Dell as the name of the laptop itself makes no sense. Like Apple replacing ‘MacBook’ with ‘Apple’.
Dell will no longer make XPS computers
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Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Sure, but I find this branding even more confusing. "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" "Oh, neat! Is it a PC or laptop?" "It's a Dell Pro... laptop." "..." At least with XPS, Latitude, etc., consumers were able to easily distinguish between models, after getting familiar with the product line. Naming all products " [Pro,Pro Max]" will always be clear as mu…
If you find this branding more confusing, then you are probably not familiar with laptop shopping in this segment. Here are all of the 2024 models available: Latitude 9450, Latitude 7350, Latitude 7350 Ultralight, Latitude 7350 Detachable, Latitude 7455, Latitude 7450, Latitude 7450 Ultralight, Latitude 7650, Latitude 5550, Latitude 5455, Latitude 5450, Latitude 5350, Latitude 3450, Latitude 3550. You have to memoriz…
I'm not a Dell customer, so I'm not familiar with their product lines, but from what you say "Dell Latitude 5450" is indeed clearer to me than "2024 Dell Pro 14" Plus". I can get familiar with the number scheme and infer that higher numbers indicate better performance, larger screen, etc. "Pro" and "Plus" will always be meaningless and arbitrary.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#73I once heard a repair tech say that XPS stands for “eXpensive Piece of Sh*t” and now that always comes to mind, although it never totally made sense to me as I didn’t think they were particularly expensive. I have an XPS and I did replace the battery at one point, but other than that I think it performed fairly well for my simple needs. I think I paid $499 for it around 2018.
>I think I paid $499 for it around 2018.
The base model XPS laptop was ~$999 at the time (vs $1299 for a 2023 model). Which sadly doesn't feel all that expensive today even though I would absolutely still call a $1000 laptop expensive.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Product names make no sense. Some web sites make a "product selection tool" where you answer a bunch of questions and it tries to direct you to models that will suit your needs. I was recently buying a Seasonic power supply. What is the difference between Prime, Vertex, Focus, or Core series? Then there is Prime TX, Prime PX, Prime GX. I have no idea what all this is. I ended up just picking something in the 800W ran…
> Product names make no sense. Why should they? Every company has different priorities, and it's on you as a consumer to get familiar with each company's product line before making a purchase. Would you prefer it if all products were named " "? So in your PSU example, "Seasonic PSU"? Of course not, you would like to have more detail than that. So how about "Seasonic PSU 800W modular"? OK, that's better, but what if o…
That's the thing though. I don't really want to have to know whether the Seasonic Prime PX is the same tier as the Corsair RM or the RMx or the RMe or the HX. None of those names gives me any indication of what the product actually is, and from a quick glance the letters don't seem to even directly stand for any particular feature.
Its one thing to have say a Seasonic 800M versus just the Seasonic 800 and know the "m" means its modular. What does it even mean for it to be PRIME TX versus a FOCUS GX or GM or then suddenly dropping the noun part and going straight to G12 and B12.
There are 8 different PRIME models with 25 SKUs in the PRIME model family looking at their site right now. And that's just one family of power supplies for one brand! There's another 11 Vertex SKUs, 33 FOCUS SKUs, 15 CORE SKUs. Why on earth would I care to get decoder rings for several different brands to cross shop?
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#75I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Nothing is less fun than cross-shopping products and there are a bunch of arbitrary brand differences. "Precisions are their portable workstations . Latitudes are their ultrabooks. Duh! XPS is their premium consumer laptop!". Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the smell of their own farts. But I don't think consumers care about particular sub-…
Product names make no sense. Some web sites make a "product selection tool" where you answer a bunch of questions and it tries to direct you to models that will suit your needs. I was recently buying a Seasonic power supply. What is the difference between Prime, Vertex, Focus, or Core series? Then there is Prime TX, Prime PX, Prime GX. I have no idea what all this is. I ended up just picking something in the 800W ran…
Seasonic's product lines are relatively simple to figure out. They haven't changed in years, except with the addition of the Vertex line. At the very least, they're easier to understand than other power supply manufacturers.
Product Lines: Core (Budget) 80Plus Efficiency: GX (Gold) This is true across all of their product lines.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#76I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Nothing is less fun than cross-shopping products and there are a bunch of arbitrary brand differences. "Precisions are their portable workstations . Latitudes are their ultrabooks. Duh! XPS is their premium consumer laptop!". Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the smell of their own farts. But I don't think consumers care about particular sub-…
Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the
smell of their own farts.
Pontiac, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Saturn
To a casual, who doesn't know or care that six of those brands are just GM nameplates, they just see seven options for a sedan. And if I'm GM, I certainly like the odds that they'll pick a GM even though I'm essentially just designing one or two sedans and then advertising them six different ways.
