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June 18th: Last day to buy a Dell with XP, penalty free
When the clock strikes midnight on June 18th, Dell will discontinue its sales of XP systems. The move allows Dell to meet the imposed June 30th deadline which requires the industry to cease shipment of XP machines. That is, unless you're in the market for a netbook or nettop in which case Microsoft is happy for vendors to continue shipping XP in order to stifle Linux's penetration into consumer computing give consumers a consistent user experience. After June 18th, certain Dell products will still be offered with a factory installed, XP Professional "downgrade" at the cost to you or your business of an unused Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate license and presumably, a small fee as we heard earlier. However, according to TGDaily, the downgrade will only be offered on XPS 630 and XPS 720 H2C desktops or the M1730 laptop -- not the 11 laptops and 10 desktops Dell currently ships with an XP option.Update: Details are now posted at Dell.
Dell prepping XPS 630i: compact, entry-level gaming rig
Dell is planning to show off the latest desktop in its XPS line, the 630i, at CES, which the company is positioning as an entry-level gaming machine to complement the larger, more powerful XPS 720 (pictured above). Although no specs or images have been posted yet, Dell's teaser release calls this new model a "middleweight contender with heavyweight power," promising that while it's "more compact than the powerhouse XPS 720 family, it won't compromise on performance." Expect the XPS 630i to be announced this spring, along with the requisite pricing and configuration deets.
Dell's XPS Motherboard Exchange Program goes live
Those who have stuck with Dell through the ups and (mostly) downs that have revolved around the XPS 700 are finally in luck, as the XPS Motherboard Exchange Program has officially launched. Notably, all XPS 700 and 710 purchases made through June 30th, 2007 are eligible for this program, and while XPS 700 customers will receive the 720 hardware kit gratis, those with a 710 can snag the same package for $250 (plus shipping). The kit itself includes a XPS 720 motherboard, red or black front panel I/O assembly, all applicable cabling, a mouse pad (huzzah?), and an installation sheet for those who decide to pass on the on-site installation -- which, by the way, is free for XPS 700 owners and up to $150 for 710'ers. Furthermore, current 700 clients can snap up the Intel QX6700 CPU "at 25-percent off the then-current price," but you better get a move on, as the program expires promptly at midnight (CST for those cutting it close) on October 13th.[Via Direct2Dell, thanks David]
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Dell's XPS 720 gaming machine reviewed
The folks at Extremetech got a chance to put the Dell's newest gaming rig, the XPS 720, through its paces recently, and although the price is still stratospheric at $7K, the test results came back mostly favorable. The crew tested a unit with a 2.93GHZ Core 2 Quad QX6800, 4GB of RAM, two SLI NVIDIA 8800 Ultra graphics cards, and an Ageia PhysX physics card, and found that the 720 consistently pumped out solid framerates even when the various test games were set to 1920x1200 with all details turned up, 4X anti-aliasing, and max anistropic filtering. Interestingly, turning on SLI resulted in a noticeable performance gain for DirectX 9 games, but DirectX 10 games received only a small boost -- something Extremetech chalks up to driver issues. Other than that, Dell seems to have built quite a monster with the 720 -- now if it only it could do something about that price tag.[Thanks, mikemuch]
Dell's XPS 720 upgrade kit revealed
When Dell's gaming powerhouse XPS 700 was delayed last year, the company attempted to make things right by promising a free Core 2 Duo upgrade when those boards became availabile -- and now the Direct2Dell blog has some shots of the kit 700 owners can expect to receive when the program goes live. It's pretty much what you'd expect: the new mobo from the XPS 720, and the mounting hardware and front I/O panel to match. Somewhat more interesting is the option to upgrade to an Intel QX6700 Core 2 Quad for 25% off Dell's usual price, and the fact that XPS 710 owners will also be able to get in on the upgrade action -- although they'll have to pay for the privilege. We gotta hand it to Dell -- lately they've been pretty good at the whole lemons / lemonade thing. Let's hope a few more companies take the hint.
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Dell XPS 720 H2C gets official
We already knew it was coming and knew what it'd look like, but we've now got the official word from Dell on its new high-end XPS 720 H2C Edition, which is sure to delight those with big pocketbooks and a penchant for slanted boxes. Boasting a starting price in the neighborhood of $6,000, this mammoth rig comes equipped with your choice of factory overclocked QX6700 or QX6800 Core 2 Extreme processors, dual GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards, a pair of 160GB SATA hard drives, some overclocked Corsair Dominator DDR2 memory, a Blu-ray drive, and, of course, Dell's trademark H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system. As of yet, there's no word on a non-H2C model. Those in the U.S. can get their orders in now, while those in Europe will have to wait a few more weeks.
Dell XPS 720 specs, pics revealed
Well wouldn't you know it, we're just strolling down the street today minding our own business, when what do we happen to trip over but a field tech manual for Dell's upcoming XPS 720 and 720 H2C performance gaming rigs. According to the confidential, hundred-plus-page document, the pricier (but cooler, literally) H2C edition will sport a jet black bezel with a glossy black chassis, while the regular version will be offered with either jet black or formula red bezels and brushed aluminum chassis -- though you can rest assured that both models feature a number of seven-color LEDs to properly set the mood for your epic quests and/or murderous rampages. We'd already heard that these overclocking-friendly machines would rock your choice of Core 2, Core 2 Extreme, or Core 2 Extreme Quad processors and SLI-capable NVIDIA nForce 680i chipsets, but we didn't know that 800MHz DDR2 RAM (between 512MB and 8GB, with optional 1066MHz DIMMs from Corsair also available), RAID 5 and 0+1 HDD configurations, digital coax outs, and 300-watt graphics power sources would be on board too -- all improvements over the soon-to-be-dethroned XPS 710. Graphics options include the GTX and GTS flavors of NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 card, and you can also throw in any number of TV tuners along with a Creative X-Fi sound card, though the built-in 7.1 channel audio will probably suffice for most. Obviously these training manuals don't come with any sort of pricing or release info, but if you're curious about such things as replacing the 720's processor heat sink, let us know in the comments and we'll see what we can do. Keep reading for a larger pic...
Dell XPS 720 specs begin to trickle out
It looks like a Dell employee going by the name of "Dell-Bill B" has taken it upon himself to tease members of the Dell community forum with details of the company's upcoming XPS 720 system, which is set to succeed the pricey XPS 710 series. While he's saving a lot of the details for the official announcement, he has revealed that the system will be based on NVIDIA's nForce 680i SLI chipset, and that it'll be available with your choice of Conroe or Kentsfield processors, with a QX6700 Kentsfield the top option at the moment (although that's apparently "subject to change"). Also, while the date's not quite set in stone, it looks like the system (which may or may not boast one of the stylish "designs" above) could be rolling out as soon as May 21st.[Thanks, James]
