Alienware very strongly nudges the nostalgia factor via a simple question: “When did you get your first PC?” The internet responded in full force. It was very much like a deluge of memories from gamers recalling days of floppy disks as cutting-edge technology, accompanied by the somewhat late 2004 glorious image of the Area-51 ALX. Let’s just say the responses have been priceless.
Let’s start with the veteran gamers flexing their ancient setups. NYX SOL 9=♇ wrote: “Atari 800 1980 with a tape drive and an acoustic coupler modem that probably took around 60 minutes to load a game of Qbert.” Then came Gregory Flack🇨🇦 casually dropping that 386 PC with DOS on floppy disks like it ain’t no thing. Spoiler alert: It really is a thing. It is older than most Fortnite players.
Then we have Lamar simply dropping “Radio Shack. GenX, baby!” There is no explanation given after that. The real MVP, though, has to be Evangeline Domenech, who picked an Apple IIGS off the curb in 1999 and misses it to this day. What a love story.
And, obviously, there was some high-end equipment. Others, however, like Killertomato84 🍅, were condemned to budget builds. First PC? Duron in a “comically oversized case” for $500. No regrets. Going somewhat upslope is AlexL 🔻#followbackinsoumis 🐢🐍🙈🙉🙊🇨🇳🇨🇵🐺 in 2011 through to an i5-2500K and GTX 570, which probably still does well on indie titles nowadays.
Hallelujahs to alienware stans. Jose Antonio, aka KorbenDallas07, had the rare chance to fulfill a childhood dream, acquiring an Area-51 case and stuffing it full of modern hardware. His phrase to this: “The most incredible thing in the world!!” On the meantime, the 2013 Alienware X51 R2 from Tech Survival Guide is still very much alive and kicking, giving this longevity testament.
Of course, some of the responses were far from cuddly. Randy Treibel called early Alienwares “overpriced crap,” and that sparked a mini-debate on Dell’s quality control. Ouch. But, even the haters give a tacit nod to the fact that Alienware cases were cool — just ask Michael Evenson, who begged them to bring back unique cases because “modern gaming PCs all look the same.”
Now, flavorful ones like FL∆CKØ sitting on savings for their first PC; or Solidus88, back in the day, wanting an Area-51. Alienware’s own social squad even joined the shenanigans, hyping retro keyboards and calling those old builds “classic 😎.”
The gist: whichever way did one land on the market – whether it be a C64 in the ’70s or an IBM 8088 hand-me-down in the ’90s – every gamer’s first PC holds a dear place in their heart. And judging from Alienware’s tweet, gamers are very much into walking down memory lane, especially when it reminds them of awkward hardware and dial-up modems.
But if you’ll excuse me, I have an Area-51 case to find on eBay. Vibes only.
