Dell to integrate Alienware and XPS dev teams, take XPS line in "new directions"

Dell's plans for Alienware and the XPS line are getting a little clearer, even as rumors swirl -- a post on the company's Direct2Dell blog today says that the XPS and Alienware dev teams are going to be integrated, and that the XPS line will go in "new directions," hinted at by the m1330 and XPS One. Furthermore, you can now buy the Area-51 m9750 gaming laptop direct from the Dell website in addition to the Area-51 m15x, which doesn't seem all that wild to us -- we're more interested in why Dell picked the super-geeky XPS brand to be its "premium" line. Ever heard of friendly, guys?

[Via CNET]

[peshue @ May 16th 2008 8:34PM]

I don't care what happens to the xps line so much as the cases. Pleas Dell keep the cases, those alienware monstrosities are hideous.

[Draaaainage! @ May 16th 2008 11:38PM]

Seriously! Those cases are the hotness and I would love to buy *just the case* from Dell.

The same problem occurs in the after market as well. I am trying to build a new gaming rig and finding a good case to work with that doesn't have LED's coming out it's ass is damn near impossible.

I had to settle on a 200 dollar ATX Full case to get a well built / designed housing without those ridiculous lights they stole from the cars in the fast and the furious.

[Aguiluz @ May 17th 2008 12:31AM]

You don't want lights? Then don't plug them in! Easy!

:)

[David Clark @ May 17th 2008 10:29AM]

Yeah, you can't unplug an ugly alien head, though.

[Metkis @ Jun 10th 2008 11:03PM]

Ahahahaha good one...

Man I hate those cases too..

[Alexander @ May 16th 2008 8:38PM]

On the frontpage the link to 'XPS One' links to 'chrome://performancing/content/editor/engadget.com/tag/xpsone'... May want to fix that?

[dBs @ May 16th 2008 8:56PM]

Uhm...why? Honestly, how hard is it to build gaming computers? Its not difficult to know what parts are powerful and aren't and to configure them to a certain price range. The only thing Alienware and Dell are doing is picking a few easy to decide upon parts then arranging a few of them into a base configuration and choosing parts that can be upgraded. How many people does it take to do that honestly, let alone combining two entire teams? Give me an afternoon and I could have the entire Alienware AND XPS lines "designed" from top to bottom.

The only thing they "design" is the case and company bulk purchase deals to make them. Wow, an entire team for that! =P

[Adam @ May 16th 2008 9:15PM]

Wow you should let Dell know how easy it is. They are clearly wasting money employing these development teams.

Who would of thought such a large and succesful company such as Dell would of overlooked something so obvious.

Or maybe there is something more to making a gaming machine that people will actually buy...

[dBs @ May 16th 2008 9:19PM]

@Adam

I should because there isnt more to it than what I described above. I've built so many gaming machines for myself and friends and while I worked computer tech. The only thing that Dell/Alienware "designs" is:

company bulk pricing (purchasing for them and retailing from them)
case
and acceptable overclocking limits (which most video cards are already done for you).

So, since you appear to be more informed than I, feel free to clue me in to the other things they do. And feel free to be technical all you want IEEE member so do your worst.

[Peter @ May 16th 2008 9:38PM]

That might be true for desktops, since they really are just slapping a bunch of components together, but they also design the cooling so that it is (hopefully) more efficient and better then what you would design.

It is, however, a completely different story with the laptops, which have almost totally custom-made components that have to be altered to fit into the casing. Also, keeping a machine like that cool and light is nearly impossible, which is why there are so many working on it.

If all it took was some upfront funding and good business strategy to build top-notch, high-profit gaming systems, rather than any knowledge of how to optimize performance, then there would be a lot more companies making systems like that. As you can tell, there aren't, so it must take a whole lot more than that.

[benjesuit @ May 16th 2008 10:28PM]

Well said.

That's really all there is to it. And you can build quieter, cooler, and more powerful gaming desktops than what Dell or Alienware offer for less money. And still have a warranty on the individual parts. Not to mention an arguably better looking system.

Plus you can get exactly what you want without as much compromise.

Spend a week doing research and you'll become proficient enough at system building to build your own.

