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I know this is an older link, but mod the parent up: (a bit of proof)

He's exactly right. You might argue they make their money from their investors...but most specifically it's received by getting companies like Dell and HPQ (notice the text: "HP recommends Windows® XP Professional!") to purchase boatloads of licenses...

On a related note: try to build your own PC on the Dell or HPQ websites (see above links). You won't even be given the option for "no OS," let alone Linux, you MUST buy Windows!

Umm, you'll have to give us a URL. When I look up E1505 at Dell, it says the $999 model comes with Core(1) Duo and Intel GMA 950 graphics, which makes it more comparable to the $1099 MacBook Amateur.

And here's Dell's press release where they mention Sony batteries:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/cor p/pressoffice/en/2006/2006_09_29_rr_000?c=us&l=en& s=corp

Round Rock, Texas, September 29, 2006
Dell announced today that additional information was received regarding affected battery packs containing cells manufactured by Sony, which has led to an increase in the number of recalled batteries from 4.1 million units to approximately 4.2 million units

Dell Updates Sony Battery Recall Information
Round Rock, Texas, September 29, 2006

Dell announced today that additional information was received regarding affected battery packs containing cells manufactured by Sony, which has led to an increase in the number of recalled batteries from 4.1 million units to approximately 4.2 million units.

To ensure that all potentially affected batteries are identified and returned to Dell, the company is requesting that customers recheck their batteries if they have not ordered or received a replacement battery. To determine whether their batteries are affected, customers should go to Dell's Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com. Customers can also write to: Dell Inc., Attn: Battery Recall, 9701 Metric Blvd., Austin, Texas 78758.

Dell began shipping replacement batteries to customers on the first day of the recall (Aug. 15). Since the announcement, Dell has received almost 200 million hits to its Web site, www.dellbatteryprogram.com.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500. Company revenue for the past four quarters was $57.4 billion. For more information, visit www.dell.com. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

All talk, no facts.

Yeah, not like your post, which was a fountain of knowledge.

You could at least have linked to the specs on the Dell website, which lists the the specs as:

CPU options:

        * Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor
        * Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2GHz, 4M L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
        * Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T7400 (2.16GHz, 4M L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
        * Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz, 4M L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)

Other misc. info:

        * Up to 4 GB of DDR2 dual channel2 memory
        * 20.1" Widescreen WSXGA+ display
        * 256MB ATI® MobilityTM RADEONTM X1800 Graphics Card for multimedia intensive applications.
        * Integrated 1.3 megapixel web cam and array microphone
        * 8 speakers and subwoofer
        * Up to 240GB3 of storage across two hard drives
        * Optional RAID 0 - 1
        * 8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW)4

Weight & Dimensions

        * Width: 18.85"
        * Height: 2.90"
        * Depth: 15.90"
        * Weight (lbs): 18.305

I/O Ports

        * IEEE 1394 integrated port (1394 cable and software sold separately)
        * 4 USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
        * ExpressCard Slot
        * RJ45 Ethernet port
        * RJ11 Modem port
        * Video: Digital Video Interface (DVI)
        * S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector
        * Component Video, S/PDIF Digital & Analog 7.1/5.1 Audio out
        * 13-in-2 removable memory card reader

Check out the specs on this thing on Dell's website.

The dimensions are less of a concern as long as it fits in a backpack or roomy laptop case, but to even call this monster a laptop is disingenuous. It is more of a "portable" computer in the sense that it can all be transported in one piece should you ever attempt to break your back moving it.

Does Dell really sell in 2 weeks what Apple sells in a year?

FY'06 Revenue (billions):

Dell: 55.91
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/cor p/pressoffice/en/2006/2006_02_16_rr_001?c=us&l=en& s=corp

Apple: 19.32
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/oct/18results .html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jul/19results .html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/apr/19results .html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jan/18results .html

(in millions, except per-share)
Q2, FY'07 Q2, FY'06 Change
Revenue $14,094 $13,428 5%
Operating Income $605 $1,173 (48%)
Net Income $502 $1,020 (51%)
Earnings/Share $0.22 $0.41 (46% )

Now let's look at Apple from their most recent announced results (in their case it's Q4 FY06 vs. Q4 FY05):

Q4 FY06 Q4 FY05
Revenue $4.84b $3.68B
Net Income $546m $430M
Earnings/Share: $.62 $.50

(Slashdot keeps taking out the spaces, which is why this looks funky.) So, even though Dell has a little more than 3x Apple's gross sales, Apple is the more profitable company. Dell's profits dropped by 51% between Q2FY06 and Q2FY07, while Apple's profits reached new records. Moreover, Apple's profitability and market share are both increasing, while Dell's is decreasing.

