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Dell Inc. agreed to buy Alienware Corp., a maker of high-end computers with UFO-themes popular with videogame enthusiasts. Financial terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, said Alienware will operate as a standalone unit and maintain its own product development, marketing and sales operations. The co-founders of Alienware will continue to run the Miami-based business.

"Alienware's products are an excellent complement to Dell's own line of high-performance computers designed for gaming, enthusiast and media content customers," Dell Chairman Michael Dell said in a statement.

While Dell has transformed the PC business by focusing on direct sales and streamlined manufacturing, Alienware has built a loyal following among computer users willing to pay a premium for powerful machines with sleek designs and odd colors such as "cyborg green."

Alienware was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, two childhood friends. It is on track to hit $225 million in sales this year, up from $172 million in 2005, according to recent projections by Mr. Gonzalez, the closely held company's chief executive. Mr. Aguila is president.

In a statement on Alienware's Web site, Mr. Gonzalez said the acquisition would not alter the company's culture and he would ensure its products remain unique. "You're not going to see Alienware logos show up on Dell products and vice versa," he wrote.

Alienware's least expensive laptops and desktops start at around $700, but the top-of-the-line, liquid-cooled ALX models can approach $10,000 when fully tricked out with dual-core processors, hard drives that can store up to a terabyte of data, and state-of-the-art graphics cards. An average Alienware PC costs about $3,000 to $4,000, hundreds of dollars more than similarly configured machines from mainstream manufacturers.

In recent years Dell, Gateway Inc. and other big players have targeted the lucrative market for videogaming PCs. Dell revamped its XPS line in 2001 to feature high-powered, high-priced computers to better compete with companies like Alienware and Voodoo Computer. On Wednesday, Dell unveiled the latest in this line, which a price tag at nearly $10,000.

Dell said it is taking orders on the XPS 600 Renegade. The machine, first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, has four Nvidia Corp. graphic processor units on a single card and can be equipped with dual hard drives, features that allow it to render more complex graphics.

The XPS is part of the niche category of "gaming PCs" that include souped up graphics capabilities and usually carry much higher price tags than traditional PCs. For example, with the Renegade, "instead of using traditional weapons, gamers can pull down the roof on their enemies, crushing them in a pile of collapsing debris," explained Dell in a press release.

The XPS 600 -- which Dell said is available in "limited quantities" -- is painted with a flame design and will include a 30-inch widescreen high-resolution LCD monitor for $9,930. Customers can add special "discrete physics" controllers to the XPS 400 and XPS 600 for $1,239 and $2,039, respectively. Customers can order the machine through Dell's Web site.