Will the studio XPS ever be revived?

Engadget posted a story last September about Dell France saying that a Studio XPS 15 and 17 might be in the works for the near future. Does anyone know more about this? Is it possible that a new SXPS model will be released at CES 2011?

A concept model of the SXPS with an OLED screen that was shown at CES 2010 only makes me drool more...

Here are the links to the stories:
Studio XPS 15 and 17? Dell Studio XPS 15, XPS 17 rumored to be coming this fall -- Engadget

SXPS with OLED Studio XPS 16 OLED concept laptop hands-on -- Engadget

 

If anything it will be released at CES 2012. For now, SXPS is discontinued dont get your hopes up on it for another year or so.

 

sxps is dead. through press releases they want to get back to the "keep it simple stupid" grass roots of having inspiron, xps, and alienware.

 

I don't understand how dell could kill this line, there is nothing else dell has that I want. Maybe this CES they could show something.

 

No offense, but the new XPS 15 and 17 look like children toys compared to the SXPS 16. Just look at the tray-loading drive and try to tell me that isn't a look that should have died in the 2000's. Slot-loading FTW.

 

Slot loading is great untill your disc geys stuck, then you'll wish for tray loading. I'll take function over style any day.

 

And slot loaders are louder, and more prone to vibration!
Even pioneer switched back to trays on desktop drives, even tough they were a pioneer in slot loaders.

 

I hardly ever get discs stuck. 5 seconds/paperclip on a tray, 5 minutes/screwdriver on a slot. Not a huge difference, in those probably three times in a lifetime occurrences.

I don't use my disc drive enough that a stuck disc would be absolutely disastrous, anyways.

In desktops, fine, go with a slot, you have all the room you need. But a slot-loading drive on a laptop looks slick and allows for thinner laptops.

It's a bit louder when you insert the CD, true, but that's a small price to pay. Vibration-wise, my laptop doesn't vibrate any more with a disc spinning than it does otherwise.

~Ibrahim~

 

The slot loading drive on my SXPS 13 shakes the laptop like mad. Im worried about hard drive damage from prolonged usage of the drive so I try to avoid using the drive if I can.

 

It shakes your entire laptop? Do you have the laptop level? Hmmm, the entire laptop shaking from reading a CD does not sound normal. Mine's never shook. I mean, there is a slight vibration to the laptop, but that's because the my hands are quite literally a few millimeters from the drive because the laptop is so thin.

 

SXPS is a thing of the past. The XPS 15 and 17 systems that were just launched ARE the systems that Dell France was speaking about. They dropped the Studio name altogether.

As for the OLED SXPS 16, likely nothing but a concept peice as that article was dated nearly a year ago.

 

the SXPS 16 is so sexily designed. Idk who they hired for the new XPS line. They could have kept the same body, but using aluminum like the new ones do. And then just move exhaust to the side. Perfection!

 

Slot loaded drives are garbage. If you get a disc stuck, have fun getting it out! And from the install I did for a slot loaded drive into a SXPS 16, I will never buy a notebook with a slot loaded drive.

I doubt they will revive the SXPS line, that would conflict with the current XPS line..

 

They are definitely shaped like children's toys, with ridiculously rounded corners and 1999 style two-tone color and that hideous beige. The Studio XPS looks masculine and pretty at the same time...not to mention that lovely RGB LED.

 

Interesting that you should dismiss all slot-loading drives on the basis of a single sour experience.

Do you actually believe that tray-loading drives are more reliable, with their flimsy plastic trays that are begging to be broken?

 

gotta admit that im kinda disappointed with the new design of XPS..it does not give me a feel of premium line at all..

so sad if they decided to stop the SXPS series...

 

1 bad experience? I've had to disassemble over 20 laptops, Macbooks to Studios with slot loaded drives. And say your slot loaded drive breaks (moreso common than normal optical drives), you have to gut your entire notebook as mostly slim thinner notebooks have slot loaded drives. Oh and say your laptop dies and you have to get a DVD out? Gotta get good with that paper clip or gut your computer.

