Dell unveils the XPS M1530 laptop

Tuesday morning Dell officially announced the XPS M1530 laptop, a 15-inch version of the wildly popular 13-inch XPS M1330. Of course, pretty much every detail about this new system has already leaked, but we're still pretty excited, as the XPS M1330 was easily one of our favorite laptops of 2007.

With a shockingly sophisticated design for the usually middle-of-the-road Dell, an LED backlit screen (the new 15-inch version has a CCFL panel instead), thin profile (less than 1 inch in the front), and slot-loading DVD drive, it was hard not to love the 13-inch version, even if some fans had trouble getting them in a timely manner. Back in June, we said, "From our first behind-closed-doors peek...we've been impressed with the emphasis on the user experience in this superthin, high-end laptop."

The new 15-inch M1530 looks and feels like a slightly bigger brother, and even better, it starts at a very moderate $999 (the 13-inch version debuted at $1,299). Expect the M1530 to weigh about 6 pounds and still manage to get in around 1 inch at its thinner front edge.

Update: Of course, even though Dell's top secret laptops usually leak, we don't normally expect Dell to do the dirty work itself. The helpful sleuths at Engadget note that the XPS M1530 is already on sale at Dell's Singapore site, several hours before its official US announcement.