Dell's All-in-One PC Has the Guts, Design To Compete With iMac

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/27/2007 | by WALTER S. MOSSBERG

[Swordmaker]

December 27, 2007 Something interesting is going on at Dell. The Texas personal-computer behemoth, long associated with boxy, boring machines, has started emphasizing industrial design. And the company, which in recent years seemed to care only about corporate customers, techies and hard-core gamers, appears once again interested in average, mainstream consumers who value simplicity.

The most tangible example of this new approach is Dell's XPS One desktop -- an elegant, handsome, cleverly designed one-piece computer. If it didn't have the Dell logo on it, the XPS One might be mistaken for a product of the PC industry's design leaders, Apple or Sony.

[Tribune7]

Actually, that’s more Uber Cool than the new Dell.

[RachelFaith]

One would think... that when it comes to a rip off... you could at LEAST... TRY and rip it off.

This thing is HIDEOUS !!

No fear... Dell can’t make anything BUT Ugly.

Pun intended.

[antiRepublicrat]

Actually, that’s more Uber Cool than the new Dell.

And it's over ten years old.

[Tribune7]

Yup:)

[SunkenCiv]

Gateway One Unboxed
(Verdict: So Shiny and Sweet, It Gives Windows a Good Name) PC Answer to iMac
Gizmodo | THU SEP 27 2007 | WILSON ROTHMAN
Posted on 09/27/2007 12:00:02 PM EDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1903059/posts

[Swordmaker]

This thing is HIDEOUS !!

Have you seen the iconoclastic, destructive TV advertisement for it? Mrs. Swordmaker and I watched it and both of us said "HuH?"

[ShadowAce]

[aruanan]

The Texas personal-computer behemoth, long associated with boxy, boring machines, has started emphasizing industrial design.

...has started aping Apple, a company Michael Dell once disparaged but which is now triple the market value of Dell.

[CedarDave]

Can I get it with Windows XP?

Don't think so for this model. But Dell is still selling computers with XP:

Dell desktops with XP

Dell notebooks with XP

[JoJo Gunn]

Hasn’t IBM made something similar looking years ago?

[Still Thinking]

It’s pretty, but I’m sure it’s Vista only. Oh well. Oh, yeah, and it’s a Dull. They’ve sucked all the way back to the PC’s Limited days.

[Still Thinking]

The Dell Barack Obama Edition.

How PC of them.

[Still Thinking]

Still cannot touch any iMac?s industrial design I can remember!

Oh, please...what about the egg on a stick?

[Still Thinking]

Think that was the Aptiva S. They still had a system unit, but they remoted the drives and user-interfaceable stuff to the monitor so you could hide the system unit somewhere. Despite IBM’s HUGH advantage in style over Dull, it wasn’t as clean as this one.

[JoJo Gunn]

You're right. My rusty memory could only remember the monitor. At the time it was quite radical.

 

[Still Thinking]

IBM’s always made sharp looking machines. Or at least, since the PS/2 days. The XT and AT were pretty vanilla.

I actually happenned to be building some machinery for Big Blue at the time and got to see one of these pre-release.

[rom]

I'm sorry. The "egg on the stick" reminds me of a desk lamp (I'm assuming that this is the iMac you are talking about). It's one of my favorite designs. It caused quite a stir when it came out. Look at the details on it and the cleanness of the design compared to the (once again) cheap looking Dell. Also reminds me of the Pixar lamp, Luxo Jr.

My guess though is that we're going to have to agree to disagree. I didn't even have a Mac when those came out, and still liked it! What you have to remember however, is while Apple has played with designs like this -- Dell and HP had been shipping boxes with neon lights and lots of air vents disguised as "go fast stripes". That was cool to them circa 2002-2007.

[Still Thinking]

That’s the one. Almost literally made me nauseous the first time I saw it. I’ve never liked Dell or HP machines, or neon or lighted cases, either. IBM has made about 97% of the computers I thought were cool looking (the charcoal Intellistations, etc.). Very anglar, crisp, parallel ridges, etc. And charcoal. Never, never, NEVER ask me to work on a white,beige, or silver computer.

[rom]

Wow... Nauseous huh? Someone has a weak constitution! :-p

For what it’s worth, I’ve always liked IBM’s industrial designs. Almost Germanic IMHO.

[Still Thinking]

Well, like I said, “almost”. ;-) A little hyperbole never hurt anybody.