Dell reintroduces XPS premium hardware line
Dell has simplified its product offerings in the United States with the reintroduction of a new XPS family of hardware which will replace the Studio and Studio XPS models
According to an announcement made on Thursday on Dell's community blog, there will be three new models in the US —the XPS 14, 15 and 17— starting from $849.
A company spokesperson confirmed that the 15 and 17-inch models would also be making their way to UK shores but that the 14-inch would not. UK pricing for the 15-inch model starts at £529 and at £629 for the 17-inch, depending on configuration.
The new line-up simplifies Dell's existing US offering, leaving just three major product lines; the Inspiron for casual computing, XPS for better specified premium machines and Alienware for its extreme gaming laptops and desktops. Dell's purchase of Alienware closed on 9 May 2006 after it agreed to purchase the gaming PC manufacturer in March 2006.
"The XPS brand has always stood for uncompromising performance and flexibility. My first Dell was the XPS P60—the first Pentium desktop we had ever produced sixteen years ago. These laptops carry on that heritage," wrote Lionel Menchaca, chief blogger, Dell.
Menchaca also confirmed that Dell will be launching new desktops under the XPS brand, but gave no timeframe, "Moving forward, we will realign our premium desktop and laptop products under the XPS brand," he said.
The new XPS line-up will see premium specs such as JBL designed and certified speakers, 3D capability, 1GB to 3GB NVIDIA graphics options, Intel Core i-series processors and 4GB of DDR3 memory as standard. Like most of Dell's hardware, the specs are customisable.
As reported by Reuters, Dell wants to shed its image as a cheaper alternative to rivals and instead wants to be emphasise the top-end of its product lines.
"We're going to stop mentioning price as the single important aspect," said Paul-Henri Ferrand, chief marketing officer for Dell's global consumer, and small and medium business division. He also said that Dell will be spending "hundreds and hundreds of millions" on its upcoming marketing campaign.