July 1 - 7:40am EDT   Alienware today quietly introduced its own desktop display built both for gaming and movie viewing. The OptX AW2210 is intended as a multi-role display with a 21.5-inch, 1080p LCD that has not only DVI for computers but, in a rarity for the class, dual HDMI ports. Viewers can hook up a pair of HD sources like a Blu-ray player or game console and maintain their native aspect ratios without losing access to the computer. [full story]

May 29 - 7:55am EDT   Alienware today tipped its hand early and showed its reworked version of its flagship M17x gaming notebook. The 17-inch system has the brand's typical array of customizable lighting but is modernized, particularly in its graphics: in addition to supporting up to two GeForce GTX 280M chipsets in SLI for desktop-level performance, it has a GeForce 9400M chipset that it can switch to for conserving power when the notebook is on battery. Processors are also updated and scale up to quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme chips. [full story]

November 19 - 3:55pm EST   Alienware on Wednesday announced it has released the Aurora Online Gaming Edition desktop PC. The tower is meant to improve the online gaming experience thanks to the inclusion of a Killer NIC K1 network card from Bigfoot Networks that claims to reduce lag and deliver smoother, more responsive online gameplay. The PC includes AMD's Phenom X4 9950 CPU rated at 2.6GHz and also sports 4GB of RAM. [full story]

November 16 - 11:15pm EST   Intel is starting the week by officially shipping its first Core i7 processors. The technology is just the seventh major x86 architecture from the company and is designed more explicitly for multi-core processors than the earlier Core 2 architecture. It marks the return of Hyperthreading from the Pentium 4 and allows each core to theoretically run two program threads at once; the overall processor also has the option of a Turbo Mode that can disable as many as three cores and overclock the remaining cores for apps that depend only on one or two threads. [full story]

November 13 - 2:35pm EST   Alienware on Thursday veered away from its normal high-end audience to unveil the Area-51 750i. The system is the company's least expensive gaming tower but comes with the same lightable casing, wiring and stronger power supplies as more expensive Area-51 models; only the individual components dictate its price, and the system can be scaled upwards to include some of the better features from Alienware's catalog, such as liquid cooling and noise damping. [full story]

November 3 - 11:05am EST   After a short teaser campaign, Alienware has revealed an upgrade to its M17 desktop replacement notebook that boosts its all-around performance. The 17-inch system can now go quad-core and has the option of a 2.53GHz Core 2 Extreme for those gamers who would prefer multi-thread performance over sheer clock speed; a 2.26GHz Core 2 Quad is also an option for less demanding tasks. [full story]

October 16 - 6:40am EDT   Dell has announced that its subsidiary, Alienware, will be offering a version of its Aurora gaming desktop computer at Best Buy stores. Although the Aurora systems are considered entry level for the company, the particular version to ship to the retail stores will include many of the improved components above the base model available directly from the manufacturer. Best Buy hopes to drive sales by letting consumers "experience Alienware first hand," according to Keith Bryan, director of desktop computing. [full story]

August 13 - 3:15pm EDT   Dell is phasing out its distinct XPS line in favor of its regular brands, the company has revealed today. While not explicitly saying it will discontinue the XPS label outright, the name will now be folded into the Inspiron and Studio systems as a high-end trim level. The stylized Studio line will effectively replace the XPS for most purposes, Dell's worldwide marketing chief Mark Jarvis says. The official doesn't provide a motivation other than to suggest the move is part of "brand consolidation" that trims the number of labels at Dell. [full story]

August 12 - 12:55pm EDT   Dell's high-end gaming division, Alienware, has announced that it will be adopting AMD's new Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics card effective immediately. The card combines two GPUs into one board, and features 2GB of DDR5 RAM as well as DirectX 10.1 support; maximum performance is rated at 2.4 teraflops. Due to its size the card is only being offered in the company's three desktop systems, the Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora. [full story]

July 29 - 2:00pm EDT   Alienware this afternoon turned its m15x gaming notebook into a 3D modeling workstation with the introduction of an option for NVIDIA's top-end Quadro FX 3600M chipset. The portable is the first 15.4-inch notebook anywhere to hold the graphics chip and uses the extra headroom for much faster work rendering 3D effects, CAD, or other projects in DirectX 10 or OpenGL 2.1 without having to resort to a 17-inch desktop replacement or else a slower graphics chipset. [full story]

July 8 - 11:30pm EDT   Samsung tonight said it has started mass production of 128GB solid-state drives based on multi-level cell (MLC) technology that should dramatically reduce the cost of switching to flash storage in notebooks. By using a new implementation of the format, the Korean firm says it has managed to provide inexpensive storage without hurting the relative speed that would otherwise need a faster but expensive single-level cell drive: any of the new drives can read at 90MB per second and write at 70MB per second, making them faster than most any notebook-class rotating hard drive and faster than earlier SSDs. [full story]

May 22 - 1:05pm EDT   Dell's Alienware division has once again refreshed its top-of-the-line gaming PC, the Area-51 ALX. At the center is the option of a quad-core, 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, overclocked for even greater performance to 4GHz; to avoid corresponding overheating problems, Alienware has equipped all ALX computers with liquid cooling. Motherboards, meanwhile, can now be configured with up to 4GB of 1,600MHz Corsair DDR3 RAM. [full story]

May 14 - 12:35pm EDT   Dell has no plans to eliminate its XPS line of computers, a company representative says. On Monday the Wall Street Journal reported that Dell intends to phase out four of its XPS gaming systems, on the basis that they are eating into sales of its newly-bought Alienware division. Dell is said to be in tough financial circumstances, having lost its former dominance in PC sales to chief rival HP. In April the company revealed plans to fire at least 8,800 people, and close its desktop manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. [full story]

May 12 - 11:35pm EDT   Next month Dell will begin phasing out four of its popular XPS gaming systems, in favor of the high-end PCs that are part of its recently acquired Alienware PC line. The surprising move is part of its continued turnaround efforts--along with an expected design overhaul in its Inspiron line-- after slipping behind rival HP in overall PC sales and struggling to achieve profits in consumer PCs, the Wall Street Journal reports. With the focus on the Alienware line, Dell says that a combined gaming design and development unit will focus on the seven current Alienware models, which has lost some "mojo," according to one analyst. Dell also noted that the gaming market, which ... [full story]

April 30 - 12:50am EDT   Alienware today unveiled the m17x, a gaming behemoth stuffed into the confines of a 17-inch wide screen laptop, featuring an option of Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme processors and dual Nvidia graphics cards. The hefty, sleek laptop uses a high-definition screen, featuring a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels, with up to 4GB of dual channel DDR2 memory, and up to two hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration for up to 1TB of storage. The m17x also has space for a third modular hard drive or DVD burner. [full story]