The new Alienware notebook machines got slightly slimmer, but they also got a better graphics options including the Geforce GTX 980M in the Alienware 15 and 17, but Alienware poked our interest with the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, which is an external graphic card.

The top Alienware 13 SKU ships with a GeForce GTX 860M with 2GB GDDR5 and this cannot be changed. However, thanks to Alienware Graphics Amplifier, you have a choice of external graphics card that won't cost an arm or leg.

The most affordable Alienware 13 with 5th Generation Intel Core i7-5500U Processor, a Dual-Core, 4MB Cache with up to 2.9GHz w/ Turbo Boost processor and 13 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 350-nits Display, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 8.1 starts at $1,739.98.



Alienware 13 with the same Intel Core i7-5500U Processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and 13-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) IPS-Panel TrueLife 400-nits display with touch costs just $10 more or $1,749.99.

The Alienware Graphics Amplifier will let you get Nvidia or AMD graphics card inside and it starts at $339.99 with NY XLR8 GeForce GTX 970 with 4GB GDDR5. PNY XLR8 GeForce GTX 980 with 4GB GDDR5 based Alienware Graphics Amplifier Graphics Amplifier will sell for $614.99, while the Alienware Graphics Amplifier with a VisionTek Radeon R9 285 with 2GB GDDR5 costs $299.99 and the Hawaii-based VisionTek Radeon HD R9 290 with 4GB GDDR5 is $529.99.

According to both Neil Hand, vice president, Dell end-user computing products and Frank Azor, Alienware and XPS general manager at Dell, the Alienware Graphics Amplifier is future-proof and can be upgraded with your own graphics card. We can only hope that Dell will stick with the same connector in the future Alienware models. We knew that external graphics were coming and have been following this field for years now. 

Both Alienware 13 powered with 5th Generation Core i7 5500U will ship on January 29th if you order right now.  It looks like the Alienware Graphics Amplifier can take up to 375W of desktop graphics and only works on Alienware 13 and not its bigger siblings. We cannot figure out why would Dell exclude Alienware Graphics Amplifier for Alienware 15 and Alienware 17-inch models.

Update: Jan 26 2015 Dell informed us that external graphics work on Alienware 15 and Alienware 17 products as well.