Opinion | The Dell XPS 15 naming scheme is a mess

The XPS 15 naming scheme is a mess and continues to cause confusion among fans of the series. As we covered with the release of the XPS 13 in January, Dell has moved from the XPS 9xxx to XPS 7xxx and back again in two years. The switch to 7xxx put the XPS series on par with the naming schemes of the Inspiron, Precision and Vostro series. However, the company confirmed in January that it considered the change a mistake and one that had confused consumers.

Well, that confusion now extends to the XPS 15, as the new XPS 15 has a numerically lower model number than the model that Dell released in 2018. Dell harmonised the naming schemes of the XPS 13 and XPS 15 in 2015 with the release of the 9x50 series. The company stuck with this decision until last year when it released the XPS 13 9380, a device that it did not complement with the XPS 15 9580. So, the XPS 15 9500 succeeds the XPS 15 7590, which replaced the XPS 15 9570. By contrast, the XPS 13 9300 took over from the XPS 13 7390; the successor to the XPS 13 9380.

If Dell continues to refresh the XPS 15 yearly, then it has until 2023 before it releases the XPS 15 9530, which would class with the model number of the 2013 edition. Then there would be the XPS 15 9550 in 2025 and so on until the XPS 15 9500 comes around again in 2030. Dell is not alone with its use of non-sensical laptop model numbers, mind you. Admittedly a model identifier rather than a model number, using "MacBookPro16,2" and "MacBookPro16,3" to describe the new MacBook Pro 13 models makes little sense. At least there is no such confusion with the XPS 17, though. 

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