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.
Dell bought Alienware in 2006 though so they took their sweet time before cleaning up the product lines.
Even got a lucky BSOD 2 years ago that nuked windows and somehow got me admin access!
When I quit the job, I immediately bought an identical ThinkPad. It's nearly 8 years old but I still use it regularly use it as a pub trivia host as it can take a beating and have beers poured on it and still run like a trooper.
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.