Dell and Microsoft get official with (PRODUCT) RED gear

We knew Dell and Microsoft would be giving some of their gear the Bono treatment this week, but the two companies and the AIDS-in-Africa relief project unveiled their partnership in style today at Davos. Just like we'd heard, the XPS m1530, m1330, and XPS One machines are all going crimson, as well as the 948 AIO printer. Microsoft's kicking in a special (PRODUCT) RED-themed edition of Vista Ultimate to keep things special on the OS tip, and obviously you'll feel better about things with donations of $50 - $80 of each machine's purchase price going to RED, and $5 on the printer (hey, those margins are low enough as it is). All the new stuff should be available by the end of the week in the States, and by January 31 in 30 additional countries -- or right now for your viewing pleasure in the gallery.

Gallery: (RED) XPS M1330

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[JAmerican @ Jan 24th 2008 12:50PM]

For the richest man in the world, you'd think they would clean him up more before a PR shoot. Not trying to dis him just stating the obvious.

[Tony @ Jan 24th 2008 1:01PM]

Bill Gates has been living a fairly modest life compared to the other super rich out there.

IE. Before he retired, he had worked in a regular office like everyone else in his company.

Not trying to say he's that special or anything, but that tibit about his lifestyle might clear up some things about his not so fabulous appearance.

[Joe_Templeman @ Jan 24th 2008 1:12PM]

To be honest, its probably a really well "thought out" PR thing to make him more "user friendly"


As for Bono, I think south park got it right they said about him doing all this good stuff, but still coming across like a piece of sh*t...

[Jeff @ Jan 24th 2008 1:14PM]

Tony:

I guess you consider a house valued at $135 million "modest"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates'_house

[JAmerican @ Jan 24th 2008 1:15PM]

I agree more with Joe. I think its more of a User-Friendly thing than anything else.

BTW fairly modest my butt. Look at his house and tell me that's fairly modest.

[JAmerican @ Jan 24th 2008 1:15PM]

I agree more with Joe. I think its more of a User-Friendly thing than anything else.

BTW fairly modest my butt. Look at his house and tell me that's fairly modest.

[JAmerican @ Jan 24th 2008 1:15PM]

I agree more with Joe. I think its more of a User-Friendly thing than anything else.

BTW fairly modest my butt. Look at his house and tell me that's fairly modest.

[Mickey Jones @ Jan 24th 2008 1:22PM]

He's taking the dork thing WAY too far. You have to go out of your way to find an outfit that geeky.

[treetrunk @ Jan 24th 2008 1:53PM]

Jeff:

$135 million may not be "modest" to most people, but it is VERY modest when you're worth OVER FIFTY BILLION. That's about 0.25% of his wealth.

Relatively speaking, it'd be like an average earning guy living in a kennel. It's extremely modest.

[ericdano @ Jan 24th 2008 2:28PM]

Seriously. You think he could run a comb through that hair.........

[Dale @ Jan 24th 2008 2:51PM]

Bill Gates donates a far greater percentage of his income than anyone else of his profile that I can think of. Steve Jobs does jack shit for charity.

So what if he has a $135 million house? He and his wife Melinda do a fuckton of good, their foundation is one such example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

Disclaimer: I primarily use Apple products.

[Jeff @ Jan 24th 2008 2:49PM]

There comes a point where you can't even spend your money fast enough. (Hence his philanthropy.) Expressing the value of his house in terms of a percentage of wealth is ridiculous in this case. That's like saying the United States' GDP is $2 trillion, so our Capitol building is really "modest" as a percentage of our wealth. It makes no sense.

The guy has a house that's 50,000 square feet, in the woods and on the waterfront, and is a showcase for home automation. He built it himself (or rather, had it built himself) - it is completely custom. It has an olympic-length indoor pool, tennis courts, a grand staircase, a library, a full theater (not a "home theater"). This is not "modest" by any standard, even among rich corporate CEO's.

His property taxes are over $1 million per year alone. Think about that: he pays twice as much in property taxes every single year as my entire house is worth. And I'm upper middle class!

If you want to see how a "modest" billionaire lives, Warren Buffett - the world's second richest man - lives in a 6,000 square foot house in Omaha with an assessed value of $700,000.

"Modest" is not really a relative term, but even if you're using it that way and comparing Gates to other rich guys, he's nowhere even close to living modestly.

[treetrunk @ Jan 24th 2008 3:58PM]

@Jeff:

Expressing the value of his house in terms of his wealth is entirely reasonable, as for most people their home is their single biggest asset. In this case it shows that while spending upwards of 100 million on a house may seem excessive, in this case it is only a tiny tiny proportion of what he could afford to spend on it. That makes is modest.

Comparing the cost of the Capitol building to the GDP of the US is not relevant here. Again, for most people their home is their single biggest asset. This is clearly not true of countries and Capitol buildings, in which it would be ridiculous for a country to invest most of its money.

When looking at others, your definition of modesty depends upon your own circumstances. Really though, modesty is relative to the individual concerned. Spending less than you can comfortably afford to IS modest, whether you're worth $50 billion or $5 thousand.

[Tony @ Jan 24th 2008 5:27PM]

I still think he has lived modestly compared to other multi-billionaires. You are only comparing his house.

What about his more than 40 hours work week, his car, his office, etc.?

The list goes on and on. Think about other multi billionaires.
What do they drive, and do?

[Barry @ Jan 24th 2008 12:51PM]

I'm waiting for the inevitable Fake Steve post about this development.

