Alienware's MIA Area-51 5400 reemerges with a larger LCD

Alienware announced of its Area-51 5400 all-in-one desktop at CES this past year. That model (and a similar product from WinBook) never hit the market. But here at the E3 show, Alienware is showing off an updated 5400, now with a 19-inch screen compared to the original version's 17-inch model. Alienware says the new 5400 will go on sale (for real this time) in Q3 of this year, and the sub-$2,000 price tag remains.

Among the highlights on the prototype model the company showed us: an integrated TV tuner, an HDMI out, and a media card reader. The dockable Bluetooth keyboard appears to be the same as the CES model's. The plan of record is to ship with an Intel Core Duo chip, even though Intel's Core 2 Duo chips are supposed to ship in the same time frame. Still, with a 19-inch display and an integrated TV tuner, we consider the 5400 a direct competitor to Apple's iMac Core Duo, which has no integrated tuner option (Apple sells third-party external tuners on its Web site). And according to the press material, the current Area-51 5400, like the CES model, is Intel Viiv-certified; we couldn't help but notice that Alienware never made that point during its presentation.