The Dell XPS 17 was designed for creators that need powerful laptop performance.
The XPS 17 is a feat of innovation that is incomparable to other 17-inch laptops in the market. For the past few years, Apple has been dictating the trajectory of laptop designs.
The company has been upsizing and downsizing their laptop specs, while others just followed suit. In 2012, Apple decided the scratch the Macbook Pro 17-inch and has since replaced it with the Macbook Pro 16-inch.
Not many laptop manufacturers make the 17-inch model anymore, but it is a niche-market that Dell sees as a potentially big market to tap.
17-inch laptop in a 15-inch body
Creators around the world find that the available laptops in the market as insufficient for their needs. Also, the laptops available in the market are all bulky and don’t necessarily fit as the portable type.
Dell wanted to shake up this connotation when they made the XPS 17. In fact, they were able to build a machine with a 17-inch screen on a 15-inch body. Dell was able to translate the design language of the XPS 13 and the XPS 15 for the XPS 17 form factor.
Next frontier for the Dell XPS lineup
According to Donnie Oliphant, Marketing Director for the XPS, Dell was forced to think outside for the XPS 17. They are already using Intel’s most powerful 10th Gen Core i9 chipsets for the XPS 13 and XPS 15. There seemed to be nothing next available for innovation so the design team took things in their own hands.
They envisioned a laptop with a powerful processor and an Nvidia RTX 2060 powerful graphics card catered specifically to the creators of the world.
The process to achieve the design was not easy because they had to balance the thermal control on the laptop without it overheating. The design team wanted to avoid the throttling problems of the Macbook Pro 15-inch. Luckily, they were able to come up with a thermal cooling design that pleased them.
XPS 17 has its eyes set on the Macbook Pro 16-inch market
There is no clear and direct competitor for the XPS 17, but it will definitely eat up the market of the Macbook Pro 16-inch. Oliphant even thinks that the XPS 17 might carve up a portion of the XPS 15 market. Nevertheless, Dell has no future plans of scrapping the XPS 15 for the XPS 17.
According to Oliphant, the team just stumbled upon the ideal positioning strategy for the XPS 17. He said that during the planning of the device, they didn’t know that Apple’s next big laptop was 16-inch.
The team just happened to realize that they had a perfect sandwich strategy. For users that want a lighter and smaller laptop, they can go for the XPS 15. Should they want a significantly more powerful laptop they can go with the XPS 17, and overlook the Macbook Pro 16-inch completely.
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