[Ellianth @ Jan 24th 2008 2:52PM]

I'm waiting for dell to release that wallpaper so i can use it on my m1330.

[Johnathon Zirkle @ Jan 24th 2008 12:52PM]

Bill looks like he's hungover. All those retirement parties are getting to him!

[Chebwa @ Jan 24th 2008 3:14PM]

Not to mention all the hookers and blow.

[Wwhat @ Jan 25th 2008 1:32AM]

Geez, silly failed attempt at making him seem interesting there.

[Joe Anstine @ Jan 24th 2008 12:53PM]

greasy hair much, Mr. gates?

[TrevEB @ Jan 24th 2008 1:00PM]

No one at Microsoft happened to notice that the (red) tm looks very similar to Xbox360 red ring of death?

[Tony @ Jan 24th 2008 1:09PM]

Omg, the parenthesis on my keyboard look like that too! Conspiracy!

[chrisaroz @ Jan 24th 2008 1:04PM]

Or you could buy the regular red color of the notebooks on sale and send in about $600 of your own dollars to the organization.

[CPTripps @ Jan 24th 2008 1:07PM]

"Dude, you're gettin social security!"

[Anthony @ Jan 24th 2008 1:09PM]

I want those wallpapers.

[FordGTGuy @ Jan 24th 2008 1:10PM]

I can see Bono running through an African Village yelling "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" while pointing at all the people.

[Neal @ Jan 24th 2008 1:25PM]

Guys - seriously, learn to add "www.engadget.com" to the link in your RSS portion of the articles. This story and roughly 50% don't have it. As a result the broswer points to just "http://photos/red-xps-m1330/" which obviously does not work. This has been ongoing for weeks and commented on before.

[mcdj @ Jan 24th 2008 1:30PM]

Wow, Bono is starting to look like my Grandma.

[Tony @ Jan 24th 2008 1:34PM]

I'm so sorry.

[mcdj @ Jan 24th 2008 1:32PM]

Wow, Bono is starting to look like my Grandma.

[NHAnimator @ Jan 24th 2008 1:34PM]

(Are)(the)(parenthesis)(REALLY)(necessary)(?)

[Tim Harding @ Jan 24th 2008 1:35PM]

Unfortunately, Product Red hasn't been real successful raising money for AIDS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Red#Criticism

Spending $100 million in advertising and bringing in only half that amount? Not real efficient.

[Tony @ Jan 24th 2008 11:41PM]

Despite that, $50 million is still a lot of money, and according to your Wikipedia link, it is the greatest private donation to date.

[Tim Harding @ Jan 25th 2008 12:43AM]

Yeah, it just points out the fact that $100 million in advertising could have been given as a donation. Instead they 'wasted' $100 million to gain $50 million which is a net loss of $50 million.

[Keef @ Jan 25th 2008 4:22AM]

you got to spend money to make money...

yeah, they could have gave the 100 mill rite off, but would you rather have 100 mill, or atleast 50 mill constantly which is only going to get bigger...

[Tim Harding @ Jan 25th 2008 1:27PM]

Good point, hopefully the thing takes off and it turns out to be a good investment. I guess if they quit now it would be an utter failure, but if it picks up maybe it will be worthwhile.

[marc @ Jan 24th 2008 1:43PM]

Haven't Sprint and GAP already used the compassion meter on this one and found it really wasn't a pressing issue for consumers?

[Andrew @ Jan 24th 2008 1:45PM]

Red Themed edition of Vista Ultimate?

I would really dig Vista Ultimate with a visually red aero theme natively. That would be cool, if the theme was up to scratch. I do however get the feeling you're getting a wallpaper a warm feeling inside.

[Miguel @ Jan 24th 2008 2:03PM]

Vista does support a a red version of Aero natively. Right-click on your desktop, click on "Personalize." You can adjust display settings, including window frames to be in different colors--blue, teal, silver, red, green...

[Andrew @ Jan 24th 2008 2:28PM]

True, but I was thinking a more nicely done theme than a red tint. Icons, shellstyle etc. Doubt I'll see it though, so its not really a issue :)

[däniel @ Jan 24th 2008 1:49PM]

haha bono got bored of appearing on ipod boxes?

[Alijah @ Jan 24th 2008 1:55PM]

Sooo WANT the wallpaper

[Matt @ Jan 24th 2008 1:56PM]

Why does Bono always look a pompus ass in all of his pictures?

[webon @ Jan 25th 2008 10:01PM]

cuz he can

[toyotaboy @ Jan 24th 2008 1:56PM]

I couldn't hate bono's smugness more.

[oshean @ Jan 24th 2008 2:01PM]

Parenthesis and red invoke the connotation of negative financial income.

[Zak @ Jan 24th 2008 2:04PM]

The red logos next to each other look like boobies.

( . ) ( . )

[Jayayess1190 @ Jan 24th 2008 2:24PM]

Anybody else notice how the M1330 screen looks washed out compared to the other two?

[Brad @ Jan 24th 2008 3:32PM]

Yes the screen is probably not a Toshiba brand LCD but a cheaper alternative they use (CMO - Chi Mei Optoelectronics) when they can't get Toshiba stock. I have had 5 of these screens replaced due to a grainy "looking through a flywire" effect, until I realised that I should have had a Toshiba LCD.

If you don't have one, demand one. Dell will swap it out at no expense.

[zosia @ Jan 24th 2008 2:30PM]

Funny how all the old dude's still think Bono's the shit. I'm surprised they weren't all wearing those lame 90's red shades hehe..

Oh, and: ((())()()))([[{}[)}