Alienware Steam Machine will be updated yearly & not upgradable
With many companies announcing their Steam Machine to be ready when Valve gives the go ahead the question on everyone is asking is what hardware will companies put in their Steam Machine and how it will be upgraded as time goes on. Well one company has answered that question and as the title says Alienware will not make their Steam Machines upgradable. In order to keep with the times you will have to buy a new Steam Machine from them every year to keep up with the ever changing PC hardware market.
Frank Azor, Alienware general manager said this in an interview, “There will be no customization options, you can’t really update it.”
While this isn’t the end of the world for the Alienware Steam Machine, it is a big let down. I for one thought that the perfect Steam Machine was going to be the one that finally put consoles in their place by being more powerful, ability to choose your OS, and upgradability to some extent. I don’t expect to be able to change ever part out in a Steam Machine but one thing Valve has given us PC gamers hope for was to change parts out like we do to our own rigs.
Now other Steam Machines will give you this feature but Alienware is a huge player in building custom computer for gamers that are fully upgradable except for some of their smaller form factor PCs such as the Alienware X51, which Frank Azor suggest if you want Alienware and the ability to upgrade. So the Alienware Steam Machine is basically their version of a console which on one hand is good since since if they bring out a new and upgraded model every year and you have the cash you can stay ahead of Microsoft and Sony when the Xbox One and PS4 get 4-5 year old.
Alienware Steam Machine