And Apple would want to outsource manufacturing to a much less profitable and quality-conscious company why?

Crow T. Trollbot

Linux based desktops from Dell.

I don't know about HP. Sorry.

The Dell PowerConnect 2724 is pretty good - web managed, vlans, etc.. and only $258 right now. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetail s.aspx/pwcnt_2724?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04

Hope this link works:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=210ldp4min&s=bsd
Dell optiplex with a P4 3.0GHz proc.
There is a $30 difference between 256 and 512 meg ram.
Base price is $443, still under 500 when ready for Vista.

Any business should use Optiplex or better (if using Dell), as the support agreement is far superior: drivers for >=5 years (=1 year on dimension). Spare parts for >=5 years (>90 days on dimension).

-nB

"Or set my room on fire. Or hurt me in other more subtle ways. Only then will I respect it." I know just the thing for you! http://www.apple.com/
http://www.dell.com/
http://www.lenovo.com/

...stupid "get a Mac if you want curves" comments, and many being modded as insightful. Granted, there have been very few Intel based PCs that have been contenders to win design awards but I've seen a few that are easily as good looking as many believe the Mac to be. Dell's M2010 is far better looking than then notebooks being sold by Apple. The Sony RS Series and LS Series are great looking desktops, the LS being the all-in-one like the iMac. The Sony Digital Living System is a great looking media center PC. It's all a matter of taste.

One of my favorite comments was this one, "Hopefully we get some different options from this, but speaking generally, how much can you do different?" Ummm, perhaps you are a) not the target for PCs like this and b) are not creative enough to design an elegant, stylish PC case. I'm always amazed with this attitude from geeks given that they'd be extremely passionate if one we re to say something equally as inane as, "why spend billions of dollars to go to the Moon or Mars? They're just lifeless rocks with no interest to anyone."

Dell doesn't force people to use Windows. You can actually buy Dell desktops with FreeDOS installed. Look here (dell.com). There's even a link there to Precision workstations with Red Hat preinstalled.

"And you're not forced to use it (like Dell forces people to use Windows)."*

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/all iances/en/red_hat?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Once again slashdot demonstrates that it prefers politics over facts.

*That and the fact that it loves abusing the english language. "Forces" indeed.

Current 1080p capable widescreens can be had for less than $2k. As an example, Mitsubishi has several. Here's a 50-inch: http://www.fotoconnection.com/viewitem.php?IndexID =52698&RefTag=froogle Many computer monitors also support this resolution (or greater). WUXGA resolution is becoming more common, and monitors can be had for $700: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a spx?sku=320-4335&cs=19&c=us&l=en And that's a 24-inch monitor. Yes, I own a 1080p capable monitor now, and I plan on buying a larger 1080p capable monitor in the next year (perhaps a projector -- about $3k for 1080p capable) I'm already enjoying the benefits of HD as well as the xbox 360 outputs. Sports (in particular) have now become almost unwatchable in SD for me. Sort of like once you've tried Tivo -- you can't go back. And yes, you can see image artifacts at 1080i. The damn interlacing always makes bricks (in particular, but any small horizontal detail line) flicker with movement. Upscaling to 1080p (even if the original source is 1080i or lower) fixes that. So yes: HDTV is great. 1080p is great. That it makes 1080i stuff cheaper is great, too.

Do either one of you have a link to your configurations???
I almost took both your words for it but then thought better of it and checked myself too because I just couldn't believe the modding system would allow such unsubstatied claims to be so rewarded.

