Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Dell Announces "Luxury" Line
- Thread starter Sedulous
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A riend of mine just got this laptop, it´s a beast (and I mean size 
)
The "buttons" in front are just lights, you can customize them.
My friend had blue.
Only good thing seemed to be the screen.
I think it´s more compareable to an iMac, than a PB when it comes to weight and portability
And don´t get me started on the design
)The "buttons" in front are just lights, you can customize them.
My friend had blue.
Only good thing seemed to be the screen.
I think it´s more compareable to an iMac, than a PB when it comes to weight and portability
And don´t get me started on the design
Those computers are damned ugly. The XPS line isn't new, either; it's been around for a few years.
I really don't understand all these Dell maniacs. If I wanted a good looking PC, I'd build something myself in an Antec or Lian Li case. If I wanted a damn sexy PC laptop, I'd go for the Acer Ferrari 4000 mmmmm, carbon fibre. Whatever I bought, I'd stay away from Intel. Their current line sucks compared to AMD.
One thing many of you seem to be forgetting is that while these computers may ship with XP, there's nothing stopping anybody from wiping it and putting a Linux distro on it.
I really don't understand all these Dell maniacs. If I wanted a good looking PC, I'd build something myself in an Antec or Lian Li case. If I wanted a damn sexy PC laptop, I'd go for the Acer Ferrari 4000 mmmmm, carbon fibre. Whatever I bought, I'd stay away from Intel. Their current line sucks compared to AMD.
One thing many of you seem to be forgetting is that while these computers may ship with XP, there's nothing stopping anybody from wiping it and putting a Linux distro on it.
chucknorris said:
Are we reading the same thread? Where in this thread do you see a ringing endorsement of this product?
look like one of those sheets ppl use to cover car windows when it's sunny [or for the dog to lie on as the case with this family I know]... Maybe that's another function, block the sun for you and reflect it to ppl you hate to blind them... Ooooooooh.. maybe it'll be solar powered Just leave it out in the yard [or the roof, it'll blend in so no thieves will be eye-ing your Dell] in the day to absorb power then you'll have a working computer at night.
Just leave it out in the yard [or the roof, it'll blend in so no thieves will be eye-ing your Dell] in the day to absorb power then you'll have a working computer at night.Whats wrong with everyone here? Honestly?
I actually have people I know who own that laptop (its an XPS Gen. 2), one of the highest rated LAPTOPS (PCMac) which includes the PowerBooks and iBooks.
Do you all realize that you are all calling something you've never seen, only pictures of, tacky? The performance is MUCH better than any Mac laptop will be at LEAST until 2007, and relatively inexpensive for so much. And have you ever lifted it? Unless you are incredibly weak, its relatively light - 8 pounds is NOTHING. If you can't carry 8 lbs. thats pretty sad. Plus, laptops are now becoming Desktop replacements - people would say that 8.6 lbs for a laptop with so much - 256 MB VRAM, 1 Gig RAM, DVD Burner, Media Center Edition XP, MP3 player, DVI Out, SVideo Out, amazing (Audigy 2?) soundcard, EVERYTHING - is an amazing deal.
If it ran Mac OS X you'd all buy one right now. Since it runs Windows, it sucks? What if you put linux on it, then its awesome.
Seriously, stop all the hating and just accept that something by Dell is better than something by Apple.
Edit: If you show someone who's never seen a Mac ever, a picture of the Powerbook 15", they'd think its tacky. A silver metalic thing? Eww. But in real life, its amazingly good looking. Same with the XPS line. Those pictures do suck - but I see one everyday, and think it really does look good.
I actually have people I know who own that laptop (its an XPS Gen. 2), one of the highest rated LAPTOPS (PCMac) which includes the PowerBooks and iBooks.
Do you all realize that you are all calling something you've never seen, only pictures of, tacky? The performance is MUCH better than any Mac laptop will be at LEAST until 2007, and relatively inexpensive for so much. And have you ever lifted it? Unless you are incredibly weak, its relatively light - 8 pounds is NOTHING. If you can't carry 8 lbs. thats pretty sad. Plus, laptops are now becoming Desktop replacements - people would say that 8.6 lbs for a laptop with so much - 256 MB VRAM, 1 Gig RAM, DVD Burner, Media Center Edition XP, MP3 player, DVI Out, SVideo Out, amazing (Audigy 2?) soundcard, EVERYTHING - is an amazing deal.
If it ran Mac OS X you'd all buy one right now. Since it runs Windows, it sucks? What if you put linux on it, then its awesome.
Seriously, stop all the hating and just accept that something by Dell is better than something by Apple.
