Dell just launched its newest 15-inch notebook named the XPS 15z, which it claims in its advertising material is “the thinnest 15-inch PC on the planet.” However, the fact that it’s still fatter than a 2.5-year-old MacBook Pro is a testament to Apple’s superior design and engineering… as well as Dell’s willingness to use flexible semantics when it comes to trumping Cupertino.
With many similarities to the MacBook Pro, you’d be forgiven for thinking Dell’s design team had a picture of Apple’s popular notebook on the wall for motivation. The XPS 15z features a similar 5-dot battery indicator, a backlit keyboard, speaker grilles on either side of its keyboard, chicklet keys, and a silver shell with a black bezel around its display. Though there are some obvious differences, such as the black palmrest, the Windows operating system, and the additional 0.02 inches in thickness.
That’s right – I said additional 0.02 inches: Dell’s “thinnest” PC on the planet is still thicker than Apple’s unibody MacBook Pros. Which begs the question: how is Dell’s notebook the thinnest on the planet? Well, in its advertising material Dell seems to choose its words carefully.
Rather than labelling the 15z the thinnest ‘notebook’, Dell has instead opted for the word ‘PC’. While Macs are also personal computers, the word ‘PC’ seems to be increasingly used to describe a Windows-powered machine these days, and I can only assume that’s what Dell means when it uses the word in its adverts for the 15z. Otherwise, the planet on which the 15z is the thinnest PC certainly isn’t our home planet.
We could forgive Dell for this mistake, however, if that additional 0.02 inches is there to accommodate a list of super awesome components that would never fit inside a slender MacBook Pro. But it isn’t.
There are two choices when it comes to processing power: the dual-core i5 and i7 processors. Unfortunately there’s no quad-core option, which is what you get from the MacBook Pro. However, the 15z does feature a 1080p display, which will be plenty of compensation for some, in addition to a 750GB, 7,200RPM hard drive and 2GB GeForce GT 525M graphics.
Though Dell’s new machine isn’t currently available in the U.S., Electronista have confirmed that pricing in the U.S. will start at $999, which is $550 less that the low-end MacBook Pro, and makes up for the slower processors.
In Australia, where the notebook has already launched, prices start at $1,399 AUD ($1,470 US) for a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor and 6GB of RAM. For a 2.7GHz Core i7 processor model with 8GB of RAM, that price rises to $1,699 AUD ($1,786 US).
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
26 responses to “Dell Launches Planet’s “Thinnest” 15-inch PC, But Which Planet Is It On?”
Try to upgrade it to get the performance of a MBP, and you’re left with an underpowered expensive Dell. A Dell, which will probably become a paperweight in 3 years.Â
Why people still waste their money on PCs is beyond me.Â
What kills me is the naming of most all “PC” devices out in the market. They have such weird random alphanumeric names, like the HP 123uuh47cXP or the 15z. Ok, 15 is the monitor size but what does that Z mean? What is a Samsung Droid Battlestar Galactica?( <-not real )Â
Also what’s with the flooding the market with 15 different models of the same device just hoping for sales rather than just making 5 things that work great.Â
I agree. I mean, I never understood which one comes first: Panther, Lion, Leopard. Is it alphabetical? Do you line them up by size?
The base option is a 1366×768 display, at least in the UK. That’s lower than a 13″ MBA. The 1920×1080 display is £100 more. How about creating a specification comparison table so we can see the fail completely – especially the weight!
lol, i hope its a typo
Macbook Pros are PCs too, by any definition. They run Windows just fine, if that’s the definition.
Heck, you don’t even have to dual boot. You can completely remove OS X and just have Windows.
Yes, but when Apple itself creates the pseudo-distinction between “Mac” and “PC”, you can’t cry foul when other manufacturers play along.
Who cares? It’s still a piece of junk Dell, it could be thin, look like a [beautiful] MacBook Pro, and even run ‘alright’… but it is still a Dell.
to be fair, those were internal code names for OS point releases that all the rumor sites started calling them by. Â Apple finally gave in about three releases in and just started calling them by the code name.
Dell is bad in general. I have had more Dell hard drives fail than any other manufacturer. In fact it’s the only brand where I have experienced the chipset heat sink pop off on more than half of the computers in an office.
purple sheeeeeeeeeple :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
And the other manufacturers make people think “hey if Macbook Pros are thinner than the thinnest PC around, guess the ones which aren’t that one”. LOL
I’ve used a Apple laptop and Dell laptops. If you want the best price and performance, then you would absolutely be using a Dell and install Linux on it. You can get better hardware for less money but the box isn’t as pretty. The only Dell hardware failure we have had at our company is a hinge cracked on a laptop after it was 8 years old or so. The hardware and battery failure rate for our MacBook Pros are about 3 in 4. Keep drinking the Apple Kool-aid. People will buy it because its Apple, not because its better.