Slashdot Mirror
Dell fights Alien Invasion
Asakawa writes "With manufacturers like Alienware and Voodoo sucking up the low-volume/high-margin high-end gaming market, it looks like Dell wants a piece of the action. The machine that these guys have reviewed looks pretty awesome, but they reckon it's overpriced. It will be interesting to see if Dell can shake off its grey box image and entice the more fussy gamers and enthusias."
It's just not the same if its not a clone. The only good gaming rig is pimped out, with glowing-thingimabobers and cooling fit for space shuttle components on re-entry.
Dell has too much work ahead of them for this really to be a feasible switch. Further, this isn't really that large of a market. I'll be surprised if they've got that much to gain by controlling another market.
I'm probably at the karma cap. Mod up a funny troll instead, it lightens the mood
Isn't high price rather an advantage when marketing toys for people with too much money? It works for the people who sell high-end hi-fi equipment...
Unfortunately for Dell, the market for the gamer revolves around the potential for business from the uninformed gamer. Every gamer I know (and indeed, myself) builds their own system for the fraction of the cost of buying an Alienware or a Dell that has the same specs. Indeed, as often as hardcore gamers upgrade their systems, none of these manufacturers can hope to provide the kind of support I'd need to make it worth my while. Perhaps if they offered free hardware upgrades for two years, I could see spending an extra 500-1500 dollars for the same exact system that I could build by surfing Pricewatch.com.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
and you can select any OS you want, as long as it's Microsoft Windows XP, right?
Have you seen many high-end gaming systens running Linux? This isn't the free-as-in-beer or free-as-in-freedom market.
You want to conquer a high-end gaming market with a Mac OS machine?
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
How many people seriously play games over this res?
For one thing, computers that can play Doom III and the like at higher than 1280x1024 are not expected to exist until sometime in the 24th century.
For another, there are several things that make serious gaming waaay more enjoyable than straight-out resolution, including graphics card quality settings and refresh rate. Most decent monitors will still start to lose refresh rate above 1024x768... if you want anything close to 85-100Hz at higher than 1280x1024 you are talking about insanely expensive equipement.
IMHO most modern games are best played at 1024x768 on a decent gaming rig. You get beautifully high frame rates, and with a decent video card you can have all the quality settings absolutely cranked, whilst running at 100Hz or higher on your monitor to go extra easy on the eyes.
Anyone who claims they 'need' much higher resolutions is full of it.
Read Pynchon.
Nah, he's just pointing out that the Dell machine is hideously expensive for what you get. Nobody else seems to have understood this so far.
"It will be interesting to see if Dell can shake off it's grey box image and entice the more fussy gamers and enthusiasts."
;-)
I think Dell's reputation is for black boxes, and they've shaken that off by making this one blue...
From the review: "The power button sits impressively in the top right hand corner and moodily glows yellow when switched on."
Okay, very nice. Looks exactly like a normal dell case to me, complete with the silly front-panel door that always falls off, the interior layout set in stone, with the assumption that nothing will ever be replaced inside, and the 2-man-lift bulk of a computer so large it doesn't fit in any normal location. I never noticed how 'moody' the power lights were before though. Presumably I should be downright spooked by seeing 20 of them illuminating us at work.
It's an interesting review, with no mention of anything important. Do we really care how smart and silvery the Dell logo is, when the technical aspect of this review is limited to mentioning the CPU speed, and the name of the graphics card?
Yeah, kinda like how Apple moved into the music biz with the iPod and ITMS, 'cause they've been dying for, what, 10 years now?
And how exactly is Dells' attempts to break into a niche market a sign that their consumer products are going the way of the dinosaurs? Didn't they dominate the market last quarter?
Now, to be sure, your comment is true for certain businesses, like Gateway, but I doubt that it applies to Dell. MS is also going after 'other business'. Are they 'on the way down', references to Hell aside?
(tig)
Ignorance and prejudice and fear
Walk hand in hand
It looks like Dell is simply trying to offer up a games oriented PC on the cheap without upsetting their system too much. This would be sort of like building sports cars on the same assembly line as compact economy cars. The sports cars would get a different body and a few performance tweaks, but would essentially be the same old economy cars underneath with a significantly higher price. This sort of thing would garner some casual driving enthusiasts, but the hardcore enthusiasts who actually look carefully under the covers, would not be fooled by this.
It isn't really clear who they plan to sell XPS systems to. The hardcore market, as others here have commented, would likely build their own machines with higher performance for the same or less cost than the XPS. That leaves what I'll call the Mom and Pop market buying computers for their kids. This market might buy the XPS, but would be scared off by such a pricey machine that would probably be used to play games rather than doing homework. The kids would have to push them to buy this, and well, Dell just isn't cool right now (Apple is!). So I guess Dell needs to bring back that stoner dude to rev up those back to school sales!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Dell can want to sell me a machine all they want, but they won't get my business because:
You left out:
Deliberately breaking standards for no good reason.
Need to replace the power supply in a Dell box?
Better buy it from Dell for a hefty markup or you just might toast your motherboard.
Life is too short to proofread.
Dell has been making these XPS systems for well over half a year...
So I guess Coca-Cola was "on the way down" when they tried that crazy "Dasani" idea.
Pleeeze....
The case looks cheap. The guts look cheap and messy. The style of the outside is reminiscent of Alienware and the positioning of the PSU is reminiscent of G5's.
It seems like some clueless executive has seen an opportunity to reap big profits and has quickly slapped some crap together to cash in.
Summary: Has all the class and style of one of those people you see walking around with the no-name cheap asian iPod-styled flash-based MP3 players with white headphones.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Dell is different. You usually see them coming in organisations with HP or IBM (and 7 years ago Apple) on their way out. This is done on price. Usually with a big 'contractual discount', so you'll forget checking in with HP once in a while.
But the trouble is then, the competition has vanished. There's no way you can ask someone else for an offer on Dell than your Dell account manager.
So, as an IT manager you really need to stay in check with technical developments, realism and pricing in the rest of the market since Dell will try to upsell you all kinds of crap for a premium when you don't really need it.
Dell, not a cheap as you'd think!