Wednesday, January 8th 2020
Alienware Shows Off Concept UFO - a Portable, Tablet-like Mini PC
At CES 2020, Dell's gaming-inspired division, Alienware, had a handful of new products to showcase. Among these, we found a new product that is still in development called the Concept UFO. The UFO is a concept product that hints a new development strategy for gaming PCs, and that is a portability first approach. Inspired by Nintendo's Switch console, this computer puts gaming PCs on the go. Designed to be a handheld based solution, this PC is based on Windows 10 operating system so you can be sure that all of your existing game libraries are also playable on it as well.
Having an Intel processor as its base, the Concept UFO uses Intel's iGPU to power an 8-inch display of unknown resolution. While we don't know which architecture is powering the UFO, we speculate that Ice Lake is behind it. Our speculation is based on an assumption that, if the concept is capable of playing games, Alienware would put as high-performance iGPU as possible, and such performance is currently only found inside Intel's Ice Lake processors, in form of Intel Iris Plus integrated graphics. Frank Azor of AMD tweeted a question if anyone would like to see this product come with new AMD 4000 series of Ryzen mobile processors, so we could be in for a surprise, given that final specifications are not determined. Ryzen 4000 series would represent a perfect choice as it offers a lot of CPU and GPU power in a mere 15 W TDP package, however, we don't know what solution will be present in the end.
Additionally, when not using the PC as a mobile device, it can be "docked", meaning that it would gain access to the additional power and become a real home theater gaming PC. The integrated controllers can be taken off in that situation and then be used as a single controller like shown in the picture above. As far as I/O options are concerned, there is one unknown video output and one USB type C port at the top of the device, used for charging. As this is only a concept product, for now, we don't know if it will make it to the market, however, we can hope it becomes a reality this year.
Having an Intel processor as its base, the Concept UFO uses Intel's iGPU to power an 8-inch display of unknown resolution. While we don't know which architecture is powering the UFO, we speculate that Ice Lake is behind it. Our speculation is based on an assumption that, if the concept is capable of playing games, Alienware would put as high-performance iGPU as possible, and such performance is currently only found inside Intel's Ice Lake processors, in form of Intel Iris Plus integrated graphics. Frank Azor of AMD tweeted a question if anyone would like to see this product come with new AMD 4000 series of Ryzen mobile processors, so we could be in for a surprise, given that final specifications are not determined. Ryzen 4000 series would represent a perfect choice as it offers a lot of CPU and GPU power in a mere 15 W TDP package, however, we don't know what solution will be present in the end.
29 Comments on Alienware Shows Off Concept UFO - a Portable, Tablet-like Mini PC
Neat idea I guess, but the iGPU will be a huge limiting factor here. And probably the price tag as well.
The Switch can run on a low end ARM chip in large part because of the lean OS it uses.
Not for me but I could see this taking off especially if the price is right.
Certainly be interesting to see the type of battery life it can do in portable mode, I can get about 2-3 hours with 40% volume and brightness at about 60-80%.
And fact that Nintendo makes its money not on hardware sales but on software sales is something to take into consideration. Alienware will make their money on hardware sales so price will be exorbant.
Let's just hope the price is reasonable. Probably shouldn't get my hopes up since it's an Alienware.
Plus, it's still gimped by iGPU (e.g. don't expect 60FPS@720p in RPCS3 or Cemu).
Windows 10 is very light when taken care of. It won't even consume 5% of what this 15W CPU offers.
Yes, a bare custom OS would be lighter. But it also wouldn't run other apps you may want: an e-book reader, Excel, a browser...
This is basically an ultrabook connected to an Xbox controller. We know it works well.
And you'll still be able to connect a BT keyboard and turn this into a functional mobile PC, whereas Switch (being a really amazing gaming platform) is still waiting for a Netflix client.What would be the point of using Ryzen in this? Higher idle, same level IGP, unknown supply and shipping date.
It's been confirmed to use Ice Lake. They exist. They work. They can be easily replaced with Tiger Lake in few months. Intel's 10nm pouring through all channels now. ;)
That alone is a Nintendo Patent which I am sure Nintendo would like to have for themselves.
2. Seriously, let Nintendo fight for their rights. What if Dell paid them for license?
I like this thing, looks very promising. Dell might have a winner on their hands if they market it right.
As for patents:
Detachable controllers, that thingy that makes them work like a gamepad, hell even the kickstand are a blatant ripoff of Nintendo's designs.
Seriously, this is just a 15W SoC (likely Ice Lake G7 for now, Tiger Lake successor later this year). We know what these SoCs can do.
Funny how 15W Intel/AMD SoCs are OK for casual gaming when we're discussing laptops, but suddenly not sufficient in a mobile console. That makes absolutely no sense. :DRipoff it may be (at least partly).
Material for lawsuit that some here expect - not really.
Lon over at LonTV had a upclose look at it! I'm thinking strongly about getting one.
Simply straighten the frame will make the design tolerable.
I'd rather pick this than a Switch, there are many more games and you can use it as a regular pc, the problem is the probably high price. I recently purchased a hp x360 with a mx250 and it can run games decently for what it is.
But the key selling point here is not console price, but choice of games.
Moreover, if you're also a PC gamer, you play the same games, so there are potentially enormous savings on that front.
Maybe a toned down version with a 10th gen Celeron and a smaller screen would be more closer to that. But I would put my money on Microsoft pushing ARM Windows and CFW Switch than expecting a x86 portable gaming device with a reasonable price.
I don't think that many mouse-and-keynoard games will be optimized well for gamepads, let alone the ability to run in high quality on this gaming 2-in-1, unless of course they smack in Core i9-10980HK and RTX 2080 in a body that's at least one brick thick.