Laptop Thoughts: Dell XPS 14 Gone After Four Months - We Hardly Knew Ye

"Sure, it was only about four months ago that Dell released its XPS 14, but unfortunately, those looking to snatch up the Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce 400M-powered laptop today will have a mighty hard time. Some keen-eyed tipsters noticed that Dell's 14-inch mainstream system was out of stock, and a quick call to one of our friends at Dell confirmed that the smallest version of the series won't actually be making a comeback. However, that's not because the system didn't sell well -- Dell maintains that it actually exceeded sales expectations."

Despite being around only four months, and selling fairly well, Dell has apparently killed-off this model while re-tooling for Intel Sandy Bridge technology, and "thin and light" products - to be ready later this year. Thinner and lighter is always good, especially if accompanied by "cheaper" or "same price," more power, and better battery life. Early Sandy Bridge benchmarks give a thumbs-up for power and battery life, with end-user cost yet to be determined.