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Dell has just announced their latest series of laptops, the Studio series. Available in a 15-inch, Studio 15 and a 17-inch model the Studio 17, both of which are available in a variety of colors to include Plum Purple, Tangerine Orange, Flamingo Pink, Midnight Blue, Ruby Red, Spring Green and the standard Jet Black.

Both the 15-inch and 17-models will offer a similar set of specs, which include a base processor of a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB of hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11g and running Windows Vista Home Premium. They also offer your choice of an 8x dual-layer CD/DVD burner or a optional 6x Blu-ray combo drive. The Studio 15 series offers a 15.4-inch widescreen display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, and the Studio 17 series offers a 17.0-inch widescreen display with a 1440 x 900 resolution. The Studio series laptops will also include a built-in webcam, media control buttons and built-in mobile broadband.

The Studio series laptops are currently available at www.dell.com/studio, the Studio 15 will retail for $799 and the Studio 17 will retail for $999. The Studio series will also be available at big box retailers Best Buy and Staples shortly.

Product [Dell]

We all know that Microsoft has already set a June 30 end-of-availability on the Windows XP. This means that after that day, Microsoft will no longer market the OS and PC manufacturers are advised to stop offering it as a bundled OS in their machines. But Dell wants to get ahead of the Microsoft deadline and announced that it will stop pre-installing their PCs with Windows XP. Dell’s Vostro PCs will now come pre-installed with either Microsoft Vista Business or Ultimate editions.

To answer the needs of their customers who still want the XP pre-installed in their machines instead of the Vista, Dell is offering downgrade option from Vista to XP. But it doesn’t come without a price though. Users who want this arrangement will have to pay $50 to have the Vista OS downgraded into XP when they buy new Dell Vostros. In other words, customers will have to pay $50 more for the Vista OS than when they would let it be the only OS installed in their new Dell machines.

Dell knows that this deal might seem short-changing to customers, so it is offering another deal by allowing the Vista to stay in the customers machines so that they can upgrade their machines’s OS to Vista anytime they want to. It goes without saying then that Dell will be selling their Vostro PCs with two operating systems.

So, if you don’t mind paying extra to have an additional stand-by OS in your Dell computers, you might as well take this deal. But if you are ready to take up on the Windows Vista, you’ll be better off without partaking of this Dell arrangement. It goes without saying that you’ll get to save $50 from this.

Via [Computerworld] Via [Dell]

Dell’s mini notebook has been outed, while the name is certainly not as exciting as some that we had been hearing such as the Inspiron Mini or “Minspiron” they instead dubbed it the Dell E and it will be available in two models. Enter the Dell E and Dell E Slim.

The Dell E will be an ultra-portable notebook that takes aim at the ever popular netbook market. These notebooks netbooks offer an 8.9-inch display, 1.6Ghz Diamondville CPU, 4, 8 or 16GB’s of flash-based memory, 512MB or 1GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 802.11g. The Dell E will come in a variety of models to include the Dell E Classic, Dell E Video and the Dell E Video+.

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Asus may be a little optimistic, or maybe just cocky, but they believe that they can make a 1430% increase in sales this year over last year with their Eee PC. Yes, they are predicting that they can make 5 million sales this year, and although it is unclear as to whether this just includes the Eee PC, or if this prediction incorporates many of the other products that have been given the Eee PC label, it is still very optimistic either way.

Or is it? Last year Asus had the whole of the market, which considering their 350,000 sales wasn’t massive; however the market for low cost ultra portable computers has increased massively, and Asus president Jerry Shen (who made the above prediction) also said that they expected this marked to grow to 10 million sales overall. If you then consider that HP’s Mini-Note has only been available for a few months, that Acer and MSI have yet to release their Eee PC-competitors, and Dell hasn’t even officially announced its entry into the marketplace, they may just have a good chance at getting the predicted 50% of the market.

I personally think that although they may get 50% of the market at most, 10 million sales is probably a bit to many, but we will see.

Via [Liliputing]

A recently surfaced coupon code, that when applied during checkout will allow you to cut $400 from the price of a Dell XPS One (PRODUCT) Red PC. The XPS, normally priced at $1,599 will be instantly lowered to $1,199. Just configure the PC and then enter the code ZX9J$$NJNS630C during your checkout.

The (PRODUCT) Red Dell XPS One comes standard with an E4500 Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, CD/DVD burner, hybrid analog/digital TV tuner with remote control, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 8-in-1 card reader, Bluetooth 2.0 as well as a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. The system also ships with Adobe Elements Studio, Office 2007 Home and Windows Vista Ultimate.

