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Dell To Sell To Retailers
dmarx writes "The Boston Globe reports that Dell, which has heretofore sold only through its website, direct to consumers, will now sell generic computers to dealers. This marks a shift in Dell's business model."
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Back in 95 they tried a build to order system with Touch Screen kiosks in some Price Clubs (Soon to be Costco)
I worked on the kiosk system... it was kinda cool...
They didn't sell many systems though...
My first PC was a dell dimension 386 SX-25 with 2MB RAM bought back around 1992/1993.. and it was bought at a Price Club.. now known as CostCo. So I'm not sure that statement is entirely accurate..
You crazy man? You piss off supahfly!
Depends. Their budget line does (often via an integrated chipset) but a lot of their higher end machines use AGP cards like Radeons and GeForces. Haven't looked in a while so I can't tell you specifically, but as far as computer companies go, Dell's actually not so bad. If I had to get a prebuilt system, I'd buy a Dell.
I have a 4-year-old Dell laptop. My mom has a 6-year-old Dell laptop. I have a 3-year-old tower. My brother has a 4-year-old tower. My dad has a 1-year-old tower. My step-mother has a 1-year-old tower. We have several servers at work that are also Dells. I may have left one or two out. Sure, it's a bit of brand loyalism, but it has paid off. Every one of the aformentioned machines is still rock solid to this day. The only maintenance has been upgrades for more RAM/HDD space and the like. Honestly, my friends and I haven't had any such luck with other brands. When the screws fell out of my laptop (I guess cuz of too much abuse on camping trips), a Dell tech was at my house next day with a little bag of screws. You really can't beat that. I've had nothing but good luck out of Dells. Although I run my own custom-built system, I always recommend other not-so-technically-inclined users to Dell just for the stability and support you get out of them. That makes for fewer tech support calls to my cell phone and that makes me a happy person.
I wonder if the generic systems are going to be just as stable. Are they going to have to rebrand all of their parts (since all the stuff in the past 2-3 years has had Dell printed EVERYWHERE!) Maybe a migration towards not-so-proprietary hardware. In that case...d00d! Yer getting a white-box Dell! (Sorry, had to do it...gotta fit in with the rest of the posts).
And a side note about the Dell dude: Apparently he isn't much different in person. Or so I've been told by friends of mine who have met him (the Dell dude and I are from the same home town).
Sure, I think that the prospective costs of a "whitebox" computer could definately let someone purchase a Dell computer for a great deal cheaper than they can get directly from the online Dell store. I think a lot of the markup on most major brands (not just PCs, but this applies to everything from clothing to cars and then some) is the brand name. There's always someone out there who has a similar product for less price. Just take a walk through your local grocery store and you'll see all the generic brands available, side-by-side with the name brands, and the costs are a lot less. So now that Dell is selling these systems without their logo, the price will drop off a bit for the end customer. Of course the cost of a service agreement, or tech support may not change. And with Dell pushing to get all their systems manufactured overseas (Mexico & China mainly), the cost of these systems can come down a bit more. Though personally I think the prices won't drop as far as they could, otherwise it would dig into the profit margin too much. And like any other company, Dell is in business to make money. It's just too bad for me that the company I work for is closing this location in November due to Dell pushing for overseas manufacturing of their cases and other components. It's been fun to see the new system designs a year or more ahead of the general public. And what's coming down the pipe for next year looks really cool. Just wish Dell would use these new case designs for their "whitebox" systems, and not go back to the boring beige box look of the past.
My most recent example...at home, my Dell monitor gave out--flicking and being all blurry on me. I had my wife (who's not really a super-technical person) call up the next day when I was at work...
Basically, they said the monitor line was defective, I was still under warrenty (bought the computer 2 1/2 years ago with a 3 year warrenty), and they would send a new one within 2-3 business days. (This was on a Thursday, by the way.)
Great! I totally didn't expect them to do jack, especially not replace my monitor that quickly.
So...what do they do? Monitor on my doorstep via Airborne Express at 11am THE NEXT MORNING.
Yes, they overnighted me a new monitor when I was in year 2 1/2 of the most basic warrenty--all when they made no promises to me any sooner than 2-3 business days. (Meaning Tuesday or Wednesday the next week. Obvously, I wasn't thrilled about having no monitor for 5 days.)
So, in my experience, Dell's service is outstanding. They get a big thumbs up from me.
-Jayde
What's a sig?
What ever you do don't go through Dell Financial Services. My experience with them was so bad that I will gladly waste karma and time to tell people.
Some things:
1. I received a rude bill for $.05(no kidding)
2. I was called numerous time after I paid off my entire bill saying I better pay or they would report me.
3. One time I received a call asking me if I had the decency to return their calls.(After I already had)
4. If you paid more than the monthly bill it would screw everything up on their end.
5. Can't pay a bill on their web site, and they make it nearly impossible to pay over the phone.
They are so bad I almost think they do it on purpose to squeeze out more money from "customers".
If anyone has any info I would like to hear it.