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I tried Alienware's portable Windows gaming PC concept that looks a lot like the Switch, and I was surprised at how different it felt from Nintendo's console

I tried Alienware's portable Windows gaming PC concept that looks a lot like the Switch, and I was surprised at how different it felt from Nintendo's console

One of the biggest difference between Alienware's UFO and the Switch is in their size and weight.

The Alienware UFO is also full of design flourishes that make it feel distinct.

The Alienware Concept UFO's design may be what drew comparisons to the Switch in the first place, but there are plenty of details that give it an aesthetic that's unmistakably Alienware. The sides of the tablet are slightly angled, giving it a shape that very vaguely resembles a trapezoid.

The grooves around the joysticks also light up, much like the colored backlights on Alienware's keyboards. The kickstand on the back of the tablet is also much larger than that of the Nintendo Switch's, and it opens downward like a trapdoor, giving it a bit more stability than the Switch when being used in tabletop mode.

The Alienware's detachable controllers also differ from the Switch's Joy-cons in an important way: you can't use them independently

Each Nintendo Joy-con controller attachment functions as its own controller, but that's not the case for the Alienware Concept UFO. When removed from the display, the controllers must be attached to the bridge accessory in order to work since it includes the battery that powers the controllers.

What I did appreciate about the controller attachments, however, is how easily they snap into place. The Concept UFO's controllers magnetically attach to the sides of the tablet, making them easy to attach and detach without any fiddling.

And perhaps most importantly, the Alienware Concept UFO is an actual Windows PC, meaning you can use it just like a regular computer when you're not gaming with it.

The Concept UFO is a full-blown Windows PC, giving it a slew of use cases beyond gaming — whether it be working in an app like Microsoft Office, browsing the web, or streaming video.

The Switch's usability is somewhat limited beyond playing games; there are some apps available for it such as Hulu and YouTube, but it lacks other widely used services like Netflix.

The Alienware UFO and Nintendo Switch have several similarities and differences, but taken together, they both provide an indication of where the gaming industry is headed.

Alienware's Concept UFO is yet another sign that the industry is shifting toward an approach that more closely blends portable and at-home console gaming, no longer requiring that they be two separate things.

The Switch popularized that idea when it launched in 2017, and since then, some of the industry's biggest players have been investing in ways to let players experience games on whatever screen they want — whether it be the one stowed away in a backpack or the one sitting in a living room.

Tech giants like Microsoft and Google are hoping to achieve this goal by beaming games from the cloud to your devices, while Nintendo and Alienware are clearly looking at new portable form factors that can be docked to larger screens. The approach may be different, but in some ways, the end goal is the same.