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Dell Rethinking the Direct-Sales Market
Dell has always sold directly to consumers via their web site and phone operations; it's a basic element of their business. Chairman and chief executive Michael Dell is now conceding that the company may need to rethink basic practices by considering alternative methods of selling their products. While initially no specifics are given, the thought seems to be than eventually the company will begin working with a retail chain. "Dell's direct model came under pressure as the market for PCs shifted to notebooks from desktops last year. It is harder to custom configure notebook computers, so they had to be manufactured in advance, which lost Dell some of its cost advantage. In addition, consumers were showing a preference for touching and feeling a notebook PC before buying it."
TFA: >Michael Dell is now conceding that the company may need to....begin working with a retail chain.
Hah! I said this last week when we were talking about HP beating them in sales.
for touching and feeling.
I have nothing more to add.
Dell has always sold directly to consumers via their web site and phone operations;
No they haven't. Dell got their start by selling through smaller computer chain stores before their direct phone/catalog sales and the invention of the WWW.
Say hello to my little sig.
Let's not forget the fact that while Dell laptops are oftentimes nice machines, their enclosures are hideous, clunky pieces of plastic that can't hold a candle to Thinkpads or Macbooks.
How do you stock up to date hardware in brick and mortar stores? I never buy from physical stores because everything is lagging 3 months behind in price and technology.
We are all just people.
...considering how your average Dell customer is probably not the most tech literate, might have boogeyman type issues with buying something online, and might not have a Dell booth at a mall near them.
Remember the days when tech journalists were drooling all over themselves, and predicting the end of all other computer companies because Dell had found the Holy Grail to ever increasing sales and growth? Today... not so much. /Love my Dell Axim x51v. Best PocketPC ever, and paid only $325 dollars. Couple that with a bluetooth phone and StowAway Bluetooth keyboard, best portable PC ever.
It is harder to custom configure notebook computers, so they had to be manufactured in advance
I think that this might have to do with the shift to the laptop market. A shift that I am not convinced is permanent. And if the shift to the laptop is permanent, there will have to be changes.
This might seem like an overly harsh judgement, but to me the major reason for adopting laptops is sex appeal. Most people who want laptops seem to be impressed by how sleek they look, and by how cool it is to hang around in a coffee shop with a laptop. I know there are plenty of people who need laptops for their jobs, but I still think the majority of people are looking at them as an accessory. And most of these people don't know what they are getting into, because after a year or so, when the proprietary screen cracks, or the proprietary power supply goes dead, or any of the other little pieces no longer work, people are very surprised that they have to spend time and money searching for a replacement.
I think that as the laptop market matures, and people have this happen, there may be some demand to standardize laptop parts. This will change both how easy it is to custom make laptops, amongst other things.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
My wife is an absolute novice to PCs. Heretofore, she used a WebTV unit,
and the prospect of "migrating" to a PC was very daunting to her. Plus,
the fact that she's an inveterate skinflint, she was very reluctant to
spend a lot of money on a laptop for herself.
We shopped at the Apple store in Town Center, Boca Raton, and while we
liked their product line very much, we felt that it was too expensive.
We visited the Dell kiosk in the same mall and got a (slightly) lower price,
for equivalent hardware and Windows XP, making sure that it would be upgradeable
to Vista (allegedly).
We then went to a local Staples, and ended up buying an HP laptop with the
same processor, memory and disk capacity as the Dell, with Windows XP, for
about 35% less than what the twit in the Dell kiosk quoted us, which appeared
to be basically the same price I'd obtained the evening before over the net
from the DellDirect web site.
This all took place between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I used my EPP discount on the HP website and bought myself a nice(r) HP laptop
as well.
Now, we all know the games that are played during the Christmas buying season,
but this, IMNSHO, ranks as about as ridiculous as it gets. It didn't surprise us
when the industry reports started oozing out in late January and into February
showing that HP had trounced Dell during the Christmas season. They lost on price,
and their reputation in the Consumer Reports ratings didn't help, either.
(Parenthetically, I wanted to be able to get my wife an Apple, but she didn't
want to see $2k plunked down on a 15" 1.73GHz Intel laptop that she might not be
able to learn how to use. Apple's features and look-and-feel were stupendous, and
they deserve a lot of credit - it's a beautiful product, but it costs too damned much!!)
