Dell’s New XPS Notebook: Cheap Luxury?

By Geoff Duncan Published October 26, 2005

Dell — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Famously cost-cutting computer maker Dell has introduced a slim new notebook, the XPS M140, weighing 5.5 pounds and featuring a 14.1-inch widescreen display. That’s not surprising: what’s weird is that the company has decided to cut costs on its just-introduced XPS line of “luxury” computers, rolling out the M140 at $999. Can a computer be a luxury item and still carry a low price tag?

The XPS M140 offers a 14.1-inch LCD display with a widescreen 1280 by 800 resolution, running either Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Media Center Edition on an Intel Pentium M processor running at 2.13 GHz. The systems ship with a minimum of 512 MB of RAM (up to 128 MB of which may be shared for graphics) upgradeable to 2 GB, one fixed bay for a CD burner, CD/DVD combo drive, or CD/DVD burner with double-layer writing capability, 4 USB 2.0 ports, audio and microphone inputs, VGA and S-Video output, 100Base-T Ethernet, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and a built-in 56K modem. The XPS M140 also offers an Express Card slot, 40, 60, or 80 GB hard drive capacities, and an optional external USB floppy drive or USB memory key ranging from 128 to 512 MB.

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The XPS M140 also features a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a MediaDirect button lets users manage flash cards and USB storage keys from the MediaDirect menu without waiting for the operating system to wake (or boot).

Of course, the XPS M140 also comes with Dell’s premium XPS support: a year of premium XPS rapid-response and warranty support (XPS customers have their own dedicated support staff

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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