Testseek.com have collected 78 expert reviews of the Alienware Alpha and the average rating is 71%. Scroll down and see all reviews for Alienware Alpha.
February 2015
(71%)
78 Reviews
Average score from experts who have reviewed this product.
Users
(89%)
124 Reviews
Average score from owners of the product.
71010078
The editors liked
It's powerful for the price. Small
Too! Easy to drop it in a bag and carry to a friend's house. Fantastic for LAN parties. The customizable lighting is kind of cool. Five USB 3.0 ports (one for USB dongles
Hidden under a panel) gives me plenty of connec
Handles games nicely on HDTV
Small footprint
Cool chassis
Upgradeable design (for such a small system)
Low power consumption
Very little noise
Surprisingly quiet under gaming loads
It's amazingly well price for the size and gaming performance you get
The compact Alienware Alpha plays a huge library of PC games in a living-room-friendly format
And it works with a standard Xbox 360 controller
Solid gaming performance. Good connectivity. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Includes wireless Xbox 360 controller. Compact chassis.
Good performance for price
Compact shell also allows easy access for (some) upgrades
Smal
Portable desig
Runs quiet when gamin
Growing game library has more than
500 title
Solid graphics performance
Very portable
Brings PC gaming to the living room.
Compact Design
Include all necessary connections and peripherals
Offers higher resolution
Good performance for most games released in 2014
Affordable price
Decent performance provides
Alpha UI creates a solid console illusion
Custom gamepad drivers solve most mouse and keyboard problems
Makes it easy to play PC games on a TV
The editors didn't like
That blasted 5400rpm hard drive. Not a single one of Alienware's pricier configs has a faster storage option. I asked
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No recovery partition means you can't easily swap out that drive unless you plan to clone it yourself. If
Can't compete with larger PCs
Begging For An SSD
Still not the perfect PC game console experience
Could use a slightly higher performance GPU
It's built around the Steam gaming platform
So it's harder to use for PC games purchased elsewhere. The custom UI is slow and clunky
And the base configuration is underpowered for long-term use
Loading games is more difficult than on a gaming console. GPU can't be upgraded. Lacks DVI and VGA ports. No keyboard or mouse included
No solid-state storage makes for slow startup and load times
Graphics aren't upgradable
Limited support for non-native Steam games
No 3.5mm audio jack
More expensive than traditional game console
Entering text in console mode is tediou
Slow hard driv
Takes too long to boot Alpha UI
Can't upgrade GPU
Slow hard drive
Only 4GB of RAM
Still some bugs to iron out
Low frame rate on high settings
Outdated GPU
The Alienware Alpha pricing varies from $549 to $899 depending on the configuration. This is really a good choice if you want to enjoy a huge game catalog on Steam like me
Therefore
I totally recommend the
5
400RPM hard drive is a big performance bottleneck. Doesn't handle nonSteam games elegantly. Upgrades aren't as great value.
Painfully long load times
Overprotective console mode blocks some games from running
Published: 2014-12-04, Author: Dan , review by: cnet.com
The compact Alienware Alpha plays a huge library of PC games in a living-room-friendly format, and it works with a standard Xbox 360 controller
It's built around the Steam gaming platform, so it's harder to use for PC games purchased elsewhere. The custom UI is slow and clunky, and the base configuration is underpowered for long-term use
The bold Alienware Alpha makes good on many parts of its promise to meld the gaming PC and living room game console, but there are still too many rough edges to make this a true console killer....
Smal, portable desig, Runs quiet when gamin, Growing game library has more than, 500 title, Solid graphics performance
More expensive than traditional game console, Entering text in console mode is tediou, Slow hard driv, Takes too long to boot Alpha UI
Combining the UI of a gaming console with the power of a PC, the Alienware Alpha is a force to be reckoned with. Say hello to the gateway drug of PC gaming. Alienware, known for kick-ass laptops and desktops, is turning its attention to console...
Was this review helpful?
(80%)
Published: 2014-11-24, Author: Sean , review by: gizmodo.com
It's powerful for the price. Small, too! Easy to drop it in a bag and carry to a friend's house. Fantastic for LAN parties. The customizable lighting is kind of cool. Five USB 3.0 ports (one for USB dongles, hidden under a panel) gives me plenty of connec
That blasted 5400rpm hard drive. Not a single one of Alienware's pricier configs has a faster storage option. I asked, Advertisement, Advertisement, No recovery partition means you can't easily swap out that drive unless you plan to clone it yourself. If
Do you want a game console? Then buy a game console instead. The Alpha proves there are way too many things that need to be fixed—not just by Alienware, but game developers and Valve and Microsoft too—before a Windows box will be anywhere near as easy as...
Surprisingly quiet under gaming loads, It's amazingly well price for the size and gaming performance you get
Still not the perfect PC game console experience, Could use a slightly higher performance GPU
Alienware's Alpha isn't the console killer people hoped it would be but its merits still make it a worthy gaming computer and perhaps the best deal going in small PCs today....
Abstract: They range from simple dongle-sized mini-computers on a stick, to hard-core (but compact) HTPCs capable of high-end gaming. The ‘stick' PCs are typically low-end hardware on a tiny device that can plug directly into an HDMI port. They are ready to go and...
Abstract: The smallest, such as Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) will fit into the palm of your hand, while even the largest models are still generally smaller than a shoebox. This makes them perfect for environments where space is at a premium, be it a clutte...
Abstract: The Alpha is available in three different builds, ranging in price from $699 at the bottom to $1,299 at the top; we tested the latter model for this review, which includes a 2GHz quad-core Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 2TB hard drive and GeForce GTX graphics c...
Abstract: Events have conspired to hold most of these Steam Machines back, with the official release date of the Linux-based SteamOS postponed until sometime later this year, and the Valve-developed Steam Controller still going through redesigns. The latter, it's h...
