Dell challenges the Eee with... the E?!?!

The sleek, whore-red Dell subnotebook Gizmodo spotted Michael Dell wandering around with at All Things D has been officially announced and named, and it's called the Dell E. I love it. It says everything about Dell: they put together pretty good computers for not a lot of money, but they're so creatively bankrupt that they don't even blink at stealing the product name of their biggest competitor. I mean, you'd at least expect a moist sound of embarrassment to gurgle out of Dell's PR orifice, but nothing! Oh, Dell, you shameless hussy!

That said, I still really like the looks of these. There will be four models of Es. The standard E is their 8.9-inch contender, while as the E Slim is a 12.1-inch MacBook Air challenger, only 0.8-inches thick. Then there's the E Video and E Video+, which offer more RAM, flash storage, webcams and bluetooth in the 8.9-inch chassis. The operating system will be Windows XP, apparently, but with an instant-on Linux-on-a-chip solution for rapidly booting up and checking your email or doing some browsing. And I'm still guessing that Ubuntu's Netbook Remix OS will at least be an option on these, given Canonical's past history with Dell.

The Dell E will be released in August in a variety of colors, starting at $299.

Dell and E Slim revealed [Engadget]

[#1 posted by Rob Beschizza , June 13, 2008 5:48 AM]

Pathetic. Creative bankruptcy, institutionalized. Marketing at Dell must be on 24/7 suicide watch.

[#2 posted by Rajio , June 13, 2008 6:30 AM]

eee:e :: 3:1 therefore the asus Eee PC > Dell E PC. Its at least 2 e's better. Dell just cant compete with that many e's!

[#3 posted by strider_mt2k , June 13, 2008 6:35 AM]

I'd try the small one.

It is a good price point.

[#4 posted by BCJ , June 13, 2008 6:49 AM]

#2 RAJIO
eee:e :: 3:1 therefore the asus Eee PC > Dell E PC

Considering the fact that the new eee PCs are selling for $600-700, it almost works out perfectly.

[#5 posted by Enochrewt , June 13, 2008 7:44 AM]

I could care less about the name. I mean, who doesn't give their computer a name anyway? I don't call my Dell laptop "E1505". His name is Dunkel.

[#6 posted by Rajio , June 13, 2008 8:44 AM]

@ #4 BCJ

lol yes exactly. the economy of proportional vowel to price relationships is preserved.

[#7 posted by blackbrrrd , June 13, 2008 9:01 AM]

hahahaha.... John, I absolutely LOVE your writing!!!

"..moist sound of embarrassment.." = classic!

[#8 posted by stratosfyr , June 13, 2008 9:02 AM]

I propose we pronounce it "Deli," and make meat jokes.

[#9 posted by w000t , June 13, 2008 1:10 PM]

I've worked/met serially with Dell marketing and management in Austin several years ago. To say that the group I met was "creatively bankrupt" would be unfair to the notion of bankruptcy, as the term bankrupt implies that one was once solvent.

[#10 posted by foobar , June 13, 2008 3:32 PM]

Who cares that they're copying Asus? The more the merrier.

[#11 posted by Anonymous , June 13, 2008 9:45 PM]

At least Dell understood why this form factor took off in the first place. Asus has already blown it with their $600+ pricing for the new models.

[#12 posted by Chevan , June 14, 2008 8:38 AM]

I couldn't care less about stealing the name, not with that price.

I am very tempted.