Dell
”Review: Dell's Vista Dock Pretty But Lifeless
I'm OCD about my desktop. I keep exactly six icons on it, tucked in the upper left hand corner. So Dell's OS X wannabe dock—actually made by Stardock and licensed to Dell, but let's not pretend it's not an Apple reaction—sounds like a great way to keep my desktop immaculate. Who originated the dock or why it came to be aren't really that important. The fact is, lots of people who never would've used a dock are now going to when Dell ships these out. And that would be awesome, if the dock weren't so dumb.
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Lots of Nvidia Laptop Graphics Cards Are Overheating, Dying
Apparently some previous-gen Nvidia graphics cards that shipped in "significant quantities" of notebooks are defective, built and packaged with "weak" materials that are leading to them to overheat and fail at a "higher-than-normal" rate. Enough are bad that Nvidia is taking a $150-$200 million hit on its earnings for the quarter. Do you have one of these cards? More »Dell Studio Notebooks Officially Bring Decent Design to Mid-Range
Studio is Dell's new line of notebooks that'll sit in between Inspiron (low end) and XPS (high end), taking design cues from the latter—like its tapered lines, hinge design and slot-loading optical drive—and bringing 'em to a more value-oriented set, with a Skittles seven color palette (and some cool artist designs coming later). Yes, Dell finally gets that design matters, even in the chubby middle! (Check out that Apple-flavored dock.) The 15-inch model starts at $799, but LED backlighting, Blu-ray options or upgrading to the 17-incher will obviously bump that up. We've got the full spec list for each below, if you're itchin' to see the numbers.[Dell]
Dell Dock Puts a Little Mac OS X Into Vista Studio Laptops
Dell's Studio Laptops will be getting a little touch of the Mac OS when they ship, thanks to the Dell Dock, a launcher that cleans up the Vista desktop in the most charming, albeit derivative, way. Below you can see "Before" and "After" images of the cleanup:
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Dell Extends Windows XP Home Deadline to June 26, Cites "Popular Demand"
Dell wrote us to say that due to popular demand (read: common sense), they are extending the deadline for customers who want to order systems with Windows XP Home Dell Studio Hybrid Mini PC Spotted in Spy Shots
Dell's got a mini PC on the way dubbed the Studio Hybrid, and Engadget has the requisite blurry spy shots to prove it. The clear orange case looks like something you'd find in a European nightclub, but we can't complain about the 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM, five USBs, HDMI, DVI, S/PDIF, DVD+R and memory card reader inside. No official word on release date or price, but we're hearing it'll be out later this year in the $500-$700 range. [Engadget]Dell's 27-inch UltraSharp 2709W LCD
Like the 27-inch 2707WFP before it, Dell's new UltraSharp 2709W features a mediocre 1920 by 1200 resolution with a 9-in-2 media card reader and 6ms response time, but the contrast ratio has been upgraded to to 3000:1 and the brightness level to 450 nits. Outside of that you will get just about every port you could possibly need—from USB to HDMI to DisplayPort. Plus, it can be had for $999, which is only about $200 more than the 2707WFP is selling for right now on the Dell website (still a bit pricey if you ask me).
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Windows XP On a Dell Means $50 Downgrade Surcharge Starting Now
Here's the deal. Dell agreed to Microsoft's plan of allowing Windows XP sales after June 30, but at a surcharge over installing Vista. How much of one? $20 to $50. ComputerWorld says that customers who buy the Vostro (low-end) desktops and notebooks will pay this fee in order to downgrade from Vista, which Dell is still bundling in order to comply with Microsoft's rule. More »Dell's Mini Inspiron Laptop Named E and E Slim
That upcoming mini laptop from Dell that we got the scoop on last month at All Things D just got a name. Engadget's Dell source coughed up the info that the mini notebook will be called the Dell E, which is an 8.9-inch competitor to the similarly named Asus Eee. Then there's the E Slim, which is a 12.1-inch screen, 0.8-inch thick competitor to the MacBook Air and Lenovo X300.
