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Little green PC

Big isn't beautiful; only overweight gadgets say it is. That's why small form factor PCs are flooding the desktop market, and Alienware has broken its tradition of hulking, high-end beasts to bring you the low-rise Area-51 5300

The big, beige tower block is under attack from a new wave of bungalows in the desktop PC market. Shuttle kicked off the small form factor (SFF) PC in 2000. Then Apple added its trademark styling with the Mac Mini. Now Alienware, usually preoccupied with making garish, growling gaming monsters, has introduced the Area-51 5300.

Starting from £900, the 5300 is a third of the height and half the depth of the 5500 series, but still crams in the usual high performance spec, with PCI Express graphics, a Pentium 4 processor and up to 2GB RAM. Alienware also offers a range of displays, keyboards and speakers for extra cost.

So, it’s still capable of driving hardcore gaming, but comes in the guise of a sensible, ‘I’m-only-working’ desktop for your office or study. It even uses heat pipes and a large radiator to cut down the noise that could give away late night Half Life sessions. Small and stealthy – we like.

Buy yours now from Alienware UK

Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home