i_star

CORE TAP

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), New Product Ideas submitted by mjminix 05/21/07

Replace PCMCIA slot or card reader slot with a TAP for the IPOD or ZUNE with controls and display on the external body for playing on internal speaker with lid closed. 6 Comments »

Serial and parallel port on notebooks

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by mish666uk 09/03/07

Reintroduce serial ports and parallel ports on notebooks. As developers we deal with many hardware items that require serial or parallel communication, and it would be great to have these on notebooks once again. I hear so many people bemoan the fact they don't have them any more! 9 Comments »

PCMCIA slot for notebook

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by stdu00 02/23/07

I think the PCMCIA slot should be available on every notebook, more and more notebook have only PC Express slot, but till now a lot of pcmcia cards are not available in PC Express.
Actually, I wanted to change my notebook for a brand new Core 2 but I have to keep it just because I use a 3G PCMCIA card everyday.
Thx for listening 5 Comments »

Remote control (Bluetooth or Infrared) for Notebooks - Accessories

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Broadband and Mobility, Laptops submitted by chin_teik_chia 06/28/07

Would like to suggest that Dell should have a remote control (Optional) for the laptop. The function of the remote control shoud include laser for the presentation, able to adjust the volume for music, next and previous button. The most important thing is that the remote control is able to be detected via infrared or bluetooth.

Most of the trainer having problem when they presenting their deck to the audience. They will either try to near to their laptop or getting another peers to help to control the slides. 1 Comment »

Upgradeable Laptop Video Card - Here's the Answer!

Monitors and Displays submitted by captainsensible 05/08/07

A company called Magma though is now selling an easy to use device that will allow most ‘desktop-only’ PCI Express cards to be used with a laptop.

The ExpressBox1 is like an external drive enclosure except that it’s designed to hold a PCI-E graphics card. There’s a smaller version that supports cards up to 6.6 inches in length and a pro version for cards up to 12.28 inches in length. They connect to a laptop via the ExpressCard/34 module and a PCI-E cable and Magma claims there is no latency in the connection since there’s a theoretical maximum throughput of 2000Mbps (or 250 MegaBytes per second) in each direction. At the moment the ExpressBox1 is only designed for single-width video cards needing a maximum of 55 watts of power. However double-width cards that require auxillary power will be supported later this year.

Of course performance has never come cheap in the PC world. The standard version ExpressBox1 is available on the Magma website for $729 (that’s without a graphics card) while the Pro version is available for $749.

from OhGizmo.com 16 Comments »

Dell Laptops: No modem

Laptops submitted by tleavit 10/09/07

Specifically in my case Latitudes in businesses: Dell needs to remove modems as default hardware. Understanding that people out there today are actually still using them, for now it should be an option but I don’t think every laptop made needs to have one installed by default. Utilize the real-estate freed up on the back for something new such as HDMI video/sound or such. 17 Comments »

Backlit Keyboards

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by rarmasu 02/21/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

I find myself many, many times in dark or poorly lit environments having to guess the various keys - would be fantastic to have a backlit keyboard - with backlit individual keys as the best option.

I would actually pay extra for that convenience if the option was available.
This could be done for desktops or notebooks.


Check out Vida_K's comment below on the New Latitude.
301 Comments »

Monitor RCA Cords

Monitors and Displays submitted by jk31213 04/25/07

Exactly as the title says. Instead of DVI Cables, I think monitors nowadays should connect to desktops with these. It could possibly be sharper sound and image quality. When time goes on, possibly to HD style! 5 Comments »

One hot summer's day- The Dell laptop Conundrum

Laptops submitted by computer_bob 07/12/07

INTRODUCTION:

Where I begin is at a CompUSA computer store which I strolled into on a particularly warm summer’s day not too long ago, mostly to escape the heat, partly because I had recently been in the market for a new laptop. While I basked in the cool air conditioned retreat of the local computer store I was struck with a discouraging realization. I had always been a Dell fan and was thoroughly disappointed, with not only what I found at the average Best Buy or CompUSA but also on the internet. It seemed to me that Dell had fallen behind in the home consumer laptop field. While HP and Toshiba had dozens of models of notebooks on the market and readily available, I saw only one, and occasionally two Dell laptops on the shelf. When I went online I found that this was not the fault of stores, but the fault of Dell for not having competitive laptops on the market.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR:

When you walk into an electronics store, and head to the notebook department, folks are greeted with rows upon rows of shiny HP laptops, a literal army of Toshibas and the assorted Sony’s, Gateway’s and other nondescript brands. Only after a few minutes inspection do the stumble across the one little seemingly overpriced, 12inch Dell with the weird looking keyboard and the drab design. Now I know that that is what a lot of business minded customers are after, but for the average home user, this is not even worth a second glance, not when there are built in webcams and lower prices just a few feet further down the shelf.