Basically as close to the same setup as possible:

Apple $5,249.00
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/6734003/wo/XQ2IBYNvqzWN2vAkLoC1oRU4v sn/2.?p=0

Dell $3,871
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=D690F2&s=dhs

Well, I just priced out a new workstation comparing the top of the line MacPro and an equivalently configured Dell. I ended up buying the 3.0Ghz version of the MacPro for $1000 cheaper than an equivalent Dell.

I'll be honest: I read that and I thought you were lying. So I went and looked for myself, and sure enough, I can't duplicate your results.

I can't get the Dell price down far enough. Only $1000 more expensive than the MacPro? The best I can do is $1500 more expensive.

Dell Precision 490

1. Two Xeon 5160 (3.0GHz Woodcrest) processors
2. 1GB (2x512MB) 667MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM
3. 250GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive (RAID 0/1/5 available)
4. NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
5. 16X DVD+/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
6. Support: 3 year On-site Economy Plan
7. 1394a controller card
8. Price: $5116 ($5206 with Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic)

Mac Pro

1. Two Xeon 5160 (3.0GHz Woodcrest) processors
2. 1GB (2x512MB) 667MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM
3. 250GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive (RAID 5 not available)
4. NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
5. One 16x SuperDrive
6. Support: AppleCare Protection Plan (3 years warranty and support)
7. Integrated 1394a and 1394b
8. Price: $5198

• The Precision 490 has one PCIe x16 slot, two PCIe x8 slots (wired as x4), 2 PCI-X 64-bit/100MHz slots, and 1 PCI slot. The Mac Pro has four PCIe x16 slots (one wired as x16, two wired as x4, one wired as x1).
• Although both have integrated High Definition Audio, the Precision 490 does not have digital audio I/O. If digital audio I/O is needed, the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic can be added for an addition $90 (brings total up to $5206), but this would make the Precision's audio system superior to the Mac Pro's.
• The Mac Pro has integrated 1394a and 1394b. Dell needs an add-in card and only 1394a is available at configuration (third party 1394b cards are available elsewhere).
• Precision 490 has RAID 0/1/5. The Mac Pro has RAID 0/1 but not RAID 5. This is probably just a software limitation (OS X RAID) and I'll assume RAID 5 will be added to the Mac Pro in the future with a firmware/OS update.
• The Precision 490 has a wide selection of workstation graphics cards, but no consumer-level graphics cards. The Mac Pro has a "wide" selection of consumer-level graphics cards (one entry level, one high-end, no mid-range), and one high-end workstation card.
• All that other shit that makes this a lame comparison. OS X vs Windows XP Professional, Apple apps vs Windows/Linux workstation apps, available hardware add-ons, yadda yadda yadda...

My sister has an old dell inspiron PIII which plays DVDs just fine.

I have an old dell inspiron PII (300Mhz) from 1998 with 256MB ram which runs Windows XP just fine and also plays DVDs (but it has a hardware decoder). It *can* play DVDs without the hardware decoder via PowerDVD, but the playback is a bit choppy.

So yes, I agree that even the slowest PIII will do the trick with 800x600 mpegII (I'm not sure about other formats like XviD) unless the CPU has its bandwidth being sucked up by other applications.

Personally, I think a new computer every 5-6 years is sufficient for Windows slaves like myself (longer for penguins), but some people love to push the envelope so they can have the latest goodies, like this baby: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&l=en&cs=19&oc=W3007

In the past few years Dell has made an effort to make sure that you don't need to drop to DOS to flash the firmware in a piece of hardware. If your PC is ACPI compliant there's some device presented to the OS that can be used so that Windows/Linux/FreeBSD can flash the BIOS.
http://linux.dell.com/libsmbios/main/dellBiosUpdat e.html

The newer LSI and 3Ware cards have a feature like this too.

It's really too bad the Greenpeace report was thrown around without any criticism from the mainstream media or even from bloggers.

Utter nonsense. You linked to a blog with criticism.

Fact remains that Apple scored very poorly on the same criteria Dell & Nokia scored very highly on.

I'm interested that you value sierra club's opinion as they've labelled Dell "a "Forward Green Leader" as one of the top 10 environmentally progressive companies recognized by the Sierra Club". Just like Apple.

