Trying to buy Dell’s developer-orientated Ubuntu laptop – the XPS 13 – is a confusing affair at present.
Several readers have contacted us to say that the device is no longer being offered for sale on the Dell US website.
Attempting to purchase the item through on the US site shows the following error:
“Sorry, but this item is no longer available for purchase online. Please contact your sales representative for details on how to order.”
One of those who contacted Dell US to try and make a purchase says he was told that the item is ‘no longer being offered’, whilst another said he was able to make a purchase over the phone.
Confusing stuff.
Available Elsewhere
The XPS 13 is still available to buy online from in Ireland, the UK and several other EU countries.
So why the US change? It could simply be that stock is low (likely); the device isn’t selling well stateside, or, that a refresh is on the way.
Back in April the project lead of the ‘Sputnik’ project (‘sputnik’ is the codename for the XPS Linux device) asked developers what they’d like to see in a future update:
“Besides the chip and the RAM what else do you want to see? Screen size? graphics? Physical size of system? We are looking into offering a big brother to the current Sputnik and are collecting requirements.” – Barton George
We’ve reached out to our Dell contacts in the US to see what’s going on. As soon as we know something we’ll update this post accordingly.