Dell has killed off its XPS range of desktop gaming machines

Dell has killed off its XPS range of desktop gamingmachines.
The Texans picked up east-coast mavericks Alienware in 2006 in a bid tobroaden its customer base to include hardcore gamers and super-high-costpurchasers. However, the purchase bizarrely seemed to spark a new inspiration ofcreativity in Dell's own labs and the folks there released the XPS 730 and itsconsequent variants - a gaming PC that performed better and was betterthought-out than its extra-terrestrial cousins.
Indeed, the XPS 7xx series has been at the top of many gamer's shopping listswith Alienware looking ever more expensive and ever less innovative. Bizarrely,Dell only released the latest upgrade to the XPS last week, prompting concernsthat the left mouse button isn't talking to the right.
Alienware already had enough on its plate competing with brands such asHewlett-Packard's Vodoo PC line and Falcon Northwest without having to bash itsown parent company, too.
The move comes as Alienware is expected to bring out redesigned systems basedon new materials - as yet unseen by hardware hacks.
The Wall Street Journalbrokethe news this morning, although you'll need a sub to read the whole thing.The Journal claims that the move is to boost flagging gaming PC sales, and Dellhas said that its Alienware lines are more important than XPS sales.
PC builders like gaming PCs since they can cost as little as $1,000, buttypically range from $2,000 to $5,000 and feature high-end (high-margin) Inteland AMD quad-core processors and graphics chips from Graphzilla and DAAMIT.
Will Dull simply ship its best tech bods over to Alienware, or is theresomething comprehensive in the works? We are endeavouring to ferret around andfind out.