Glad the video is of some use to you and others, thanks for taking the time to check it out. I also bought her a wireless Logitech Unifying receiver keyboard and mouse which is what she is using exclusively with the Alpha, it came with Windows 8.1 which was very much part of the appeal. When you boot up the system it takes you to a proprietary OS by Alienware and you can choose to either go into Steam's big picture mode (I think that's what it's called) or boot to Windows desktop which is mainly how my girl uses it. She just puts the machine into sleep mode and turns off the keyboard and mouse when not in use, and the thing is ready to go as soon as you turn on either. Basically it's just a tiny PC, as far as the console aspect of it, I can see it working fine but it seems easier to just use it in desktop mode and fire up Steam desktop or any other software as you would on your PC vs fiddling with the Steam OS but it's cool that the option is there. It's a neat little box!

Well we really liked the small form factor because our entertainment center is packed to the gills, and no cases exist that small that look as nice as the Alpha. I have not been inclined or needed to build my own machine for several years now, nothing wrong with it, you usually get exactly what you want that way but why are we having that conversation when everyone knows that? A waste of money is a very subjective term, we all know it is expensive to some sure, that's why there are cheaper options out there. Tons of people would and do buy all sorts of stuff that are considered by others to be a waste of money i.e. a ferrari or a professional stove etc. If you can afford it and it's what you want where is the crime? If I had spent a few hundred of your dollars on it then I could understand your comment, but ultimately what concern is the cost of anything to you unless it's your own money? Why buy anything you want like clothes, food or a new TV then? Many things can be argued as being "a waste of money". TL;DR: But if it makes you feel better please accept my sincerest apology to you personally for "wasting" my money on my girlfriend's computer and for not first consulting you on your sage-like wisdom concerning the economic value of my purchases.

Indeed! Never thought we would own an Alienware anything. However the Alpha is running everything way better than my girl's old laptop and also of much importance to us, takes up very little area of our way overcrowded entertainment center.

Updated the OP, It's the i7 model.

Yeah YouTube really does a number on the video compression, even at 1080p it zapped the video quality. Completely agree and there is no doubt, you will always be able to build a better machine yourself for much less money and better performance than any comparable off the shelf solution. But for those not inclined or tech-savvy enough to build their own rig it's a decent solution if slightly more expensive than a custom rig, nice thing about PCs is there are so many options available for every budget. Yep I'm redundant.

Prior to getting my girl's Alpha i7 model I could not find any game-play videos of the Alpha running SWTOR, so we got one anyway and are very happy with the performance. So, for anyone similarly looking into how the Alienware Alpha runs the poorly optimized beauty that is SWTOR please feel free to check out our video. It consists of a quick RAM upgrade and a few minutes of a Warzone match where we both backpedal our way to victory, thanks entirely to the awesome teammates we were lucky enough to roll for that particular pug game on The Bastion that night . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTompoY6TOk

Prior to getting my girl's Alpha i7 model I could not find any game-play videos of the Alpha running SWTOR, so we got one anyway and are very happy with the performance. So, for anyone similarly looking into how the Alienware Alpha runs the poorly optimized beauty that is SWTOR please feel free to check out our video. It consists of a quick RAM upgrade and a few minutes of a Warzone match where we both backpedal our way to victory, thanks entirely to the awesome teammates we were lucky enough to roll for that particular pug game on The Bastion that night . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTompoY6TOk

Prior to getting my girl's Alpha i7 model I could not find any game-play videos of the Alpha running SWTOR, so we got one anyway and are very happy with the performance. So, for anyone similarly looking into how the Alienware Alpha runs the poorly optimized beauty that is SWTOR please feel free to check out our video. It consists of a quick RAM upgrade and a few minutes of a Warzone match where we both backpedal our way to victory, thanks entirely to the awesome teammates we were lucky enough to roll for that particular pug game on The Bastion that night . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTompoY6TOk

Perhaps not, although most bads do tend to post similar mundane questions on the forums, questions that could easily be answered with a bit of initiative and a search but instead they put out their limp little paws to have them filled by others. These questions are usually innocuous and trivial so that the bad can build itself up to a big ol QQ about how this thing or the other thing makes it difficult for them to be the amazing little butterfly they imagine themselves to be, etc, etc... If you are observant and have played a number of MMOs, you can easily notice the banal pattern of a bad by their posts, granted, I could be wrong about this one but I doubt it.

All i see is just some crappy rant from a melee or in our case from a crappy assassin that has trouble keybinding his abilities. ^^This^^ HAHAHA! Good job digging that up! Bads are so adorable, they can't for one second accept that they are just terrible @ PVP, same type of underachievers that blame everyone and everything else for their own mediocrity, lack of skill and inability to improve. You can't fix something (aka yourself) if you won't even acknowledge it's broken!

Best thread yet in this massive lake of tears better known as the PVP forum!

Some others are apparently not okay with some of us expressing our views, to the point of name calling, so I thank you for not going there and being mature about letting others express their dissatisfaction just as we should all be allowed to do without the social police trying to crack down on people for going against the grain.

Sorry friend this argument is not really an argument and is categorically illogical. Keep in mind that one of these cars is a lemon you never wanted in the first place, this is not a clear way to reason, and defending a position that is wrong does not do you any favors, people need to hold the developers accountable for their mistakes, no more, NO LESS.

"Pretty good deal"? I'm sorry, I am not trying to pick on you, but as I mentioned earlier it is a matter of principal and the developers taking full ownership and providing excellent customer service and appreciation of those customers. If you go to restaurant and order a steak and the waiter accidentally drops it, do you feel it is appropriate for that restaurant to make you pay for the dropped steak as well as the new one they will bring you, after all the cost is low and you have untill the end of the meal to prepare yourself to pay for a dropped steak right?

It's not about the cost, it is about the principal of the thing. Someone blindsides you out of the blue and sideswipes your vehicle causing damage to it while you were obeying the rules of the road, and what you are saying is "oh well, the cost of repair is not that bad, even though I was not at fault I'll cover it". Are you actually serious that this is your thought process regarding liability and taking ownership of ones mistakes. This is a sad generation who's future is even sadder if this is the zeitgeist of social thinking.