MacworldAt the Consumer Electronics Show thats currently going on in Las Vegas, Dell made a major announcement about its laptops. [I know what youre thinking: Whoa whoa whoa, WTF? This is Macworld! Why is this Loyola guy writing about Dell? Wheres his latest screed about how the Mac rulez? Stick with me for a minute. Please.] Dell is undergoing a major rebranding effort, dropping the XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brands that customers have come to love. (Okay, maybe not love, more like recognize.)The new names for its laptops? Hold on to your hats. They are (drumroll, please):Dell.Dell Pro.Dell Pro Max.[Hold ondid you catch that last one, Dell Pro Max? I want to make sure, because if youre like me and hate Macworlds page design, then you know that we place an ad insert after the fourth paragraph in each and every news article, much to the editors chagrin. So single-word paragraphs like Dell Pro Max can get lost in our layout.]Now, those namesespecially the Dell Pro and Dell Pro Maxsound familiar, dont they? If only social media (and by social media, I mean BlueSky) can clue me in11/10 headline. no notes.*DELL UNVEILS NEW APPLE-LIKE NAMES FOR ITS PERSONAL COMPUTERS George Pearkes (@peark.es) 2025-01-06T19:57:10.896ZCan't believe Dell is killing off the XPS brand and replacing it with Apple's silly words instead! https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/6/24325799/dell-pro-max-premium-plus-ces-laptop-pc-rebrand-announcement Sean Hollister (@seanhollister.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T20:48:40.787029ZThis is the dumbest naming strategy Ive ever seen in my life. Way to take the worst things from Apple and somehow make them even more confusing. This is not an improvement, Dell! via https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/6/24325799/dell-pro-max-premium-plus-ces-laptop-pc-rebrand-announcement Christina Warren (@filmgirl.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T20:51:24.548939ZHey now, hold on George, Sean, and Christina! According to PCWorld, Dells new names have nothing to do with Apple. When asked about copying Apples names, Dell executives dismissed the concern, indicating that these are universal terms that consumers are already familiar with. Umm, why are they familiar terms? Maybe because Apple uses them? Perhaps?But wait! The Dell naming goes one step further, providing that Dell isnt copying Apple! Says PCWorld:Under each tier, computers will also be split up into three more sub-categories.Baseis, well, the base modelPlusis a step above thatPremiumis the top-end model in each tierSo that means Dells top-of-the-line laptop will be referred to as the Dell Pro Max (Premium), which is a step above the Dell Pro Max (Plus), which is a step above the Dell Pro Max (Base), which is a step above the Dell Pro (Premium), which isbetter than XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude?Anyway, for as long as Ive been covering Apple and tech in general, there are many things you can count on, and one of those things is that companies copy each other and deny that they are doing so. And another thing you can count on is that PC fanboys will deny that Dell is copying Apple even though it clearly is. Those are sure bets and if I could put money on them, I would.