Eye- watering performance for an eye -watering price
When someone spends big money on a BMW with the same power as, say, a Commodore, there’s this general understanding that the BMW is, in some way, worth the massive premium. There’s a perception (possibly exaggerated) that it has superior engineering, a nicer interior, maybe better handling. Most importantly, it has a badge that tells everyone you’re “getting ahead”. The Bimmer might not actually, empirically be better than the SV6, but the point is that enough people think it is. So the money is at least understandable, if not necessarily worth it.
I’m not sure the same applies to desktop PCs. This latest snazzy iteration of Dell/Alienware’s venerable Area-51 demands a fairly enormous extra chunk of cash over a machine with identical performance but none of the style, built by that weird guy with the skin condition in the little shop out the back of the suburban arcade.
Yes, you get a proper warranty. Yes, you get a nicely made case that looks like nothing else and has a very nifty lighting system where you can set individual LEDs to individual colours via custom software. Yes, you get a bunch of other Alienware “control centre” options that are slicker versions of the temperature and fan speed monitors that come with the kind of motherboard that has a lightning bolt on the box. Yes, you get a marketing spiel that claims the tech boffins at Dell have tweaked the registry so this thing runs absolutely sleek and absolutely smooth.
And in the Labs this machine did perform well. Benchmarks aside, it’s just really responsive. And when we switched it on, it booted straight to Desktop, no annoying Metro – sorry, Start Screen – to keep us from our games. That’s some nice attention to detail, right there (though Metro pops up if you hit the Windows key – you still need to install Classic Shell or whatever yourself).
Price aside, this is a decently specced gaming machine. No complaints with the i7-5930K, or the 16GB of RAM. The 128GB system SSD is a little stingy, but it’s backed by 2TB of traditional HDD. The GeForce GTX 980 in this one? That’s a $272.80 upgrade over the base price of $3,999, and that’s a sticking point.
When I drop four grand on a PC, I don’t expect a single-card graphics solution, especially when that card isn’t top of the range by default. Dell does have an SLI 970 config for an eye-watering extra $811.80. I’m not sure if these cards produce a dizzying high, but $800 for a second GTX 970 seems... well, it seems $250-$400 too steep, depending where you shop.
But this is all part of the same argument: a DIY box-o-PC-delights is always going to be cheaper. A lot cheaper. And it’s not going to perform a hell of a lot slower than this Area-51.
Then again, the Area-51 isn’t for the kind of gamer who likes to tinker around with an anti-static strap and an iFixit 58-piece screwdriver kit. It’s for people to want an expertly-pre-configured, warranty backed dependable machine they can just turn on and play.
And it is that. The case design is striking and likely to resist invasive particulates in all but the dustiest of gaming dens. The slot-loading DVD player is neat for the two or three times a year you’ll find yourself needing to use it... but again at this price it’s alarming that no burner is included. Unnecessary? Sure, but also $30 retail. Don’t nickel-and-dime us Dell! The included keyboard and mouse are okay – they match the case at least – but any serious gamer will substitute their preferred peripherals.
And so we come to the core problem with the Area-51. Maybe Alienware’s notebooks offer enough to justify their price, but in this form-factor there’s no sensible or compelling reason to buy this unless you’re really, really scared of not having a whole-system warranty. And you luuuurv that funky case.
As a machine, this is a good PC. It’s fast, it plays everything, and it looks cool. But to attract a price premium like this, it has to have everything you’ll find a generic ATX and then some. Dell can’t expect us to “make sacrifices”, even meaningless ones like missing out on a DVD burner. If you don’t care about money and you love the look, buy the Area-51. It’s a good PC. But is it a brand-built BMW M3 to a beige-box-special Commodore SSV? Hell no it’s not. Anthony Fordham
KEY SPECS
3.5GHz i7-5930K (overclocked to 3.9GHz) • 16GB RAM • 128GB SSD + 2TB HDD • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 w/ 4GB GDDR5 • slot-loading DVD (reader only) • Alienware keyboard + mouse, custom case • CPU water cooling system • SD card reader