As I had previous pointed out, it was wierd for Dell to continue to support two different brand names for essentially the same computer. Instead of going with one or the other, they decided to split the difference. Dell plans on splitting the high end market into gamers and just high end consumers.

The question now is, is there a difference? And if there is, is that large enough of a market to support two brands?

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When I think about it, the two types of users are pretty much the same. They both one top of the line parts and both will require really good graphics cards, in fact, I would not be surprised if the difference between the two lines just comes down to style. Expect XPS to have sleek lines and sometimes foregoing looks for size. Expect Alienware to be all out in terms of hardware with more edgy look that appeals to that gamer crowd.

In short, their difference is a slight edge toward style over speed on XPS and a slight edge toward speed over style in Alienware.