Any Alienware Alpha or Steam Machine users?

I figure the outcome of this would be most of you throwing stones at me for even saying Alienware, but I thought I'd ask and hope for some user's input.

How do you like your Alpha's or Steam Machines?

I want to buy my girlfriend something simple to play majority of the PC games out there and not care about how pretty they look. I know Alpha seems more like the way to go with the Windows OS and the upgradeable RAM, CPU, and HDD. But for the Steam Machine users, is there any news about expanding their game list that you can play on it? Or newer machines being able to upgrade?

I didn't read much about Steam Machine, so if they have been upgradeable the whole time, please forgive me on that.

@Sweetbackhair: Well I have an Alienware laptop and it's been flawless for near 3 years now. The build qaulity is excellent and I haven't had single minor problem ever. Alienware has definitely approved in qaulity from what they were 5 years ago with all the overheating laptops and whatnot. If you buy an Alienware make sure you order buy phone and haggle them. They will take some money off and/or throw in some free gear like a mouse or keyboard. If you can't haggle the first person you talk to then hang up and try again. Try to speak with a USA representative, there are ways to speak with them, use google. Say you saw a similar PC for cheaper ect. They will give you a discount. I got a few hundred off mine and I ordered this laptop the very first day it came out.

@saintsatan: not a bad idea at all. My question would be if they would do financing over the phone because I doubt that I'll have the money right away to buy it.

@saintsatan: alienware laptops cost a fortune, however I agree the build quality is the fantastic and they look so stylish.

If you go gaming laptop,is recommend alienware as most gaming laptops are expensive anyway so that extra £100-£300 might be worth it for the sheer quality of the laptop.

To the TC building a pc yourself or If you don't fancy that getting a pre build one from some were is better value than alienware or any other steam machines.

@thehig1: CyberpowerPC has their own customizable Alienware Alpha with every component on there (cpu, ram, gpu, etc).

Is there a reason it has to be steam machine or alienware alpha? Is size a matter or? You can install windows on steam machines too btw

I have personally mini atx case(bitfenix prodigy) as my media device in the living room

@howmakewood: yeah I just saw a video of windows being run on the Steam Machine.

As for the Steam Machine/Alpha, it's just something I'm very interested in, and I like how it's made and the performance it has. I know a lot of arguments with pricing and "just build it" is usually the counter argument.

I'm still looking around, reading reviews and won't be making a final decision for a bit, so who knows what I'll decide when I have the fundings.

Ye I'm not saying they are bad options by any means and what ever fits your needs the best

@howmakewood: no I think they make great products, a little pricey but great products.

CyberPowerPC has a full customizable PC similar to the Alienware Alpha but with much better performance. If I don't spend money on useless crap and save up, I might go that route for a very small but powerful PC.

I like the idea of the Steam Machines, just wishing it wasn't Linux OS to start with and should've stuck with Windows.

Did you know the Alienware Alpha was meant to be a Steam Machine initially?

@FelipeInside: yeah I heard that because didn't Valve take too long to develop Steam OS?

Yep, Dell got sick of waiting so they just sold it with Windows, lol.

As for your topic. The Alpa and Alienware Laptops are great, well built strong computers, but you are paying a premium for the brand.

If you want to go the gaming laptop route, look at MSI and ASUS gaming range. Still good build laptops and powerful, but a bit cheaper.

Desktop will always get you more power for less price, but you're sacrificing portability.

Depends on your needs.

@FelipeInside: I'm on like both desktop and laptop type of idea. For desktop, I would rather anot Alienware Alpha type of build (or even the Steam Machine). Laptops are great, but for what I would use it for, I would might as well just go the desktop route.

I'm trying not to go to my habits of "Yeah I can afford it" and buy something without even saving up. But I'm really interested in the Alienware Alpha and even Steam machines.

You could always get a gaming laptop and then have a set up with a docking station which converts it into a desktop PC?

@FelipeInside: I can do that. I thought docking stations weren't that popular, especially for gaming laptops. I have one for work, but it's obviously not a gaming laptop.

They even have gaming docking stations these days, where you put in a gaming video card.

example: http://www.geek.com/chips/msis-new-laptop-dock-is-bigger-than-most-desktop-pcs-1604146/

@FelipeInside: ohh my god that thing is a beast!

One thing to remember about the AW Alpha or Steam machine is that it has a pretty weak GPU with only 2GB GDDR5. Also the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard not a MXM module so there is no possibility of upgrading it's graphics in the future. I would look at other companies Steam machines if you are really that interested in getting a pre-built SFF PC. Most of them are fully up-gradable & come with a much more powerful GPU out of the box. While I also like the looks & idea of the Alpha the components that go into it are not nearly enough to keep up with newer games even at lower resolutions & graphical settings thanks to the GPU & how they choose to have it soldered to the mobo.

I recommended the alpha to someone wanting to game on the cheap, as long as you are willing to turn down the settings on newer games it works quite well...Also there was a dude on youtube who benchmarked the different cpu's in games and found even the lowest priced alpha performed on par with the highest priced version because they all came with 860m graphics. Now if they would update it with a new cpu and say the 970m with 3-4 gigs of video memory it would be a total win. I have a sager np8651 laptop with a 1080p display, 16gigs of ram, dual 512 gig ssd's , quadcore i7 cpu, 970m 3gb and I can play pretty much everything out there maxed out...it has traveled MANY miles with me with NO issues at all...it's a no frills straight up laptop that focuses more on internal power than exterior lights etc.