BTW, the laptop that I bought for myself was made in (P.R.)China, and I was able to
track its journey from the factory near Shanghai to my front door via FedEx's web site.
Kind of mind blowing for this computer industry (DEC-CPQ-HPQ) retiree...
There is something wrong with Dell's business model and/or cost structure and Mikey
needs to fix it yesterday if he's to have a credible chance of turning Dell Computer around.
What they need is to have new models. The difference between theirs and say a cheap chinese model is minimal. They need to start innovating again. If they start selling Linux, that is to their advantage. If they developed new ideas, rather than just rebranding others, that is to their advantage. But as it stands, Dell will continue losing ground esp if they start selling their system via regular sales channels.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Coming from someone who used to work at a retailer who serviced machines - Dells are the WORSE. The quality of their product has gone downhill ever since the late ninties - and now are just horseshit. Specialized cheap hardware with crappy support. They reap what they sew in this case. People have stopped shopping with Dell not because they are direct-to-customer - they have stopped because the product is poor, and there are better alternatives now.
Creating a retail chain? Didn't Gateway do this (and fail soon thereafter)?
Yeah, I find it really odd that while the rest of the world seemingly moved on, Dell still makes laptops that are vaguely reminiscent of plumbing fixtures.
Squarish corners, clean, straight lines, and monotone color schemes are in; Dell's laptops all cheap and plasticky compared to Apple's or IBM/Lenovo's. In particular, the two-tone color scheme they seem to like just emphasizes the seams in the case, rather than minimizing them like a single color (white, black, silver -- doesn't really matter) would. And round corners say 'toy' while square ones say 'tool,' which I think is something they ought to be going for.
What's particularly odd is that although (at least in the black color), the better IBM/Lenovo laptops really haven't changed too much in external appearance over the years -- their styling is pretty consistent -- Dell's somehow end up looking more "dated," even though they've presumably been designed more recently.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
I hate-hate-hate the Toshiba inverted upside down "L" enter key. It's impossible to work with. So, I stay away from *all* Toshiba laptops online, because I don't have the tactile in-person guarantee that I will find their keyboard acceptable.
I'm pretty sure that's not just a Toshiba thing, or at least they didn't really invent it. I used to have a Panasonic electric typewriter (one of the very late, high-speed, daisy-wheel ones) that had the same thing. I was never clear on what its purpose was, or if it was a Japanese thing or a legacy of some older typewriter keyboard. (Oddly enough, though, modern Panasonic computers such as the Toughbooks don't have it.)
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
... liquidate the company's assets and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders.
No it doesn't. Apple's stock price just shot through $100, they are making 35% profit on them.
If people weren't buying macs, Apple would be going out of business.
It may be they cost too damned much for you, ever heard the expression 'buy cheap buy twice' ?
I just helped a friend configure/buy a Latitude D620 notebook (wouldn't typically recommend the Inspiron bricks) through the Dell website for the express reason that it DID allow so many detailed configuration options!
You can specify everything, from RAM sizes per stick and hard drive speed right down to varying partition options.
Lack of such options was *the* primary factor that pushed me away from HP or Toshiba (ugh, that was a horrid site), which mostly locked you into preconfigured models.
(FWIW -- I'd still go with Thinkpad T or Z series if budget allows.)
What you want is irrelevant; what you've chosen is at hand! - Spock, ST VI
I had a Dell Inspiron i8k. While it was a beast to lug around, I loved the thing. I took it around the world 3 times - my back has less fond memories - but never have I sat at a laptop since with such a reassuring feeling of robust design, right up there with the Apple G3 but with a better keyboard. I dropped it several times, tipped fortified wine all over it, used it in clubs and bars on a world tour and suffered upon it all manner of other sins to the soul of electric things.. yet never did it yield. There was once a problem with a screen artifact but Dell service was next day and on-site. I was very impressed by this.
Admittedly however, the laptop looked fairly hideous.
Dell has (supposedly) the best record for building systems that do the least damage to the environment and really ought to push this angle in the marketplace. That, coupled with a case that doesn't try to look like an unmanned autonomous aircraft - and offering Linux preinstalled (Ubuntu ideally) - would do well to the ends of lifting Mr. Dell out of stagnancy.
