Question 1

Is there a headphone jack and a microphone jack?

Accepted Answer

Nope, you'll have to run it through a monitor jack. :/ They do have an optical audio jack, if that tickles your fancy. Everything else is HDMI in and out.

Question 2

Can you update the graphics card if needed and if so what would you guys recommend?

Accepted Answer

You can't, unfortunately :/ The card was made custom for the form factor of the case, so you won't be able to install a new card in there. It's about equivalent to an 800 series mobile nvidia card, but don't quote me on that. I can tell you, though, that it's played most of my steam library without issue, and only seems to have hiccups with running over medium settings on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. I pop it into medium though, and it plays fine at 60fps.

Question 3

What graphics card does it have? it says  nvidia geforce but is not specific

Accepted Answer

To get the card to fit in the enclosure, they had to make a custom gpu. It functions about like the 800 mobile series. It can handle most games, but for titles like Elite: Dangerous or Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag that are a bit more graphic intensive, it can't do max settings. Pop those into low to mid settings and you've got 60 FPS pretty consistently.

That said, I've been very pleased with its performance for the majority of my game library.

The real bottleneck is the HDD, as it'll make the initial bootup longer to wait for. I would invest in an SSD to put in it.

Question 4

So I was just wondering, could I just roate from mouse and keyboard to controller, ex: I'm in the middle of playing far cry 4 on keyboard and mouse, could I just turn on my controller and start playing with it, or do I have to turn in on, go to setting to connect it? (sorry if it's a bit confusing)

Accepted Answer

As long as you already installed the controller drivers and have the wireless dongle plugged in to your usb, you should just be able to just turn it on and your pc will detect it.  Just turn on the controller and you are ready to play! No need to fickle with anything.

However, whether you can easily rotate between mouse and controller depends on the game. For example, if you want to play with mouse and keyboard but drive with a controller, you might need to constantly go to settings to switch between mouse and controller.  There are some games that you would be able to use both the controller and keyboard at the same time with no tinkering with the game settings needed. Depends on the game. But if a game does allow keyboard and controller at same time, all you have to do is turn on your controller.

Question 5

Can I use a key board and a mouse also?
Can I play Origin games like battlefield 4 or just steam games?
Can I play everquest 2?
Can I put office 365 on it and can I attach a printer or is this only for gaming?
Can I use a computer monitor or only a TV?

Accepted Answer

You can use a keyboard and mouse.  It has two USB ports in the back.

It's a standard Windows 8 PC, so you can play any game that runs on Windows 8, install Office 365, and attach a printer.

You can use any monitor you like.  Mine is hooked via HDMI to a 1440p IPS monitor.  I don't know if it will do 4k.

Question 6

Is it only a console ? Or the AW Alpha is also having the features of a normal computer.

Accepted Answer

The alpha can act as both. Ive been enjoying for 7 months now. My wife uses it more then me.. she watches netflix, surfs the net for shopping, then I get home and we play some couch co-op games together. Magicka 1 and 2, Trine, Age of Wonders III. She goes to bed and then I start up my FPS like metro last light (high settings).    This thing is awesome for the price. and boots extremely fast, with ssd, into both the UI or windows. Game boots quickly also.  The only drawback is now my powerful desktop doesnt see any use.

Question 7

is this pc able to use 2 or more monitors at one time?

Accepted Answer

Not by default, it only has one HDMI output.  The other HDMI port on the back is an input.

Question 8

What controller does it use can I plug in a ps4 controller and would dayz work with a controller and would this be a good choice for a game like dayz?

Accepted Answer

Not dayz. It will get like 20 fps. The Xbox 360 contrôler will work for it. Fallout 4 will work great with it

Question 9

do you need any certain cd / dvd rom ?

Accepted Answer

anything USB External Drive will work, like any normal windows PC

Question 10

I'm trying to get my friend into PC gaming and this seems to be a solid start for him. one thing that I am noticing is no audio ports. I know that HDMI handles that but if he wanted to add a headset (like everyone does) how would he go about it? I personally use a basic Logitech mic and my Pioneer HDJ-500 headphones.

Do you have any other product suggestions for a great gaming PC/Game box/Steam machine for close to or under $500?

Accepted Answer

I use the Logitech G35 headset with the USB. It works great, also if you have a speaker just connect via Bluetooth.

Brand	Alienware
Series	Alienware Alpha
Model	ASM100-1580

Type	Gaming & Entertainment
Usage	Consumer
Color	Black
Processor	Intel Core i3-4130T 2.90 GHz
Processor Main Features	64 bit Dual Core Processor
Cache Per Processor	3 MB L3 Cache
Memory	4 GB DDR3L 1600
Storage	500 GB
Graphics	NVIDIA Maxwell GTX GPU 2 GB GDDR5
Wireless Card	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 1x1 + Bluetooth 4.0
Power Supply	130W
Operating System	Windows 8.1 64-Bit

CPU Type	Intel Core i3
CPU Name	Intel Core i3-4130T
L3 Cache Per CPU	3 MB
CPU Main Features	64 bit Dual Core Processor

Memory Capacity	4GB DDR3
Memory Speed	DDR3L 1600

HDD	500GB
HDD RPM	5400rpm

Alienware Alpha ASM100-1580 Intel Core i3 4130T (2.90GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB HDD Windows 8.1 64-Bit

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WLAN	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 1x1
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0

Back Panel Ports
Video Ports	1 HDMI
Rear USB	2

Item#: N82E16883156618