[brandon.aiken @ May 17th 2008 12:21AM]

Simply put, people buy off-the-shelf gaming machines for a few reasons:

1. They don't know how to build a PC. To most people, even gaming enthusiasts, a PC is a black box. As console gaming becomes more powerful and more popular, however, this is an increasingly shrinking population

2. They don't want to spend the time or energy to do the research, find all the perfect components, assemble the system, and set it up. You're right, it would take a week of free time for someone who knows what they're doing to do that. If a week of free time is more valuable than the $500 it will save you to build your own, then you pay the $500 to not deal with the problem.

I mean, I know how to change the oil in my car. It's not difficult at all. I'd still rather pay someone else to do it. The money I'd save isn't worth it to me.

[dBs @ May 17th 2008 1:56AM]

@Peter

Your point on laptops would be true if they didn't purchase the laptops from other companies and recase/rabrand them. Sager/Clevo currently make the Alienware laptops. Dell and Alienware do not design and make their own laptops. I present evidence:

http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=17

So where is the rigorous design from Alienware in that besides what I already mentioned?

@brandon.aiken

What you say is entirely true, but has absolutely nothing to do with what I said at all XD

[ubercool @ May 16th 2008 9:29PM]

>'We're more interested in why Dell picked the super-geeky XPS
>brand to be its "premium" line. Ever heard of friendly, guys?'

Because geeks rule! Don't you realize that *Engadget*?

:-)

[mario8102 @ May 16th 2008 9:32PM]

woo!

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ May 16th 2008 9:32PM]

"Would you like fries with that?"

[YoMomma @ May 17th 2008 3:03PM]

yes and with ketchup please

[DOOM!!! @ May 16th 2008 9:57PM]

but will it play doom?

[Ray @ May 16th 2008 10:12PM]

Fail!

[dada @ May 16th 2008 10:00PM]

aha！

[Sam @ May 16th 2008 10:17PM]

New Directions > Budget

[Colin Potter @ May 17th 2008 3:26AM]

i can honestly say the only thing that prevented me from gettings an XPS laptop to use for everyday stuff (and use my mac for video/photo editing only) was the fact that there is no local repair depot (i dont know about other cities) whereas anything else I get can be fixed on warranty at the store i get it from

point being

Dell rules, XPS rules, warranty sucks

[Dualboot @ May 17th 2008 4:11AM]

Why would you want to take the machine to a shop if Dell comes to you? If you just pay the extra couple of bucks, you get home service for 3 years. I know it's a rip off if your machine does not break, but if it does, you make up for the shipping costs alone...

[Marc @ May 17th 2008 5:39AM]

great. as long as they don't allow alienware to design the cases then it should be a worthwhile merge

[Phonixfire @ May 17th 2008 5:43AM]

"If a week of free time is more valuable than the $500 it will save you to build your own, then you pay the $500 to not deal with the problem."

I'm 15 and hadn't really done anything with computer hardware before (changed a video card, that's it really). I got all the parts for an awesome new gaming rig at Christmas and had it built within two days (I mean yeah, the motherboard was DoA so I had to get it replaced, but it took around 4 hours the second time to set up the whole PC and get the OS installed).

There's no way it can take a week to set up. Unless you're modding your case yourself, and welding bits/taking bits out, then there's no way it'd take a week. $500 is easily worth a day or two of my time (how many people actually make $500 a day?)

[Phonixfire @ May 17th 2008 5:43AM]

Argh... Should've been posted under dBs' original post. :rolleyes:

[flyerc @ May 17th 2008 8:41AM]

Dude, at 15 I had that kind of time too... now a days I have more pressing matters to attend to with what feels like never enough time. So, I see your point but its all a matter of age, time, and perspective....

[darcyv @ May 17th 2008 10:44AM]

"There's no way it can take a week to set up. Unless you're modding your case yourself, and welding bits/taking bits out, then there's no way it'd take a week. $500 is easily worth a day or two of my time (how many people actually make $500 a day?)"

I agree that assembling and installing OS is relatively simple .. might take a few hours.. but the week of work he may have been referring to was the numerous tweaks/optimizations/drivers/customization that a true enthusiast would do. Which depending on how in-depth you get, can take some time. Driver tweaks/optimization and overclocking can be time consuming.

