Nothing is less fun than cross-shopping products and there are a bunch of arbitrary brand differences. "Precisions are their portable workstations. Latitudes are their ultrabooks. Duh! XPS is their premium consumer laptop!".
Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the smell of their own farts. But I don't think consumers care about particular sub-brand names. We already saw this a decade ago in the automotive space where manufacturers ditched their unnecessary marquees (Pontiac, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Saturn). And I think we will see this trend continue into more industries (like hotel chains).
I was recently buying a Seasonic power supply. What is the difference between Prime, Vertex, Focus, or Core series? Then there is Prime TX, Prime PX, Prime GX. I have no idea what all this is. I ended up just picking something in the 800W range with the modular power outputs that I needed.
Product Lines: Core (Budget) < Focus (Mid) < Vertex (Mid-High) < Prime (High), in terms of quality and features.
80Plus Efficiency: GX (Gold) < PX (Platinum) < TX (Titanium)
This is true across all of their product lines.
Why should they? Every company has different priorities, and it's on you as a consumer to get familiar with each company's product line before making a purchase.
Would you prefer it if all products were named "<company name> <thing>"? So in your PSU example, "Seasonic PSU"? Of course not, you would like to have more detail than that. So how about "Seasonic PSU 800W modular"? OK, that's better, but what if other consumers are interested in different product criteria? Should we just cram them all in the product name like sellers on Amazon do? That wouldn't be right either. So the best approach then is to segment your product line according to some criteria, and give different segments arbitrary names. This way customers can know what to expect, and which segment to focus on. It's important to keep this consistent, otherwise it leads to confusion, but in general it works fine IMO. I would rather have to choose between Seasonic Prime TX, Prime PX, etc., than Seasonic Pro, Pro Max, etc.
Customers prefer segmentation by end result rather than by implementation details, and so corporate marketing divisions sometimes try that and group products by features it offers, but that often drive-by ruins product quality.
Bosch WGG244ZANL
Which btw is a Series 6 machine (note the missing 6 in the type name)!
Marketing departments tend to get addicted to the
smell of their own farts.
Pontiac, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Saturn
To a casual, who doesn't know or care that six of those brands are just GM nameplates, they just see seven options for a sedan. And if I'm GM, I certainly like the odds that they'll pick a GM even though I'm essentially just designing one or two sedans and then advertising them six different ways.
A simpler example (that somebody else mentioned down below) is toothpaste. There are like, ten different varieties of Colgate on the shelf. The point isn't that they expect me the consumer to know or care about the differences, or that they are so "addicted to the smell of their own farts" that they think there's a meaningful difference between brands of Colgate.
The point is that they want to consume shelf space, crowd other brands out, and send the message that they are the default, safe choice for toothpaste. We can say that's dumb, but I suspect the sales figures would tell us they're having some success with that.
Sure, but I find this branding even more confusing.
"Dude, you're getting a Dell!"
"Oh, neat! Is it a PC or laptop?"
"It's a Dell Pro... laptop."
"..."
At least with XPS, Latitude, etc., consumers were able to easily distinguish between models, after getting familiar with the product line. Naming all products "<company name> [Pro,Pro Max]" will always be clear as mud. Not to mention that "Pro Max Premium Plus Ultra" is dumb, in that Apple way. Apple is notorious for naming all their products the same, so consumers have to use launch years to distinguish them.
Here are all of the 2024 models available: Latitude 9450, Latitude 7350, Latitude 7350 Ultralight, Latitude 7350 Detachable, Latitude 7455, Latitude 7450, Latitude 7450 Ultralight, Latitude 7650, Latitude 5550, Latitude 5455, Latitude 5450, Latitude 5350, Latitude 3450, Latitude 3550.
You have to memorize what you are looking at - the first digit is the model line, the second digit is a reference to the screen size, and the last set of digits a reference to the model year.
So "Dell Latitude 5450" conveys all the same information as "2024 Dell Pro 14" Plus". I'm not sure what's controversial about that change.
I don't think I could ever remember which of the Inspiron or Latitude lines were supposed to be higher end without looking at the magazine and seeing the prices. I just kind of assumed "Precision" meant their high-end workstations. And I'm someone who fawned over computers and gadgets my whole life.
The worst I saw was single-use coffee packets for the hotel room coffee machine that comes in regular and decaf (with brown or green color stripes to distinguish them)... except the green is regular and brown is decaf.
Having loads of random product numbers is really no better than named ranges.
