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Dell's Misleading Graphics Card Buying Advice

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-should-know-better dept.

Barence writes "Dell's website includes a guide to graphics cards for PC novices which contains a dangerous chunk of misinformation. The monitor on the left, labelled as a PC that uses a 'standard graphics card,' is displaying a Windows desktop that's washed out and blurry. The seemingly identical Dell TFT on the right, powered by a 'high-end graphics card,' is showing the same desktop – but this time it's much sharper and more vivid. They're both outputting at the same resolution."

8 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. The article is much too kind ... by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... using words like "misleading" and "unfair." It's fraud, plain and simple.

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    1. Re:The article is much too kind ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My God,

      Three posts in and now its the governments fault? You need to get a serious grip on reality.

    2. Re:The article is much too kind ... by Kavafy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And the more I see of this kind of thing, the more I'm convinced that we need stronger regulation of advertising. A free market can only work if people are informed about what they are buying. Putting out misinformation damages the free market.

    3. Re:The article is much too kind ... by thisnamestoolong · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is the same fucking fraud that Best Buy runs trying to get people to buy their stupidly overpriced Monster HDMI cables. I remember seeing to TVs set up next to each other with a sign telling you to SEE THE MONSTER DIFFERENCE! One of the TVs looked crisp and clear, whereas the other one was blurry and shitty. Wondering what was up, I looked behind the second TV, and lo and behold, it was connected by a single coax video connector. When I complained about this to the manager, he tried to completely ignore what I was telling him about their ridiculous display and continued to try to tell me that Monster cables really do make a difference. You are absolutely correct; this is not "misleading", it is flat out lying and fraud, and ought to be punished.

      --
      To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
  2. Standard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no such thing as a "standard" graphics card

  3. Spend more money by mm0mm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dell’s page says that its picture is for “demonstrative purposes only”

    Dell should rephrase it and clearly state that this is for "promotional purposes only" instead.

  4. Re:Meh. by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this really worth any kind of discussion?

    The people who would be fooled by this, would not have the capacity to adjust their monitor settings in Windows, let alone possess the skill necessary to Photoshop an image's brightness and contrast.

    So you're saying it's okay to defraud people if they're ignorant?

    Here's a tip: everyone's ignorant about something. In fact, everyone's ignorant about most things. You know enough to spot the fraud in the Dell ad, great, good for you. But I guarantee you that there are people working very hard to part you from your money who will do their best to find the gaps in your knowledge -- and they will find those gaps, because you have just as many of them as everyone else does.

    Normally, when (not if, when) that happens, people will be sympathetic. In your case, they'll point and laugh.

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  5. It's an AD- they ALWAYS lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe I'm just cynical, but I ALWAYS expect advertisements to lie. Every claim that is not quantified and expressed in numbers is definitely a lie. Claims that are expressed in numbers are probably a lie. Only specs that are very easy to verify and actually define fitness for purpose can be relied on- like RAM size or dimensions. Claims that are hard to verify like quality or reliability or performance or health benefits will be lies. Salesmen who have vested interest will ALWAYS lie to you. You'll never get honest advice from people who stand to profit from your decision. Even independent sources are often biased one way or the other and often won't give advice that is best for you and your situation.

    This doesn't just hold true for tech. This is true for everything you purchase from washing machines and pencils to computers and cars. I still don't understand how some people don't realize this and just walk into a shop and ask someone there to help with their purchase.

    --Coder