However this would take time regardless of if you built the machine yourself or buy it from dell/alienware (they really don't tweak the system much) ... so your point is semi-valid.

Also I'm sure lots of people make $500 a day when they work, I know I do no prob. Although again your point is valid, as I value my money, and would rather spend that extra $500 I save doing it myself on better components.

Plus I'm a geek, and love tweaking/building pc's too much to give it up.

[maff @ May 17th 2008 7:26AM]

if dell want to sell more xps systems in the UK they neeed to seriously consider adding as an option at least the Q9xxx series cpu in the 420/630 systems and nvidia graphics cards (they must have been paid hell of a lot by ATI for exclusivity tho) to cut it w gamers, the current systems are far from cutting edge

[Phoenix @ May 17th 2008 7:51AM]

Provided they quit the false advertising and give the XPS M1730 the specs that are advertised on their site but that you can't select.

Core 2 Extreme and TV tuner are specifically mentioned on the UK site, but when you go to the configure page you can't select them...

[KC @ May 17th 2008 11:38AM]

@dBs

"feel free to clue me in to the other things they do."

Hmm, I'm going to guess it takes you a few hours to build your gaming rig, I'm also going to guess that if you have problems you need to go through a fairly painful, albeit methodical (if you have a slight clue), root cause analysis. Now try multiplying the time you spent by hundreds of thousands of systems a day and see how many people you need to build. Now imagine you missed something small (didn't need that screw to hold the drive in, hell, I'm building it myself, I know the issues, I'll just be careful.. Now imagine 15% of your systems arrived at a customer with drives hanging out, how many people do you need to field all those calls, how much do you think it costs to send replacement parts, what sort of logistical effort do you think it takes to make that happen. Oh, and guess what, the feds hold system builders to completely different standards than home cowboys, whether you see it or not the engineering required to get systems through safety certs is a lot of effort. The list goes on and on.

Until you can even begin to answer those questions you are clueless about what it takes a development team to get something ready for mass manufacture and your claims of understanding based on building a home system are akin to understanding what it takes a Ford to mass produce a Focus because you change the oil on your 20 year old Le Sabre.

[dBs @ May 17th 2008 2:49PM]

Ok, tell me what parts on those lists have anything to do with the "development team" and not the customer service and quality control team. Everything you mentioned were things that a quality control and customer service team would handle. Development team, were talking about them, only them, and that specific team here. I KNOW that with a corporation vs a home builder you will have customer service concerns and quality control, thats common business sense. But the DESIGN (key word here) team, who designs the computers and how they will be built/configured, what do they do that I didn't mention. Keep it to the design team please otherwise it's off point.

[KC @ May 19th 2008 4:46PM]

@dBs

Customer service comes after a product has been designed and released, so does quality control. You'd better hope your design teams are developing systems with those aspects in mind.

Cooling systems, board layouts, mechanical design and retention, which parts are used where, electrical layout. Those are all part of the design. Manufacturing requirements are part of the design, that's why it's called "Design For Manufaturing". OEM boards typically have a different layout to the board you buy from Fry's or Newegg, why? Because the system you built at home wouldn't come close to meeting International certifications and emissions controls for systems. Don't believe me? Take a look at how many boutique vendors assembling from off the shelf components ship internationally. Good luck with selling the system you just designed in an afternoon in Korea, or Europe, or anywhere outside the lower 48. In fact good luck with selling more than a couple of thousand even in the lower 48 before you get slapped with an FCC system build violation.

[YoMomma @ May 17th 2008 3:06PM]

um where?

[Biggie_Robs @ May 17th 2008 6:50PM]

Dell to integrate Alienware and XPS dev teams, take XPS line in "new directions"

[MageMeister @ May 18th 2008 8:42PM]

Well, what I really would like to know is if the dell guaranty will apply to alieware machines, because that's the only think stopping me from buying one. I'm from Puerto Rico and dell's guaranty service is excellent, but I heard stories of people with alienware machines that need to ship them back to continental USA just to apply for the guaranty service. So if this change in the corporation fixes that, count me in, I'll take an area-51m15x please!

[MiLK @ May 19th 2008 4:49PM]

Hmmm....I'm about to buy a M1330 in the next month or so....should I wait, is a refresh iminent? :/