New Dell Studio XPS 435 PC chock-full of RAM

Update: According to Dell, "nothing has changed with the XPS brand." Also, TB vs. GB typo corrected.

We can't tell too much about Dell's new Studio XPS 435 from the press release. The new case in the picture certainly looks slick enough, and we're glad to see convenient design notes like the top-mounted USB ports and an unconcealed media card reader (unlike Dell's generic Studio XPS PCs). Based on the $1,099 starting price and specs (Intel Core i7 chips, up to a ridiculous 24GB of RAM, single graphics card slot), the Studio XPS 435 seems to be aimed at the performance crowd, if not necessarily dedicated gamers.

Among the Studio XPS 435's other configurable options, you can get up to a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, up to 24GB of DDR3 RAM, and a Blu-ray drive. The 3D card, and the 24GB memory and 4.5TB hard drive limits are all new for Dell's Studio XPS family. The memory and hard drive options are impressive for even high-end gaming PCs, let alone an upper-tier generalist desktop. Not even the boutique vendors have 24GB of RAM yet, a discrepancy we expect will last about two seconds after news of this system breaks out. Paired with fast Intel Core i7 chips, that much RAM should excite even pro-level digital media artists.

We also find the fine print of the Studio XPS 435 press release interesting. Wrapping up its PC family at the end of the text, Dell mentions its Inspiron, Studio, and Studio XPS lines, but skips right over vanilla XPS, home of the XPS One all-in-one and Dell's gaming desktops, for Alienware. We've heard rumors that Dell's Alienware division might finally become the full-time standard bearer of Dell's gaming efforts. We'll see if we can find some clarification.