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Dell’s Alienware PC gaming brand has responded to views that tier 1 vendors aren’t as nimble as custom system builders.
The system build market has flourished in recent years thanks to strong demand for custom PC gaming rigs – something which is setting the smaller builders apart from big vendors.
But with the likes of Lenovo and Acer increasing their focus on PC gaming, and Alienware making its products available to retail, the sector is becoming more competitive.
Some custom system builders have previously told PCR that tier 1 vendors like Alienware aren’t nimble enough to create custom gaming PCs, as their products must be finalised for the assembly line and are locked to a certain spec.
Reacting to that viewpoint, Alienware EMEA marketing manager Daniel Charbit (pictured) told PCR that Alienware has ‘world-class’ support.
He said: "We always strive to be first to market, and we proved it recently with adoption of the brand new Intel Skylake processors as soon as they were announced. For us, at the core of Alienware, we aim to deliver apex performance with iconic, innovative system design meant to inspire and delight gamers.
"Additionally, we apply the same rigour during development of our Alienware line-up as we would to Dell branded products, such as the flagship XPS range – from the materials used, to the construction, and the overall design aesthetic.
"We’re also able to offer stellar reliability and support. With Alienware and Dell support offerings, users can rest easy that if something goes wrong, they have a team of world-class professionals willing and able to assist."
Miodrag Relic, business development director for Caseking group (which owns Overclockers), previously told PCR: "Bigger vendors do have a place [in the PC gaming market], especially on the B2B side for corporate customers, absolutely, they’re extremely strong when it comes to notebooks too.
"But they purchase tens of thousands of machines at the same time, for a large manufacturing organisation they have to lock in the spec months before the launch actually commences. Once spec is locked and they go into production, they can’t change it. In the meantime you’re going to have all the new technologies, CPUs, memory, graphics cards, whatever, and they will fall behind.
"So as much as they would like to do so, it’s not easy for them to be flexible. As new technology comes, we can use it – we can constantly adapt. Our time to market is very short – theirs is longer."
Read the full interview with Alienware in the next issue of PCR
