Mac Mini Alternative: Alienware Alpha

The Alienware Alpha looks pretty nice and upgradeable, I was actually tempted in the past month to purchase one via import from the US (currently at £315 GBP vs £499 GBP) but I would of took one in a heartbeat if it had at least a GTX 970M, but obviously it came too late during development of the Alpha.

I currently want to game the best way possible and I have a GTX 980, I'm really hoping to see some good Thunderbolt solutions very soon, maybe even Apple have one up their sleeve like MacVidCards mentioned on the forum.

I know there's solutions to the Thunderbolt GPU's on the Mac Mini, but it's a
messy clusterf**k of PSU's and open top enclosures.

Either way, if Alienware make a revision on the Alpha or Thunderbolt GPU gets better, lets see what gets there first.

As for now, I think building your own with a MiniITX board is the cheaper route with components you can upgrade yourself in the future.

Let's be honest though, NOBODY makes it cleaner and easier than Apple!

I recently got a Zotac EN 760 which has the same graphics chip as in the Alpha an 860m. It has a weaker processor, an i5 4200U though. The thing handles many games though. I've ran far cry 4 on it at 1080p in high settings and it's very nice. It's a speedy little box. Although if you don't have ram and a hard drive laying around, It could get expensive. My total (256SSD, 8GB ram, free copy of far cry with SSD) not including OS, came out to 660. Oh and the thing is silent.

venom600 said:

Looks shouldn't even be under consideration in this discussion. It's a straw man (among others) that is being used to distract from the topic at hand.

For every one of you who loves the Mac Mini's looks, I can find 20 people that love Alienware's design ethos (the same people that put windows in the side of their computers and backlight the motherboard). Taste is subjective and as such, not debatable.

The point I was trying to make here is that looking at objective statistics (performance, longevity, upgradability, size), the Mini is terribly deficient and you don't gain a whole lot in return.

I guess the question I should have asked is: At what point do the inherent deficiencies in the way Apple designs their hardware outweigh the benefits of OS X?

For enterprise people it was when the Xserve died. For video editors it seems to be the closed box design of the new Mac Pro. What's the tipping point for you?

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It's funny you cut my comment in half and left out the bit that goes in the same direction as your opinion - I could care less about the Alpha's looks if it ran OSX. However, in an ideal world, we wouldn't be having this discussion because Apple would make a truly upgradable and flexible xMac (headless iMac of sorts).

Frankly, we all love Macs here and aesthetics are a major selling point in Apple's offer, but at the end of day how much time does anyone spend looking at the box/enclosure rather than what's happening on the screen? Very few, I suspect.

Furthermore, the latest Mini lost a fair share of it's "loveability" factor when Apple killed the quad-core option, upgradability and easy access to the innards - the current Mini is really just a boring sealed-up box made of aluminum intended to be stashed away, there's nothing to it anymore.

So yeah, the Alpha is actually looking good, it's certainly going in the direction Apple is working really hard to avoid/ignore.

Mcdevidr said:

I recently got a Zotac EN 760 which has the same graphics chip as in the Alpha an 860m. It has a weaker processor, an i5 4200U though. The thing handles many games though. I've ran far cry 4 on it at 1080p in high settings and it's very nice. It's a speedy little box. Although if you don't have ram and a hard drive laying around, It could get expensive. My total (256SSD, 8GB ram, free copy of far cry with SSD) not including OS, came out to 660. Oh and the thing is silent.

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I'd say you did very well.

Try running FC4 @1080p on a $600 Mini.

What's even more laughable is it would run just as horrible on the totally maxed out $2200 Mini.

Apple completely ignores the fun factor. Macs may as well be Beige box PCs from the 90's.

The only thing I don't like about the alpha is that they force a slow hard drive on you. And there is a 150 dollar up charge for a bigger hard drive. The $799 model looks like the best. Just throw an SSD in it. The Zotac however on the low end makes more sense. You can find it for 490 no tax bare bone system. I think it's a bit smaller than the Alienware as well. The i5 4200U is not really that much slower in games than that i3 T model will be. I was considering the alpha but I wanted to go cheaper.

Does the Alpha run OSX?

cinealta said:

Does the Alpha run OSX?

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Why would you ask that question? The discussion here is about more powerful computers that can run games. Windows is the gaming platform, not OS X.

scottsjack said:

Why would you ask that question? The discussion here is about more powerful computers that can run games. Windows is the gaming platform, not OS X.

