“Cut price tin marketer Dell has started to flog what it is calling a luxury range of PCs aimed at high end businesses,” Nick Farrell writes for The Inquirer.
“The new XPS brand will start at $2,700 for the laptop and $1,100 for entry-priced units… Dell spinners said that the real feeling of luxury will come from its customer service. Buyers of the XPS laptops will be connected with a customer service representative within five minutes. That is about half the time that regular Dell customers wait. Only with Dell is reasonable customer service considered a luxury.”
Farrell writes, “The rest of the cash seems to have gone into the look of the hardware. For example the cover of the laptop is made of a magnesium alloy that gives the product a brushed gunmetal look.”
Full article here.
“‘Looking at their consumer strategy, they don’t have the brand name that Apple and Sony (SNE) have,’ said Shaw Wu, of American Technology Research,” Rex Crum reports for Dow Jones News. “Wu points to last week’s release of Dell’s new DJ Ditty music player as an example of the challenges the company is up against in the consumer market. The $99 device can hold 220 songs and is being marketed as an alternative to Apple’s iPod Shuffle. But Apple’s dominant market position and ubiquitous iPod marketing campaign will force Dell to play catch-up. ‘They released it without much fanfare,’ said Wu, who rates Dell shares a ‘buy.’ ‘They’re trying to hit the iPod Shuffle, but Apple is already so strong there.'”
Crum reports, “Another of Dell’s strengths is its direct-sales model, which lowers manufacturing costs and allows the company to build machines that cost less than similar ones made by its competitors. But high-end customers, who tend to be more technology-savvy, are less focused on price and more concerned about what their gear can do, said Mark Stahlman, an analyst with Caris & Co.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Besides looking like prop rejects from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series (1978), these things also do not come with a ‘luxury’ operating system: Dell XPS PCs ship with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition. Of note: the big one (middle of top picture) called the “XPS 600” offers a “customizable backlit shield with seven color choices.”
Me thinks these models will soon be X, as in Xwife, Xgirlfriend etc.
I’m actually speechless. Why bother, Dell?
The XPS series is by no means “new” – these systems were originally targeted at the gaming segment against boutique systems from VooDoo, Alienware and Falcon Northwest etc. If they have truly made a shift it is likely due to a failure to penetrate into that market effectively.
What a shocking price tag
MDN Magic Word “amount”
What a crazy “amount” of money it costs
Oooo a computer with lights in different colours, how classy
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Dell are sooo far off it’s silly. It’s going to be nice to see how Dell are doing in a few years when ppl can buy an Apple computer that comes with a luxury feeling in every model as well as the OS!
It is funny how the terms “luxury” and “Windows” are complete oxymorons isn’t it?
Luxury crap. What a breakthrough concept!
funny how the clueless think that good design means sticking more completely useless buttons all over the outside of a computer.
I seriously doubt if this will effect Apple market share. VoodooPC on the other hand, should be concerned since these high end machines are targeting serious PC gamers.
Best laugh I’ve had all day. Thanks Dell!
These hideous machines are sooooo ying to Apple’s yang. Nasty on the outside and even worse on the inside. Do they know what their market segment is? Do they care? I would guess that gamers and less likely to burn up tons of support time and more likely to tweak it themselves. They should be offering up-scale service to people who, like me, are computer ignoramuses and want something light and functional. Any should be able to go with any outfit. Nothing like basic black or white.
I have yet to see anything uglier than these. The lack of creativity and taste is just so evident. These people just don’t get it. It’s really kind of funny.
Since I already have a powerbook, if I ever want to get me a new notebook, i’d go with an Acer Ferrari for a lower price with better specs.
It remains to be seen how many of these they will sell. Dell’s appeal so far has been to the tightwad crowd and this is outside their normal business model.
Personally tho, I liked battlestar galactica and I think the cases look kinda cool. Crap inside where it counts, but the exterior ain’t bad.
I love their innovative design. This of course is when innovative design means copying the Foreman grill that they got at Wal-mart. Go to Dell’s site and look at the laptop. I swear I could make non-greasy bacon in that thing.
It’s almost incredible how much Dell sucks. They suck almost as much as a black hole…
At the begining of the summer I bought a top-of-the line 15″ PowerBook. For a lark, I went to the Dell site to price a similar laptop (e.g. same size RAM, HD & screen, “pro” OS, 802.11g wireless, Bluetooth, etc. (though a backlit keyboard was not available from Dell but standard from Apple!)).
The Dell actualy cost more than the PowerBook. And now they want to charge $500 much more for fast phone service (you’re going to need it!)
And the pictured laptop looks thicker than my PB!
Are they conciously out to hasten their demise?
MW = rate – I’ll let yoius have yor fun with that!
Woo.
Reaffirms my belief that Dell is really run by some secondhand car salesmen.
Even if by some magical coincidence they created something good looking it would be like judging a book from its cover…it’s the crap inside that really nmakes it ugly.
I would love to be in the boardroom when people are voting on these things. So how many in favor of the ugliest computers on the planet? Me! All opposed? (none).
Huh? How does this stuff happen?
Dell, just like Wal-Mart or Ford, needs to stick to what they do best and that’s selling things CHEAP. If I want luxury, I’ll go with Apple, Neiman Marcus or BMW thank you very much.
Crap? Well, yes.
But gunmetal? Sounds cool if it were used in a good design. Now, Dell has probably ruined gunmetal for other manufacturers (at least for Apple), but if Apple came out with new Intel powerbooks in 12 months or so with a new brushed gunmetal finish I bet a lot of us would have been creaming ourselves.
Never understimate the bad taste of the masses,
This crap will find buyers
this dell pos “starts at” 8.6lb
what a joke
I couldn’t care less about the computers themselves, but I am intrigued by the photography style and set. The imposing angle of view, the black on black with dramatic soft lighting. Do I also hear the rough mechanical breathing of Darth Vader? Is this dark, intimidating stance supposed to be a threatening answer to Apples light, bright, positive take on computer advertising? Purposely or not, Dell’s advertising is taking the stance of the anti-Apple. Big mistake. I have just four words for the market of computer consumers: “Walk towards the light.”