It is true that Dell has been rumoring this for years. But today it's different: Dell has promised to their customers and shareholders that they will start selling AMD-based desktops in September 2006, and AMD-based servers by the end of 2006, as you can read on one of the many dell.com's webpages about the subject.

You can't say "it's still a rumor". This is wrong. If they don't do it now, they will get severly sanctionned by their shareholders this time.

Dell laptop advertised with core 2 duo

Click through to specify the machine and only the T2600/T2700 for sale. These are Core Duos arent they?

Wouldnt suprise me to see Dell guilty of misleading adverting (They got me on an "upgradable graphics card" before) but this looks prity blatant.

Try this

Smaller, cheaper, comes with a screen.

Dumb troll.

Gee, that's funny, I had to search for "ditty" on their homepage to find them:


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a spx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=DJDTY90

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c =us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&category_id=5909&~ck=anav What's going on here? It's still for sale. Dell's pages disappear often.

Try buying a PC from a big-box store these days without Mcafee or Norton on it.

Okay. Now what? But that's beside the point. The idea is that rather than offer Windows and anti-virus tools, you release a modified version of Windows which will install all the anti-virus software as part of the standard install, and possibly even modify the install process so that it's more secure from the start.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/ precn_n?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

Looks like you have the choice of RHEL or if you prefer, RHEL...

I found this one rather quickly..just went to the dell site and typed in 'linux' in the search box: Dell with Linux option .

I have not seen any evidence on the Dell website that I can select Linux as an OS when I'm buying a computer

Your selection of FreeDOS or RedHat:
AVAILABLE HERE

Dell's entry level XP Home system is on sale for $279 with a !7" CRT, Word Perfect, and a one year warranty included. Dimension B110. XP Home has been the default OEM install for five years.

Retail boxed, MS Office Home (AKA Student-Teacher Edition) lists for $150 with a three-seat license

if you have to replace the battery. http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=946 00&highlight=on+fire - Fugly, but how prophetic!

For now a free skin is available only "With the purchase of blah...blah...blah" http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx /notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Please visit the firm's Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com beginning at 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time Aug. 15

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/cor p/pressoffice/en/2006/2006_08_14_rr_002?c=us&l=en& s=corp

I'm on that list! I plan to go hide in the basement.

Customers should contact Dell to determine if their notebook computer battery is part of this recall. Please visit the firm's Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com beginning at 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time Aug. 15 or call toll-free at 1-866-342-0011, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received. Customers can also write to: Dell Inc., Attn: Battery Recall, 9701 Metric Blvd., Austin, Texas 78758.

OK, so I saw people comparing prices earlier, so I figured I'd go do my own price comparison. My goal would be to replace my aging home PC with something a bit faster. Here are my results.

Apple iMac 1.83Ghz Core Duo vs Dell XPS 410

with the following requirements:

1. 1GB RAM - I like my World of Warcraft fix, and it sucks with anything less than 1GB
2. 500MB Hard Disk space - I download a LOT of files, and would like to repartition some of the unused space for extra OSes
3. DVD+/-RW DL drive - I download a lot of files

Here are what I ended up with:

• Apple iMac - $1,674.00
  • 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
  • 500GB Serial ATA drive
  • ATI Radeon X1600/128MB VRAM
  • SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
  • Keyboard
  • Mighty Mouse
  • Mac OS X - U.S. English
  • 17-inch widescreen LCD
  • 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
• Dell XPS 410 - $1,765.00
  • 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
  • 500GB Serial ATA drive
  • ATI Radeon X1300 Pro/256MB VRAM
  • DVD-ROM 16x
  • DVD+/-RW 16x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
  • Dell Optical USB Mouse
  • Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard
  • Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition - U.S. English
  • 20-inch widescreen LCD
  • Sound Blaster® X-Fi XtremeMusic (D), w/Dolby® Digital 5.1
  • 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo

Differences

1. The video card is the most difficult difference to figure out. According to Guru3D, the X1600Pro (I'm assuming Pro, because they have no non-Pro X1600 listed) has more pixel and vertex shader units, but lower clock and memory speeds. For reference, the X1300 Pro 256 and X1600 Pro 128 are referred to as having the same MSRP in this article.
2. The Dell system has a much larger monitor (20"ws vs. 17"ws).
3. The Dell system has a Core Duo 2, while the Apple has a Core Duo.
4. The Dell has a Soundblaster card. I haven't the foggiest clue what the Apple has.
5. The Dell has a faster DVD+/-RW... for that matter, it has two drives. This is standard on this model.

