New style coming soon?

Currently on the www.dellideastorm.com website, it appears that a lot of people want a re-design. I'm guessing this will happen on the next line of laptops from them. Especially since they'll have to redesign for better heat release.

When I saw Dell's "ruggedized" laptop, I wondered if the next XPS was going to follow the same tenets - but then I saw it was a 14.1" screen.

Bump! With Santa Rosa coming, do we know if Dell is releasing a totally redesigned Inspiron? They are starting to look aged, especially compared to the "new" Macbook Pros. I'm ready to upgrade my Inspiron 9300 - come on Dell!

Dell's aren't supposed to look like Macbooks.

Indeed, but a lot of people want them to...I honestly wouldn't mind a sleeker frame such as that. The current lappys are as thick as bricks

I know. But they don't need to look out dated either. The under sized keyboard with large gaps on the sides, the endless amount of plastics, there is a ton of room for improvement. Don't get me wrong, I love my Inspiron 9300, but I want a new laptop and I'm waiting for a style improvement before purchasing because I know they must be working on something....

I agree they could be sleeker, I just don't want them to look like a Mac. Apple has it's look, Dell needs to have it's own look as well.

As far as the keyboard is concerned you have a problem. the keyboard is a fixed fixture with limited change possibilities at this point. Either you get full sized keys & spaces on both sides, or you get a keyboard with a number pad & have squished keys (hated them on my HP 8000) .

they could always fill the space...

-LCD status indicator? (volume/batt life...email)
-Quick launch keys
-Biometric security
-more stickers

I like all of your ideas Sol, all besides the quick launch keys.

I really would like to see,
Biometric security,
that LCD indicator sounds awesome
a camera,
a Mic
a number keypad

thats all for now

didn't think of the mic since my 1710 has one built in lol

*cough* cheater *cough*

If you could slip a webcam behind the speaker grill, now that would be impressive

Sol's so good, I bet he could gut a webcam and find some way to hack it into his LCD bezel. If memory serves me correctly the 17 inchers have alot of spare room underneath the bezel.

Hmm.. That would be an interesting project.

The problem..

-Finding a small high-res webcam since it would have to be USB based. Perhaps modifying an existing laptop cam by gutting the plastic shell & mounting the components within the housing. I'll have to take apart the LCD bezel to see just how much room there is behind the latch. I'll take some pics when I look into it & then see what I can find to fit in there.

I agree with the design, honestly, HP is selling more than DELL because their notebooks are much more beautiful than DELL's.

Buy one for the other Dells laptops and install in the XPS. I would imagine those are also USB based.

hehe that's what I am looking at, the one for the 1210 might order one & see if I can take t apart

I highly doubt HP sells more than Dell. Dell owns the business market.

HP has taken some of the best steps in exterior design of their laptops of any US-based PC builder. That I will definately give them. But both HP and Gateway fall short of Dell in terms of technology and advancement.

With Dell still being the premier brand of cutting edge hardware, seeing as they are always an exclusive release partner with Intel and Nvidia for new mobile products I don't see Dell losing too much more over the future.

Right now Intel has released Santa Rosa and it requires a motherboard redesign to allow space for newer features and newer component spacing and cooling standards from Intel. Since all Dell's are Intel standard approved they will have to make a new layout "under the hood".

Right now Nvidia is holding back making a mobile 8800 video module because they already maxed out the thermal envelope they can maintain in a notebook with the 6800-7900 series cards. Remember the Go7800 debacle? They tried running a desktop 7800 GPU at desktop speed with just a number of pipes laser cut. And we all know what happened there. Now Nvidia has to find a similar solution for the 8800 before they can release a stable mobile product.

Back to Intel's changes. These updates are so severe that Apple has said they will not be jumping onto the Santa Rosa bandwagon "for a while" because they could not redsign the recently released Intel MacBooks in a cost effective manor because it is still too soon for Apple to afford a redesign.

Remember that Apple tries to play on the level of Dell and HP but with only about 10% of the annual sales of either of those vendors.

Right now Dell would be wise to invest good capital into an Inspiron redesign. Even though the majority of sales come from corporate sales and business model Latitudes - the face of Dell's laptops is still their Inspiron line. If you go into a BestBuy you will see people constantly eyeing the HP's and Toshiba Qosmio's. Why? Because they look the sleekest. Even though none of the HP's, and only the top model Qosmio, can keep up with the performance level of the mid-level E1705... it's the look that sells to those less informed about just what a laptop can do.

People here know what a laptop can do and have a better idea of what hardware they need to suit a specific use that you plan for a laptop purchase. But gaming is still what pushes the envelope of computer advancement for consumers. By just supporting the higher end GPU's you are helping to advance systems even further. I see no reason, even for a lightweight business oriented laptop, to settle for Integrated Graphics.

Give Dell about 6 months. In this time Santa Rosa will go thru a couple revision changes, Nvidia will release a mobile 8800, and more importance will be put on internal/external flash memory support. Those factors along with recent pressure like the lawsuit in NY will lead Dell to invigorate new consumer demand with a new sexy design with all the latest compatible hardware working in unison. This will be a good thing because then we can see Hi-Speed MMC/SD readers on Dell Inspiron/XPS systems which will help on top of just the on-board flash cache that will work with ReadyBoost.

Quantity isn't really the total matter. Dell dropped over 25% in profit in quarter 4. HP was up some percentage in total, along with apple. Dell is screwed if it doesn't do a turn around.