If you've been a PC enthusiast for an extended period of time, there's a good chance you've heard of Alienware. Owned by Dell, the company is perhaps best known for its futuristic-looking gaming PCs, which often have pretty high price tags slapped onto them.
However, despite hefty price tags, Alienware's products have been around for years, and there's no sign that they're going anywhere anytime soon. The convenience it offers customers with its pre-made PC builds and laptops is well worth the price for many, it would seem.
Interestingly, though, Alienware might branch out in the future. In an interview with PCGamesN, Dell manager Frank Azor said there's a possibility that the company could start selling its own branded components in the future, such as motherboards, video cards, or SSDs. However, Azor admits that there would be a few hurdles for Alienware to overcome before that would be possible.
For starters, the component market is already heavily saturated. The last thing Azor wants to do is jump on the bandwagon with a "me too" product line-up.
"What we don't want to do is just put our name on something. The Alienware name comes with a brand promise, and if we don't deliver on that promise to customers consistently, they're going to stop trusting the Alienware brand."
"You've got some really great component companies out there," he said. "Some of the graphics card partners are very good at what they do, they've mastered the art of overclocking and they've mastered building high quality, highly reliable add-in boards... What we don't want to do is just put our name on something. The Alienware name comes with a brand promise, and if we don't deliver on that promise to customers consistently, they're going to stop trusting the Alienware brand."
In other words, Alienware isn't going to jump into the component game without something unique to offer its customers. This is a sensible approach - after all, as a customer, why should you buy an Alienware video card over another company's? Flashy aesthetics probably aren't going to be enough for you, or most other consumers.
Regardless, it's clear that Alienware isn't rejecting the idea outright so it could happen some day. What do you think? Would you buy an Alienware video card or SSD? Let us know in the comments.