Dell's Open PC Costs More Than Windows Box

fist_187 writes "In this article at The Register, they show thath Dell's Open PC costs more than a PC shipped with Windows XP. That's right, getting a PC with a blank hard drive costs more than the same hardware running Windows XP." From the article: "As it turns out, Dell's sales staffers have a secret web page for the product that you can't find with normal search tactics. A kind lass we'll call 'M' pointed us here. On this site, Dell presents a couple different versions of the mysterious E510n. The lowest-end system starts at $774 and is exactly like the boxes above - including the free flat panel - except it has 512MB of memory. For some reason, Dell told reporters that the box starts at $849 - yet another one of the odd sales tactics surrounding this "open source" kit. [Following the publication of our story, Dell raised the price of the PC back up to $849. See the sales pages below for the original $774 price comparisons.]"

Comments

Obvious, actually

[lastberserker]

Computers with Windows XP are stuffed to the roof with trialware and services that kick back the cost. Those with empty hard drives are, well, empty. What's so hard to grasp here?

Re:Obvious, actually

[Lesrahpem]

No, I think the reason we're bitching is because we're paying more for less.

Re:Think they might have noticed the slashdot dire

[benjamindees]

No, it's been that way for a while. The FreeDOS boxes have always (as long as I remember) been more expensive than an equivalent box with XP.

I don't know what kind of deal they have with Microsoft to make that happen, but I suspect it is more than just the AOL and McAfee add-ons that they can bundle with XP.

Re:Resell Windows

[Afrosheen]

Building your own is great, but when you're freelancing as a consultant, and you have clients, you don't want to worry about what you build, and that's where Dell and others come in. Plus it's easy to sell people on Dell machines, at home or at offices, since alot of them already use them at work. Every time you say 'I can build one FOR you..' they get this strange look and their eyes usually glaze over. For some reason, they accept the fact that you can fix pc's but not build them.

Re:Build it yourself?

[BobandMax]

I buy ~250k/year of Dell PCs. We do not have the time, staffing or patience to sort through myriad component problems. They are all Dell Optiplex and Latitude machines with three year warranties and Complete Care. If it breaks, it's Dell's problem. We just don't have time for anything else. If some shop has the time to screw with this stuff, they have too many IT staff and are pissing away money for nothing.

Re:Resell Windows

[davmoo]

The only reason left these days to build your own is if you want specific components, or you just want the experience. Economic reasons to build your own died when Walmart and other big-box stores started offering PCs for $299.

You'll never get fired for recommending Dell.

[WoTG]

I wouldn't ever consider building a PC for a client these days. Why build for someone as a consultant? You're just asking for trouble. Machines have fairly high failure rates no matter what brand or components you use. I'd rather point people to Dell so that when something breaks, I'm covered. =) Besides, with PC prices the way they are, how much can you save your clients anyway? Especially once you factor in the cost of your time.

Re:You'll never get fired for recommending Dell.

[shaitand]

"Why build for someone as a consultant?"

People tend to call the company who built their pc's to fix them.

"You're just asking for trouble. Machines have fairly high failure rates no matter what brand or components you use. I'd rather point people to Dell so that when something breaks, I'm covered. =)"

And yet, somehow, Dell seems to turn a profit on these high failure rate systems. Dell offers a 90-120 day warranty. The odds of something going wrong with a pc in that time at all, and even more the odds of something going wrong in that time that is not billable are pretty slim. If you put 20 systems in a lab something has to go wrong with each and every one that takes several hours to fix before your cash flow goes out of the green and that is just on the initial sale. Even if you broke even after hardware difficulties residual business after the warranty term will put you back into the green.

"Besides, with PC prices the way they are, how much can you save your clients anyway? Especially once you factor in the cost of your time."

Not much. Of course you can offer them systems with increased reliability and/or performance than Dell can. Last I checked Dell and every other major brandname use the cheapest proprietary components on the market that will get them up to the "specs" that consumers are looking for.

The other thing to consider is that while you will not beat the price of the Dell by much at least you will keep the profits instead of giving Dell a handout. You can offer your customer a superior machine at the same or lower price AND on-call in-house expertise that Dell can't even begin to compete with.

Re:No, not the case

[Arker]

When you use software, you actually make a copy of it to your computer, something not necessiarly permitted by copyright law.

No, it is specifically allowed by copyright law, it's the normal use of software.

Re:Informative? Plain old wrong.

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

May I direct you to Exclusive rights in copyrighted works. I quote: "(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;"

May I direct you to Limitations on exclusive rights: Effect of transfer of particular copy or phonorecord. I quote: "a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106 (3), the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord."

In other words, while the owner of the copyright can license for rental, if they sell the copy instead of merely renting it, then the right of first sale says they no longer have control over the where/what/when of that copy.