dell

Those of you hunting for the latest technology in Dell's 17-inch gaming laptop will be pleased to learn the M1730 has received its Penryn update. Since Intel announced its new 45-nanometer chips last month at CES, they've been ever so slowly making their way into systems. Dell is replacing the T7700 and the T7800 Merom CPUs with the T9300 and the T9500 Penryn chips, respectively. There will be no price differential between the older Merom chips and their Penryn replacements.

Dell's XPS M1730 laptop now lists two Penryn CPU options, the 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo T9300 … Read more

Sun's not the only vendor busily acquiring this morning.

Dell has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MessageOne, Inc., an industry leader in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enabled enterprise-class e-mail business continuity, compliance, archiving and disaster recovery services. The acquisition, for approximately $155 million in cash, has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

One angle here is that Dell is a very changed company. They're no longer just about selling the cheapest boxes. They've expanded their processor portfolio, they've dipped a toe into retail, … Read more

Updated at 5:55 AM PT to include comments from Dell.

Dell is expanding its horizons a bit further.

The PC maker plans to acquire enterprise e-mail service MessageOne for $155 million in cash, the company said early Tuesday.

Though Dell has made very few acquisitions over its two decades in business, this one isn't that much of a stretch: Austin, Texas-based MessageOne, which manages the process of archiving, e-discovery, and long-term storage of e-mail, was founded by Adam Dell, the brother of the PC maker's CEO, Michael Dell.

To ensure fairness, the company says founder and chairman … Read more

Dell is in the process of updating its notebook line with Intel's newest 45-nanometer mobile processors. As reported earlier this week, Dell indicated it would refresh its lineup with Intel "Penryn" processors.

This comes as Dell moves much of its AMD-based lineup to retail stores such as Wal-Mart and Staples.

Dell will offer the Penryn processors in its Inspiron and XPS lines, according to a Dell spokesperson. One of the first U.S. models is already available online. The XPS M1330 can be configured with a Core 2 Duo T9500 (2.6GHz, 6MB cache), 2GB of memory, … Read more

Dell has decided to stop selling most of its consumer notebooks that use Advanced Micro Device's chips on its Web site, promoting those systems instead through its new retail strategy.

There are still a handful of AMD notebooks available on Dell's site, but only one Insprion system targeted at home users. On the business side, you now have to wade through several Dell Web pages before you stumble upon an AMD-based laptop. Two are available, a Vostro and a Latitude, and both are being promoted as small-to-medium business systems.

"To ensure we deliver the best value to … Read more

WASHINGTON--Dell chief Michael Dell and other high-profile technology company CEOs descended on the nation's capital Wednesday with a message for policymakers: do more to encourage energy-efficient practices, but don't spell out specific standards for the products that companies like theirs build.

On behalf of a lobby group known as the Technology CEO Council, Dell, EMC chief Joe Tucci, and Applied Materials head Mike Splinter suggested the government should do more to "lead by example." They said it can do that by reevaluating its own power consumption, setting "high goals" for energy efficiency, awarding presidential … Read more

Dell will begin offering Intel's "Penryn" processor as an option on several notebooks within a week or so, according to sources close to the computer giant.

Although the 45-nanometer generation of Penryn processors targeted at laptops was announced back in early January, the chips haven't exactly leaped into laptop lineups.

So far, Hewlett-Packard is the biggest taker of one Penryn chip: the Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz, 6MB L2 cache). The HP Pavilion dv6700t, dv9700t, and dv2700t series all use the T9300. The massive 20-inch Pavilion HDX also offers the T9500 (2.6GHz, 6MB cache) … Read more

While Dell has made great strides in the past year with its consumer laptop lines (you know, those nifty Inspironand XPSsystems), the company's business line, known as Latitude, has remained pretty uninspiring.

All that's about to change, according to the latest from the rumor mill. Engadget kicks it off with reports of upcoming 12-, 13-, 14-, and 15-inch models, all with LED backlit displays. It appears to be clad in a brushed metal chassis. Other purported parts include eSATA and DisplayPort connections.

No price or availability details just yet, but we'll keep you posted.

Updated at 1:50 p.m. PST with comments from Dell.

More changes are afoot at Dell. The Texas PC maker plans to shut down a Canadian call center and lay off almost 900 workers.

The Edmonton, Alberta, center in Canada will close during the second quarter to consolidate customer service operations. Most of the nearly 900 employees will receive pink slips, while some will be reassigned elsewhere in the company. In addition, Dell has decided not to open a second Canadian customer service center planned for Ottawa. In all, the company has 25 call centers worldwide.

The cuts "… Read more