Get ready to see more lifestyle focus from Dell

By Emily Chung

Personal computers are here to stay. This is what DELL firmly believes and they’ve been proactive in making sure their products are relevant to their users. According to Justin Lyles, VP Consumer Design, DELL looks at “... areas we can bring innovation and a different point of view on how we can make it better for the customer.”

Their strategy is to focus innovation to bring meaningful features to their products. Case in point – the infamous webcam being placed at the bottom of the screen in the previous generation XPS. Lyles concedes that it’s not the best placement for a webcam particularly as it shows users in an unflattering angle.

However, he explains that at the time their focus was on the XPS’ InfinityEdge display and creating a narrow border. That was a priority over the camera and DELL knew once it achieved the narrow border they could move on to developing a webcam with a smaller footprint. In the newest XPS 13, they created the smallest camera in a laptop (2.25mm) and placed it once again at the top.

DELL presents the XPS as an extension of the user’s identity. As Lyles points out, given the XPS 13’s size the user is likely going to take it and use it wherever they go (e.g. coffeeshop, airport gate, etc).

It’s meant to be portable and the battery has up to 21 hours of life on a charge. With the understanding of what the consumer will be using the product for, DELL designs around the need. The XPS 13 is available in three colours (frost and rose gold are added to the traditional black).

As a nod to the number of hours the consumer will be spending hands-on with the product, DELL has sharpened up its materials including the use of a brightened arctic white woven glass fiber palm rest (that’s a mouthful).

After DELL’s successful launch at CES earlier this year, we’re looking forward to seeing what they have in store at Computex in a few weeks.