Dell has added a 13.3-inch ultra-slim laptop to its range of XPS machines that will go up against the likes of Lenovo, Samsung and Acer in the ultrabook category.
The Dell XPS 13, the first ultrabook from the company, was revealed on Wednesday at CES 2012 in Las Vegas during Intel's keynote speech. It will begin shipping in the UK in mid-March, but will be released in the US first, in February. No UK pricing has been released, but it will start at $999 (£651) in the US.
"It is specifically engineered to help both our consumer and commercial customers be more productive and connected in every way possible. From the edge-to-edge frameless display that packs more screen into a compact body, to the innovative carbon fibre base that is lightweight and cool to the touch," said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman of Dell.
Although the XPS brand has traditionally been a consumer line for Dell — one which the company said now accounts for 20 percent of its consumer laptop business — the company has added features it hopes will also appeal to IT departments. These features include TPM for Bitlocker Data encryption, optional ProSupport service and custom configuration services.
Photo credit: Ben Woods
Talkback
Does anyone know if any of this group of machines can have more than 4GB RAM installed?
On the US webpage it indicates that it has 6GB installed. that implies it has the equivalent to 4 full slots in a desktop but a laptop usually has SODIMM type sockets. My guess is that it has 2 SODIMM sockets OR they soldered the first 2 GB to the PCB and stuck just one SODIMM socket in. That would allow for 2GB on the motherboard and 4 in the SODIMM socket. That allows the base to be very, very thin. The 2 GB RAM is probably just underneath the SODIMM socket to keep signal paths extremely short. My guess is that really you wouldn't want more than 8GB in the computer, it would get so hot it would warp the case! The DDR3 are spec'ed at 1133 MHz, even at low power they get very warm.
One more note, the model XPS 14z has a core i7 (quad core) with 8GB of RAM. Both of these models come with Win 7 Home Premium standard No discernible Win 7 Pro options.
For me I need the pro version of Win7 for office environments.