It's not just slick styling. Laptops are powerful machines, portable, use less power, and you have easy wireless connectivity. Most of the people I know prefer laptops over desktops. I went to the iMac which is a nice desktop system made out of laptop components, and besides the very nice 24" screen I kind of wish I had got a MacBook instead just so I can take it with me if I wanted too...
Here in New Zealand I see low end Dells in "the Warehouse" a vaguely costco-like warehouse chain
Whenever sales go into the crapper, it's every direct-model vendor's sworn duty to look at "the channel". I can't tell you how many times Dell's announced that they'll do right by "the channel" who uniformly hates Dell's very existence for sins over two decades. Dell's advertisements dissed "the channel", and each time Dell tried to bolster sales by stuffing alternate channels with product, the price dropped out like a rock, no one made any money, and Dell got a nice looking quarter to report to Wall Street. Yet people fall for it every time.
It's like the Look-Mikey Uses Linux PR that so many swallowed hook, line, and sinker.
Dell was built on direct sales. They do it very well. They found that they can't do support out of India for domestic North American consumption, and so their costs are up. Once again, they'll have to squeeze somebody to make their quarter look good to Wall Street. Guess who it is this time.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
While initially no specifics are given, the thought seems to be than eventually the company will begin working with a retail chain.
I know all those words, but that statement makes no sense.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Every time I call Dell service, I get some guy who requests a number from my PC.
:( And once you open up an action, they won't stop calling you with updates. And the guys on the other end are telling you to "wait 5 minutes" and then you say "Ok" and they tell you to "wait 5 minutes" and you agree and they tell you to "wait 5 minutes" and then you say "I will wait 5 minutes" and then they finally put you on hold.
I OWN TWO DELL MONITORS
Actually, I did buy a PC on my account, but I bought it for my parents and it is 7 states away.
So when I call in for technical support for my monitors, one of which had a short circuit last weekend, it takes at least an hour to even begin actioning the call. I have to explain that this is in no way related to the computer that I don't actually OWN, and it relates to DELL monitors that are not associated with a DELL computer in any way, shape or form.
It was like pulling teeth. They did replace the monitor though; with one that has a large line of dead pixels straight down the middle. So they're replacing that one too.
Pain in the ass.
Around here, they have Dell kiosks in the mall to showcase their products. Sort of like the sony stores. You can go an touch and see a Dell, and then order it up and it gets delivered to your door.
Its good marketing. Even if the kiosks never actually sell a unit, just having them out there will give the 'i wanna touch it' crowd that security so they can go home and order online with confidence -- and hey I'm not mocking them, I am in that crowd. You really have to feel a laptop to determine its weight, get a sense of its build quality, feel the keyboard and trackpad, evaluate screen viewing angle, brightness etc.
Plus it strengthens the brand recognition, and can put a human face on the transaction.
All these things benefit Dell.
http://www.google.com/search?q=CostCo
It answers your question. It tells you which letter is/isn't uppercase. Google is your friend.
Personally, I could hardly care less what it looks like.
What matters is: is it easy to use? Can I use the mouse with my thumbs? Is the screen readable in sunlight? Is the 'enter' key big enough that I can't miss it? Does it have a caps lock light so that I don't shout inadvertently? Does it have a fast processor? And lots of RAM? Oh, and does it have Linux?
Give me all of that for a reasonable price and it can look like a dog turd for all I care.
A few years ago, I applied to work for a shopping mall kiosk where people could get hands-on with Dells and purchase them as well.
Costco has been selling Dells for years.
I buy 20 or so Dells each year and I've always done it through their website. I'd never go to the store and buy a pre-configured computer unless it was really well configured and/or really cheap.
Often in Error, Never in Doubt.
Selling through retail chain would probably backfire for dell at some point, since the customers, able to examine and touch dell laptops before buying would see for themselves how crappy Dells laptop keyboards are.
If a major company like this pushes Linux on the desktop, can you guarantee that they will get no sales? Back in the old days, when Compaq, IBM, HP, Dec, and SGI were not supporting Linux on their systems, everybody claimed that it would never sell. Once these companies started selling it on servers, they saw major jumps. Point is nobody really knows what will happen.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
When I worked at Best Buy I can't tell you how many people I had come up to me and ask me where we kept out Dells. After I told them that we didn't sell Dell computers, they would walk out.
Most people that buy a Dell (your average consumer), are not aware that the hardware lags three to four months behind. They simply want a machine that can run latest game x or be used for college course y or whatnot.
