Dell intros world's thinnest 15in laptop PC
You-know-who's version is thinner
Dell has taken the wraps of a 15in Sandy Bridge-based notebook that, it claims, is the "thinnest 15in PC on the planet".
The metal-clad XPS 15z draws immediate parallels with Apple's aluminium-formed MacBook Pro. But by using "PC" rather than "notebook", Dell has tried to avoid the inevitable comparison.
It has to. Apple's 15in MBP is 24.1mm thick. The XPS 115z is 24.7mm. Half a millimetre doesn't matter to us, but it does to US computer makers.
Still, if Dell didn't want us to match XPS agains MBP, it shouldn't have borrowed some of the latter's distinguishing features: slot-load optical drive and side-facing LED battery charge readout, to name but two.
That said, the XPS does manage to pack in an HDMI port and a eSata/USB combo connector, both missing from the Mac.
Dell gives 15z buyers a choice of 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M and 2.7GHz Core i7-2620M CPUs; 6GB (4GB in the UK) or 8GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 memory; and 1GB or 2GB of video Ram to go with the Nvidia GeForce GT 525M graphics.
The 15z uses Nvidia's Optimus technology to dynamically flip between the CPU's GPU and the Nvdia chip, to save energy when you don't need graphical horsepower.
Prices start at £899 over here, or $1000 in the States. Full details at the Dell website. ®
Next page: More Dell XPS 15z Pictures
COMMENTS
I think they're just being very clever :D
Seems to me the article wasn't saying they were trying to avoid being compared to a MacBook Pro aestetically (well, not seriously anyway), but that they are being very clever with their marketing.
For pretty much the entire world, PC means computer.
But then apple came along and went "oooh, aaah, but ours isn't a PC, it's a MAC! shiny shiny MAC, boring boring PC, spreadsheets, cord jacket, etc"
So when Dell pulls a 'worlds thinnest PC' marketing drive, although the MBP is thinner, they can't complain.. (What's that? yours is thinner? But I thought you said yours wasn't a PC? Look, it's all over the youtubes; not a PC.)
If they had called it the worlds slimmest laptop/notebook/computer then apple could come claim it was false. But it's the worlds slimmest PC, and as everyone knows, apple doesn't make PC's ;)
It's a clever way of hoisting apple by their own marketing petard :)
Treasure Island
Looks like a lovely laptop, but once again us brits get the shaft:
"...6GB (4GB in the UK) or 8GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 memory..." "£899 over here, or $1000 in the States."
so for the lower spec model (which somewhat arbitrarily has 2GB less RAM?) we are paying an extra £280 (at current exchange rate).
I should be used to it by now, but it's still infuriating
Graphics is weak
Could have slipped a 460m in there, but maybe the cooling system just can't handle it?
@Field Commander A9
That's irrelevant as the display is a mirror. You won't see anything of the image.
@Juan Inamillion
If you have a nice Full HD screen in your Mac or PC and you travel occasionally, surely it would be nice to be able to fling a blu-ray movie into it for some R&R? La Jobs argument is that everyone downloads their movies these days. Well, I don't know about you but I'd think twice about trying to download a 24GB film with extras on my 10Mb broadband, not to mention the disc space required to store the thing. Most download services will only give you 720p if you're lucky anyway.
No, I'm afraid the only real choice for a movie-watching geek is a laptop PC with a blu-ray drive built in. Unfortunately, that discounts this offering from Dell and every one from Apple.
Get with the programme Jobs and sort it aht!
