After the redesigned MacBook crashed into the laptop market in the 2000s, makers of Windows machines spent years striving to catch up to the MacBooks’ sleekness, a design that Apple has been refining for close to 20 years.
PC makers have largely accomplished that by now. There’s the Asus Zenbook, Acer Aspire, and even the Lenovo ThinkPad has gotten into the act. But the Dell XPS had serious name recognition, since it was a nameplate that’d existed since 1993, and in recent years it’s had nothing to envy regarding the MacBook when it came to the sleekness of its own aluminum hardware. It was a handsome machine.
Dell tossed the name out earlier this year in favor of rebranding their aluminum laptops as Premium. Yeah, I know. But hey, they’re on sale right now, and not for a pittance, either. These aren’t the best sale prices I’ve seen all year, but they’re up to $250 lower than the normal retail price, depending on which version of the Premium you go for.
Dell
Premium 14 and Premium 16 (opens in a new window)
$2,299.00 at Dell (Premium 14)
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
$2,949.00 at Dell (Premium 16)
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
regular or super sized
In its entry-level guise, before you begin adding options, the Dell 14 consists of a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, a 512GB solid state drive, and—as if the name didn’t give it away, sort of—a 14.5″ non-touchscreen 2K display.
For the Dell 16, specs jump to a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, a 1TB solid state drive, and a 16.3″ non-touchscreen 2K display.
Because buyers can configure the hell out of Windows PCs such as the Dell Premium by adding more RAM, speedier processors, greater storage, and such, the final sale price will depend heavily upon how you option out your laptop.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Premium when Dell changed its name from the long-running XPS line, one of the few PC families that gave the MacBook a run for its money in terms of product recognition, and you know what? I’m still not a big fan of it.
But a name would be a silly reason to pass up a laptop that’d otherwise work for you, and with a deal live on both versions of the Dell Premium, it becomes a little easier to look past the name.
Dell
Premium 14 and Premium 16 (opens in a new window)
$2,299.00 at Dell (Premium 14)
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
$2,949.00 at Dell (Premium 16)
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
The post Dell’s Premium, the XPS Replacement, Is on Sale appeared first on VICE.
