Alienware, a company that's historically focused on high-end PCs for the serious gamer, released its first system that targets the consumer market. The Alienware Bot is a fully-customizable desktop PC housed in a sleek black and silver case. With dimensions of 13.8 x 5.4 x 13.6 inches (HxWxD), the chassis is compact and smaller than most midtower units. The base system comes with Windows XP Home Edition, a 2.53GHz Intel Celeron D processor, an 80GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive, and 256MB of memory. Numerous upgrades to these components are available, including a 3.6GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with HT (Hyper-Threading) technology, a 250GB Western Digital Caviar hard drive, and 1GB of memory. Additional features of the base system include a 16X DVD-ROM drive, a 3.5-inch floppy diskette drive, Intel High Definition 5.1 audio, and an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900. As with the other components, you can choose upgrades for these items. On the front of the case you get two USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, a headphone jack, and a microphone jack. The back holds four additional USB 2.0 ports, another FireWire port, a 10/100 Ethernet connection, and six jacks with six-channel (5.1) 24-bit audio support. Alienware ships the Bot with a Microsoft Basic keyboard and wired optical mouse. The standard one-year warranty includes 24/7 telephone support and online service. You can also choose from a variety of extended warranties and service options. by Carmen Carmack |