Edit: If you show someone who's never seen a Mac ever, a picture of the Powerbook 15", they'd think its tacky. A silver metalic thing? Eww. But in real life, its amazingly good looking. Same with the XPS line. Those pictures do suck - but I see one everyday, and think it really does look good.
dotdotdot said:
I HATE the look of that thing. And no i do not want an 8LB laptop as yes it would begin to be difficult to hold in my backpack all day. I would never want one of those things ever. Don't know where you are coming from but it surely isn't from the side of style or art or portability
And if it ran OS X i would not buy it, not in a million years if that became the next powerbook i would instantly buy myself an iBook, especially if it was over 8Lbs
dotdotdot said:
8.6 pounds is 3 pounds more than the 15"pb. and even that is too heavy for frequent travel IMHO.
i'd like to see the speed of the thing compared to the pb. how much faster is it? 20-30%?
the top spec. dell is about $5000. i prefer the apple for $2500-3000.
the look is of course subjective. i think if it was very thin it might look cool. but it looks to me more like a heavy duty laptop for construction sites. but i agree, i'd have to see it "live". since you've seen it, does it really have those cylon/knightrider style red lights?
it would be good if apple would offer a powerbook of the same high end specs for pro's that need power more than portability. that is somehow missing in apples product line.
dotdotdot said:
To be honest, I don't dislike it in comparison to products made by Apple. I dislike it in comparison to products made by IBM/Lenovo ... and maybe also Sony.
I think your comment about size is fair, though, Dotdotdot... For my usage profile -- carrying it with me over a fair distance on a daily basis, no thanks. Again, I'd much rather have one of the most recent Thinkpads that comes in at a substantially lower weight. But for someone who's looking to play games on a laptop, I guess I could probably see 8-9 lbs being reasonable. And who knows...they might even like the flashing LEDs.
Just a different concept of luxury than I have.
dotdotdot said:
Whaaaaaah? I've never said anything about performance. Dell is marketing these things as "luxury" items. Yet, that is clearly not the impression anyone is getting. Personally, it looks like it was made from old garbage cans or sewer pipe. The lightbright feature is, unless somehow functional, quite silly... or is it like those randomly flashing panels in Star Trek:
I would love to have that laptop for LAN parties. Why is everyone comparing it to the 15" PB? It is a 17" Laptop. Let's compare the default models, shall we?
Powerbook: 6.9 lb
XPS: 8.6 lb
Powerbook: 1.67 GHz G4
XPS: 2 GHz Pentium M
Powerbook: Mobility Radeon 9700
XPS: Geforce Go 6800 Ultra
Powerbook: 17", 1440x900 resolution
XPS: 17", 1920x1200 Resolution
Powerbook: 100 GB 5400 RPM HD
XPS: 80 GB 5400 RPM HD
Powerbook: 512 MB PC3200 RAM
XPS: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
So for 1.7 lbs and only $60 more, we get an AWESOME processor (probably twice as fast as a 1.67 GHZ G4), a great graphics card, twice the amount of RAM, and a higher resolution screen. This computer will kick the powerbook out of the game, performance wise. I'd take this over a 17" powerbook any day.
Powerbook: 6.9 lb
XPS: 8.6 lb
Powerbook: 1.67 GHz G4
XPS: 2 GHz Pentium M
Powerbook: Mobility Radeon 9700
XPS: Geforce Go 6800 Ultra
Powerbook: 17", 1440x900 resolution
XPS: 17", 1920x1200 Resolution
Powerbook: 100 GB 5400 RPM HD
XPS: 80 GB 5400 RPM HD
Powerbook: 512 MB PC3200 RAM
XPS: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
So for 1.7 lbs and only $60 more, we get an AWESOME processor (probably twice as fast as a 1.67 GHZ G4), a great graphics card, twice the amount of RAM, and a higher resolution screen. This computer will kick the powerbook out of the game, performance wise. I'd take this over a 17" powerbook any day.
$60 more?Capt Underpants said:I would love to have that laptop for LAN parties. Why is everyone comparing it to the 15" PB? It is a 17" Laptop. Let's compare the default models, shall we?
Powerbook: 6.9 lb
XPS: 8.6 lb
Powerbook: 1.67 GHz G4
XPS: 2 GHz Pentium M
Powerbook: Mobility Radeon 9700
XPS: Geforce Go 6800 Ultra
Powerbook: 17", 1440x900 resolution
XPS: 17", 1920x1200 Resolution
Powerbook: 100 GB 5400 RPM HD
XPS: 80 GB 5400 RPM HD
Powerbook: 512 MB PC3200 RAM
XPS: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
So for 1.7 lbs and only $60 more, we get an AWESOME processor (probably twice as fast as a 1.67 GHZ G4), a great graphics card, twice the amount of RAM, and a higher resolution screen. This computer will kick the powerbook out of the game, performance wise. I'd take this over a 17" powerbook any day.
ohcrap said:
You caught me
... it's $61. $2699 and $2760edit: If i go to configure an XPS, they actually include a 100 GB drive and drop the price to $2699. Not a bad deal, eh?
Capt Underpants said:You caught me
edit: If i go to configure an XPS, they actually include a 100 GB drive and drop the price to $2699. Not a bad deal, eh?