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The question while peculiar is reasonable. The original post does introduce Alienware Alpha with respect to the state of the Mac Mini and what it could have been. Since the Mini runs OSX, the question is a reasonable one. It would be nice to be able to run Win, Linux and OSX on this little machine that definitely puts the new Minis to shame.

On another note - those that have reservations about the looks of this computer ought to think about the various incarnations of Apple computers and basic black is not such a bad thing.

I don't know if anyone here bought an Alpha, but I did, and I'm very happy with it. I got the i7 model, and wireless keyboard and mouse. I hooked it right up to my TV and Ethernet router.

I have Skyrim set up with over 80 mods on ultra, and I get around 50 fps consistently. I pump detail and settings to max on Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite and I get buttery smooth frame rates above the 60 to 70 mark.

Windows 8.1 is stable, responsive, and fun to use (I like some of the active tiles for my favorite bands and news), and I have yet to see any inexplicable beach balls.

It is silent. If you are annoyed by the sounds it makes, you are using it with your volume muted, no heat or A/C on in your house, your refrigerator is two rooms away, and your hearing is better than mine.

My only complaint is their attempt to make it a console, the "Alpha UI", is pretty useless. I uninstalled it, run it as a full PC, installed Kodi (XBMC) on it, and access Netflix via an active tile on the start menu.

This thing single handedly just replaced my MacBook (except portability of course), my Apple TV, and my XBox 360.

venom600 said:

Please, spare me. I'm not asking for them to build a Mac Pro and price it at $499. I'm asking why they insist on compromising what could be a stellar product in the name of a a couple of inches when it's clear that they can do better. If we don't demand better, they will never deliver it.

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Because specs don't matter anymore and form now does. It just has to be good enough for the market but can't be fugly. If you want to talk specs then there are the build to order options.

If the market says form is more important than tech specs then you're an outlier when you talk specs. Get used to it.

dogslobber said:

Because specs don't matter anymore and form now does. It just has to be good enough for the market but can't be fugly. If you want to talk specs then there are the build to order options.

If the market says form is more important than tech specs then you're an outlier when you talk specs. Get used to it.

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Oh come on. Just because Apple sells it does not mean that everyone wants it. Look at the post above yours. That poster is no outlier, he has joined the mainstream. Also Apple lost a customer by not producing equipment to the specs he needs.

Additionally go to the Mac Pro forum and see how many users are still running 4,1 and 5,1 Mac Pros. Essentially many of them are future lost customers because Apple does not make the equipment they need. They are spending plenty of money for upgrades but it is not with Apple.

Finally I just bought a used 2012 Mac Pro. I will probably put another 600 to 700 dollars in it. Would I have rather bought the mythical xMac had it been available? Of course.

Please, there are many kinds of customers, not just your kind.

scottsjack said:

Oh come on. Just because Apple sells it does not mean that everyone wants it. Look at the post above yours. That poster is no outlier, he has joined the mainstream. Also Apple lost a customer by not producing equipment to the specs he needs.

Additionally go to the Mac Pro forum and see how many users are still running 4,1 and 5,1 Mac Pros. Essentially many of them are future lost customers because Apple does not make the equipment they need. They are spending plenty of money for upgrades but it is not with Apple.

Finally I just bought a used 2012 Mac Pro. I will probably put another 600 to 700 dollars in it. Would I have rather bought the mythical xMac had it been available? Of course.

Please, there are many kinds of customers, not just your kind.

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Apple is a half trillion dollar company and seem to know what they're doing. If they lose 1 customer but gain another 500 then does it matter? Only to that losing out customer who complains to MacForums!

dogslobber said:

Apple is a half trillion dollar company and seem to know what they're doing. If they lose 1 customer but gain another 500 then does it matter? Only to that losing out customer who complains to MacForums!

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I personally would prefer that apple doesn't cater the the lowest common denominator, but hey, as long as they keep making the billions of dollars.

That's cool. The i7 model looked pretty nice. I was looking at that actually. Does the alien alpha allow an m2 and standard 2.5?

dogslobber said:

Apple is a half trillion dollar company and seem to know what they're doing. If they lose 1 customer but gain another 500 then does it matter? Only to that losing out customer who complains to MacForums!

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Tim, quit using such a silly handle as "dogslobber". Just come out of the Internet closet and admit who you are. No biggie. While I may not like your views it is good to know who's views they actually are.