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Dell's offering

As you'll notice its a little longer thinner (depth) and not as wide. I doubt the Zen Nano was packing extra space inside just for the heck of it. Dell also has a 5 band equalizer compared to the Zen's 4 band.

So the conspiracy theorists can go back in their holes now :P

-everphilski-

You have to pay $14 to get a normal standard 1 yr ltd warranty. Evidently this thing's a piece of crap.

Link to configurgation page

1. See news item that Dell had released a new flash-memory-based music player to compete against the iPod Shuffle: the Dell DJ Ditty.

2. Note that no picture of said Ditty accompanies news item.

3. Visit dell.com.

4. Note that no picture of said Ditty appears on front page of dell.com, even after several reloads to cycle through random promotional images.

5. Search for ditty in text of front page of dell.com.

6. Note that ditty is not found.

7. Begin to suspect that even Dell is not very proud of this device.

8. Visit apple.com.

9. Note prominent and primary emphasis on luscious product porn of new iPod Nano.

10. Hop back to dell.com and search for Ditty in site-wide search box.

11. Note vague resemblance to a 50-cent Bic lighter:

12. Note footnote attached to claim in Product Highlights that the Ditty can pack 220 songs into 512 MB of memory, roughly twice the songs Apple claims can fit on a 512 MB iPod Shuffle.

13. Follow footnote to see explanation that this storage estimate requires encoding songs as 64 kbps WMA, which bit rate is half that of Apples default of 128 kbps AAC, and roughly equivalent in fidelity to that of transmissions carried over tin cans and string, but which, perhaps, is not a dirty marketing trick, but, rather, a fair assessment, considering that anyone with such profoundly bad taste in industrial design who would consider purchasing this device probably also has such bad taste in music as not to notice that their 64 kbps-compressed songs sound like mush.

14. Sit back and recall, with tremendously smug satisfaction, a decades worth of tech industry punditry holding that superior design would never get Apple anywhere, and that Apple should instead, you know, be more like Dell.

1. See news item that Dell had released a new flash-memory-based music player to compete against the iPod Shuffle: the Dell DJ Ditty.

2. Note that no picture of said Ditty accompanies news item.

3. Visit dell.com.

4. Note that no picture of said Ditty appears on front page of dell.com, even after several reloads to cycle through random promotional images.

5. Search for ditty in text of front page of dell.com.

6. Note that ditty is not found.

7. Begin to suspect that even Dell is not very proud of this device.

8. Visit apple.com.

9. Note prominent and primary emphasis on luscious product porn of new iPod Nano.

10. Hop back to dell.com and search for Ditty in site-wide search box.

11. Note vague resemblance to a 50-cent Bic lighter:

12. Note footnote attached to claim in Product Highlights that the Ditty can pack 220 songs into 512 MB of memory, roughly twice the songs Apple claims can fit on a 512 MB iPod Shuffle.

13. Follow footnote to see explanation that this storage estimate requires encoding songs as 64 kbps WMA, which bit rate is half that of Apples default of 128 kbps AAC, and roughly equivalent in fidelity to that of transmissions carried over tin cans and string, but which, perhaps, is not a dirty marketing trick, but, rather, a fair assessment, considering that anyone with such profoundly bad taste in industrial design who would consider purchasing this device probably also has such bad taste in music as not to notice that their 64 kbps-compressed songs sound like mush.

14. Sit back and recall, with tremendously smug satisfaction, a decades worth of tech industry punditry holding that superior design would never get Apple anywhere, and that Apple should instead, you know, be more like Dell.

1. See news item that Dell had released a new flash-memory-based music player to compete against the iPod Shuffle: the Dell DJ Ditty.

2. Note that no picture of said Ditty accompanies news item.

3. Visit dell.com.

4. Note that no picture of said Ditty appears on front page of dell.com, even after several reloads to cycle through random promotional images.