I've been working with repairing laptops unofficially for 10 years, 3 years as a bench technician and I can tell you I have almost never have seen normal ODD break on their own. For 1 normal ODD I replace under warranty, I probably replace 5-10 slot loaded. Not counting the morons who stick paper, mini discs, and other crap in their ODD. And normal ODD usually have 1 screw and it slides out vs 20-40 minutes opening up a Studio or Macbook for a simple ODD replacement. Ridiculous.

 

I'm staying away from Dell until they get their designs toghether again. Look at how stupid the new alienware and the new xps looks compared to the old ones.

 

Yep I'm quite disappointed in the new designs too, of all their lines. Alienware still looks like its a laptop for teens - always has been though so not a biggie there. But their new XPS and Studio lines aren't that much better (especially compared to their SXPS 16). And most of their Inspirons are nothing special at all design-wise.

Come on Dell...get back to producing at least one top-of-the-range quality line (and no no Alienware kiddie logo's).

 

SXPS looks much better, the new XPS is just trying too hard. The whole hinge idea with the new XPS is pretty stupid as well, you'd have thought they'd have realised that from the adamo XPS failure.

 

yeah, I also like the old SXPS, it looks professional in the office as well as cool with a college student. perfect mix !
except for the stupid heat vent design of blowing air directly at the screen it is a great laptop !
DELL should really revive the SXPS.

 

I liked the old XPS so much - I bought 2, i had issues with the white one- 2 motherboards, 2 palm rests CPU and mem, Dell wanted to replace with XPS15. Told them NO- Fix it!- Its fixed now.

 

I miss the XPS 1530....(not the 8600 GPU in it though).

That was my first lappy', and for me it was awesome while I had it.

Would like to see that design again w/some additions to it.


Cin...

 

IMO the SXPS will never be revived. It may be a system that a lot of people love but Dell has clearly shown they intend on dividing the different laptop classes they make entirely such as: Inspiron-average daily home user, Precision/Latitude-Professional and business, XPS-Entry to Mid level performance and gaming, Alienware-Highest performance and gaming. Dell is not really showing that they are interested in blurring the lines and making multi use computers anymore which is kind of sad.

 

Well the XPS was supposed to be the middle between entry level Inspiron but not the crazy cost of Alienware. If offers high end stuff (i7, more powerful discreet graphics, 1080p screens) which mainstream will never get, but doesn't offer super high end GPU (Alienware). Kinda like Vostro/Latitude/Precision scale, XPS is like Latitude.

IMO Studio was big fail. Design was awful, slot loaded ODD = major fail, and IMO it is ugly. I'd take an Inspiron over a Studio anyday. Studio was their attempt to make another class of notebooks but specs were like Inspiron and priced higher..

 

yep, the studio idea was really bad. Thank god I sent back my studio 1458 for a replacement. Totally cheap quality plastics.. Lets see, what I get from dell now.

 

There seems to be a lack of "grown up" looking laptops out there at the moment that aren't business orientated. That's one of the reasons I got my SXPS16, it's nice and clean to look at without being boring.

 

You will miss the beauty of your current lappy if you order an XPS 15. I regret giving away my old beautiful and high qulaity XPS M1540 before receiving my (returned) XPS 15 .

 

That's why you just buy business oriented notebooks and no problems!

 

But then you lose the "multimedia" features that the SXPS 16 (marketed towards general consumers and not businesses) offered:

Touch-sensitive volume/multimedia contronls
HDMI/DisplayPort
Two headphones jacks
Worthwhile graphic cards
RBGLED
Keyboard back-lighting
A consumer-oriented price!

While a few of these may be found in some business laptops, few will offer all.

~Ibrahim~

 

Err...Dell Precision? lol

I know SXPS was for a different niche. But look at the long history of problems with XPS line...each one looks promising and...flops...miserably.

