Walmart Tries Its Hand at Homemade Gaming Desktops and Laptops

Walmart is dipping its foot into the gaming PC business. The international retail giant recently partnered with Esports Arena to create its Overpowered (OP) line of pre-built gaming desktops and laptops. The initial lineup is comprised of a desktop with unique specifications at different price points and two laptops. 

Zhiye Liu
News Editor, RAM Reviewer & SSD Technician

Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • robin2rl
    The laptop is the same Tongfang gaming laptop that OriginPC, Eluktronics (i.e. Amazon listing B07FPGPQXL), and others sell. The desktop lacks top mounted fans and has little to no space in front for letting intake in so airflow is very poor and inside it runs hot. Also, $1899 is a jacked price when considering "i7-8700 gtx 1080 desktop" search on Amazon yields $1399+ desktops with better airflow (i.e. B077J275KK, B0788X6D9Y, B07932Q7HZ, etc...).

    Also, Walmart took no time in choosing the case. They simply picked the 12th case that shows up in google image search for "computer gaming case" which comes from China ODM Dongguan Orient Technology Co.Ltd.

    This is what happens when companies that don't know the first thing about gaming computers try and do gaming PCs.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    I'm having trouble looking past the logo -- it's very ugly. The laptops look decent, although I would not trust Walmart more than Asus or Lenovo.
    Reply
  • bigpinkdragon286
    So, aside from the subjective looks and price, is there anything objectively wrong these?

    The specs actually sound reasonable.

    Would mean a lot more if we got details on both the power supply and motherboard, and whether these differ with each model.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    21445457 said:
    So, aside from the subjective looks and price, is there anything objectively wrong these?

    "Walmart backs up its gaming desktops with a one-year warranty"
    The individual parts would otherwise have a 2-3-5 year warranty.

    Sounds very much like a rebranded CyberPowerPC.

    Overpriced for the exact parts list.
    Probable cheesy parts where no one notices.
    Crap warranty.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    21445457 said:

    The specs actually sound reasonable.

    Would mean a lot more if we got details on both the power supply and motherboard, and whether these differ with each model.

    Make/model of the SSD's?
    A WD Green is a whole different thing than an 860 EVO.
    As long as no one looks past the term "SSD", it's all good, right?
    Reply
  • bigpinkdragon286
    The article doesn't really give us the meat and potatoes of the boxes, so it's hard to judge them as flat out bad computers. They probably work just fine, and if WalMart expects to sell them in any quantity, the parts are likely to be good enough to facilitate at least that. The premium price is what one pays when one isn't able or willing to put a little effort into getting a better value.

    The way I see it, at least, even the worst of the three, should run most game titles without issue, so the unknowing but well intentioned mom and pop who buy one for Christmas or the ignorant consumer will not be subject to immediate disappointment.

    It's also one less pile of parts that shows up in the forums as, "I threw all my PC Part Picker parts together in a case and all I get is a black screen!"

    Maybe somebody in the review space will end up bench marking one of these against a similarly equipped machine?

    I'm curious about the software load out that comes pre-installed.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    21445457 said:
    Would mean a lot more if we got details on both the power supply and motherboard, and whether these differ with each model.
    I'm betting both were areas of cost cutting. The PSU is probably minimum spec, marginal quality, and probably lacks additional cables. The motherboard probably has unused connectors and headers removed.

    Of course, if they're clever, they'll launch with a better PSU, mobo, and CPU heatsink. Then, after all the reviews go up, claiming it's actually decent, they'll do a round of cost reductions in time for the holidays.
    Reply
  • compprob237
    21444599 said:
    This is what happens when companies that don't know the first thing about gaming computers try and do gaming PCs.

    Like The Verge? :ange:
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    21444599 said:
    The laptop is the same Tongfang gaming laptop that OriginPC, Eluktronics (i.e. Amazon listing B07FPGPQXL), and others sell. The desktop lacks top mounted fans and has little to no space in front for letting intake in so airflow is very poor and inside it runs hot. Also, $1899 is a jacked price when considering "i7-8700 gtx 1080 desktop" search on Amazon yields $1399+ desktops with better airflow (i.e. B077J275KK, B0788X6D9Y, B07932Q7HZ, etc...).

    Also, Walmart took no time in choosing the case. They simply picked the 12th case that shows up in google image search for "computer gaming case" which comes from China ODM Dongguan Orient Technology Co.Ltd.

    This is what happens when companies that don't know the first thing about gaming computers try and do gaming PCs.

    I'd say odds are Walmart just contracted one or more of these builders to make the computers for them. With the case using Walmart's branding.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    I don't know why Toms' readers would be so opposed to Walmart doing this. PC building isn't some divine art.
    Reply