Miniature gaming PCs seem to be all the rage. The latest gaming PC to join the mini ranks is from Digital Storm. Never heard of them? Digital Storm is a smaller retailer that manufacturers mostly gaming PCs. The company is somewhat known within gaming circles, though it’s not as big as most competitors (like Dell). Digital Storm has just devised the Bolt, a new kind of gaming PC. Much like Dell’s latest Alienware X51 miniature PC, the Bolt is small in size.

Digital Storm’s Bolt Design: Interesting

It’s hard to say whether the Bolt is attractive or not. Most Alienware PCs that Dell puts out have a nice appeal to them. The Bolt, by contrast, consists of a black metal tower that has a red thunderbolt emblazoned across the front of the tower. The PC is thin enough to fit anywhere you want to put it, but the overall design is somewhat disappointing.

The other slightly off-putting thing about Digital Storm’s Bolt is that this PC isn’t easy to crack open. Were the mood to replace some of its innards to strike you, a screwdriver and some clever fingers will be necessary. If you don’t care about the way that your gaming PC looks, the Bolt does have some other things to offer.

A Look Inside Digital Storm’s New Bolt

The most important aspect of a gaming PC is its graphics card. Digital Storm has put a GeForce GT 650 graphics card inside of the Bolt – not bad at all. In addition to a decent graphics card, the Bolt also comes with an Asus H77 Motherboard; 1Tb of storage; 8GB of memory; and a 3.1GHz Core i3 processor. Clearly, Digital Storm is taking its competition seriously. Dell’s Alienware X51 does come with some better components, but Digital Storm’s take on the miniature PC is still quite decent. Then again, in the end it all comes down to price.

Pricing and Availability Details

Since Dell’s Alienware X51 is the closest competitor to the Digital Storm Bolt, it will pay to compare the two. You can purchase Dell’s X51 for around $699. Digital Storm’s Bolt will cost you $999. There’s a $300 difference between the two PCs to keep in mind. Which one is a better deal? The best bang for your buck here (if you are choosing the base model) is still Dell’s Alienware X51. If you’re not an Alienware fan or want to try something different, the Digital Storm Bolt is the closest competitor.

You can purchase the 3.6-inch wide Bolt from the Digital Storm website right now. The Bolt just hit the market, so you may also want to wait awhile before jumping on the Digital Storm wagon. Then again, Digital Storm isn’t a newcomer to the gaming field by any means, and past Digital Storm PCs have gained plenty of praise. It’s worth taking a look at the company website to see what else Digital Storm has created. This gaming company might not be as well known as Dell’s Alienware line, but Digital Storm doesn’t have the same marketing budget either. Seemingly, Digital Storm has passed on marketing in order to outfit its PCs with decent hardware.