Alienware desktop computers don't usually fall under our Budget Buy category. This company is known for its high-priced, high-performance gaming machines, but lately Alienware has branched out and created the "Bots," which are new system lines for traditional home users. Starting at well under $700, these compact systems deliver good performance in a small and handsome package.

The Alienware Bot chassis is just higher than a foot tall and less than half a foot wide when sitting on or under your desk. The silver and black mini-tower is unmarred by any visible drives or ports-- doors swing open to reveal them.

The bottom door opens up to show two USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port, and headphone and microphone jacks, letting you connect your audio accessories or high-speed peripherals easily to your desktop computer.

The top door hides the floppy drive, or for a $21 upgrade, a 10-in-1 media card reader that can handle every type of flash media from Compact Flash T to Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro. If you don't rely on floppy disks, it can be a handy upgrade that makes getting photos or files from your digital camera or PDA onto your computer a simple task.

Okay, so it's handsome on the outside. How does it look on the inside? At the starting price, the Alienware Bot starts with only a 2.53GHz Intel Celeron D processor, although you can upgrade the desktop to a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 CPU with Hyper Threading technology for only $49.

Other upgrades can be made in 0.2GHz increments all the way up to the powerful 3.6GHz P4 that will increase the price by more than 50 percent.

There's only 256MB of 400MHz DDR memory by default, although you can step it up to 512MB for a great price of only $25. You can opt for a full gig of starting RAM for a reasonable upgrade of $117.

Hard drive space starts at a very respectable 80GB, giving you lots of room for storing multimedia files or installing applications on a 7,200 rpm drive. There are some great prices on upgrades in this area as well: You can double the amount of space to 160GB for only $38 or take it up to 250GB for $113. Users that want even more room can opt for the whopping 400GB drive, although the cost per gigabyte ratio drops on this one as it sets you back a hefty $331.

Graphics are integrated by default, which is unusual for an Alienware desktop--the company often puts the latest and greatest graphics boards in their gaming machines. But if you do need better performance on 3D games, you can upgrade to a decent ATI Radeon X300 with 128MB of DDR video memory for $83 or the mid-range 128MB X700 for $194.

The computer starts with just a plain DVD-ROM drive. The desktop will let you play DVD movies, but isn't capable of authoring any media. Luckily, Alienware continues their streak of budget-priced upgrades, offering a combination DVD-ROM and high-speed 52X/36X/52X CD-RW drive for only $15.

If you want to write your own DVDs, you can step up to a 16X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD-writer and burn to both DVD-R and DVD+R media as well as handle the high-capacity 8.5GB DL media.

Understandably, there's no monitor included at the computer's starting price. Alienware offers a nice selection of displays to choose from, including some excellent flat-screen models that go great with the compact design of the desktop.

The computer features Intel High-Definition audo with 5.1 stereo sound. Speakers are at an additional cost, starting at only $8 for a pair of basic sound boxes from Creative, or you can opt for the thundering 200-watt Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s for $127.

Since the Bot desktop is such a compact and well-designed piece of computing equipment, Alienware had the foresight to include options to make it a part of your home entertainment system. You can upgrade from Windows XP Home edition to the Media Center edition for $29 (you also have to upgrade to the X300 graphics card and 512MB of memory), and then add a TV tuner card.

A single-channel card is $111 and lets you pump a cable signal through your Bot computer so you can record TV shows and FM radio. You can also opt for a dual-channel card ($179) so you can record two shows at once or watch one and record another.

If you're an Xbox owner, you can tie your Bot desktop to your console with the Xbox Media Center Extender ($70). This allows you to use your Xbox to handle all the media file-- photos, music, recorded TV-- on your computer.

Alienware offers a 90-day warranty on the Bot desktop series, although you can beef that up to two, three, or even four years of coverage at an additional cost of about $100 per year (one year will only cost $50).

The Alienware Bot series desktop isn't for the hard-core gaming crowd. But the Alienware Bots are compact and inexpensive desktop computers perfectly suited for home users who want budget-priced performance or a centerpiece for their digital home entertainment system.

Pro: Great price, excellent upgrade prices, lots of options
Con: No monitor included

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Alienware
12400 Southwest 134th Court, Bay 8
Miami, Florida 33186
800-494-3382
http://www.alienware.com

Warranty
90 days