Dell's delayed 13-inch finally shipping

Pity poor Dell (but not too much). The company finally got its act together on the design side, crafting the critically acclaimed XPS m1330 laptop--a superthin high-end 13-incher that we reviewed quite favorably--but actually getting it into consumers' hands was another matter entirely.

Unfortunately, when people went to order the XPS m1330, they found estimated delivery dates four or more weeks out, a ridiculous number in today's build-to-order world. In fact, while I was in L.A. for the E3 video game trade show earlier in the month, a random guy came up to me and complained that he had ordered an XPS m1330 from Dell after checking out my video and review on CNET, only to get an estimated ship date of late August.

On Dell's official Direct2Dell blog, the company previously blamedcomponent shortages, especially for the system's LED backlit displays. According to a new blog update, Dell is finally ramping up the production lineto get this popular system into the hands of consumers in a more timely manner. Alex Gruzen, a senior vice president at Dell, writes, "While we have begun shipping on a limited basis, we expect to begin large-scale production and to ship systems in all regions beginning this week."