PAX Aus 2019 - Discovering the cool things of Alienware

To me, there are few things that make PAX Australia a PAX and one of them is visiting the Alienware booth and learning about their newest products, as well as getting insights into them to boot. In fact, I have done so every year, which now make it a tradition and one I hope to keep repeating in years to come, but now onto what they were showing.

The biggest change is that the Alienware line of devices has been refreshed, from top to bottom, from the keyboard and mouse, up to their massive and incredible 55inch gaming monitor. Each product now sports what they call the Legend ID, which is part return to a simpler style, but also a leap forward in overall impact to the performance. I had the pleasure of having Chris Sutphen the man fondly referred to as the Alienware Guru, but who really looks after the Desktops, walk me around to show me all the content on offer and we started with that massive 55inch screen.

The first thing to note is that while it can work as a traditional display device, i.e. for your gaming consoles or DVD players, the screen, which I have affectionally been calling the Borealis, you will see why in a bit, is much more than that. The screen actually comes with AMD FreeSync built in, which means it will adapt to the refresh rate of your game, so those who have longed to sit on a couch, keyboard on their lap and play their PC games, can now do so. On the rear of the device is where you would find your normal line up of ports, a few HDMI and some USB ports, but as this is a computer monitor, it also sports Display Port, which is not a regular option on tv’s. Another cool touch is that where all your cables connect, there is a massive cover on it, which can be removed for access, but rather than have to just place it on the ground, where it might get stepped on, you can magnetically attach it, right above where the cover comes from, keeping it at hand.

Perhaps the thing that stands out on the unit, is the rear of it and not because of the removeable cover, but the design of it, the basic shape is the same as many other tv’s on the market, it does however sport the Legend ID. This new design, which as I mentioned before covers all their products, is very simplistic in its appeal, but has a lot going on with it that you might not think about. Sitting right beside the monitor was the all new Aurora R9, the latest desktop machine, which again features that Legend ID. Seeing that Aurora R9 case in person is a treat as it looks amazing and when you pair it with that the screen, which again I call the Borealis, (if you have not gotten that joke yet I can’t help you), it just comes alive.

Of course, it was not all about the tv there were a host of laptops around the booth, each with someone enjoying some hands on with a game or two and again all of them sporting that unique Legend ID. What makes that look so cool, is honestly that alone, the honeycomb shape that you will easily spot on all the products, is not just cosmetic, it provides both a rigid shape, but also is more open to airflow. The Aurora 9 for example, just with the new case, is 8% cooler on the inside than the previous model and that is just from a case redesign, and another big change is in the thin series of laptops. In order to make sure the laptop was as thin as it could be, the engineers flipped the CPU and GPUs, so they were facing down, rather than up, meaning that the keyboard could be more advanced and not have to make the laptop thicker. This of course meant that the heat that the laptops would create, would now be pushed directly onto the surface the laptop was on, which for some people means, their laps. But with the Legend ID, it allowed them to make some newer choices, such as using a special copper and zinc combination for the heating pipes, making it able to disperse the heat, but save on the weight.

The Alienware booth at PAX Australia is always a treat to walkthrough, because these are not just powerful machines, but smart machines, the effort that can go into the design of the smallest element, might not mean much to you or I, but to someone who lives in that world, it can make all the difference. The new Legend ID is a bold look and given what the team behind it, went through to bring it to life, that is something, how it goes in the long run, who knows, but I am on board.