Dell needs to have for one, MORE notebooks on shelves in stores, and second, laptops that appeal to the average home user.

THE SOLUTION:

This section will take the part of my dream laptop, as well as a machine that could put Dell back on the playing field, that it so long ago knew. This machine will appeal to customers ranging from the average Joe who just walked into a computer store for the first time in his life, to the computer geek, similar to my self who is looking for a powerful, portable, and yes, sexy machine. It will not only pop off the shelf, but also utilize cutting edge technology that makes hardened computer geeks go !WOW!

The machine will have either the new Intel Santa Rosa chipset with quad core technology or, preferably the up and coming AMD mobile platform, which will provide the system with probably the most advanced mobile processor on the market.

THE SPECS:

Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2 next generation mobile processor 3.0+ Ghz with 1MB L2 Cache in each of the four cores.

Memory: 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM

HDD: SATA 7200rpm “hybrid” type hard drive, with of course, shock (drop) protection.

Graphics: NVIDIA’s latest and greatest, but doesn’t over power the system

Goodies: Built in, high quality, high mega pixel webcam, hi-fi mic, fingerprint reader

WLAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: lithium nanophoshate battery

Options: Air Card, Blue tooth, GPS

The chassis of the machine needs to POP! I would take the HP imprint design as a role model, but not something to copy. It will be made of a space-age alloy casing, with no flex. It will be as light as the plastic used by HP and others, but stronger than the carbon fiber used by Lenovo. It will be a sleek design, with contours like the HP, and can be offered in a variety of colors, primarily black and silver. The webcam and mic will be built into the bezel of the screen, at the top and the fingerprint reader will be on the side.

The screen will be an OLED screen with LED backlighting and TFT technology. It will be glare resistant. The speakers will be AWSOME. They will be on the top of the keyboard area, as well as on the bottom of the screen. Between the speakers on the screen there will be a rotate button (we’ll get to that later) as well as a button to switch between touchpad and active digitizer.

The answer to your question about the touchpad/ active button is... THIS IS A CONVERTIBLE machine! It will be similar to the ThinkPad X61 in that it is a touch screen as well as an active screen. The rotate button is to shift the orientation of the screen by 90 degree increments.

The touchpad (mouse) will be like the one on the HP tx1000z series, a series of depressions instead of a traditional touchpad. It will be able to be deactivated to prevent accidental use when using an external mouse.

Entertainment should be a major concern in the creation of this laptop. It will have shortcut buttons between the two speakers on the keyboard part (media center, volume, skip track/fast-forward, etc.). It will be able to use its speaker to play music off of an mp3 player, cd player, etc, by simply plugging in the audio device and flipping a switch on the laptop. It will have a 5-in-one card reader, DVI, and express card slot and tons of USB 2 ports (1 in front, 2 on side 2 in back).

It will be TV ready. It will have a TV playing software pre-installed on the machine as well as HDMI in and out ports.

CONCLUSION:

This machine can be the starting place for a whole line of machines for Dell to put out in the retail market. It can be the rebirth of the company that was once thought of as the pinnacle of computing excellence.

Lets us now end where we began, on my hunt for a new laptop. As I recall, I was enjoying the cool refreshing interior of a computer store, examining the selection of laptops therein. After many hours of research, through the summer, the winter and into the following summer (this summer), I finally decided on a laptop that was economical (didn’t have too much $$ at the time), as well as being as close to the computer that I have energetically and yes, maybe somewhat romantically laid out before you today (within my budget of $1500). The HP tx1220us. While this is in no way shape or form what I had dreamed of, it seems to be as close as the market offers at this time. I hope that a few summers from now, when I wander back into the local computer store, in search of refreshment and maybe, just maybe a new lappy, that I see rows of HPs and Toshibas replaced by rows of inviting Dell machines that are, maybe not verbatim, but close to what I have described today.