 

I forgot to mention styling.

Pick one:





The 1645 had its problems and the major ones were fixed after a few tortuous months. But the 1647 was killer. I don't mean to brag, but I would like to say my SXPS 16 (and many others) would stand their own against many other laptops on the market for price, performance, and looks.

~Ibrahim~

 

^^That!

(And, hihi Ibrahim)

Cin...

 

The XPS 15 doesn't look *bad*, but it's that tray-drive....I just can't get over it. And the hinges are now *on* the body instead of behind it, adding some thickness with the screen closed, though I think the two models are similar in thickness overall.

It isn't just me; the CNET review linked on Dell's site for the XPS 15 lists "clunky-looking design" as a con.

Haha, yup, Cin'! Hello to you, too!

~Ibrahim~

 

You are absolutely right about everything you said about the SXPS 16. My new XPS 15 came with faulty hinges. Dell replaced it with another that came with a bad 1080p screen. Now I am baffled baout what notebook to buy. The best bet for me is to shell out over $2000 and get a MacBook Pro, just for the looks and build quality.

Hatim

 

lol I hate slot loaded drives with a passion. Thank god Dell got rid of that, I assume they were having so many problems with Studio/SXPS that they just scrapped it completely.

In all honestly, I hate the SXPS look, I don't want a super shiny laptop. It's a fingerprint magnet, and personally I think it's vulgar. I learned from my ASUS 900HA and plenty of HP laptops. I prefer matte laptops if you haven't figured it out.

I mean sure if you want a pretty laptop, buy the SXPS but I care about reliability over shininess. No point of dropping 1200 on a laptop and having it die after 2-3 years.

 

Dell could have easily kept the XPS 16's body design and just made the exhaust fire to the side. I'm sure its not that hard to engineer it that way.

 

And risk the lawsuits of starting a forest fire?! NO WAI.

 

Business laptops of the same spec cost a fortune and look like the sort of thing a calculator would dream of falling in love with.

*stereotype geek accent* "Oh dell precision, thou hast the most perfect of right angles, the most beatiful shade of 363C48 that binary logic could compute. Thy hinges, so immaculate and functional. Thou art so beatiful that my memory buffer overflows with ecstacy, my I/O unit sings 110111010110001101101001110010001010011000101 with joy! Would thou accept my P2P handshake request and communicate with what I can and always will know as 127.0 0.1?"

PS, yes I DID quickly check the hex values of grey if you were wondering.

 

yeah, thats a pretty good idea that I also came up with, but, it seems there isn't any place neither on the left nor the right where they could have shifted the vent to(even if they ever wanted to). with K slot, VGA, LAN, DVI, HDMI, 2 x USB + 3 x 3.5mm jacks ( phew !) on the left it seems pretty difficult to move the vent there. On the right the slot load gobbles up all space. seems like a tradeoff between vent & features. there is also no way they could have move anything to the back.

I say, get rid of VGA, cram the ports on left, move the vent there, build a better cooling design and relaunch it.

Apart from heating (that lead to throttling, which was nearly eliminated in i7 + 5730 + 9-cell combination) I don't think there was any major flaw with design. People loved its RGB screen (even the WLED is way above the rest), it handles games pretty good even if it wasn't a so called 'dedicated gamer' (the 5730 improving on the 4650/70), good ports, touch keys,... what else do you want ?

 

no offence, but, it seems we have a complementary set of DNA. It is neither super shiny and flashy nor dull. Yeah I also like matte finish a lot more than glossy but the SXPS just doesn't feel cheap like some glossy china phones.
It's a fingerprint magnet. Yes, but, we do clean & care for our gadgets, don't we ?
Just one thing, how is it 'vulgar' ?

 

I mean just the hinge design, the looks, the shininess. It is the anti-christ of all business notebooks. It just reminds me too much of the older M1530/M1330.