A few things to point out; first this coupon code will be valid on for those in the US, second we are unaware of any expiration date, which means that it could end at any time. If you are considering a purchase, better not wait that long.

Product [Dell] Via [Engadget]

While there still has not been an official product announcement it seems that will not stop the details from slowly but surely slipping out. The latest news comes courtesy of Dell, so we can at least be safe to believe its accurate, and places the mini notebook to be ready for an August release. Aside from the release time frame the specs are still mostly unknown with Dell’s senior vice president Jeff Clarke stating quite simply that he is “not going to talk about about the specification of the product.”

What we do know is that the mini notebook will have a VGA port, three USB ports and a built-in card reader. The most important details such as the processor, RAM, hard drive and well basically all the good stuff remain under wraps. It was also stated that the main reason that Dell is coming a little late to the mini notebook party is that they are “working on getting the right keyboard,” with an effort to make it “unique to Dell” and still offer a keypad that “accommodates as best as possible the best user experience for this class of products.”

The notebook is rumored to be called the Inspiron Mini, however I a leaning towards the name “Minspiron” that was coined by Kevin Tofel.

Read [apcmag] Via [Liliputing]

With the gaining popularity of ultra-portable and low-cost notebook computers, like the Asus Eee 701 PC, HP 2133 and 3K RazorBook 400, it is no surprise that Dell is jumping in on the mini notebook arena. Fortunately, Gizmodo was able to spot the company’s supposed offering when Brian Lam caught Micheal Dell at the All Things Digital conference carrying a small red notebook sporting the Dell logo. Unfortunately, Dell is being tight-lipped and wasn’t willing to spill the beans on the specs. 

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Seagate has announced that Dell XPS laptops will soon be shipping with their Momentus 7200.3 hard drives, and they will also incorporate the same technology on Alienware laptops soon. The Momentus 7200.3 hard drive was designed for on-the-go worker and touts a low power consumption and overall reliable performance. This new Seagate 2.5-inch hard drive gives out up to 320GB of storage capacity and boasts a fast Serial ATA 3.0 Gbit/second interface. It spins at a 7200-rpm speed and has a 16MB cache. In addition the hard drive is equipped with G-Force Protection that was built to withstand up to 1000Gs of non-operating shock and 350Gs of operating shock and free-fall sensor technology that helps to prevent drive damage and data loss even when your notebook gets dropped.

The Momentus 7200.3 will be offered in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB storage capacities. These new Seagate hard drives also consumes less energy and will only be a $46 upgrade on the XPS M1730 notebook.

Read [CNW Group] Via [Engadget]

In 2006, Dell acquired the high-end gaming PC brand Alienware to complement its own premium-gaming line of XPS computers. With a market worth around $12 billion, Dell’s investment in the gaming PC market by purchasing Alienware was a logical move. The company allowed Alienware to operate independently, but by doing so it created a problem in that they now had two competing gaming PC lines. Dell has admitted its XPS line has eaten into Alienware’s market share. As a result, the company plans to phase out four gaming XPS models from its lineup, streamlining their offerings and relieving their Alienware subsidiary of competition. Their plan is to essentially create two complementing brands, rather than two competing brands.

The reason why Dell took two years to realize the change was because the company originally thought the Alienware brand was hardcore enough that it would differentiate itself from their “family sedan” XPS line. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. Over time, Dell began to market the XPS as a high-end gaming machine, inadvertently creating competition within itself. In fact, some XPS systems in the past contained the same features and components offered in Alienware rigs.

It should be noted that not all XPS systems will be scraped. In June, Dell will be pushing all gaming-centric PCs to Alienware, while the XPS will morph into a more mainstream brand.

[Update] Dell has since released a statement on their Direct2Dell Blog in response to the phasing out of the XPS line. It turns out that the phasing out of the XPS lineup was a bit of an exaggeration. The XPS line will be continued, however Dell plans to expand their focus on Alienware.

“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.”

Read [Tech News World] Update Via [CNET]

Dell has just added what they are calling a new “Spring” color for their XPS M1330 and M1530 notebooks, and what would seem to be perfect timing to potentially grab some Mothers Day sales; Flamingo Pink. According to Dell, “It was an easy decision” to add the new pink color because “while customers appreciate the sleek, no-nonsense XPS look, they also wanted a wider variety in color options.” In addition to the new pink, the M1330 and M1530 will still be available in the previous Midnight Blue, Tuxedo Black or Product (RED). With so many new tech items becoming available in a shade on pink, its almost become a standard color now.

Read [Dell]