Alienware Concept UFO interview: The future of portable PC gaming

Dell's gaming-centric brand was showing off a wild portable PC concept device at CES 2020 and we got to speak with them about it.

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As awesome as PC gaming can be, one of the major downsides to it can be the lack of portability. As engaging as a session of Red Dead Redemption 2 may be, you can’t really take it with you on the go. Alienware and Dell are working on a new device that could change the way people look at PC gaming. Dubbed Concept UFO, this handheld device looks a lot like a Nintendo Switch, yet offers real native PC gaming performance.

While the Shacknews street team was on the ground in Las Vegas for CES 2020, they made time to go see the folks at Alienware to get a hands-on demo of the Concept UFO and to speak with the team behind the prototype.

Sporting an 8-inch touchscreen, offset control sticks, and rumble feedback, the Concept UFO certainly looks and feels the part of a dedicated gaming device. Alienware says that virtually every design decision made for the device was in service of gaming, right down to the inclusion of the RGB lights. 

Under the hood, the prototype is being powered by an unnamed 10th generation Intel CPU. The graphics are likely being powered by the Iris Pro integrated GPU chip on the Intel CPU. The system runs a full-blown copy of Windows 10 and Alienware promises that users can do anything a desktop or laptop user could do with their machines on the Concept UFO. Windows can be run in touchscreen mode while on the go and the prototype could also be paired with some sort of dock for full keyboard, mouse, and monitor connectivity.

In regards to gaming performance, the Concept UFO was shown off running Codemasters’ F1 Racing and Halo: Reach. Both of these titles are known to run very smoothly on modern hardware, so it will be interesting to see how the device handles a load like Control or Red Dead Redemption 2. As of right now, no official specs, pricing, or release date information is being provided for the Concept UFO.

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Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.

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