5. Search for ditty in text of front page of dell.com.

6. Note that ditty is not found.

7. Begin to suspect that even Dell is not very proud of this device.

8. Visit apple.com.

9. Note prominent and primary emphasis on luscious product porn of new iPod Nano.

10. Hop back to dell.com and search for Ditty in site-wide search box.

11. Note vague resemblance to a 50-cent Bic lighter:

12. Note footnote attached to claim in Product Highlights that the Ditty can pack 220 songs into 512 MB of memory, roughly twice the songs Apple claims can fit on a 512 MB iPod Shuffle.

13. Follow footnote to see explanation that this storage estimate requires encoding songs as 64 kbps WMA, which bit rate is half that of Apples default of 128 kbps AAC, and roughly equivalent in fidelity to that of transmissions carried over tin cans and string, but which, perhaps, is not a dirty marketing trick, but, rather, a fair assessment, considering that anyone with such profoundly bad taste in industrial design who would consider purchasing this device probably also has such bad taste in music as not to notice that their 64 kbps-compressed songs sound like mush.

14. Sit back and recall, with tremendously smug satisfaction, a decades worth of tech industry punditry holding that superior design would never get Apple anywhere, and that Apple should instead, you know, be more like Dell.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productde tails.aspx/dj_ditty?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Since the linked story doesn't have pictures of the MP3 player in question, here's the official page from Dell. Enjoy.

If you're going to post an article about a new product, it might be helpful to post a link to the product. I kind of like being able to see pictures of what the article's about...

You can see the tech specs for the Latitude 110L.
It has two choices of OS:

Genuine Windows® XP Professional
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=f r&l=fr&s=gen

follow the link "Micro Portable Etudiant" and you should finally find the laptop...

The Dell Latitude line is geared toward business users. The Inspiron line is for home users. According to Dell's Linux page:

Dell does not officially support running Linux on Dell laptops."

So where can I order one of these things?

Dell does just fine using only Intel chips, despite flirting with AMD whenever they want to negotiate a sweet deal with Intel.

Anyone who thinks Apple will be unable ot sell every Mac they make (before and after the Intel switch).

Also, consider this -- do you think the ramifications of switching to AMD instead of Intel would have made all the investors who keep inching up Apple's stock happy?

I realize Apple is really doing well on the Wall Street because of the iPod... but computers (and the retail stores) account for about 50% of their business.

Every single one of the server companies is out of that business with the exception of Sun, which is trading at the same price it was back in 1996.

Why do you defend

Because I don't find selling an OS on a machine to be illegal. The fact that I can walk into Walmart and buy a machine running Linux shouldn't be illegal, and likewise with XP or OS X.

Computer vendors want to sell computers. They want to be competitive doing so. They know that most users are nothing at all like you or most other tach savvy people. So they want to install an OS that people already use, because it's easier to support, and because people won't bitch at them when they realize that their grandkid can't install a simple game on it. How does a vendor make the most of that situation? For many of them, they strike a deal with the company that makes the product most other people use.

But for some bumbling on their part, Apple would have been the fortunate ones (timing-wise). So might have Next, or IBM with OS/2.

To quote Balmer...

Know anyone, personally, that's worked with, say, Steve Jobs? Do you really think that Balmer is the only one who spouts off while in a pissy mood? Jobs is sometimes off the scale, that way. So is Scott McNealy sometimes. So is Larry Ellison. And I do believe we've even heard Linus quoted as being in a bad mood sometimes. Certainly Stallman has said any number of completely over-the-top things.

That's how they operate, and it's illegal and amoral.

So, right now, with every state and federal government agency continually breathing down their necks, your take on it is that Microsoft is actually writing "illegal" contracts? And no one but people who don't like them are noticing? It's funny, because when I buy servers from places like Dell, they're certainly happy to include, or not, the OS of my choice. Well, I can't get Novell anymore, or OS/2, but you get my point.

Maybe visit here, and notice that you can load up that server with various MS products, or with SUSE, or Red Hat, or nothing at all if that's what you want. Shockingly illegal, no doubt!

