Dell and Alienware are at Gamescom 2o18, and they’ve got a slew of announcements designed to remind you why Alienware is synonymous with top of the line PC gaming. There are new monitors, fun new keyboard LED lighting, updated GPUs, new ways to manage peripherals, and an esports academy!
On the hardware side, Dell has new 24″ ($319.99) and 27″ ($549.99) gaming monitors. These come with 1ms response time, overclocked refresh rates, and customizable profiles that can be tweaked to specific needs, so you can have your monitor set for specific types of gaming and flip the profile as needed. What’s really amazing is that Dell offers Dell Premium Panel Exchange, which gives you a free panel replacement during the warranty even if only one pixel has gone rogue. Both monitors begin shipping August 28th.
In addition to new monitors, the Alienware Aurora and Area 51 desktops are getting new GPU options. Aurora is going to have NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, 2080, and 2080 Ti GPUs, while Area-51 will offer the same, along with up to 18-core Intel Processors. Both desktops can be customized with enough power to handle VR, 4k, and even 12k gaming. (Also, as someone whose gaming setup consists of an SNES classic, there’s a 12k resolution?!?)
Laptop fans haven’t been forgotten, with Alienware 15 and 17 picking up per-key LED lighting. This sounds like a weird thing to celebrate, but a quick Google indicated this is helpful for gaming, as you can use color coding to better customize a keyboard for certain games. That actually makes sense, as colors would help orient a gamer to the keyboard and mean you don’t have to look down all the way while gaming to make sure you’re hitting the right keys. Dell says this will give gamers 80 quadrillion lighting combos, but for mere mortals, it’s probably more interesting that the keyboards will have 2.2mm of key travel, enabling faster response times.
Now, maybe you have Alienware tastes on a generic budget. Not to worry, because Alienware has something for you, too. The Alienware Command Center is now available for all PCs. This is basically a one-stop shop to allow you to control and tweak any Alienware peripherals you are using. That way you can get the best performance for your needs out of anything Alienware branded you’re using, even if your overall setup didn’t come from Dell/Alienware.
Finally, there’s the esports platform, Alienware Academy. This is an online program that will help you develop your esports skills, presumably so you can become a professional sports gamer. We’re one teleporting door away from “It’s Such A Beautiful Day” by Isaac Asimov, and that’s all I’m going to say about becoming a pro at esports.
Alienware is busy at Gamescom, and they’ve got plenty of new devices to keep your wallet working hard plus lots of new resources and software to keep you at the top of your game (pun intended). Check it all out at Alienware.com.