I was just working on my win pc (dell by the way), i dragged a file to a shotcut to a network folder, windows crashed, lost 1h of work
which is about $500. So...i wish i had been using mac osx, that would make the dell $561 more expensive.
javiercr said:I was just working on my win pc (dell by the way), i dragged a file to a shotcut to a network folder, windows crashed, lost 1h of work
Sucks for you, dude. A well-maintained windows install shouldn't have problems like that.
A system with a respectible and well matched set of hardware components running a maintained install of Windows XP, assuming the user defrags more than he changes his underpants, practices safe-surfing and runs programs like Spybot, Ad-Aware, <insert your preferred flavor of AV here>, etc, almost never crashes...javiercr said:I was just working on my win pc (dell by the way), i dragged a file to a shotcut to a network folder, windows crashed, lost 1h of work
The average Mac OS X system almost never crashes...
And when both systems crash, the Mac is much less likely to suffer data loss...
That alone puts the Apple machine far ahead in my book.
ohcrap said:
I havent defragged my windows computer in six months. I don't use anti-virus software. My windows computer is still faster than my mac. I do, however, use ad-aware every few months. I keep my windows computer very well maintained (I use a selective startup to minimize the amount of background tasks, etc). I actually have good computing experiences on my windows machine. I think that the reason so many people have a hard time with windows is that they don't know how to use it.
javiercr said:I was just working on my win pc (dell by the way), i dragged a file to a shotcut to a network folder, windows crashed, lost 1h of work
If I'm working on a book or other lengthy publications, then autosaving multiple versions every 5 minutes and backing those up every 30 mins to another drive is par for the course. Small amount of effort to avoid redoing work, especially when time is tight... if $500 is an hours work, then some investment in an external drive is worth it.
Telling a client that my computer crashed is like saying the dog ate my homework...
My last post is speaking for the general public.Capt Underpants said:
I have my machine locked down very tight. I've had it for about a year and a half now and have not had any viruses, VERY little malware of any kind (though I do check weekly to be sure), a single defrag about four months ago. Is it faster than my PowerBook? Yes. Do I prefer it over my PowerBook? Hell no.
Do I need to explain why? I should hope not.
I think the problem here is that the laptop is a great example of the unintentional comedy factor of the tech world. Desktop replacements are obviously good for someone who uses their laptop at remote locations for business. Other than that, I can't see a viable reason for a desktop replacement - most consumers that want a desktop replacement do so with the thought that they don't need a full desktop and can easily take their computer with them. They then find out that the shortened battery life/need for additional batteries/size when flying coach makes it not worth the hassle, and they end up treating it as a computer they can use in any room in the house. They end up paying more for less, when compared to a desktop.
I think the virtue of the PB line, and what makes it a difficult comparison with these Dells is that it is a desktop replacement quality computer that is still somewhat portable. Why are most people here comparing it with the PB15? Because I think Dell expects people to treat the computer as a mobile machine and not a somewhat mobile desktop - which is where the 15 fits on the Apple scale. I would expect that Apple expects most of its customers with the PB17 to be the heavy business/tech user, with the 15 going to the majority of customers. With Dell, it's a one size fits all.
I think the virtue of the PB line, and what makes it a difficult comparison with these Dells is that it is a desktop replacement quality computer that is still somewhat portable. Why are most people here comparing it with the PB15? Because I think Dell expects people to treat the computer as a mobile machine and not a somewhat mobile desktop - which is where the 15 fits on the Apple scale. I would expect that Apple expects most of its customers with the PB17 to be the heavy business/tech user, with the 15 going to the majority of customers. With Dell, it's a one size fits all.
Capt Underpants said:I would love to have that laptop for LAN parties. Why is everyone comparing it to the 15" PB? It is a 17" Laptop. Let's compare the default models, shall we?
Powerbook: 6.9 lb
XPS: 8.6 lb
Powerbook: 1.67 GHz G4
XPS: 2 GHz Pentium M
Powerbook: Mobility Radeon 9700
XPS: Geforce Go 6800 Ultra
Powerbook: 17", 1440x900 resolution
XPS: 17", 1920x1200 Resolution
Powerbook: 100 GB 5400 RPM HD
XPS: 80 GB 5400 RPM HD
Powerbook: 512 MB PC3200 RAM
XPS: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
So for 1.7 lbs and only $60 more, we get an AWESOME processor (probably twice as fast as a 1.67 GHZ G4), a great graphics card, twice the amount of RAM, and a higher resolution screen. This computer will kick the powerbook out of the game, performance wise. I'd take this over a 17" powerbook any day.
Thanks for the comparison. One important spec you didn't list was the thickness. The Dell is nearly 2" thick. That is about 2x the 17" powerbook. Imagine what you could fit into a powerbook that thick! Two, maybe three more processors, some pointless LED lights on the side, and maybe some fold out legs so you don't have to carry it.