I know you have to pay for it, (i believe it's $179/yr) but dell has it's warranty parts direct program

Basically, if you know what's wrong, and the product is under warranty, you can go to a web page and order the part you need. No need to wait on hold for 30mins just to re-troubleshoot the problem with somebody reading from a script when you know that your hard drive is dead.

It took me three seconds to find this one. "Front and rear IEEE 1394 (firewire) ports and rear S/PDIF port."

Or if you live in the UK, you can pay twice the US price :(

Monitor: Dell 2005 FPW 20.1" Widescreen LCD
Totally awesome. Run it at its native resolution, of course, and no blurriness. I don't even get ghosting in FPSs. The monitor is beautiful and rock solid.

Mouse: Logitech MX610
Awesome mouse.

"Good companies have shown us time and time again, too many options confuse people and make them pissed off."

First, remember that most people don't buy operating systems. They buy computers.

Thus, when I go buy my Dell and buy a computer for my home, it will come with Windows Home Basic Edition because that will be cheaper and I know I don't want to buy a "Starter Edition"--I already have a computer. Dell will add Home Premium Edition" as an option with a "Dell Recommended" logo next to it.

If I'm doing the small business buy, I'll have a choice between the Professional Edition and the Small Business Edition. If I'm buying from their corporate store, I'll have a choice between the Professional Edition and the Corporate Edition.

Dell will sell the "Ultimate Edition" separately or with their gaming machines (since it has the games tweaker).

Second, remember that Microsoft makes most of their money selling to OEMs--not to consumers. The OEMs love this idea because it allows them to "upsell" to the consumer. So Dell can make a $199 computer with the Starter Edition and then make back an extra $100 by convincing the customer that they really will want the Basic Home Edition.

Heck, using Dell as an example, go to Dell's TV offer site and look at their $299 PC. Go through and add everything that says "Dell Recommends" (except for the warranty). The price is now $388. So Dell just got me to spend an extra $89.

The OEMs will whittle down the list of options to one or two depending on which store you go to and will make the whole thing palatable to the consumer.

$299 with 17 inch monitor right here at Dell. http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=D24VB1&s=dhs

[grabs a drive from desk]
It's a dead Quantum Atlas IV (SCSI):
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/6848 p/Jumpers.htm
[search of other drives]
Found some more dead IDE drives, which all lack a WP jumper.

yea, I know, I was partly trying to be funny by linking the guy-burned-his-privates-on-a-laptop story, and although ( to my surprise ) the machine he was using was an Intel® Mobile Pentium® III with 443BX/PIIX4m, if you believe the Inquirer story I linked to. I had just assumed it was one of those nutty Pentium IV laptops of the non-M variety. I don't really understand why you'd make a laptop with a Pentium IV 3.6GHz non-M chip, myself. I guess they just have to prove that battery life and heat issues don't matter to some laptop users. So you can play Doom3 on the coffee table, I guess.

I'm not saying that Apple laptops, especially the smaller-form-factor G4-variety laptops ( which I guess they're all G4s now, aren't they ? ) don't get hot- they do - but compared to these Pentium IV non-M machines, they've got to be downright cool... as cool as the fact that I was going for "funny" and got "interesting" ;-)

Dell is opening a plant in Winston Salem, NC this year.

The second market is for people who need a computer, but don't want cables and boxes and monitors and powerbars cluttering up their office. That's who machines like the Inspirion XPS Gen2 http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category. aspx/notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhsare are for. If you have a 17'', 10 lbs laptop, you don't want portability. You want a real computer, that looks nice and doesn't take too much space.

It's this second group that Raid-on-a-laptop would be perfect for.

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedg e/en/2800_specs.pdf

We just got one of these at work. Dual '930W' power supplies...

People should have been using FBSD for wifi access points and aggregation long ago. Glad to see the corporate folks have finally figured out how linux errodes the bottom line.

The
stupider
ones
haven't
figured
it
out
yet.
You'd
better
go
tell
them!

Celeron D processors with EM64T are now available starting at around $76. Dell is selling Celeron D EM64T desktops starting at around $612.

> Any links to validate this "Turkey Virus"?

I've found that...

