Laptop leaks: Dell's new gaming rig
Imagine our surprise when we were surfing around the Web this weekend and found some alleged top-secret leaked info about a new upcoming 17-inch gaming laptop from Dell, reportedly called the XPS m1730.
Of course, after all the previous leaks about Dell's 13-inch m1330 and the rest of Dell's current laptop lineup, you'd think the company would pretty much expect this kind of thing.
In any event, our favorite French tech Web site, LesDeLLiens.com, reports that the XPS m1730 will be released (at least in France) on August 27, and it supposedly will offer Intel's new Core 2 Extreme X7800 CPU, a Blu-ray drive, SLI graphics, and even a separate number pad (something the current model, the XPS m1710, lacks). The same basic info is also reported on another site known for leaked laptop info, NotebookItalia.it.
Is this the Dell XPS m1730?
Of course, getting your tech scoops through roughly translated French and Italian Web sites is a notoriously sketchy business at best, so we'll just have to wait and see if this new model pops up on Dell's site around the end of the month.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
They may indeed intend to ship a replacement for the XPS M1710 shortly... but this picture is so terrible it can't be real (please oh lord please no) so it calls into question the entire story.
If it were April 1st, I'd know for sure, but I think this hoax (please oh lord please let it be a hoax) needs to be checked out.
I said:
C|Net has the high-tech journalism 'cred' to get Dell to, hopefully please oh lord please deny that the prototype photograph being circulated with this story is a fake.
of course I meant:
C|Net has the high-tech journalism 'cred' to get Dell to, hopefully please oh lord please CONFIRM that the prototype photograph being circulated with this story is a fake.
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