Dell goes upmarket

CUT PRICE tin marketer Dell has started to flog what it is calling a luxury range of PCs aimed at high end businesses.

The new XPS brand will start at $2,700 for the laptop and $1,100 for entry-priced units of three desktop models.

Although the brand will be sold in the same way as its cheaper models, Michael Dell is set to promise that XPS class customers will get a special sales and customer service team.

Dell spinners said that the real feeling of luxury will come from its customer service. Buyers of the XPS laptops will be connected with a customer service representative within five minutes. That is about half the time that regular Dell customers wait. Only with Dell is reasonable customer service considered a luxury.

The sorts of customer they want will be those who know what a dual processor is, said one Dell manager. We assume that they will also not need to be told that the DVD drive is not a coffee holder and that the chip is the brains of the computer.

The rest of the cash seems to have gone into the look of the hardware. For example the cover of the laptop is made of a magnesium alloy that gives the product a brushed gunmetal look.

We are still awaiting word as to what the new XPS machines will come loaded with. Michael was supposed to be annoucing that long after we have gone to bed.

Hints from Nvidia seem to suggest some of the range will have its nVidia Go 7800 GTX card. µ