Dell begins selling Vista PCs; systems to fall short?
updated 04:45 pm EST, Fri January 26, 2007
Dell Sells Vista PCs
Hoping to capture early adopters looking to try Microsoft's upcoming OS, Dell today announced that it would begin selling Vista-based systems as of this weekend, days ahead of the new Windows version's launch. The system builder said today that all of its desktop and notebook systems, while remaining the same as for their recent updates, would support running a minimum of Vista Home Basic. Most of the company's higher-end systems (such as the pictured XPS M1210) would also run Vista Home Premium or better versions without any changes, the company said.
Crucially, however, the company warned that much of its product line would require upgrades to use the media-centric version of its OS. The majority of Dimension, Inspiron, and Latitude computers all require upgrades to 1GB of memory and in some cases need a graphics card, Dell said. The computer company also suggested that ideal systems would require 2GB or more of memory as well as a 256MB dedicated video chipset and a dual-core processor.
While not unusual for computer makers in advance of the Vista launch, the Dell lineup reflects recent concerns by executives and professionals over rising prices for Windows systems as the disparity between levels of OS featues and hardware widens.