They aren't going to know the difference unless it is something major. Dell knows this. They also know that consumers who want the latest items and prices are usually smart enough to look online. By working with retailers they will reach a larger consumer market.
There is always a frontier where there is an open and willing mind
As another poster commented, Dell is just as crappy as the others; and vice versa. In that regard they have changed. Dell was, for a while, a lot better. The idea was that you could buy a Dell online or by phone or mail and you would have no problems. If people think they will have problems they want someone local to scream at. The only way Dell could sell the way they did was by making a product so good people would trust their quality completely.
Not only has Dell's quality slipped, their service has become really miserable. I was thinking about buying a notebook from them so I did some Googling. There were lots of horror stories. It would take months before people could get permission to return machines with obvious hardware problems. Naturally, I gave up on the idea of buying a Dell. I bought a used Thinkpad instead.
As for the reason for the rise in notebook sales... Notebooks have always been a better soloution then desktops to typical consumers. They can do anything a regular pc can, plus they are portable. The difference is that over the past few years the price of notebooks has droped so much that they are usually only a $0-$300 more than a desktop with the same features.
Step 1: prove to me your computer is not a lemon
Step 2: give me financing
Step 3: profit
...and probably never will.
;) It's a win all around.
I am on a disability support pension, and get around $500 AUD for hardware upgrades, once every 12 months. There is a local (relatively small) computer repair place near where I live, which I go to every year. Because I went there last year, and am almost certain to go there next year, the guy there realises that although it isn't much, my money is a relatively sure thing for him. Not only that, I've managed to get him some additional business from other family members at times as well.
Due to the above however, I am able to get a new case, motherboard, processor, and ram from him for that $500 (maybe $580) each year. This also means that I can buy a box one year, and a monitor the next, at the rate that I can afford it.
If I went to one of the chain stores here and asked for a Dell, I wouldn't be quoted a price of much less than $2,000, and the only way I could hope to pay for that would be on credit, which being on a pension I probably wouldn't be able to get. Due to the precarious nature of my financial situation I also wouldn't want it, even if they were willing to give it to me.
Dell (and the other big OEMs) are a bad thing, in my mind. In addition to the inflexibility on price, I've known a couple of other people who've bought complete systems and been given faulty hardware; I myself got burned on that score the one time I was able to do it. Not only that, Microsoft's monopoly only really exists because of people like Michael Dell; his profit margin per unit is so small that they are able to bully him in terms of the price of Windows, and dictate that people pay such things as the "Microsoft tax," as well as making it as difficult as it is for other operating systems (such as Linux) to enter the market.
I realise that for some people, technical knowledge and other reasons prevent them from going to the little guy and buying parts; but if you can do it, I advocate it. Not only will it be cheaper in most instances, in my experience you have less chance of getting faulty hardware, and you also don't end up supporting one of the big corporate behemoths that I know people on Slashdot hate so much.
Maybe it's time for standardized components for laptops like cases and motherboards. The market is now here to allow people to build their own.
Desktop market is not dead. They are still wanted for hardcore gamer rigs, HTPC, and budget computers.
\
I worked at CompUSA for 2 years, and while that is true for some products, other times it is not. With desktops and notebooks, we usually had models in the store before the manufacturer even had them listed on their website. (this was true more for gateway/emachines and sony than HP/compaq though). And some other products were hit and miss. The Nokia 770 for example was around for a good 6 months before I even saw the major geek sites covering it. But then we wouldn't get in a line of Canon cameras until 4 months after they were available online. Logitech was very odd...somtimes we got products months before the release date (the G15 keyboard was nearly 2 months early), or several months after (the G7 mouse was about 3 months late).
Much of our product came directly from the manufacturer (via our FedEx account), and didn't go through a CompUSA warehouse...most of our generic product, memory, and software came through the warehouse. So we could have products within a couple days after a manufacturer had them available. And then we just keep relatively low on hand quantities, and clearance price older models.
So it would be no issue for any major electronics retailer to have new product on the shelf...as long as things are coordinated properly on both ends, and with desktops and laptops, that is usually not a problem.
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Dell has actually had "brick and mortar" kiosks inside airports for a couple years now. Their salesmen are always dressed in blue Dell polo shirts and khaki pants. The kiosks seem to get a lot of foot traffic, but I have no idea what kind of sales they bring in. I imagine if Dell opens up inside another retail store, they'll probably opt for the same type of setup.