Personally, it sounds like the Dell has better hardware. It should also be noted that changing anything on the Apple costs significantly more than changing it on the Dell. For instance, upgrading to 2GB RAM costs $140 more for the Dell, but $200 more for the Apple. Upgrading the processor to 2Ghz (actually 2.13Ghz) costs $50 for the Dell and (along with a 20"ws monitor upgrade) $325 for the Apple.

So here's my configuration, going down the page options at Dell's page

Base price is $2358

Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5160 3.00GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $930]
Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5160 3.00GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $1,279]
4GB, DDR2 SDRAM FBD Memory, 667MHz, ECC (4 DIMMS) [add $870]
256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 3450, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI + VGA [add $525]
500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s,7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache(TM) [add $400]
16X DVD+/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD(TM) and Roxio Creator(TM) Dell Ed [add $20]
No Monitor Option [subtract $149]
Broadcom NetXtreme 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet controller-PCI Express card [add $49]
Dell Wireless 1450 (802.11 b/g) WLAN USB 2.0 DT Adapter [add $49]

For a total of $6331 - must have missed something last time. I don't see how you can get $3592 with the same specs. Love to see how you did it!

Simon

Apparently, you missed it. Apple's new Mac Pro is cheaper than a comparatively configured Dell workstation machine.

Let me know where I can get a dual core small form factor PC for significantly less than $800. Not from Dell, not from HP. HPs offering comes in at $650 after the rebate, but doesn't include things like wireless or even a dvd burner, it eats more power, and is huge. Dell rings in at 1200 but does come with a 20" monitor that you can buy for $400, so total cost is about $800, same as a mac mini. Both have shared mem video cards, again the Dell lacks a dvd writer(but it makes up for that by coming with a gig of ram standard) but it is a bigger case and uses the Pentium D chip. You would be hard pressed to even build one from newegg for that amount(you can if you don't mind the behemoth case, but I do). So yeah, you are right, Apple doesn't even come close on price :P

Yes, true, dual-core Xeons. A dual-core Xeon has 2 CPUs, unlike Hyperthreading, which was like a CPU-and-a-third. Thus two dual core Xeons constitutes 4 CPUS. That would make 4 Xeon CPUs, by my math. But even so, I'll rephrase: Go find, anywhere, a Dual-Processor, Dual Core Xeon system for $2199. *shrug*.

The Dell 1505 that's $823 is a Core Duo 1.60Ghz, according to Dell's site. The XPS1210 is much more comparable to the macbook, using the same graphics system and including a webcam and a small-size widescreen 1280x800 panel. The e1505 you chose is a 15" with the same resolution (a less expensive panel).

Your reply underlines my point; people who want to bag on Apple's prices invariably point to the fact that there are cheaper machines available, without regard to the fact that those cheaper systems are not *really* comparable. Because if you compare apples to apples...

Yes, true, dual-core Xeons. A dual-core Xeon has 2 CPUs, unlike Hyperthreading, which was like a CPU-and-a-third. Thus two dual core Xeons constitutes 4 CPUS. That would make 4 Xeon CPUs, by my math. But even so, I'll rephrase: Go find, anywhere, a Dual-Processor, Dual Core Xeon system for $2199. *shrug*.

The Dell 1505 that's $823 is a Core Duo 1.60Ghz, according to Dell's site. The XPS1210 is much more comparable to the macbook, using the same graphics system and including a webcam and a small-size widescreen 1280x800 panel. The e1505 you chose is a 15" with the same resolution (a less expensive panel).

Your reply underlines my point; people who want to bag on Apple's prices invariably point to the fact that there are cheaper machines available, without regard to the fact that those cheaper systems are not *really* comparable. Because if you compare apples to apples...

How about a laptop with a 20.1" widescreen and a wirerless keyboard? Maybe not the best example of such a device, but my jaws dropped when I found that thing. And it's only 3.5k.

