Dell Goes Back to Basics with new product lineup strategy.

Dell marketing makeover simplifies brands, kills off Adamo altogether -- Engadget

Basically now the line up is Inspiron, XPS, and Alienware, with Inspiron now spanning the mainstream market instead of simply being only low end.

I think this makes sense, personally. I thought that there was way too much overlap between Inspiron, Studio, and Studio XPS. I also hated the gimping that Dell did to the Inspiron line initially but, in retrospect, one could tell some changes were happening starting with the 1564 (and it's smalller and larger brothers) which arguably looked better than any Studio laptop and provided more of the options that previous owners were used to being offered like dedicated graphics.

 

To me, a somewhat-technically-inclined consumer, there is still the issue of 500,000,000 different models of inspirons currently. It would be much easier for people (in my opinion) if they just had 2 different models for each size. Just wayyyy too much confusion.

I can't say HP, Lenovo, etc are any different. Having 3 lines of "consumer" laptops isn't bad. Having 3 lines of "business" laptops isn't bad. It gets confusing when each line of laptop has 5 different types for each size.

 

Dell has also brought something new to the table: forced upselling. If you want a new XPS with the best graphics card, get ready to be forced to upgrade to an i7 processor and the bigger battery. What a total joke!

 

Yeah, I see what you mean. They still have Inspiron models (Inspiron 15/14) from two generations ago as a budget alternative....

Yeah, this was done months before the model lineup change. It's a total joke, designed to reduce build complexity, at the expense of turning people off who are used to picking each component out to their specifications. Even latitude systems when configured through the small/medium business section suffer from this same fate...shame really. This is one area that Dell needs to change, esp since Lenovo, Apple, and HP will let me do today the very thing that Dell pioneered so many years ago.

 

Well that clears up some confusion, not that it will even dent MacBook sales.


I'm inclined to say that the average consumer doesn't really mind preconfigured models. Sure, it means that some consumers are more likely to stop buying directly from Dell and buy from resellers instead, but it really does seem to make some business sense. After all, who really wanted to max out on hardware with the ultra-creaky last generation Inspiron?

Looking at the Inspiron R, I don't exactly get the urge to buy one, but at least the case is a step in the right direction. Looking at the XPS, I pretty much see a higher end Inspiron R, so I guess there was no need for the Studio brand. What I don't see is a MacBook competitor.

Dell doesn't seem any closer to stealing high end marketshare from Apple with this marketing revamp. If anything, Dell has positioned itself as an also-ran competitor to HP. If the Inspiron R is the competitor to the DV/DM series Pavilions, then the XPS is gunning for the Envy line. It's a pointless slugfest.

Dell really needs to start thinking outside the box, although at least Dell is in the same box as every other PC manufacturer. And no, the Dell Streak isn't an example of thinking outside the box. It's an example of a dead end product, although HP still has Dell beat when it comes to stupid marketing tricks - namely the soon to be infamous HP Slate. Just what iPad owners really wanted, a 9 inch tablet that comes with a giant printer.

Is it any wonder that Apple doesn't have any real competition?

 

Dell had a MacBook competitor the Inspiron 13, but it was pretty unattractive and had middle of the road components.

I don't know why they have the Inspiron from 2 generations ago around. There was a short lived generation between the R series and that glossy, cheap looking monstrosity, the XX64 line:





Much better looking that the black plastic el cheapo they are still selling beside the R line, the XX64 line had brushed metal trim on the keyboard deck, SRS WOW premium sound and expanded processor and graphics options, that was a definite foreshadowing of the change in direction Dell would be doing to the Inspiron line, returning it back to the mainstream.

 

Yeah, I think this is a very smart move on Dell's part.

Inspiron, XPS, and Alienware make for a well rounded lineup. This follows the same model for business: Vostro, Latitude, Precision.