In addition, consumers were showing a preference for touching and feeling a notebook PC before buying it.
... if you buy a desktop system and decide you don't like the keyboard or mouse you just replace them with something better. Don't like the keyboard or pointing device on your laptop? Just replace the whole laptop with something better.
No kidding
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
... the first person who accuses Dell of copying Apple's sales model of they go retail?
I'm a big Apple fan, but I still expect some retard to make some comment like that.
I wouldn't place Apple and IBM (Lenovo) in the same camps in terms of design -- plenty of people find the Thinkpads to be pretty ugly, and it is true that their design has not changed much in a long time, where Apple's are considered to be very attractive.
Where they both shine is in build quality. You can pick up any Apple notebook or Thinkpad (save perhaps the huge 17" ones) by the corner, and carry it like that. Try that with a Dell, the thing bends like a wet noodle (except it creaks more).
Personally, I find the Thinkpad to be attractive *and* well-built. Not quite as solid as my old 12" iBook, but the Thinkpad X60 I have is a 15", so that's the main reason. IBM could stand to fix some of the obnoxious little issues (waking from standby, screen occasionally deciding to switch to external-only for no reason, poor performance when undocking, the annoying IBM popups telling me how to undock, or eject a device, or whatever), but the hardware is a real winner. Some of the hardware/software behavior may be Microsoft faults, or faults of the general PC architecture in general, so I won't go too hard on them.
> requests a number from my PC.
Ahhh the service tag trick. Dell has been pulling that ridiculous stunt for years. We've had quite a few employees give-up when trying to get Dell to replace garbage hardware when they demand the service tag for hardware that doesn't have a service tag. The Indians always play that game so that they don't actually have to do anything. I think they're judged on the amount of money they cost Dell so they try very hard to not do their job. Dell has not accountability so their employees get away with this type of thing.
Most recently I bought ten 20" widescreen monitors from Dell. $219 each was too much for me to resist. Of course less than half worked out of the box. The Dell moron played the "but I need the service tag to do an RMA game." I finally wore them down after about two dozen phone calls, and then I got tripped-up when they asked for the model number of the monitors. It is not on the monitor! There is no model number. The model # listed on the invoice and the box is E207WFP, but they don't use that number internally. So now you have to play the service tag game along with the model number game. I'm still fighting them over getting the six monitors replaced. As always, any money you save by buying the Dell garbage is more than wasted when they screw you over.
When I am buying a machine I am not buying stock in the company, so stock price means diddly-squat, as does the profit margin. What matters is price for similar machine, bang for the buck. A 2GHz CoreDuo MacBook with 1G RAM and 80G hard drive costs $1299.00 while the 2GHz CoreDuo Dell Inspiron with 1G RAM and 80G hard drive costs $899, which is two thirds of the price. Now the Dell has a 15.4" screen, whereas the MacBook has a 13" screen. So, I wind up spending more money on a smaller machine. If I went for a 15" MacBook, I'd be spending $2000, or over twice what the Dell costs. So, what am I paying the extra $$$ for? What's the draw? $2000 could buy me a powerful Dell laptop with a port replicator, flat screen monitor, digital camera, and a good flash drive. So why should I buy Mac?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Sold direct from founding in 1984, then in 1990 tried sales through warehouse clubs and "computer superstores", but by 1996 was on the web and and back to direct mostly
How about an upgradeable open laptop? Customer buys it, two years later or whatever, they can turn it in and it gets new "stuff", an internal refurb, plus fix anything that needs fixing, plus new battery. Like a new mobo with a better chip, new ram, upgraded hard drive, better vid card, whatever new tech is there at the time that the customer wants, use the same checkbox for features deal you already have. WITH choice of OS or "bare", whatever the customer wants, dual or triple boot for that matter. They get "their" laptop back, but it is primarily "new" now, they save serious money but are still getting a "new" laptop, you still have made a sale, everyone is happy.
Hey, it's a new business idea, think about it. It's "greener", too, this way, nice advertising push in today's "changing climate", pun intended.
