Alienware UFO has an 8-inch screen, making it roughly the size of an iPad Mini. It’s a lot larger than the Nintendo Switch, which has a 6.2-inch display that’s about the same size as a smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy S10 or iPhone 11. Alienware stole the show at CES 2020 with its Concept UFO: A powerful, portable Windows 10 gaming PC that essentially looks like a Nintendo Switch on steroids.
Like the Switch, the Concept UFO has detachable controllers, can be propped up on a table via kickstand, and can be connected to a display for big-screen gaming. Its display is also sharper than the Switch’s, since it has a 1900 x 1200 resolution, while Nintendo’s tablet has a 1280 x 720 resolution. Dell wouldn’t share how much the UFO weighs, but it feels noticeably heftier than the Nintendo Switch, which is less than a pound. While having that larger display means there’s a lot of screen real estate for playing games, I could also imagine it feeling cumbersome to hold for long periods. The Alienware UFO’s bigger size could also make it more challenging to play in cramped spaces, like on a subway train. Thanks to its bigger, higher-resolution screen and more powerful internals, the Concept UFO can theoretically play games like The Witcher 3 and Mortal Kombat 11 in full fidelity, without the graphical sacrifices that Switch ports often make.
The Concept UFO is just that — a concept — and may never see a commercial release. Still, given the obvious similarities between it and the Nintendo Switch, we thought it’d be fun to take a look at just how Alienware’s portable gaming beast compares to Nintendo’s beloved hybrid handheld.
