Valve recently confirmed that it will delay the release of its Steam Machines, but Alienware has announced the Alpha Steam console at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which will hit shelves before the beginning of this year's holiday shopping season.
In May 2014, Valve confirmed that it is running behind schedule with the Steam Controller, which was expected to be released in 2014, but now the controller will be shipped in 2015. In the absence of the Steam Controller, Alienware announced that the Alpha Steam console will be shipped with an Xbox 360 wireless controller. The machine will be compatible with other gamepads as well.
As the Alienware Aplha Steam console will not get SteamOS, the gaming console will be pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 8.1. According to PCWorld, the Alienware Alpha Steam console will also feature a customized "console mode" interface that will let users to open Steam Big Picture to play games and view other programs with the help of the gamepad only.
The Alienware Alpha console will let users to install PC programs on the machine or boot to the regular Windows 8.1 interface. However, users may require the help of a mouse or keyboard to use third-party programs properly. When the SteamOS is released, users will also have the option to switch from Windows 8.1 without voiding the warranty of the machine.
The base console will include an Intel Core i3 Haswell processor and 4GB DDR3 memory at 1600 MHz. It will include a custom-built NVIDIA Maxwell based GPU with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory and 500GB SATA 3 HDD. The console will also feature HDMI In and an HDMI Out ports and two USB 3 ports. Frank Azor, general manager of Alienware, says that the Alpha Steam console is also fully upgradeable.
"You can change the hard drive, the memory, the CPU, even the wireless card if you wanted to. All of those things are fully upgradeable, but if you really want a product that was designed for easy upgrades, you'd get the X51 or the Aurora that we offer.... When we designed the Alpha, we were going after a really small and tight form factor that met the sound requirements of a console in the living room, that met the thermals and the type of environment the Alpha's intended to go into," says Azor.
The company announced that the Alpha Steam console will have a starting price tag of $549. Reports suggest that Alienware is also planning to introduce the console without the Xbox 360 controller, which will reduce the cost of the machine.