I know laptops are the hot market, but they SUCK because they aren't upgradeable easily! So here's a way to get them on the market cheaper, plus get more customer loyalty (sell more in other words), plus be environmentally aware,so what's not to like? You make your loot on high volume, low margin, so that still fits.
same parts, just different plastics on *most* models.
I know this because I've got a dell tattoo CD that will flash the bios of a mobo to either say "Inspiron" or "Latitude" depending on what you pick when you boot off the CD.
It absolutely killed me to spend the extra money for "Business-ready" Latitudes that I KNEW had the exact same parts as the inspiron models in them.
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
Dell is a great choice, but it has its flaws. In fact, I am surprised they didn't foresee this need long ago. The indications of an increase in laptop sales has been somewhat apparent to most of us.
The reasons people prefer to see the laptop in real life before purchasing it are very simple:
- You cannot hide it in a locker if it's ugly.
- The keyboard and screen must feel good - it's irreplaceable.
- The hardware must meet your demands - most of it is irreplaceable.
- You want to know how the laptop construction feels.
- It is hard to visualize if its weight is appropriate.
- Pictures are easily edited and cannot be trusted. You want to see it irl.
- No manufacturers provide info on heat problems - it must be experienced.
- Unless you get a ruler, it is difficult to picture the size of it.
- And other reasons I didn't come up with.
Lets face it. None of the above really matter with a stationary computer. People suddenly have to become very picky, because buying a laptop mostly means that there is no room for regrets (aside from RAM and HDD). As with stationary computers, they can be hidden, modified, add monitors, mice and keyboards and become very customizable.
Also - and I have no facts to back this up - I think that a lot of young people are switching from stationary computers to laptops, simply to combine school and home entertainment in one package. This generation of iPod freaks (I'm part of it) is likely more picky about the design and feel.
What Dell should do, unless they plan to open up stores or add it to outlets, is to select a few major cities, build a shop in every city and stack each and every consumer model in that store, and then let consumers order each specific computer directly via the previewed computers. Think of it: you see a computer you like, but you want to configure that particular computer. You then check the preloaded site on that computer, edit the specifics, enter credit card info and wait a week to have it delivered to your home or to the store.
Full Tilt
The article refers to the fact that many consumers who might buy a desk-top through the mail want to touch and examine a laptop before purchasing.
Think about how many laptops have too-small keys, mushy keyboards, and unusable pointing devices. At the same time, think about how much more limiting many LCD screens are with regard to brightness and angle-of-view-ability (yes, I know that's not really a word). I know that I don't want to buy a laptop I haven't first touched.
I went to an Apple store in a mall in Maryland not long ago an was amazed by the job it did at getting consumers comfortable with the product line. (While you could buy iPods and iPod accessories there, I think most of the PCs, laptops, and monitors had to be ordered.
If consumers could count on all the current Dell products being "touchable" at their local mall (at a kiosk) or even on a wall at their local Starbucks, I think they could continue to sell via web.
But from the tone of the article, it sounds like they are open to a slice of Comp-USA or Best Buy a la Apple and eMachines.
Live Long and Prosper - Thanks Leonard. You are missed.
for all the crap walmart takes, their laptops are actually a decent deal. I got an Acer 5610Z for $650 a month ago when my 4 year old dell inspiron 8500 died. What does $650 buy you? It came with 1gb of ram, Core 2 duo at 1.6ghz, DVDR/RW and a beautiful 1280x800 15" screen. It also has all the major cardreaders built in, and the best wifi antenna I have ever seen in a laptop (I think the antenna goes up the screen). At that price, you get intel integrated graphics, but since the screen resolution isn't too high, I can run all the GTA games at native resolution without turning much down. Oh, it did come with Vista, but since the Acer 5610 has all the drivers for XP, downgrading to XP Super Student Arrr! Edition was a snap.
If I were to buy such a computer at Best buy or any other store, it would probably come with 512mb of ram and a core solo at that price point.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I had a Dell Inspiron 8200 note book that was fully loaded (2.4GHz, 1600x1200, 2G-RAM). It was heavy to haul around but it worked well - that is until recently. First the video card on it went out, no problem it was still under extended warantee. So I sent it back, when I got it back, video was fixed but now would only boot with battery removed from the system. Back it went again. Now it doesn't boot at all and warantee period is over. Thanks for the great service Dell. Bought me new computer at Gateway because I refused to give Dell any more money. Don't know if Gateway is any better - we'll see.
