xps

To give credit where credit is due, Dell's recent reveal of its new Latitude E-seriesbusiness laptop line was the first new laptop announcement in a long time to not completely leak a few days or weeks early. (There were some photos and rumors a few months ago, but overall, it was a successful launch.)

The same cannot be said for Dell's consumer side -- every new product is leaked, usually with detailed photos and spec sheets, leaving little actual news for the system's launch day. Case in point -- these new photos and details (purportedly from an internal PowerPoint) of something called the Dell XPS Studio line.

We're familiar with both the XPS and Studio brands, and we're curious to see if this new hybrid is the beginning of the end of one or both as a standalone. These slides, from notebookreview.com, show slot-loading Blu-ray drives, edge-to-edge glass displays, hybrid SLI graphics (that's a GPU and the motherboard's integrated graphics working together), and backlit keyboards. In addition, the 16-inch model is shown with some cool-looking wood accents on the lid.

According to the leaked docs, you can expect the Studio XPS 13 and 16 sometime in November. Check out the purloined PowerPoint slides after the break.… Read more

This post was updated at 1:50 p.m. PDT with new information about availability.

Dell is adding a little more flash to its notebook lines this week.

The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker is offering a 128GB solid-state drive as an option on its Latitude, XPS, Alienware, and Precision laptop models beginning Tuesday. Though Dell isn't usually the first to jump into the fray when it comes to tech trends, the company says it's planning to further push innovation in the next couple of months.

Though solid state isn't new technology, it isn't exactly mainstream … Read more

It sure is hard to keep a secret in this industry. After leaks, leaks, and more leaks, Dell has officially announced the new Studio line of laptops, sitting somewhere between the budget Inspiron line and high-end XPS line.

The two new models are the Studio 15 and Studio 17, which as you might expect, are 15- and 17-inch laptops. They have a tapered design and big side hinge that is similar to the XPS M1530, although the Studio models curve the screen down at a sharper angle, while the XPS has a more rounded look.

You do give up the … Read more

We posted earlier this week about the mounting frustrations of some Dell XPS 630 owners. This midrange gaming desktop earned an Editors' Choice award from us back in February, but we've been wondering (as have the readers who brought this issue to our attention in the first place) if we should think again in light of the problems reported by users on Dell's own support forum (pertinent threads are here and here), many of whom also post on My630i.com. Their influence prompted U.K. review outfit PC Pro to pull their award from their own XPS 630 … Read more

"Since the 630i's release, some serious concerns have developed regarding the operation of the model. Issues concern the lack of the LightFX 2.0 feature (advertised but not delivered--and now slowly being removed from Dell's advertisements and promo materials), problems with LED lights and system fans acting erratic (sometimes getting stuck at ear-piercing 100% speed)." - David Bowles, via e-mail.

"Dell advertised something called LightFX 2.0 with the XPS 630. Not one system shipped with this feature. Second, ESA, which was so highly touted with the XPS 630, is not completely compatible with the … Read more

Desktop types are always kicking their laptop counterparts around, stealing their lunch money, and making fun of their slow and undersized hard drives.

Most laptops have slower 5,400rpm or even 4,200rpm hard drives, usually between 120GB and 250GB in size. For high-end types, there are 320GB laptop hard drives, and also 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but you couldn't get both of those specs in the same laptop drive [dramatic pause...] until now.

Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate have all recently announced 320GB 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but Dell is the first to stick them in a … Read more

Dell is taking steps to promote Alienware PCs on its Web site as the PC maker tries to collaborate more--rather than compete outright--with its Alienware unit.

Dell has added the Area-51 m9750 to its gaming laptop Web site, according to a Dell company blog.

"The Alien invasion has continued, with the addition of the Area-51 m9750 to the Dell gaming laptop Web site lineup," according to the post. The 17-inch notebook offers two 512MB GeForce 8700m GT cards as an option.

The blog also notes: "It was never really in the cards to do away with the … Read more

Dell issued a statement on Tuesday night, saying the XPS brand will live on but that more resources will go into Alienware.

Part of Dell's statement takes issue with a Wall Street Journal report.

"Dell XPS and Alienware are both great brands...and both will live on," spokeswoman Anne Camden said in a blog. "But we are going to expand our focus on Alienware. We are going to invest like crazy in product development, design, and engineering to propel Alienware as the premier gaming brand in the future."

Camden emphasized that XPS is a premium, … Read more

Dell will offer an Nvidia dual graphics chip upgrade for 17-inch XPS M1730 gaming notebook owners--but stepping up won't be a cakewalk for MediaDirect users.

The upgrade from the Nvidia dual 8700M GT to dual 8800M GTX graphics is in the works and will likely be released later this month, according to Dell.

Some users were upset when Dell upgraded the graphics in newer models of the M1730 to the 8800M GTX. The XPS 1730 with the 8800M GTX earned a score of almost 13,500 in 3Dmark06--which is about a 49 percent performance gain over two 8700M GT … Read more