If you only have 3 product lines then people will learn the names and can understand the differences when shopping.
I wouldn't have thought that such a recognizable brand as the XPS line would fade for "AI PC" BS but heh
This is probably good evidence that they needed to simplify their branding. Having their halo consumer product compete for market mindshare against their professional products is counterproductive. Especially when everyone wants to cross shop against MacBooks.
In contrast, ThinkPad's X1 shares almost nothing with the rest of the Thinkpad's professional line, but it sits there adding prestige to the brand.
Even got a lucky BSOD 2 years ago that nuked windows and somehow got me admin access!
I switched to a new M1 MacBook Air and it was like going from a Cessna 150 to an F-15. Everything on the M1 MBA was decades ahead of the XPS.
Everyone and their brother now sells a much better product than XPS, and often for nearly half the cash. I picked up an Asus Vivo last year. Very nice product, half the cost of the XPS they had on offer, but with the same specs and screen.
It feels like it was engineered as a unit, much like the MBA. The XPS in comparison is a parts bin special.
I dont think XPS is a business / professional line? But I think I have heard similar complains from Thinkpad user as well. The only good PC hardware surprisingly came from Microsoft their Surface line. But most business dont use it.
As for AI PC - unfortunately Microsoft has forced this on everyone. They used their influence and power to force Intel to agree to this branding and the conditions for it to be met (things like having a Microsoft specific “Copilot” button). And all the OEMs have to come along or face repercussions for these partnerships. It’s just another example of big tech having too much market share, capital, etc.
OEMs have had 30 years to sell Windows alternatives based on GNU/Linux or BSD, after the monopoly lawsuit, they caved in quickly after XP license became grátis, and nowadays rather sell Chromebooks and Android tablets than proper Windows alternatives.
Should I get the "Dell Pro Max ", the "Dell Pro Max Plus", "Dell Pro Plus", or the "Dell Premium"?
I understand cleaning up the model lineup, but jeez.
1980 Koga Miyata Pro https://www.speedbicycles.ch/velo/193/koga_miyata_pro_racer_...
1978 Centurion Pro Tour https://vintagecenturion.com/models/touring/protour.shtml
1969 Brooks Professional Saddle https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/standard-professional.ht...
As for "rip-offs," the design language of every aluminum Macbook has basically been Leica rangefinder.
https://www.rustmag.com/gear/2020/12/16/4-reasons-to-buy-a-l...
Which is a double "rip-off," as the IBM Thinkpad goes back a lot farther and it was intentionally made black-with-red-accents to pay homage to Nikon while having the form factor of a bento box.
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/m...
I thought you were joking, but these do seem to be options in the new, simpler branding!
Personally, I'm OK with these computer manufacturers cleaning up their product line.
I still have it. It was a good machine.
Most things worked correctly out of the box but occasionally WIFI didn't wake from sleep properly and the battery life was always a bit rubbish compared to any MacBook Pro.
I think that Dell have had too many models forever. Simplifying their line up is a good idea.
Their consumer laptops are all garbage IMO, mainly cause I find they try to max out specs so it looks good on paper and skimp on really basic things like the hinges, batteries, etc.
Their professional laptops are much better, my parents just got rid of a Dell Latitude that I passed down to them after college, and when I bought it for college it was already 5-6 years old so all in all it had a service life of more than a decade. Specs might be down compared to the consumer line but everything else IMO is much better built (chassis, battery, hinges, etc)
The base model XPS laptop was ~$999 at the time (vs $1299 for a 2023 model). Which sadly doesn't feel all that expensive today even though I would absolutely still call a $1000 laptop expensive.
Shopping for a laptop recently has left me, ironically, running for Mac. The experience on most windows laptop vendor sites is awful:
- Dell's sales page focuses on proprietary names like "ExpressCharge TM", "Stealth Mode", "ComfortView TM", "Cryo-Tech TM", etc, that mean nothing to me [0]. It also gave me a pop-up when I went to a specific laptop's page.
- HP has way too many categories on the landing page [1]. I mistook "Elitebook Ultra" for their top-of-the-line, but then discovered they're $3000 lightweight notebooks with Snapdragon chips and Qualcomm GPUs. The first and second laptops shown appear to have identical specs, but differ in price by $2000 [2]. Trying my luck elsewhere, going to "ProBook" gives me no less than 53 options to read and sort through [3].
- Lenovo is actually decent [4]! The product lines are named well and properly explained. The UI isn't as pretty as HP's, but it's a lot more functional.
