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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]

Dell brings Wireless USB as latest option available in the Inspiron 1525, XPS m1330, XPS m1530 and the XPS M1720 notebooks. The Wireless USB option is currently available and will set you back $150 but comes with a four-port Belkin Wireless USB hub. Overall not a bad deal, considering the Belkin Wireless USB hub normally retails for $200 by itself and without the option from Dell would also require a special dongle to work. The Dell notebooks will offer wireless USB connections at up to 480 Mbps, lets just hope that we start to see some devices with this functionality built-in that way we can move past the necessary hub.

Via [Notebooks.com]

Dell had recently began offering Ubuntu 7.10 on the XPS M1330 laptop, however that model was originally only shipping overseas with a note that the US customers would have to wait a “week or so.”

Well, the good news is the wait is now over. The Dell XPS M1330 retails for $954 and includes Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed along with built-in support for DVD playback. The M1330 laptop features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 1.66GHz, 1GB RAM and a 120GB hard drive.

Read [Dell]

Dell has added their (PRODUCT) Red items to their website, officially they are offering the XPS One desktop, XPS M1330 laptop, XPS M1530 laptop and the 948 all-in-one printer.

The XPS One will offer $80 of the purchase price to the Global Fund and features a Intel Core2 Duo E4500 processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth, 8-in1 card reader and a analog/digital TV tuner with remote control. The One also comes with a special (PRODUCT) Red version of Windows Vista Ultimate, Adobe Elements Studio and ships with a wireless keyboard and mouse. It retails for $1,599

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Dell has announced that they will be adding an additional model to the Ubuntu line-up. Currently only the Inspiron 530 desktops and the Inspiron 1420 notebooks are able to be ordered with the latest version of Ubuntu. However, like in the past, Dell is taking customer suggestions and acting upon them, according to Direct2Dell the two main requests regarding Ubuntu have been to offer more systems and offer them worldwide.

Beginning today Dell will be offering the XPS 1330 laptop with Ubuntu 7.10 installed and built-in DVD playback in Germany, France, Spain and the UK. Customers in the U.S. will also see this option, but we will have to wait a “week or so.”

Read [direct2dell]

Dual-core chips have only been around for a few months, and Dell’s already passing them by.  The upgraded XPS 710, which was announced yesterday, got a whole new engine under the hood - an Intel 2.66GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core CPU (wow that’s a mouthfull).  Dell is touting the ability for the new PC to run multi-threaded games, so you can play all two of them that are out.

The XPS 710’s performance enables customers to easily run next-generation multi-threaded games or multimedia applications, high-definition video, or simultaneously watch movies and stream music from the same PC. Multi-threaded applications can take advantage of the quad-core chip’s ability to control multiple tasks at once.

So if you’re ready to dish out $3,699 to hook up with the XPS 710, we hope you at least got the 30 inch monitor too.

Read [Dell]

Michael Dell sat down with reporters in a round table discussion last night where they discussed a host of Dell related issues ranging from AMD chips to the new XPS computers, and most notably the competition between Dell’s in house XPS line and their newly acquired baby, Alienware.

Dell made it very clear that he will let these two siblings fight it out, not offering one or the other priority when implementing new technologies into the products. He also said, which i don’t agree with, that Alienware gaming PCs and XPS PCs do not compete for the same market, even though they both target gamers and sell for around the same prices.

A head XPS engineer had to say, “I thought it was a good purchase for Dell,” he said. “In fact, I’m excited by it. We compete with each other, still. We’re still friendly competitors.”

I’m not sure if this guy is jsut playing the PR card or needs help, but there is not enough room for both to be number one.

Read [TG Daily]

Back at CES Dell spoke of their plans to introduce a powerful beast-of-a-machine that’s somewhere between a desktop and a laptop.  Michael Dell even showed a prototype to the press.  Today at Dell’s press event in LA, they finally announced the XPS M2010.  Specs include a Intel Core Duo Processor T2600 (2.16GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB Cache), upgrades to 4GB of dual-channel DDR2 memory, a 20.1 inch LCD screen, 256MB RADEO X1800 graphics card, up to 240GB of RAID 0/1, WiFi, a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, 1.3 megapixel camera (for VoIP), 8 built-in speakers with a subwoofer and integrated HD audio.  All of that and it weighs it at around 20 lbs.  Not something you want to be carrying around, but still a sweet computer.  The XPS M2010 will set you back $4000 base and about $8000 fully loaded.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

Via [Engadget]

Looks like Dell has a nice new announcement tomorrow. Could it be their XPS Mobile Concept they showed off at CES or some other crazy laptop design? We’ll be sure to let you know.

[Thanks Jeremy]