Dell dumps its PC brands to be more like Apple

While simplicity seems to have been the ultimate goal, like many PC makers, Dell couldn’t help but muddy things up a bit. Within each new PC line are sub-tiers: Base, Plus and Premium. The XPS lineup will now live under the “Dell Premium” moniker, while other customers will have to figure out the difference between a “Dell Pro Plus” and “Dell Pro Premium” system.

Things get even more bonkers for Dell Pro Max systems, where you can also choose between Plus and Premium options. Doesn’t Pro Max already mean the best? The naming logic breaks down entirely for desktops. Just try to read the names Dell Pro Max Micro and Dell Pro Max Mini without having your brain self destruct.

Oddly, Dell doesn’t have any truly groundbreaking new hardware to celebrate its new naming scheme. The Dell Pro Premium 13 and 14 laptops look pretty sleek for business machines, but they still remind me more of Apple hardware than anything distinctly Dell. (It’s hard not to associate the curved opening notch with anything but a MacBook Pro.)

At 2.36 pounds, the Dell Pro Premium 13 is definitely one of the lightest commercial systems I’ve ever seen, so that’s a slight win. The company claims it gets 21.2 hours of battery life and offers 82 percent faster graphics rendering than Dell’s last premium enterprise-focused system. The larger Pro Premium 14 will also be the first commercial notebook with a tandem OLED screen, which is more power efficient and brighter than a typical OLED.

On the consumer side, the Dell 14 and 16 Plus (along with their 2-in-1 versions) look like typical mainstream Dell laptops. The Dell Premium systems, formerly XPS, look completely unchanged from last year. (I’ve heard that we likely won’t see any big changes for that lineup until next year.)

As I wandered around Dell’s rebranding event, I got the sense that many Dell employees weren’t exactly thrilled with the new strategy. They typically described being a bit shocked about the news at first, especially those who devoted their lives to their specific Dell PC brand for years. Many eventually came around to the argument that simplicity will ultimately make life easier for consumers. Nobody, except for marketing leads, seemed genuinely excited about Dell’s bold new journey. (I’m keeping the Dell workers anonymous to avoid any potential repercussions, especially since I noticed PR workers hovering nearby as I grilled their colleagues.)

Dell doesn’t have the sort of brand loyalty that Apple does, so I doubt many regular consumers will miss the company’s old PC brands. But this is surely a sad day for XPS fans, a brand that started out with Dell’s premium desktops in the ’90s.

The Dell Pro 13 and 14 Premium will be available today (we still don’t have pricing details, unfortunately), while the Dell 14 and 16 Plus arrive on February 18 starting at $999. The Dell Pro Max 14 and 16 are set to arrive in March, and we’re still waiting on pricing information.