Whenever anything breaks on one of my dell machines - which has been a little more frequent than I'd have liked, they'll have someone at either my home or office the following business day to do the repair.
I've had a screen replaced for dead pixels months after i bought the machine. I had a battery replaced because it's life deterioated unacceptably. They replaced a piece of plastic round the keyboard that had cracked on a 2.5 year old machine. My company recently spec'd out a desktop and the website let us configure it with two monitors but only onboard graphics, they are shipping a complimentary dual-dvi graphics card to us.
One of my friends with an HP laptop actually had to send it in to be fixed and was without a machine for almost 2 weeks.
Their products may not be perfect but I am continually impressed by the way they support them.
Do people really have enough problems that they can't pay upfront for a relatively low-end computer? I'm not saying $800 to $1000 is insignificant, but if you can't manage that then you probably have bigger problems to worry about. It might make sense on more expensive configurations, but otherwise it seems like you are either giving them more rope to hang themselves with or ripping them the fuck off (Blue Hippo).
I have a 600m I purchased more than 2 years ago and I don't think I'll be replacing it until I can find another laptop with equivalent features in the same package size and for a pretty darn cheap price. I actually paid less than $800 for it and I still haven't seen anything come close to the specs I have on it even from dell.
Sure, the thing doesn't look at clean or sleek as other laptops but it's not a piece of jewelry, it's a tool.
Also, one thing Dell has gotten right about how to build computers is making the computers easy to take apart. For example I bought a cheap slimline DVD burner and taking out the old drive was surprisingly easy and fast after you figured it out. You'd simply push the little button/lever thing, then it'd popout and then you pull on it and the entire drive comes out with no pain or tools! Had my new slimline drive came in the same packaging, I could swap the two in the drive bay in seconds without any extra tools. In fact, often times I thought about buying the modular bay secondary battery and using it instead of a DVD/CD drive. But I always thought it would be a pain to swap out. Well apparently not! Changing the main battery on the thing is also tool-less. The ram cover, mini-pci cover, and hard drive container(?) are all one screw away from being removed but that's ok. I don't think I'll be swapping those components on the fly. The only component I'm not sure about is the hard drive but given how easy everything else on the thing was easy to manage I have no doubt it'd be just as easy.
So I don't care about looks as long as I'm getting something equally useful out of my computer. For others they can't be bothered with it, but I for one would like to see Dell start selling PC computer cases compatible with many PC parts standards like ATX sized motherboards. I'm tired of seeing all of these case manufacturers get it wrong over and over again while Dell manages to make a laptop way easier to upgrade than my own PC.
Perhaps Dell would sell via a hybrid model where they can place the PCs and notebooks in retail store, customers can then order the PC/notebook right there online.
That case customer get to 'touch' and see. Order on the spot and get delivered to their doorsteps.
HP's really got the right formula. HP really has taken a page from Apple's book. 1. HP's products are just sexier than Dell's. Dell has been on the same hardware design for years, but HP has been through 3 redesigns. Look at how sexy an HP laptop is compared to Dell's and you'd want one too. 2. HP lets you *see* how sexy their stuff is at all major retailers. CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City - HP's foo just dominates the space. Dell's stuff is getting crufty, and you don't even get to see how crufty it is until it arrives at your doorstep. 3. HP's PR/marketing staff is doing their job swaying reviewers to award their products higher ratings. They are winning the reviews and getting press. Dell has not done jack. Dell needs to do all of the above. Dell needs to sex up their hardware and shove it right under our noses. That's how you sell. The immense mindshare they would get would translate directly into increased consumer and business confidence, and their phones will start ringing off the hook again.
Dell poo-poos retail stores.
"We have stores; we call them online stores. Dell.com will generate close to US$20 billion in revenue for us this year. We think the best computer store in the world actually is at dell.com. Physical stores have been tried by a number of our competitors, and generally, actually I would say universally, that strategy hasn't panned out."
Nice shot at Apple, but who's laughng now?