> isn't the CRT physically designed to spread the electron beams evenly as to display a picture?

No, it isn't a TV set. The VGA cable is really controlling the electron beam. Well, it was... now there is some embedded electronic to do some adjustments and avoid to damage the tube (for example, using too high refresh rates).

Try xvidtune under X,
check the modeline doc in linux/Documentation/fb,
read that link.

(Now assuming you've read the last link and understand porch times)
Your VGA cable basically sends five signals : red green and blue controlling the energy of the three beams, and two sync signals controlling "next line" and "next screen". Usually porch times are constant, so you're drawing in a rectangle somewhere.
Changing horizontal porch times will move the image to the left or right, or modify the image width.
Changing vertical porch times will move the image to the top or bottom, or modify the image height.
Constantly changing porch times result in waving effects (as reported in the first link).

You are right... link from Henrico County Schools with config for Dell's http://premier.dell.com/portal/standardconfig.aspx ?c=US&l=en&s=eep&cs=RC1019970

It is PRECISELY that. I know, I worked on part of their hacked up Squid engine. Combine the mods to Squid with some DNS hackery and you've got a CDN to die for- if you sell the services for it (epicRealm couldn't for some reason beyond me at that and this time...).

In the context of this patent application, Page Server refers to a caching proxy that resides "local" to the server instead of the clients and has several modifications to it to allow it to be a vast pool of dumb bit shovels amplifying the app server and web server plant of a given site.

If you hack the Squid to accept expiry requests against the cache by a remote transponder network (one of my mods..) including wildcard removals (another one...), tell Squid to never expire content unless the cache is full or on a given timed event per domain or even URL (another one of my mods...), stack a raftload of them on a peering point, and have a DNS server network that points someone when they ask for say, http://www.dell.com/ for example, to the Squid rack nearest to the caller and then let the Squids in the rack look up normally, you have a CDN that's easier to use than Akamai ever was- and these stupid idiots couldn't even sell it to people; they were so enamoured with the ability to handle "dynamic" content that they forgot that the bulk wasn't even close to that and that they could have mopped the floor with Akamai with the static abilities of the whole system.

Burned through 70-80 million of private placement funds in less than a year they did. Now they've resorted to bottom feeding. Keith, how low can you stoop, man?

I'd be concerned about speed. I used a similar printer to this at school, and it would take almost a full 5 minutes before it started to print. I'm not about to place blame squarely on the printer (our network sucks), but I've never seen a printer with that type of performance.

Also, I've noticed that there are a lot of color lasers that look identical to this one. Chances are it's an OEM equivalent of some tiwanese model....

Don't buy Dell.

I don't. If it hasn't been pointed out a million times already, the majority of the consumers out there simply don't know any better. For example, I recently recommended to someone the $300 Dell Dimension 2400 only to find that the sales rep talked them into upgrading to a "better model" so that they could get a 19" LCD "bundled" (note that Dell won't offer things like a DVD-R or large LCD monitor with their low-end stuff - that's how they getcha).

I tried to explain that they could have just ordered the PC and monitor separately but this was obviously well over their head. They didn't care. In the end, they ended up paying over $1000 so they could do basic internet, email and photo printing.

Lovely.

Inkjet printers are a scam, played on a public that doesn't know any better.

They're doing it with laser printers, too. $25 for a USB cable and $65 for toner.

The people responsible for this greed will pay one day.

Why yes, yes it does.

now that is just false, look on the far right:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.a spx/desktops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

299 dollars for the bare minimum. And that is 200 cheaper than the mac mini(about 40%). And this is why apple couldn't beat MS. Yes, its prodcuts are worth the extra 40% in some idealisitic measurement. But if all Iwant is a computer I can research with and type of reports, that 200$ means a lot. So while that mac has lots of other features, it just isn't useful(frankly, I can do without the dashboard, even though it's cool).

I love reading these junk posts from self declared experts in CPU architecture, if only there were in charge the world would be perfect ...

He's right. Go look at the power requirements and rack footprints of Sun and IBM's latest.

