for a gaming
experience beyond belief.
Double Barrelled Firepower
The AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 dual core processor
supercharges your system with the new AM2 DDR2
memory technology. This double barrelled combo
comes equipped to the gills with these other
AMD features:
Integrated memory controller
HyperTransport™ technology
Enhanced Virus Protection
Cool'n'Quiet™ technology |
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The New Alienware P2 chassis
upgrades.
Alienware AlienFX
Alienware AlienFX is an innovative new feature
that allows users to custom configure 5
different zones on the P2 chassis with a large
spectrum of lighting choices. Users will also
have the option of configuring morph the
strobe speed of their lighting; from a steady
glow to a fast pulse
AlienIce
The AlienIce™ video cooling system maximizes
airflow to keep the components in your machine
running efficiently. AlienIce™ provides
superior cooling with fans that are
strategically placed throughout the chassis,
striking the perfect balance of both negative
and positive air flow, thus preventing
overheating and system crashes. AlienIce™ is
quieter than most high-performance cooling
systems, too, so it will not disrupt game
play.
Alienware Liquid Cooling
The Alienware Liquid Cooling System is a
high-performance, maintenance-free system
engineered with the latest, most advanced
technology to provide maximum processor
cooling with reduced system noise and
worry-free operation. This innovative,
high-performance liquid cooling system uses a
high-flow, compact pump to circulate a
thermally conductive liquid though a
closed-loop system to remove heat from the
processor and reject it to the ambient air
flowing through a liquid-to-air heat
exchanger. |
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