See ya later Inspiron and XPS: Dell has streamlined its branding down to a very Apple-like Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max

Dell's branding has always seemed a bit clumsy to me, and it seems the Texas-based tech giant may agree. It's just announced a branding change that simplifies its core PC product tiers into three main categories—Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.

Dell becomes the default brand, in the sense that it's designed for "play, school and work", thereby replacing the not-exactly-catchy Inspiron brand of laptops and consumer desktop computers past.

Above that sits the Dell Pro line, "designed for professional-grade productivity", and right at the tippy top is Dell Pro Max, featuring machines designed for maximum performance. But if you're wondering what happened to Alienware, have no fear—it still sits to the side of Dell's regular lineup of machines, as it's a subsidiary brand with enviable name recognition in the PC gaming hardware space.

Makes sense to keep it around then, doesn't it? As for the rest, Dell says that its new unified brand strategy is all about simplifying the buying process for regular folk, with a supposed 74% of consumers walking away from technology purchases simply because they felt overwhelmed by the choices on offer.

The new branding will apply to laptops, consumer PCs, displays, accessories and services, in the hope that it will stop buyer's eyes from crossing when it comes to deciding which tier to buy.

Speaking of laptops, Dell's been keen (like every other manufacturer) to tout its AI PC credentials, with laptops featuring Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors alongside offerings from AMD and Qualcomm.

The new Dell Plus lineup of 14 to 16-inch laptops will be available from February starting at $999, while Dell Pro 13, 14, and 16-inch models featuring Lunar Lake processor options start rolling out from today. Dell Pro Max laptops look like they'll take a little longer to arrive, as their release date is still to be confirmed.

If all this Pro and Pro Max branding sounds familiar to you, that's no surprise. It's rather close to Apple's nomenclature, as the iPhone has been available for a while now with Pro and Pro Max variants, not to mention the stalwart MacBook Pro and M4 Pro chips manufactured by the Cupertino-based electronics giant.

Still, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Apple may be many things, but its relatively straightforward branding system does make it easier to tell at a glance which product tier you're looking at without translating a bunch of codenames, model designations, and bizarre word salad.

Anything that stops me from receiving phone calls from less tech-oriented acquaintances as to which product is which is fine by me. Now if only monitor manufacturers could come up with clearer model designations, that'd really start my year off with a bang. The Acer Nitro XV271U M3bmiiprx versus the Acer Nitro EDA323QU S3bmiiphx, anyone?