Alienware's Steam Machines won't be upgradable

Alienware's Steam Machines will not be built to support upgrading, the company has said.

Instead, Alienware will refresh its offering annually, in a fashion similar to the iPad. Alienware general manager Frank Azor explained to Trusted Reviews that the SteamOS hardware will continue to be updated with a new model every 12 months.

"Lifecycle-wise, consoles update every five, six, seven years, we will be updating our Steam Machines every year," Azor said. "The platform will continue to evolve as the games become more resource intensive."

"There will be some configuration options when you purchase it," he continued, "maybe you can get a faster CPU, maybe some more memory something like that." But, when it comes to getting new parts into the machine, "there will be no customisation options, you can't really update it."

Elsewhere in the interview, Azor called the Steam Machine "restricted" when it comes to the kind of customisation options that many PC users enjoy.

Azor said that users who were looking to tinker with the inside of their living room computer should look at other products in the Alienware lineup. "If you actually want to customise your Alienware Steam Machine, maybe change your graphics card out or put in a new CPU, you would be better off with the standard Alienware X51," he said. You could, of course, also buy a machine from a different vendor, or assemble one yourself.

Valve unveiled a whole host of third-party Steam Machines at CES 2014 earlier this month, including Alienware's offering. The price of the machine is yet to be revealed.