Like lakhs of other people around the world, Vivian Lien has been flexing her gaming muscles over the lockdown; she chuckles as she admits to The Hindu during a phone call from San Francisco that she and her 15-year-old daughter have been playing action role-playing game (RPG) Genshin Impact from developer miHoYo, Valorant by Riot Games, and other open-world massive multimedia online (MMO) games.
(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.)
Lien, who is the Vice President of Alienware and Dell Gaming, states that she does not play competitively and never has, but she is thrilled at how gaming has been embraced over the last 18 months, particularly in India. “PC gaming has become more mainstream,” she points out, “and the advancements in tech have fuelled that part of consumer interest and adoption. What used to be used be just one type of device now has different segments in terms of its appeal to different customer bases. Games have always been accessible and exciting; since last year, though, games have become a means for people to stay connected. Over the past year and a half, the world realised gaming is here to stay.”
Read More | How video gaming emerged as a productive lifestyle in 2020
In India, where mobile gaming is on the rise – thanks to titles such as Call of Duty, Dota, Freefire and now-banned PUBG – there is not much for PC brands to worry about, insists Lien. “When we look across the gaming ecosystem – be it mobile, console or PC – the fact that more people are gaming is a good thing for us; it brings more people into the ecosystem. The more people who are gaming, the more there are who can be introduced to PC gaming,” she adds, “When you sit in front of a complete PC setup with displays and full-sized keyboard and mouse, you get a different experience that you won’t get with other platforms. It’s not about competition between platforms but collectively, it’s good for the industry because then people have more choices to navigate.”
Read More | Dell 2021 Video Conferencing Monitor review: The monitor market may have a new competitive player
Chipsets are also a make-or-break factor when it comes to choosing a gaming device. After all, like the mitochondria of a living cell, the chipset is the powerhouse of a device of any kind. Agreeing with this, Lien says because of the granular control people want over their hardware, knowledge of these areas has grown vastly.
That said, now that Dell and Alienware launched their much-awaited 2021 portfolio on August 26; she elaborates that the segments of gaming have evolved to become more varied and depend on the consumer/player’s needs, so it was pertinent that their new hardware reflects these community changes. She sums it up, “From a device point-of-view, a gaming PC is not only a great source of competitiveness and entertainment depending on the game you play, but it’s also a productivity tool.”
What’s new with Alienware?
As well as improvements to their high-end XPS ultrabook lines, Dell unveiled its Alienware X and G series for various segments of gaming consumers.
Starting from the very top is the Alienware X series born from a desire to meet the expectations of a breen of users who want performance, portability, a thin form factor – while not worrying about a trade-off. These 15- and 17-inch gaming laptops are the brand’s thinnest yet, with advanced, Cryo-Tech cooling technology and Legend 2.0 evolutionary design.
“We asked ourselves what it takes to build a powerful gaming laptop that is thin at the same time,” recalls Lien. “When you think about performance in a gaming laptop, you have to think about certain trade-offs, and the most obvious is that it will be thicker to allow for space for thermal management. Alienware has been known for thermalware design and innovation so we wanted a new breakthrough. Looking at what was available to us at the time, we realised in terms of the processor and how we dissipate heat inside such a small space is that we needed something different.”
Dell and Alienware then received five patents for just this space alone during this period of research and development, and product design. One of the patents is for Element 31, a material that cools a processor. They also invented a new way to put fans inside the system, ultimately re-evaluating how active and passive cooling works in laptops. Lien also brings up how the consumers are geared towards mechanical keyboards, which Dell and Alienware introduced earlier this year.
Finally, there is the Alienware G series for those on a budget, going off to college, and want a gaming-first device that will last them a couple of years. These come equipped with Game Shift technology and Alienware Command Center, offering the choice to select from Intel 11th Generation Intel and AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors.
Then comes the Alienware M series designed to meet the needs of people who do not feel the need to take their gaming laptop everywhere and want performance and all the maximised experiences.
