
While Michael Dell is celebrating the impending acquisition of the company he co-founded, which he'll take private once the deal is complete, it's still business as usual for Dell, the world's third largest PC maker. On tap from Dell are more than half a dozen portables designed for Android or Windows 8.1, including four Venue tablet products and three XPS laptops of various sizes and configurations.
Starting with the XPS line, Dell today announced refreshed XPS 11, XPS 13, and XPS 15 laptops built around Intel's 4th Generation Core processor (Haswell) line. These systems all have upgraded displays, including an 11.6-inch UltraSharp QHD (2560x1440) touch panel on the XPS 11, 13.3-inch Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) display with optional touch support on the XPS 13, and either a 15.6-inch Full HD 1080p panel or 15.6-inch UltraSharp QHD+ (3200x1800) display on the XPS 15, both with touch support.
The XPS 11 is billed as a 2-in-1 system with a display that twists and lays flat on the chassis, thereby transforming it into a tablet. Meanwhile, the XPS 13 and XPS 15 are slim systems like Apple's MacBook Air, only better equipped and running Windows 8.1, of course.
For the tablet crowd, Dell announced the Venue 7 with a 7-inch display (1280x800), Intel Atom Z2560 processor, 2GB of LP-DDR2 RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi + GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G/HSPA+ (optional), VGA webcam, 3MP rear-facing camera, microSD card reader, micro USB 2.0 port, headphone/mic combo jack, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
The other Android tablet is the Venue 8, a slightly larger slate with the same resolution and similar spec sheet, except that it runs an Atom Z2580 processor and has a 32GB eMMC option,

On the Windows 8 side, Dell announced the Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro. The former ships with a 1280x800 resolution, Intel Atom Z3470D processor, 32GB or 64GB of storage, 2GB of DDR3L-RS 1600 RAM, dual-band 2x2 MIMO 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HSPA+, 4G LTE, 1.2MP webcam, 5MP rear-facing camera, microSD card slot, and Windows 8.1.
The Venue 11 Pro has a 10.8-inch display with a 1920x1080 resolution, various processor options up to an Intel Core i5 3400Y, up to 256GB of solid state storage, up to 8GB of DDR3 1600, stereo speakers with SRS premium audio, dual-band 2x2 MIMO 802.11n Wi-Fi, NFC support, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE, HSPA+, full-size USB 3.0 port, and various other odds and ends.
Pricing and release dates have not yet been announced.
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