Alienware’s X51 – Gaming on Ubuntu Goes Boutique

Although hardcore PC performance and gaming enthusiasts might scoff at any news Alienware puts out, one item did catch Techgage’s attention. Alienware announced the arrival of its newest machine, the X51. Now what made us sit up and pay attention? The X51 is running not Windows 8, nor Windows 7, as its operating system.

No, the Alienware X51 can now run Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distros.

The choice of Ubuntu makes good sense. Its GUI looks and feels a good bit like Windows, with the undoubted advantage of never slowing down over time as Windows installations tend to do. And it has interesting features such as a built-in firewall and virus protection, as well as automatic security updates. Pretty compelling, all this.

With Steam on Linux gaining traction all the time with more and more titles being made available, Alienware’s first foray into open source-based gaming PCs might just be a good idea whose time has finally come. And with prices for the X51 starting at just $599.00, things just keep looking better and better.