Dell has added a low cost XPS branded notebook to its product line, the XPS M140, to complement the XPS M170 introduced in September. This "budget" minded laptop has a 14.1" widescreen display and weighs in at 5.5 pounds. Starting at $999, it is a far cry from the high-end, desktop replacement M170, which starts at $2699.
Stock configuration for the new laptop includes a Pentium M 740 operating at 1.73GHz, 512MB DDR2 RAM, 40GB hard disk, Intel integrated graphics, a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, 5-in-1 card reader, and integrated 802.11g wireless. By comparison, the M170 offers a 17" widescreen display and high end graphics such as NVIDIA's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra and 7800 GTX.
The XPS M140 is available for order now and will begin shipping in November.
News source: PC World
Stock configuration for the new laptop includes a Pentium M 740 operating at 1.73GHz, 512MB DDR2 RAM, 40GB hard disk, Intel integrated graphics, a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, 5-in-1 card reader, and integrated 802.11g wireless. By comparison, the M170 offers a 17" widescreen display and high end graphics such as NVIDIA's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra and 7800 GTX.
The XPS M140 is available for order now and will begin shipping in November.
“Today’s systems require IT professionals and developers to possess more specialized skills,” said Lutz Ziob, general manager for Microsoft Learning. “These new certifications are key to helping customers and partners continuously build the skills they need to successfully adopt and deploy Microsoft technologies.”
The new three-tiered program offers a rigorous, flexible curriculum to enhance technical knowledge and skills; a certification framework that helps individuals demonstrate their unique skills; and a proven benchmark for managers in making successful recruiting and staffing decisions. These more targeted credentials can be achieved with fewer exams, making it more cost-effective for individuals and organizations to validate specific sets of skills. In addition, Microsoft-commissioned research* has shown that organizations can realize substantial improvements in project deployment, system downtime, spending on ad-hoc external IT support, and overall productivity by employing certified staff.
“By focusing on specific job roles and by using performance-based testing, this new certification program is much more in line with the real-life job situation of IT professionals and developers — and should help them create and build more accurate solutions,” said Olivier Nguyen Van Tan, industry analyst and senior consultant with Pierre Audoin Consultants. “Beyond expanding customers’ technology expertise, the utmost value lies in the new synergies with Microsoft’s product strategy, and will be a key factor of customer success in using future product releases.”
The certification process starts with a free individual online assessment to determine a candidate’s areas of strength and weakness, which results in a customized learning plan that directs candidates to specific resources. Candidates can then choose the learning resources that best reflect their needs and learning style. In the next six months, a slate of new materials will be available to help them prepare for certification, including assessments, books and courses that are available on demand, in printed form, and as instructor-led classroom curriculum from Microsoft and its learning partners.
“One of the key things Microsoft has done is to break certification into two parts: understanding the technology and performing specific jobs,” said Thom Griffin, vice president of Technical Services for QuickStart Intelligence Inc., Microsoft Worldwide Learning Partner of the Year. “Our enterprise customers will appreciate the job role emphasis because it will help them assess and better evaluate their staff’s skills. And with fewer exams and reduced cost, the new program provides our customers with an easy way to validate the skills necessary to quickly adopt new technologies as they become available.”
Certifications for Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 will be available in early 2006. Microsoft will present more information about the credentials and learning resources at a launch event Nov. 7 for the Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk® Server 2006 products

Last edited by 74534 on 26 Oct 2005 - 21:11
--matt74441
Last edited by 33280 on 27 Oct 2005 - 06:38
...yes I'm trolling but I don't care it's my first time.
Wait, did I just troll
lol.
I cracked open a friends DELL from 2001 and it had memory with non-standard notches. Really may me mad 'causs I had about a gig of PC133 ram to give her but alas, my ram wouldn't fit. I've seen a lot of memory, but never anything like what was in that DELL.
Last edited by 33280 on 27 Oct 2005 - 06:32
No it isn't. Comparing a laptop from DELL to a 4 function calculator is like comparing apples and oranges. Macs and PCs are both computer, in case you don't know that already.
I'm not trying to dis Apple, they are just having problems with their suppliers. This is the big reason why they are switching to Intel.
So basically, they know that the XPS brand name is now popular among consumers, so they are trying to fool you into thinking you are buying a premium product just to boost their sales during the slow months. Nothing new here, just typical business tactics. But still, kinda messed up that they don't at least put the ATI x300 chip in it, Intel Integrated Graphics is pathetic.
not with integrated graphics
but i do like dell, personally have a 600m and its been great, along with the tech support
if only this would include a decent video card and not intel extreme crappy graphics that would be good
--matt74441
Last edited by 33280 on 27 Oct 2005 - 06:42
Who the hell does Dell think they are fooling, what a piece of over priced junk.
Who would have thought a laptop could stir up so much hate...
It seems like a nice small laptop, about the same size as my Compaq. It would be a nice one to have, but I seriously question its game playing capabilties...
Edit: Link to the product page:
Dell XPS M140
This post contributed absolutely nothing and had absolutely no point whatsoever.
--matt74441
Last edited by 33280 on 27 Oct 2005 - 07:55
Comments were removed because they were not needed and were only there to cause trouble. If nothing beneficial is to be added, please refrain from posting.
I won't be getting one...
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