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(RED) Goes Gaming with the Dell XPS M1730

0 points posted to Advertising and Marketing, Dell, Gaming, Healthcare, XPS products by smotchberry Jan 25

I have already commended Dell in a previous post for their efforts regarding the (RED) initiative.

As what I hope will be my final post on the (RED) initiative for a while (don't wait to overdo a good idea).

I think a great idea that would add the cherry on the cake in celebrating the initiative would be to design a limited edition XPS M1730 decked out in a (RED) theme and tricked out with the latest gear (perhaps you could even partner with Intel or NVIDIA and get access to their latest or even next-gen tech - a man can dream!). After crafting this beautiful beast of a laptop you could then have two options on how to make the most of it:

A) Auction an example or two off, like you've done with other products in the past and donate all or the majority of the proceeds to the global fund.
B) Churn out a limited run of maybe 10, 50, 100 or 500 pieces of the laptop, and maybe just in this case, make the contribution to the global fund a little higher than average?

From that point on, you could decide to take the laptop to the mainstream depending on the critical success and financial viability of the product.

And who knows? These laptops might hold onto a considerable amount of their value compared to traditonal laptops and serve as a great reminder of how we fought to make AIDS slowly become a thing of the past.

Newly Added:
As a bonus feature these laptops could come with a NVIDIA-optimised Folding@Home preinstalled, to add to it's virus/disease fighting arsenal!

zanlok
Jan 25
Personally, I could care no less about this cause. It would in NO way influence my purchase decision of a computer product if there are benefits to some random or trendy cause.

Dell can't possibly cover all of the causes. If Michael Dell wants to donate to a cause, let him do so. Make it public or keep it private - whatever. If customers that happen to like Dell products want to donate to some charity, let them. Let's not confuse the issue here: Dell is in business to give us great products and take in a profit. It isn't their job to prop up AIDS awareness.

This just has nothing to do with what I want in a gaming laptop. If I am spending nearly (or better than) $5,000 on a gaming laptop, I probably have other things on my mind. And, if I donate to Red, then it may be I choose to give them $1,000 outright. The pittance ($0.25?) Red ever actually gets from these things just isn't going to matter very much!

P.S. Sure, this is overall a great cause. No one wants so many people dying. I personally do budget money to donate to charities from every paycheck.
sugarbear
Jan 25
I agree with zanlok.
zanlok
Jan 25
Well, at least I am not alone. I just think it is about time someone stands up and says this. I truly don't mean to sound like I am flaming. It just has gotten old. This smotchberry person is definitely onto a trend, but Dell has already partially implemented this vein of ideas. Enough is enough.
winoffice
Jan 25
I agree with all of the above comments so DEMOTED.
smotchberry
Jan 25
@zanlok:

I do see what you're trying to say here, and you have highlighted some of the key criticisms of the red initiative. I even agree with the fact that maybe too much Dell + (RED) could saturate both brands, and the benefits of the cause. For that reason, I wanted to make sure these last three red-oriented ideas were in fact the last red ideas I propose on IdeaStorm.

However, I have to respectfully disagree with the fact that large companies, like Dell, can't make it their business to give back some of their profits to a cause like red.

That said, I am not deluded by the fact that people might choose a red product so that they could feel like they have done their bit of charity and be done with it for the year. If that is indeed the mindset someone chooses to be in then, that's a real pity.

But the truth to the matter is, no one is forcing anyone to buy into the whole red thing. You're given a choice. Much like anyone could, and should, under their own initiative, donate a portion of their income regularly to a charity, or, better yet, commit themselves physically to a non-profit cause in a continent like Africa, or elsewhere in the world that might need all the help they can get.

I view red as but a step in the process, getting people who might not have otherwise done anything about a cause of any kind, to do something positive, which I can only hope, gets them thinking of doing a little bit more.

I, for one, welcome the fact that the products I might buy could, in fact, stand for something a little bit more than pure consumerism, and might just contributing positively to the lives of someone else living with AIDS halfway across the world from me.
zanlok
Jan 26
Yes, some good is better than no good. And the whole matching dollars idea has merit. As this discussion has evolved, I see that the crux of my statements are that consumers that want to be benefactors should aim for less talk and more dollars. But, as we know, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt can't adopt all of the poor kids. And Bono can't stop AIDS by himself. To me, though, so many competing charities for "awareness" causes clutter and interferes with my business technology purchasing decisions.

Thank you for so heartily (and readily) addressing the substance of my idea. Props to your character and integrity.
zanlok
Jan 28
interesting link from mugunth
smotchberry
Jan 30
You're welcome! I am always one that will welcome a good debate, as well as solid critiscm (postive or negative) on any of my ideas.

As for your link, if you gave the comments section on the article a good read you'll see that I had already added my two cents to the whole debate :-)
zanlok
Jan 30
Well, no.. I hadn't guessed that the same usernames might show up there. That site always has cutting edge stuff and can be a bit less than totally reliable, anyways. Of course, I still read it pretty often. Nice "link" you put in there - haha. Thanks for the tip, though.. now I have more stuff to read today :)
smotchberry
Jan 30
Haha! I hadn't noticed that :-P Woops. Well you get the point anyways!
jorge
Feb 1
You guys are too much! :)
 
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