Compare this 2U quad Dell that draws 2400 watts with this Sun 2U 4-way that with 4 dual cores has twice as many CPUs but still only draws 760W.

Gee, twice as many CPU cores and less than 1/3 the power (and therefore heat).

Don't you feel fucking stupid now?

Completely bare workstations may be difficult. They do however sell workstations with Linux preloaded. They aren't cheap desktops, but they are desktops.

There's no company out there that is going to support third-party products... that one is just dumb.

True, to an extent. Some companies, however, do support third-party hardware. For a fee. And they make quite the tidy profit from that, too. Most people (joe sixpack, not ubergeeks like us) are quite willing to pay between $50 and $200 to a company to get a computer problem fixed. Just look at Dell's new Helpdesk support, or GeekSquad. People pay for that level of service, and it is quite readily available.

I agree, though, no manufacturer in thier right mind will provide this level of service for free on a system that only cost $300. They used to be able to (Dell used to support pretty much anything, as long as it was hooked to a Dell computer, but that was when they could make profit on the system itself.) These days the profit margin is in the add-ons, not the system.

Disclaimer: I do work for Dell.

A word of warning;

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/mess age?board.id=oplex_other&message.id=16846&query.id =319629

In case you start having weird problems, don't blame it on Linux unless you've checked (and double-checked) for faulty hardware.

How about here:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.a spx/tower?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Or for a non-x86 solution here:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productde tails.aspx/pedge_7250?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

How about here:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.a spx/tower?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Or for a non-x86 solution here:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productde tails.aspx/pedge_7250?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Suse or Red Hat you say? What about no OS?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc430sapp&s=bsd

Of course the PCI Express video slot is only 8x but there are a slew of web pages on how to modify that to take a 16x card (running at 8x speed).

THe 300$ "server" is an even better deal. (still only has the 8x though).

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc420-min&s=bsd

Suse or Red Hat you say? What about no OS?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc430sapp&s=bsd

Of course the PCI Express video slot is only 8x but there are a slew of web pages on how to modify that to take a 16x card (running at 8x speed).

THe 300$ "server" is an even better deal. (still only has the 8x though).

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc420-min&s=bsd

What support? Indeed. None.

Here's a blantant example of how Microsoft has everyone in their pocket:

Dell Dimension 2400 w/ Windows XP = $299

Same PC w/ FreeDOS = $319

Now someone tell me how Microsoft prices Windows XP $20 cheaper than the same PC with a free operating system.

Here's a blantant example of how Microsoft has everyone in their pocket:

Dell Dimension 2400 w/ Windows XP = $299

Same PC w/ FreeDOS = $319

Now someone tell me how Microsoft prices Windows XP $20 cheaper than the same PC with a free operating system.

Actualy, the more comparable Dell configuration is this $626 config, with no monitor but with a combo drive, wireless networking, firewire, and the XP Pro operating system (which is more comparable to OS X than XP Home is), if you add $59 to the price of the mini for the keyboard and mouse and take say $65 off the price of the Dell for the printer (i.e., Apple $658 versus Dell $551). That's assuming that Apple has killed their "buy a Mac with a printer and get $100 back" deal.

I'm sorry, but you can't expect a $499 computer to include a 6800U. A Radeon 9200/32MB is competive even with Dell. Comparing against a $550 dell: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=D30CVB2&s=dhs

The dell only includes an Intel Integrated Extreme Graphics 2, with no dedicated VRAM. When it comes to graphics performance, there is no comparison (admittedly, the dell does include a 15" analong flat panel).

The $599 Mac Mini is a great bargain. For just $100 more than the base unit, you get...

...a PC that is $300 more than a $299 Dell?

The one's I was thinking about were the Dimension series. They indeed have the BTX-design which you mentioned as you can see here

But not just Dell, it seems that overall efford is made for more silent operation of PC's en more efficient cooling sollutions; I replaced my ThermalTake with a 'silent cooler' (Spire Whisper IV to be more precise) which was cheaper as my ThermalTake and more then half more silent (according to the specs), with just a little gain in temperature.