Dell XPS 15z Notebook Unveil Tomorrow To Fight MacBook Air

Dell has been teasing its MacBook Air competitor called the XPS 15z for a while now. The 15z is the latest machine from Dell to try to fight the MacBook Air for dominance in the market for folks looking for thin and portable machines with more than a modicum of good looks on the side. Dell has tried to fight the Air before with the Adamo line of thin notebooks and failed. What will be different this time remains to be seen.

The WSJ reports that all the teasing is over and the official unveil will be made on that machine tomorrow. The 15z is expected to sell for $999. We know a bit about the machine already like it will have a chiclet keyboard and perforated speaker grills. It will also have a 15.6-inch screen and a choice of Sandy Bridge Core i5 or i7 parts from Intel. The notebook will also have an optical drive, which isn't something that we generally see in ultra-thin notebooks.

The WSJ also talks about Dell's tablet ambitions and its consumer focus as a whole. Dell has stepped away from targeting the general consumer and is looking at the prosumer that uses their devices at home and in the office. Dell's consumer sales fell 7% from the previous year in fiscal Q1. Michael Dell also noted that he was surprised by the tablet movement saying, "I didn't completely see that coming." Dell also noted that sales of his own Streak tablet have been "immaterial."

[via WSJ]