Do you think Alienware consider a gaming tablet?

Razer’s Project Fiona might not be the only gaming tablet in the works, since Alienware is also considering branching off in the same direction by delivering a slate designed from the ground up to satisfy gamers.

With regards to Alienware product manager Eoin Leyden, it appears the high-end PC manufacturer could be looking into something similar. We asked Alienware what it thought of Razer's efforts.

"We have discussed it [tablets] a couple of times." explained Leyden. "There are issues and limitations that make it difficult to see that would appeal to our core audience right now."

The problem is that translating a hard-core gaming experience to tablets is very difficult. For casual applications, Angry Birds for example, the touch interface makes sense. The intricacies of PC controls however are very different.

"The issue is the input mechanism and how the game uses the the mechanisms and turns them into in-game actions."

Possible fixes are alternative ways of play. Unlike Razer's bolt-on controllers, Leyden sees very different control methods being used in future:

"At some point in the future tablets could have eye tracking in there, so you could control your character that way."

Thanks to the likes of Nvidia and its Tegra setup, tablets are going through a rapid power increase. More cores, bigger GPUs and larger amounts of RAM are being added yearly. This is leading to a rapid portable graphics evolution. It still isn't quite enough for the likes of Alienware to get excited however.

"From a performance point of view tablets are on an accelerated curve. They aren't quite there yet though."
So no tablet from the gaming experts just yet. Clearly though the market share tablets are chewing up has sparked the interest of top-end PC manufacturers. If what Razer releases proves a success, who knows - we might see Alienware jump on board as well.

[via Pocket-lint]