A simpler example (that somebody else mentioned down below) is toothpaste. There are like, ten different varieties of Colgate on the shelf. The point isn't that they expect me the consumer to know or care about the differences, or that they are so "addicted to the smell of their own farts" that they think there's a meaningful difference between brands of Colgate.
The point is that they want to consume shelf space, crowd other brands out, and send the message that they are the default, safe choice for toothpaste. We can say that's dumb, but I suspect the sales figures would tell us they're having some success with that.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Product names make no sense. Some web sites make a "product selection tool" where you answer a bunch of questions and it tries to direct you to models that will suit your needs. I was recently buying a Seasonic power supply. What is the difference between Prime, Vertex, Focus, or Core series? Then there is Prime TX, Prime PX, Prime GX. I have no idea what all this is. I ended up just picking something in the 800W ran…
I call it the Toothpaste Dilemma: When you go to buy toothpaste, like Colgate or most brands, you're bombarded with so many options. It gets worse when you read the labels—everything seems either identical or has massive overlaps. It's frustrating and unnecessarily complicated.
When you see this, particularly on supermarket shelves, this is a deliberate attempt to crowd out other brands.
You're focusing on the micro ("WTF is each one of these ridiculous micro variations?") and not on the macro (Colgate is absolutely dominating that aisle, and fully 75% of the toothpaste choices are Colgate while Crest and Aquafresh fight over the scraps)
It's frustrating and unnecessarily complicated.
Of course some people will rebel, and say "screw Colgate" and pick some other brand, and some people will just literally pick the cheapest option no matter what.
But again, if I'm Colgate or whatever their parent company? I absolutely love the way that toothpaste aisle looks. 75% of it is Colgate Red and I bet the sales figures hew pretty closely to that.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#78I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Nothing is less fun than cross-shopping products and there are a bunch of arbitrary brand differences. "Precisions are their portable workstations . Latitudes are their ultrabooks. Duh! XPS is their premium consumer laptop!". Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the smell of their own farts. But I don't think consumers care about particular sub-…
> I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Sure, but I find this branding even more confusing. "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" "Oh, neat! Is it a PC or laptop?" "It's a Dell Pro... laptop." "..." At least with XPS, Latitude, etc., consumers were able to easily distinguish between models, after getting familiar with the product line. Naming all products " [Pro,Pro Max]" will always be clear as mu…
> consumers were able to easily distinguish between models
I don't think I could ever remember which of the Inspiron or Latitude lines were supposed to be higher end without looking at the magazine and seeing the prices. I just kind of assumed "Precision" meant their high-end workstations. And I'm someone who fawned over computers and gadgets my whole life.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#79I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Nothing is less fun than cross-shopping products and there are a bunch of arbitrary brand differences. "Precisions are their portable workstations . Latitudes are their ultrabooks. Duh! XPS is their premium consumer laptop!". Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the smell of their own farts. But I don't think consumers care about particular sub-…
> I really appreciate when brands just name things like they are. Sure, but I find this branding even more confusing. "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" "Oh, neat! Is it a PC or laptop?" "It's a Dell Pro... laptop." "..." At least with XPS, Latitude, etc., consumers were able to easily distinguish between models, after getting familiar with the product line. Naming all products " [Pro,Pro Max]" will always be clear as mu…
Yeah you know it's bad when "Laptop" literally has to be in the proper name, e.g. "Microsoft Surface Laptop Go" because the "Microsoft Surface Go" is a tablet computer line before the successful branding got applied to regular laptops.
The worst I saw was single-use coffee packets for the hotel room coffee machine that comes in regular and decaf (with brown or green color stripes to distinguish them)... except the green is regular and brown is decaf.
Re: Dell will no longer make XPS computers
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you find this branding more confusing, then you are probably not familiar with laptop shopping in this segment. Here are all of the 2024 models available: Latitude 9450, Latitude 7350, Latitude 7350 Ultralight, Latitude 7350 Detachable, Latitude 7455, Latitude 7450, Latitude 7450 Ultralight, Latitude 7650, Latitude 5550, Latitude 5455, Latitude 5450, Latitude 5350, Latitude 3450, Latitude 3550. You have to memoriz…
I'm not a Dell customer, so I'm not familiar with their product lines, but from what you say "Dell Latitude 5450" is indeed clearer to me than "2024 Dell Pro 14" Plus". I can get familiar with the number scheme and infer that higher numbers indicate better performance, larger screen, etc. "Pro" and "Plus" will always be meaningless and arbitrary.
> infer that higher numbers indicate better performance
But bigger numbers don't always indicate better performance. A Dell Latitude 6420 (a Sandy Bridge) is much slower than a 5420. Same with a 7320 versus a 5440.