Cheers,

-Computer Bob

2 Comments »

Upgradeable Laptops

Laptops submitted by jas68 03/01/07

As the top seller of laptops, I'd like to see Dell (and every other major manufacturer) work on making laptops that are fully upgradeable, or at least as upgradeable as possible. This would include motherboards, audio boards, and even LCD displays. I know that integrated components are common, but it's just a crying shame that when your laptop becomes dated, you have to scrap the whole thing in order to just get an updated CPU and chipset. 2 Comments »

DVI on my Laptop!

submitted by tiger46 05/28/07

And I want it now, because the qualitiy of VGA is in 80 % very bad! Comment »

New Inspiron 1720/21 - DVI-D or HDMI port.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Inspiron products submitted by benjesuit 06/26/07

Ummm.... What happened Dell? No DVI-D or HDMI port? 11 Comments »

No more VGA ports / Promote DVI and HDMI ports on laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by jeff_c_brown 02/23/07

VGA is dead why keep it alive? Please provide DVI and HDMI ports on your laptops. 8 Comments »

HDMI on all laptops

Inspiron products, Monitors and Displays submitted by blackkitty 06/27/07

I would like to see all Inspiron laptops have HDMI connectors standard, or at a minimum make it an option on the 17" screen version. 3 Comments »

DVI or HDMI out on all laptops models?

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by tommarnk 07/06/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

this would be a big jump, if dell add "DVI out" on all dell laptops, so people can connect to there LCD Displays or LCD HDTVs natively

the picture quality will be grealy improved

this should be easy to do as most of new chipsets has dvi out

not many laptop manufacturers add "dvi out" to there lower end products, so it might be a wise move to do so

all LCD monitors and lcd hdtvs has dvi or hdmi in so it might work well

and meybe remove the old VGA out and put a singel DVI-I, it can be used as analog (VGA) to, by using VGA-to-DVI-I adapter like tose used on

standard computer graphic cards for years now

many people like me connect monitor via dvi or hdmi to get the best picture and color quality



The offerings for the XPS M1730: Dual-link DVI-I (support for 30-inch displays) and HDMI via DVI adapter. Check out all the specs for the new systems.

69 Comments »

DVI (incl. DVI-D) for _everything_ please

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by pstader 02/20/07

Too bad our purchasing missed to order the DVI Riser Card with our Optiplex. The guy who ordered extra picked Ultrasharp Displays with DVI input, which we have to use via the analog connection. No warning, no nothing during the order process. Why even sell computers without DVI ? Analog connections might have been alright for everything up to 1024 * 768 resolutions but everything above that really benefits a lot from dvi. So please. Make DVI standard and not optional. Would love to see Notebooks with Dvi connector too. 4 Comments »

DVI ports on notebooks and tablets

Laptops submitted by sjss 02/21/07

With modern monitors and equipment shifting more and more towards DVI connections, and the fact that a DVI to VGA convertor is trivially obtained, but there are no VGA to DVI convertors easily obtainable, it makes sense to move notebooks to DVI. Those with VGA monitors can still easily connect them to their monitors, and those with DVI monitors will be able to use their monitors as well. 5 Comments »

HDMI, HDMI, by God almighty, HDMI

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by benjesuit 09/25/07

HP has had it on their notebooks for 1 year now. Come on Dell! What's it going to take to put in an HDMI port? Most of the new LCD TV's today input HDMI.

And I'm surprised that the new XPS 1730 has no HDMI port. DVI is so yesterday and is not forward thinking at all.

Your next generation Montevina based models MUST have HDMI.

And yes, this is a dupe. A dupe of my own post even. But I want to buy a Dell. But without HDMI, it makes it difficult. 30 Comments »

NICE New Dell montor! Keep making great designs like this.

Monitors and Displays submitted by jmxz 05/18/07

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/18/dells-ultra-thin-concept-lcd-with-displayp...

Dell's ultra-thin LCD concept with DisplayPort going retail?
...
Remember that super swanky Dell monitor concept we went ga ga over back at January's CES? Yeah, we still find it hard to believe it's a Dell design. Well, it'll apparently be up for sale later in the year.

14" laptops with DVI-D and Dedicated Video RAM

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Laptops submitted by jpkulkarni 02/17/07

Inspiron E1405 (or future 14" laptop models) should have option for dedicated video ram (NVIDIA or ATI chipset) and DVI-D output. 1 Comment »