I'm going to be purchasing a gaming pc, and my budget is $700-720. Now everywhere I go I only see reviews of people bashing prebuilt pcs and I can see why, but building one is not an option for me as I'm getting a pc for my belated xmas present, and the pc I need has to be small enough to fit in my backpack in case I need to go anywhere (friends house, etc.). Personally I think I could buy the 699 model and be good with that for the games I want to run (Skyrim, Stanley Parable, TF2, Minecraft, Fall Out 3, L4D2, Dead Island, etc.) on medium to high (or ultra) on 1400x1050. I will not be purchasing Bf3 or any CoD game as those aren't my style, so please don't say anything about those games/series. I'm rambling but anyways will this pc be good enough for me? I don't think I'll be buying a 1080p monitor any time soon so don't worry about high resolutions. But as I said, will this be a good pc for me based on my needs as a gamer?
Is The Alienware x51 any good?
The Alienware X51 proves that big things can come in small packages, offering excellent gaming performance in a slim chassis.
Pros
Small, tinkerer-friendly chassis
Category-leading performance
Cons
Ultimately limited upgrade options
Yes the other answer is correct about the "cons." The X-51 has an extremely limited upgrade path, and that's a VERY BAD thing in a gaming PC. First and foremost you need a good graphics card for PC gaming. Of course having a fast CPU is also important, but it is the graphics card that makes or breaks a gaming rig. Typically, in a "regular" gaming PC, you can always upgrade your graphics card whenever it starts getting old and not handling the new games. All you have to do is to make sure your PSU can handle it (and the PSU is easily upgraded in a PC as well).
Herein lies the problem with the X-51. Its PSU is not a normal ATX form factor PSU used by 99% of PCs. It is some weird external 330 watt unit (and that is WEAK). And decent graphics card can't run on a 330 watt PSU. And there's no upgrade option for the X-51s PSU at this point. You are stuck with an extremely weak PSU and a very limited ability to upgrade your graphics card.
So if you are set on getting an X-51- take this advice. Get the best possible configuration they offer (which will cost a small fortune), because thats what you'll be stuck with until you finally get rid of the thing in 4-5 years.
It looks like right now a GTX 760 w/1.5GB VRAM, or a GTX 760 Ti w/2GB VRAM are the two best cards available. These cards are good, but not great. The GTX 760 with 1.5 GDDR5 of VRAM is not the same as the reference model or any of the branded GTX 760s like you would buy on Newegg. Its slower.
The GTX 760 Ti is an OEM or special Dell only version of the GTX 760 and it also isn't as good as a regular 760 card like this. A regular GTX 760 from ASUS or MSI blows it away.
http://www.newegg.com/...6814127750
The ones that Dell give you in the X-51 are not the same card.
If you really want this system, then go ahead its your money. But I personally woudn't get it. For all intents and purposes it is a closed system, with no upgrade path at all, and its more similar to a laptop (or even a console) than to a true gaming desktop.
Also, if you think you can "throw" an X-51 into your backpack and take it where ever you go, you're making a mistake. You'll knock something loose and break the thing doing that. Its still a computer. Bad plan.
And the $699 model sucks. You'd be better of getting an XBOX One or PS4.