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
After my old notebook died recently I did a little of research and here is why I went with a made to order notebook made by Dell:
- being able to get this great 1920x1200 display for a couple of extra bucks is extremely important for code monkeys like me
especially when developing code for graphics or UI related things
- Linux runs great on this thing (even in 64bit)
- it is not too difficult to get a refund for an unneeded Vista+Works
- the Wireless-N for a few extra bucks is terrific, even for 802.11b/g networks because due to MIMO technology
even in non-N mode the throughput is much better and/or the range is almost doubled
- the notebook is completely silent when writing text or code and the harddrive is spun down
In my neck of the woods it is almost impossible to get something with a WUXGA screen or Wireless-N off the shelf, because they cost a little extra and it is difficult to explain an average buyer the benefits. Though these little extras make such a tremendous difference for productivity, that I really would not want to miss them. Direct-Sales notebook models from Dell would most probably also just have the basic features.
someone who calls himself 'Larry' but whose real name is Rajesh. The Dell(ple) Stores will be easy to find. They'll be right next to your friendly neighborhood Indian restaurant.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
"It can be hard to custom-configure notebook computers".
Maybe that's the problem?
Make the notebooks easier to work on with fewer unique modules across the product line.
IBM was doing very well with that approach for a while, swapping out a hard drive in a Thinkpad T23 is a matter of unscrewing one big easy thumbscrew and pulling out a sled... the only tool you needed was a coin... and to change the RAM it didn't even take that much. Hell, I'd rather upgrade the RAM in a Thinkpad T-series than in a lot of the Dell *desktops* I've worked on.
So extend that a little... come up with a standard form factor for compact internal add-on cards, and make them easy to get to, and it'll be just as easy to custom-configure notebooks as desktops.
The market has certainly shifted from the desktop PC to the laptop/notebook. As the intro points out, however, desktop boxes are modular, notebooks aren't. They should be.
The PC revolution was driven by an open modular computing platform. There was competition in every aspect of a PC's design. If the move to notebooks takes that modularity away, I'm afraid we're heading back to the bad old days of proprietary hardware.
Component manufacturers have the most to lose. They should all start cooperating ASAP on several standardized component architectures for laptops, notebooks, and subnotebooks. Replaceable keypads, for example. Why does every battery and and every removeable drive have to have a different form factor? Why can't I just slip in whatever video card I want? Why can't I pop a new display on and off? Why can't I choose from amongst any number of clamshell designs to stuff all these parts into? You want a cheap laptop - you build it. You want all the best - you build it. Etc.
The current situation is like buying a digital camera that doesn't take standard AA batteries - you get reamed for the proprietary battery instead.
Dell, Apple, etc. would rather remain proprietary; but there is a real opportunity here for a newcomer - if only the component manufacturers cooperate. If they do, they can sell more parts, and be less susceptible to the whimsy of Dell, Apple, etc. - so it's in their interest to do so. Seems to me that market forces make this scenario an eventuality - I just hope it gets here sooner than later.
After 4 years of brutal usage, I finally retired one /w only minor problems (they replaced the keyboard). I replaced it with another latitude (this time, a D820) and it is quite nice.
Which is that people's choices are mostly influenced by marketing and "everyone knows" type garbage, rather than any real facts.
Specific to this issue, the truth is that for the overwhelmingly vast majority of general office workers, modern laptops are total overkill for what they need. Most people need word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint (puke), Outlook or whatever email, and web browsing for their day to day work. Most people do not do much beyond that, to the point where a good percentage of the population doesn't realize there is anything else they can do with a computer.
For these people, a one gigahertz machine, maybe one point five, should be sufficient, with say half a gig of RAM. Their computing needs simply aren't that demanding. But with glorious advertisements about PRODUCTIVITY and EFFICIENCY they rush out and buy these dual core, two gig systems with all kinds of bells and whistles, and what do they do with it? Same thing they were doing before: Running Office and IE.
Really, the extra resources just means they can run more spyware and other useless or malicious garbage -- it isn't helping them any. A clean 1.5ghz system would be FINE for most people -- they just think it's slow because it's dragging all kinds of other crap along with it.
I know there's always special cases where someone does some high end work where more power is better, but really, you have to admit that the majority of people aren't getting any more "productivity" out of faster machines. But their malware sure is.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
I hate it when I do that. Blame on caffeine insufficiency. Anyway you're also right about my wrong. A bit of the old "whoosh" effect - I forgot about Micheal Dell's quote. Need MORE coffee!
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I got sick of mail order. I usually want something "now", and I don't want to wait, (or pay $50 for overnight shipping). Now that Dell is so big, they can't afford to ignore people like me.
No, I will not work for your startup