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The XPS 630 will begin at £849 for an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.66GHz, with a 250GB hard disk, 1GB RAM and Geforce 8800GT graphics card. While the modest specification won't see it running Crysis at maximum frame rates, Dell believes it will be enough to appeal to an increasingly broad gamer demographic.

"Gaming is not just teenagers playing in their bedrooms anymore, it's women, parents and grandparents - there's no stereotypes now," says Chris Shelton, senior manager for XPS at Dell.

When asked how the move would affect its luxury Alienware brand, Dell claims the two will ultimately dovetail.

"At the moment there is a certain overlap between the brands," says Shelton. "But if you look at Alienware, we still think that brand is focused on really high-end gamers. We think the XPS is going to compliment that line, so that we can deliver anything from £800 to £6,000 machines."