Dell Rolls Out Value Notebooks

By Geoff Duncan Published November 6, 2006

Dell Rolls Out Value Notebooks — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Computer maker Dell has rolled out two new just-the-basics notebook models designed to appeal to home and small business buyers who need new systems for everyday productivity and entertainment, but aren’t interested in shelling out the big bucks for the latest and greatest in portable computing performance.

"Dell’s vision for mobile computing and breadth of offering is leading the industry," said Alex Gruzen, senior VP of Dell’s Product Group, in a statement. "As much as we deliver product innovation with our award winning XPS systems, we’re also committed to helping consumers and small-business customers get more out of their technology investment to meet their everyday entertainment and productivity needs."

Recommended Videos

First out the door is the Inspiron 1501, which sports a 15.4-inch, 1,280 by 800 pixel, LCD display driven by an ATI Xpress 1150 graphics controller with 256 MB of video memory and a choice of AMD Sempron or Turion 64 X2 CPUs. Also on board: integrated Wi-Fi, 4 USB 2.0 ports, a 3-in-1 media card reader, 512 MB of RAM (upgradable to 2 GB), a 60 GB hard drive (upgradable to 120 GB), plus VGA output, mic input, headphone jack, and built-in Ethernet and modem. Customers can choose from a CD/DVD combo drive or a dual-layer DVD writer; prices start at just $549 with an AMD Sempron; $649 for a Turion-powered model. The Inspiron 1501 will be available in silver and white, be available with Windows XP Home, Professional, or Media Center edition, and carry that coveted "Vista Capable" sticker.

Slightly higher up the scale and aimed at business customers, Dell’s Latitude 131L will be available via Dell’s Web site tomorrow. Full specs haven’t been published yet, but the system will also offer AMD Sempron and Turion 64 X2 CPUs, 15.4-inch widescreen LCD displays, integrated graphics, a Vista-capable sticker, and up to three years of Dell’s Next Business Day Onsite Service. Prices will begin at $629 for a Sempron-powered system, and $899 for a Turion-driven notebook.

Former Contributor

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

Topics

QuickCharge: This Week in EV

Computing

Microsoft has begun rolling out Copilot Code for building apps with natural language

The workplace-focused vibe coding tool can pull context from emails, documents, meetings, and chats.

Microsoft introduced Code last month as one of the three core parts of its revamped Copilot app. The app was pitched as an easy-to-use coding agent that lets users describe what they want to build in natural language, like an app, a tracker, a dashboard, an automation, or a workflow, and Copilot would build it for them.

Essentially, it's a workplace-focused vibe-coding app that turns existing work into a functional app, and Microsoft has begun rolling it out through the Frontier program.

Computing

AI agents are acting like rogues and causing a huge headache for US banks

US banks block AI agents over fears they could make unauthorised financial moves

Banking

US banks are facing a new kind of digital headache: artificial intelligence agents attempting to access customer accounts and perform actions that may go beyond what users intended. As AI tools become more capable of navigating websites and carrying out tasks independently, financial institutions are scrambling to prevent them from crossing security boundaries.

According to a report published by Axios on October 22, major US banks have detected third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts without authorisation. Some agents reportedly appeared to attempt actions independently of user instructions. The banks involved have not publicly detailed every incident, and there is no evidence that the reported activity resulted in widespread theft of customer funds.

Computing

Canva enters the AI image generation race with Craft, and it’s thinking beyond pretty pictures

The new model plans layouts before generating images, with precise editing and support for 30 aspect ratios.

Canva Craft Featured Image

AI can generate all kinds of pretty pictures, but getting it to spell a headline correctly or keep a poster's layout intact can be another story. Canva wants to fix that with Canva Craft, its first in-house image generation model. Rather than focusing primarily on photographs, Craft is designed around the posters, presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content people actually create. The goal is simple: spend less time fixing AI's mistakes and more time making something useful.

Canva Craft plans before it generates