Dell showing off 16-inch XPS concept laptop

Once in awhile you get surprised at CES -- this is one of those times. Apparently, Dell is toying with the idea of a 16-inch XPS laptop, and it's brought a concept version of the device to the floor of this year's show. What you're looking at above is a full HD laptop based on the M1530 design. The screen sports a stunning 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is powered by an NVIDIA 8600M graphics chipset. The folks at Notebook Review managed to get some pretty handsome photos of the new design (which is as-yet unannounced) before being "ushered away" from the display. Hopefully we can glean some more information as the CES wheels turn -- so stay tuned.

[Tony C @ Jan 6th 2008 8:33PM]

So I wonder why Dell thinks they should make a premium XPS notebook with a screen that's only 0.6" bigger than the M1530's? Is there really that much desktop real estate to be gained? Or cost savings coming down from a 17" panel?

[Andrew @ Jan 6th 2008 8:35PM]

Good for Dell, finally making laptops that don't look like they came from 1995 - I wonder if Dell will overprice this thing just because of the 'design' like they did with that glass face 22" LCD

[ark_v2 @ Jan 6th 2008 9:41PM]

They aren't (at least with the m1530, my m1330 was overpriced).

[ARealOG @ Jan 6th 2008 8:37PM]

Dell XPS M1630. The "almost" 17 inch MBP without the 17 inch MBP price hopefully A price like $1299 USD starting would be excellent.

[Tony C @ Jan 6th 2008 8:57PM]

Good luck with $1299, considering the M1530 with a 1690x1050 panel is $1099 and the cheapest 17" XPS is $2299.

[Herman @ Jan 6th 2008 9:04PM]

I think it'll be closer to the M1530 (no SLI graphics, RAID hard drives, PhysX card, etc...).

[JohnTitor @ Jan 6th 2008 9:14PM]

Dell's slim and stylish laptops are priced nicely compared to Sony and Apple where as their high performance laptops are priced poorly compared to Sager

[Tony C @ Jan 6th 2008 9:16PM]

An M1710 has no SLI, RAID or PhysX card options, yet it's only $100 cheaper than the M1730. And while the PhysX is standard equipment in the M1730, adding the other two is a minimum $600 additional investment.

[Guzzie @ Jan 6th 2008 8:39PM]

That is a very tiny trackpad for a laptop that size.

[thethirdmoose @ Jan 6th 2008 11:04PM]

I like small trackpads, because on big trackpads (think macbook) i get lots of accidental input.

[Samurai Jack @ Jan 6th 2008 8:43PM]

Someone is going to say it, so I'll take the plunge.

Following up their all-in-one desktop with an aluminum encased laptop doesn't show Dell innovation. But it does show who they're trying to imitate...

[ethana2 @ Jan 24th 2008 6:55PM]

If it's a good idea, use it. Goodness knows a horrible implementation of a great idea does the average consumer little good. As long as Apple locks their OS to their hardware with that TPM, screw them, I'm not giving them a cent. Meanwhile, Dell is doing a full Ubuntu rollout... My Dell is coming soon... and the XPS laptop is now available in europe with Ubuntu, with availability in America to come soon. Take the screen of the XT, bring the SSD size down to 8 or 16GB and optimize for bandwidth, let me choose between XP/Vista and Ubuntu when customizing the rig... and you've got a /winner/.

I don't care what Apple starts. They're not suitable to finish it; not for me at least.

[John R @ Jan 6th 2008 8:49PM]

From the photo: the brushed aluminum looks a bit too grainy, keyboard looks very plasticy and doesn't seem to match casing around it, and why the ugly black plastic up the back?

[Tony C @ Jan 6th 2008 9:01PM]

Also strange how this "M1630" appears to be about two inches wider than the M1530 -- look at all that aluminum to either side of the keyboard!! Why is everyone so sure this isn't an M17xx?

[tamoghno @ Jan 6th 2008 9:58PM]

the ugliest part is this is running Vista !

[kyle @ Jan 7th 2008 4:11PM]

@tonyC - this is 16" 16:9, the 1530 and 1730 are 16:10. i'm guessing this thing is a similar width to a 17" and similar height to a 15".

and i'm very happy to see tv and computer screen ratios coming together. i hope this is a trend, and not just some crazy thing that dell is doing.

[fortunado @ Jan 6th 2008 9:49PM]

Yeah. Uhm the 8600GT is pretty weak. Lets hope for a stronger GPU. :( I'm all for a 65nm 8800GT, or a 55nm 3800 series radeon card.

[asphixiated @ Jan 6th 2008 9:56PM]

The desktop 8800GT IS 65nm

[fortunado @ Jan 6th 2008 11:18PM]

I know that. I figure the smaller die size producing less heat should allow it to be shoehorned into a laptop. Just can't understand why everyone loves this 8600GT

[kyle @ Jan 7th 2008 4:13PM]

8600 is a good compromise. cramming in a powerful graphics card really saps the battery life, even when not being stressed. an 8600m still gives decent battery, but can perform in games.

[ethana2 @ Jan 24th 2008 6:58PM]

They need better power management for those cards I guess; and what all can we use it for? GeForce 8xxx cards can do CUDA, right? Or BrookGPU? Can we get a xine backend compiled for the gpu? I'd do it.

[Wwhat @ Jan 6th 2008 10:04PM]

nvidia released the 8800m 'ages' ago, why do they use a 8600m when it's only a concept anyway?
Also is that kind of resolution on such a relatively small display not pretty useless?

[Arjy @ Jan 6th 2008 10:43PM]

My mother has a Dell XPS m1710, and 1920x1200 on that screen is bad enough, I have issues reading text on the internet. I shudder imagining it scaled one more inch down.

[thethirdmoose @ Jan 6th 2008 11:14PM]

150 PPI - much more than your average display, and much less than a mobile internet device like the iphone/archos 605

[Wwhat @ Jan 7th 2008 12:30PM]

I have a 20" 1680 pixel monitor (about 99ppi) and I think it's getting pretty close to how small you can make the dots before it becomes overkill.
As for the archos/iphone, I think a device that's just meant for video and/or used closer to the face has more leeway in that regard.

[Jughead @ Jan 6th 2008 10:14PM]

"The screen sports a stunning 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is powered by an NVIDIA 8600M graphics chipset"

You mean 1920x1200 resolution

[Mark M @ Jan 6th 2008 11:14PM]

no they do mean 1920*1080 that's why this laptop is wider as the screen is 16:9 instead of most computer resolutions which are 16:10

[Ken @ Jan 7th 2008 10:45AM]

Seriously,

Look at the link before posting. The display settings read "1920x1080"

[Kido1986 @ Jan 7th 2008 2:30PM]

16:9 needs to take over the computer market. Unify the standards, down with 16:10! :)

[ethana2 @ Jan 24th 2008 7:02PM]

"16:9 needs to take over the computer market. Unify the standards, down with 16:10! :)"

Was that typed in qwerty on an x86 machine running windows? There are some things I can tolerate, and some I cannot. Varying aspect ratios happen to be something that I can.

~typed in colemak on Ubuntu Gutsy; x86 unfortunately.