Hewlett-Packard has announced it will join the gaming PC league and will begin to offer built-to-order custom personal computers meant for game enthusiasts.

HP has been selling gaming machines under the Compaq brand in limited quantities for the past months, during the pilot program they were convinced there was a lot of room for an actual custom-tailored gaming PC that will compete with other industry veterans such as Alienware, Falcon Northwest, etc.

The X Gaming machines will feature a standard chassis from CoolerMaster, known for its work in keeping system noise down while also decreasing heat, and red glowing lights in front and back that will make it stand out in the dark.

The Compaq "X Gaming" machines are expected to appear by June or July with prices starting at around $1,599 and peak at more than $3,000.

Riipp off.. if anyone wants a gaming machine for the bucks these ppl want, go to Alienware.

Well perhaps they are going to use higher quality components, similar to those of Alienware. In which case they'd just have to price them a little lower and suddenly its no longer a ripoff.

Perhaps if you would have read the article...

Well, ripoff in comparsion to making your own, most probably.

Anything you buy prebuilt will be higher than building it yourself. the warranty and or the lack of ability to build yourself are the factors that go into buying rather than building.
This will very likely be a good move for them and other companies are likely to follow suit.

hp has to make their products as high quality as alienware, falcon west, etc. if they go the proprietary, cutting costs dell xps route, i do not think gamers will want that pc.

I don't think they are going to do propritary, at least not like their regular machines. I quoted the article above but here it is again: "We're able to use our purchasing power as the world's largest consumer PC company ... to be able to procure some of these higher-end components"

Although I don't live in the US and it would be rare for me to get a complete new machine because of my work involved with TS and the constant upgrades...

If I were to buy a gaming machine at some point, and HP or Dell has to offer something really neat: case, motherboard, RAM, Audio, even networking (as you see, aside from CPU and videocard that are the same offered in high-end spec machines), I don't see why not get one, even cost could be comparable to building my own (or lower than Alienware perhaps) because of the discounts they get as a large OEM... all of this assuming they don't go propietary which absolutely makes no sense in the Enthusiast market.