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Dell Inspiron Mini Due Later This Summer
We're finally getting some more bits on Dell's lil' Inspiron. Most importantly, Dell's confirmed a quasi-release date: later this summer, which is behind the rest of the ultraportable pack because they've been working so hard on the keyboard, apparently, which is now a bit different than the one Blam saw. And Inspiron Mini is the name that's "been bandied out." Other than that, Dell's holding tight on info: no specs (probably Atom/XP though), price or anything else. Guess we'll know soon enough. [APC Mag via Lilputing]Dell Studio Laptops Look Like a Cross Between XPS and Inspiron
Looks like those thin mid-range Dell laptops that look like the lovechild of the XPS and Inspiron lines is a new mid-range line called Studio, says Engadget. They also say the Studio line will have desktops, and may eventually supplant the high-end XPS. It's still all rumors and conjecture for now, but who's geeked for a Studio? [Engadget]Dell Leaks Rugged E6400 ATG and XT2 Ultraportable Tablet
The Boy Genius report has gotten their hands on Dell's upcoming Latitude roadmap. The big news? Among a whole line of upgrades, Dell will release a rugged E6400 ATG and lightweight XT2 Tablet. The ATG will run 14.1" and resist dust and humidity while featuring a spill-proof keyboard and shock-mounted hard drive (available this June). The XT2 will be under 3.5lbs with a 12.1" touchscreen display and a Centrino 2 processor (available this November). Hit the link for details on the full lineup. [BGR]
Exclusive: Dell Mini Inspiron, Their First Mini Laptop
I bumped into Michael Dell at All Things D after his interview, and he was nice enough to show me this laptop that he was carrying that he said no one's seen before. It's a small form factor notebook, just like the Asus Eee and the HP 2133. He wouldn't tell me what OS it's running, or the pricing, but that it's a low-cost notebook meant for developing countries, and I hope here. Maybe it's Atom-powered. Who knows? But I do see three USB ports, a card reader, VGA out, Ethernet, and that red candy shell. I couldn't tell how big the screen was before it was tucked away into a black sleeve and ushered from the building, but it's small. Update: Dell just released a pair of shots that add to the sense of scale, but no official name yet.
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All Things D Live: Dell CEO Michael Dell
Mossberg: Former Dell CEO has said that R&D is a waste. That still true?Dell: No. There's tens of billions of dollars spent in the industry, and while we definitely see value here, we're also into leveraging the tech from other partners. For example, the 0.3mm OLED that Sony showed.
Mossberg: You going to use those?
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Intel To Bundle SSDs With Centrino 2?
So far, Intel has been lackadaisical in supporting solid state drives, just toying with the market a bit. But according to DigiTimes, Intel will soon be introducing new SSD drives with the Centrino 2 platform as a standard—2.5-inch and 1.8-inch SATA drives with 80GB of storage. In 2009, Intel plans on expanding capacities all the way up to 250GB. That's still a hefty amount of space for standard laptop drives. No word on pricing at the moment, but we're guessing they'll be the most expensive "Centrinos" ever. To see Intel's pitch on SSD, hit the jump.More »
Confirmed: Alienware Assimilating Dell Gaming, XPS Becoming High-End Consumer Line
One of Dell's official blogs provides a bit of clarity as to the discombobulation of the XPS gaming line in favor of Alienware. Basically, the XPS and Alienware development teams are being fused together, and XPS is going to go in a more high-end consumer direction ("XPS isn't going away, though it may go in new directions as hinted by the XPS One and the slimline XPS m1330") while Alienware totally subsumes Dell's gaming side, becoming "a fantastic global brand that sets benchmarks for gaming." In other words... More »Alienware Assimilates Dell's Gaming Business, XPS Gaming Machines On the Way Out
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell is killing its four big balls XPS gaming machines (not the entire XPS line, like the standard notebooks, which are selling really well) to focus all of its juice on Alienware as its sole gaming brand. The timeline isn't overly specific, but the clock is ticking for Dell's XPS WoW notebook and their car-sized (and priced) 730 tower. We actually sorta figured this was coming.
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