Hmmm... the figures there do check out... but I wonder why they didn't compare it to something like the Dell XPS 700. The only difference I can tell from the Mac Config is Two, DualCore instead of one... that and the $200 price difference including a 20" monitor on the Dell. Since no monitor will save you an additional $300 (for a total savings of $500 compared to the Mac Pro) I am left wondering... is a second Dual Core processor worth $500?

Maybe I'm missing something? Is there a reason why when compared to this system, the Mac Pro doesn't seem like as much of a bargain?

Sure you can.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W463&l=en&oc=490t32min&s=bsd&fb=1

Plus, you get the 3 year warranty.

I'd love to see Dell selling big screen TVs and surround sound setups with Media PCs: "Buy now, and get $100 off that 70" Mitsubishi DLP today!
Why would Dell sell Mitsubishi TVs when they have their own brand?

Case -> something stylish. Common failing here
I agree, a standard beige case or even fancy brushed aluminum job with standard mods of flashing LED fans etc would be horribly out of place. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Mac Mini form factor would be about right. Different enough looking to distinguish it from other components, but not incredibly garish so as to steal visual focus. Oh, and the computer should be extremely quiet. Granted, you'd really want to step up the hardware inside, and add space for a few more inputs (Cable/sattelite, various video game consoles... Digital Camera/camcorder input would probably be best done through USB, etc.) Would make the most sense to have the audio amplifier as a seperate unit to allow for better heat dissipation, upgrade path and of course budgets and taste... But I still think the form factor and industrial design of the case is appropriate. It could even go a bit wider to mimic other standard components. But overall it really wouldn't make sense to have a media center computer without at the very minimum having the ability to act as a master switch box. Although I suppose an external switch box controlled by the media center PC via USB/Firewire via drivers or a standard interface shouldn't be TOO kludgy.

But the big problem in my mind with a large scale media box is more political than technical. Getting media companies to approve any new format that would be designed to pass through essentially a commodity PC would involve locking the whole thing down with a lot of DRM to prevent unauthorized recording and subsequent sharing They would probably demand some encrypted codec that is only unscrambled by a trusted (by the media companies) device built into the monitor itself (regardless of where you stand on the moral issues, most people should be able to agree that it would be difficult to get the large media companies to agree to just let this happen.)

Sorry if I rambled a bit... it's late and I'm waiting for my laundry to finish.

Mr. Dell should not be distributing Linux at all. Even before IBM shipped Linux pre-installed, they at least recognized that when they distribute a GPL covered work they need to also provide a copy of the license.

Dell still publically demostrates they can violate Clause 1 of the GPL by distributing the Linux kernel, busybox and other GPL works without providing a copy of the GPL. They admitted that adding the GPL to the tar ball would be cheap, easy and something they are required by the license to do and yet three years later they still have choosen not to do it.

Btw, this is just one of many examples of Dell violating the GPL over and over again.

Dell is stating that they will be introducing AMD-based servers "by the end of the year" in their first-quarter financial statement. Should make for great stocking-stuffers for all those little corps this Xmas!

I bought a Dell 3000cn for about $292.98 shipped. It is full CMYK color and I love it. It has a built in Ethernet port and works well with all my Windows 2000 and XP machines. The color and printing are excellent.

The only drawback is its size, but most color lasers can be pretty big.

You can usually find Dell coupons to lower the prices even more.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/ laser?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Micro$hit Winblows X-Pee is full of ads for M$'s services. There's ads for Passport, Windows Media download stores, MSN Search, MSN Explorer, Microsoft Plus, and other bloated bullshit. Don't forget the ultimate coercive ad, Windows Genuine Advantage. Loads of false claims of pirated software means more bucks for

Not to speak of the last "dell" I got (sorry folks, dual core $700 (not anymore), couldn't resist). I don't remember half the crap I deleted but trial word perfect, trial mcaffes, plus a shit load of isp adverts, this is ontop of the normal winxp adverts if you click the wrong thing. Fortunatly the crap was easy enough to delete, well except for McAfee's spyware.

How about theDell 1710n? It is $299, networked and does 27 pages per minute.