- Asus overall [5] isn't great (more proprietary names like "SmartHinge" and aesthetic-focused product descriptions). However, the Asus ProArt site is done fairly well [6].
Almost every windows laptop feels like it's trying to sell me on everything that isn't specs. "SmartHinge". "Stealth Mode". "Youthful" aesthetics. Weird proprietary bloatware and extended warranties.
And, even on the sites that don't give me confusing marketing, I'm left to figure out whether I need Windows "Pro" or "Home", what the hell Copilot+ is (a $20/mo upsell [7] that I'm guessing the laptop will forever beg me to add, like OneDrive used to), and if I a guide to get rid of spyware, bloatware, ads, auto-installed candycrush, and other anti-consumer jabs once I actually buy the thing (like I did with Windows 10 when it first released). And then fight every month or two when it inexplicably can't find the license for Office I pay monthly, for and locks me out of all of my documents.
With a Macbook, contrarily, I know I can actually research the silicon, figure out the specs, and actually get what I ordered / expected. I also know I won't have to fight the OS nearly as much, even if Apple has its own upsell attempts, anti-consumer warranty/repair problems, etc. I never would've expected to feel that way. Especially not 10-15 years ago.
But maybe Dell's rebrand helps them move back in that direction a little.
[0]: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/scr/laptops
[1]: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/cat/laptops
[2]: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/mdp/hp-elitebook-ultra-3074457...
[3]: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/vwa/laptops/brand=ProBook
[4]: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/
[6]: https://www.asus.com/us/proart/laptops-home/
[7]: https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/what-is-microsoft-copilot
If all you want is a thinkpad maybe. But then you click the thinkpad link and have to figure out whether you want a T, P, L, E, C or X thinkpad (they don't make Ws anymore, right?) Oh and some also have "s" suffix. And they differ from non-s quite a bit
For a time Microsoft had a relatively clean Surface lineup, but a quick check reveals that it's significantly more difficult to shop than it was.
I am a Lenovo guy myself, however I like what they are trying to do. If they actually do a good separation, that would be great. If they only do 9 level of computers, that would be a good change.
Kinda ThinkPad T, X, P. But more clear. And again, I only use ThinkPads T, P, or Xs.
Hell yeah, Lenovo ThinkPad for life.
It's all just smushing a bunch of words for "really good" together and pretending like it means something different or unique. If something is maximum, it is the maximum - A maximum grade exceeds a "professional grade" the way an "enterprise subscription" is larger than "team subscription".
In an ideal scenario, it would simply be: "Basic, Advanced, and Maximum". I get the issue though. Sales want to be able to move products, and its an issue if people don't want to feel poor by buying the "basic" one, but can't afford the higher models. Fine! If the want to use more market-y terms, why not something like: "Quality, Premium, and Luxury"?
I would also presume that that would be specific to consumer grade. A business-grade line would be much easier. Keep the model names clear and obvious for Purchasing & Logistics people: "Basic, Performance, Executive". Basic is for grunt work who need internet access for a WebApp, but not much else. Performance is for finance, or whoever deals with a lot of wear and tear. Executive is thinner and fancier looking, but about as weak as basic model but can open Excel and PowerPoint.
Pretty neat trick. The only thing is that something about the way the video framebuffer was set up when you hit the MediaDirect button made the GRUB interface laggy. After that, the kernel resets everything and all is well!
This particular laptop was part of the infamous batch of bad G84 series of Nvidia graphics chips. The BGA soldering on the GPUs would crack under thermal stress, but you could reflow it with a heat gun or using the oven (crazy for a semi-plastic device!). In my case, it happened early enough that XPS support replaced my motherboard a few times. They actually met me wherever I was with the part to replace the board and the tech would do it for me at home. Overall, that was the finest customer support experience I ever had. I'm a fickle guy, though. It wasn't enough to keep me with the brand and I eventually ended up with a Macbook.
It's funny. After posting this I googled my name and XPS M1330 and found a post where I was trying to boot off the SD card. I was fascinated by this idea back then that I could just carry my OS on an SD card and then people couldn't see any of my stuff unless they had that specific SD card: https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/laptops-gene... . Sadly the XPS M1330 didn't work for that, but I think I did it with a USB stick (which is unfortunately more noticeable - back then they were bulky!).
0: https://web.archive.org/web/20150811070526/https://arjie.com...
1: https://web.archive.org/web/20150811065240/https://arjie.com...