E3 2006: Hands on with Nintendo's Wii and new Dell Designs
by Haider Farhan on May 11, 2006 9:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Dell Reveals New Designs
We were called in on Tuesday, a day before E3 began, to come in for a sneak preview of Dell's latest design ideas which are going to be added to the XPS lineup. Dell provided us with no availability date or specifications of these new XPS systems, the best we were able to get from Dell was "soon."
Dell's new XPS tower is a significant departure from more conservative designs of the past. The case designers constructed the case around optimal air flow: cool air in from the front, it then crosses straight over the CPU/heatsink then out the back. The analogy we got from Dell was, "just like a jet engine."
The case is entirely constructed out of 2.5mm aluminum. The finish is bare to give it more of an aggressive appearance.
Dell has also placed a light in the back which shines downward to illuminate the cables and connectors, making it easy to see what you're doing. There is also a light on the top front which illuminates the front of the case and allows you to see what is inside your CD try when open. This front light will change colors, although we are not sure if the rear light does as well. The front panels will be available in your choice of black or red.
The case was canted forward to give it an aggressive stance with styling cues taken from many objects, such as classic muscle cars. Not only is the case canted forward for appearance, but function as well. According to Dell, by having the case canted even if you have the case put up against a wall you will still be able to reach behind and connect whatever it is you are trying to without having to pull the case forward.
Rather than having the side panels slide towards the back of the case, like most traditional cases, Dell has designed the case panels to swing down, from top to bottom. Dell also states that this case is made for easy upgrading if one desires to do so at a later date, which is a definite plus.
Currently, for all of Dells gaming platforms, at the Dell site, they have opt out solutions for software that is usually included when the computer is shipped. Buyers also have the option of a clean install, which is something we see most serious computer users do so after they have purchased a pre-built system. This takes the hassle of reinstalling Windows out of the buyers' hands.
While this desktop will be shipped with plain aluminum side panels, Dell has gone ahead and created a special edition, called the XPS X-Men: The Last Stand Collector's Edition. Beginning May 10th, 2006 through June 18th, 2006, consumers can enter to win this one-of--kind desktop which is valued at about $10,000.
Not only will Dell be releasing an updated XPS desktop model, but they also have a mobile XPS concept they are looking at producing. These mobile systems are called the Mobile Renegade M1710. These notebooks will be sporting custom paint jobs in which we had the opportunity to view four different styles.
As we mentioned before, Dell didn't release any specs, pricing or availability information to us.
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ninjit - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
I knew some dumbass would bring that up as soon as I hit post.If someone's walking past you to hit up the fridge while you're in the middle of a game, they'll normally try and duck (if they have any sense) so that you can still see over them and play on. But with an infra-red controller you would have to raise your hands up too, or the line-of-sight between your hands and the system would be severed.
And that was just one example, there are so many different ways in which the signal could be blocked: you could have a book or a bowl of chips on the coffee table in front of you, which you'd have to point around... I could go on and on...
If you had actually "thought about it" yourself, you would have realized what I was talking about.
But, from the above two replies it appears commmunication is still done by RF. In which case I'd like to know more about what the infra-red bar is for.
Sea Shadow - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
My guess is that it is only partially based on IR, it would be crazy for nintendo to drop the RF method after all the work with the wavebird. Perhaps there is something more to it. Heck maybe the console uses the IR link to establish an RF connection with the controllers, after all things might get crazy if you just power on 3 or 4 consoles in the same room and expect the various controllers to communicate with the proper consoles. But that is just a guess though.ColdFusion101 - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
Actually the IR is only part of the Wiimote's motion sensing combined with an accelerometer. The controller talks to the Wii through BLuetooth.yonzie - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
On the front page it says "We spent some quality time with Nintendo's Wii"...Well?
Is it any good then?
(all you got is one paragraph :'-( )
oh, and:
"[...] the Classic style controller is designed to be used for NES, SNES and N64 games."
The Wiimote seems perfectly capable of playing NES games (unless of course it's completely IR based), so that should probably have read "[...] to be used for SNES and N64 games."
NegativeEntropy - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
Seconded! If they had final games, tell us about the graphics as that seems to be the only thing about the Wii people are concerned about.solgae1784 - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
......is quite similar to Apple G5 desktop.yonzie - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
... except hideously ugly.johnsonx - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
Can anyone say how I'm supposed to say "Wii"?Same as the english word "Why"?
Same as the english word "We"?
something else?
artifex - Friday, May 12, 2006 - link
like, omg wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!:)
mjh - Thursday, May 11, 2006 - link
The Nintendo Wii is pronounced as "We."