As reported by Ars Technica on Tuesday, June 10, PC brand Alienware has ditched its idea of producing a Steam Machine and has instead unveiled a new PC to take the stage in the living room, called “the Alpha”.
Previously, the Alpha was intended to run as a Steam Machine with Valve’s SteamOS, but that’s no longer the case. According to Ars Technica, since Valve delayed the Steam Machines until 2015 following design issues with the Steam Controller, Alienware’s plans also changed.
The system will ship with 64-bit Windows 8.1 and a wireless Xbox 360 controller, and is slated to release during 2014’s Holiday season.
Starting at a $549 price tag, the Alpha comes with a Core i3 Haswell processor, 4GB RAM, a 500GB hard disk, dual-band 802.11ac 1×1 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI in and out, gigabit Ethernet, and two each of USB 2 and USB 3 ports.
Upgrades to the Alpha will include Core i5 and i7 processors, 8GB RAM, hard disks up to 2TB, and 2×2 802.11ac.
Furthermore, the system will also include an unusual GPU using Nvidia’s Maxwell architecture, that’s allegedly “ custom built ” and paired with 2Gb of dedicated GDDR5 memory.
We’ll bring you more news on the Steam Machines should more information reach our ears.
[ Ars Technica ]