Given the relentless charge of Valve's upcoming Steam Machines, sometimes a dose of reality is necessary, one that the general manager of Alienware's game-PC division, Frank Azor, is keen to provide.
Though it's worth offering a competitive choice to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, he's well aware of the obstacles, in a quote with the Wall Street Journal:
It's going to be very challenging. This will absolutely be the least profitable system we ever sell.
According to the article, the reasons for doing so is "the power of Valve." Even if the Steam Machines only grab a small piece of the pie, it's still worth grabbing. There's no word on an official price for Alienware's Steam Machine, but so far there is a soft commitment to a continual update of the system as it becomes more resource-intensive.
