In order to compete with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One consoles, Alienware rolled out the Alienware Alpha, a Windows gaming system that possesses nearly the same dimensions as next generation consoles. Now, the company is attempting to branch out to other categories of gaming, similar to the direction that NVIDIA has taken.
On Alienware Forums, the subsidiary's General Manager, Frank Azor, was asked, "Any chance of a dedicated portable gaming handheld/ tablet?"
Azor did not attempt to refute these claims as his reply was: "Yes there's a chance but not ready to announce anything yet."
With that reply, it is almost confirmed that the company is working on something that will bring portable gaming to a whole new stratum. While no release date has been given related to the unnamed product, KitGuru deems that the portable gaming tablet could be unveiled as soon as this year's E3 event.
In 2014, Alienware announced its Alienware Graphics Amplifier, a chassis meant to be attached to gaming laptops in order to deliver desktop-grade performance to the portable computer. It is no secret that graphic chips embedded into laptops are not in the same league as desktop GPUs in terms of performance, so the Alienware Graphics Amplifier allows users to attach a desktop graphics card and an available power supply unit to the chassis and, through the use of a custom cable and regular ATX power cord, the gaming laptop will get merged with the Graphics Amplifier, resulting in better gaming performance. Unfortunately, only the Alienware 13 is currently compatible with the Graphics Amplifier and the price tag of the chassis alone costs $300, without the power supply unit and graphics card.
NVIDIA's Shield and Shield 2 gaming tablets are also examples of how companies have started to venture into other revenue-generating products, seeing how the popularity of mobile gadgets are proliferating with every passing year. It remains to be seen how Alienware will proceed with its plans of coming up with a gaming handheld device.
