Silent / Quiet Computers: Sound levels in decibels
Desktops and Laptops submitted by pchris
02/17/07 **REVIEWED**
I'd like Dell to provide the sound level in decibels for each of their desktops, under max load as well as at idle.
How a manufacturer can produce an expensive computer, and then have the user acoustic experience of that computer dominated by the noise generated by a cheap fan worth just pennies, for the entire lifetime of that computer, is incomprehensible. Computers are noisy when brand new, but those cheap fans begin to rub and oscillate and make additional annoying noises, frequently within a short period of time of purchase.
Personally, the peace and quiet of my personal workspace is very important to me, it's my sanctuary from the world where I can focus and be creative. To have that experience disrupted by cheap fans is sad, especially when slightly more expensive fans and some reasonable design would solve the issue. Another reason why I consider buying an Apple.
If the cost of a better sound design and fans is significant, it could be an extra cost option.
In general, Dell provides noise data of its products in the Environmental Datasheets. Tests are conducted according to ISO standards in a NVLAP accredited acoustics facility. Click here for more details
35717
Have option to opt out of Dell catalog to help save the environment
Advertising and Marketing submitted by improvedell
06/19/07
On the Dell catalog that is mailed every month by snail mail, have a phone number on the back cover, right next to the "Help Keep America Green" logo, so that customers can call to stop receiving the catalog. I'm sure that there are many customers like me that just throw the catalog away as soon as I get it. I know if I want something, I can find it easier on Dell.com. This would save Dell money on printing catalogs and postage and save many trees.
The phone number should be a dedicated automated line to take people off of the catalog mail list - enter customer number, press one to be removed from the mail list.
820
Have publicly available torrents/ISOs of all driver and media discs
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Software submitted by remover
06/15/07 **NOT NOW**
As a former dell technician and now computer repair shop technician, I frequently encounter Dell machines where there driver disc is missing and or out of date. Having worked on the phones I know it's not cheap for Dell to keep these in stock and to keep shipping them out.
My suggestion: use a free peer to peer download system to distribute these discs. BitTorrent. It's free and simple to set up. Along side the torrents you could have ISOs ready for download if the person is unfamiliar with BitTorrent.
While the most common consumer may not be able to utilize it to full effectiveness, it gives local technicians and either knowledgeable users or friends of the less-than-knowledgeable users will have access to the most up to date disk images.
Just my two cents.
Scott Lyons
1220
Open Source Dell systems for Europe !!
Dell, Operating Systems submitted by rtben
07/03/07
Shipping laptops and desktops with open source operating systems is a brilliant idea, but why restrict it to the US ? The new academic year is coming up and thousands of young people need a new system they can rely on, hence they need a hardware supported Linux system ! There's no better time than now to push the revolution. So please, give us the option to give you (Dell) our euro's and add the choice of OS in Europe and everywhere in the world !
Kind regards
Ben
360
This is exactly the form factor I want in a home PC:
Desktops, New Product Ideas submitted by jmxz
06/30/07
This is exactly the form factor I want in a PC for most rooms (my living room, my home office, terminals for all the non-computer intensive users at work). It's fanless, and takes no unnecessary space in a room since it fits totally in (yes, in) the wall socket..
 http://parthsuthar.com/derive/2007/06/20/a-computer-so-small-it-fits-in-a-wal...
http://www.jadeintegration.com/prinfo.php?i=efi6700 U.K. firm Jade Integration has unveiled a computer so small, it fits into a wall socket and is powered via Ethernet. The Jack PC, a rival to the smallest PC in the world, can hook up to a standard monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and runs Windows CE, the stripped-down version of Windows often used in portable devices. It comes with up to 64 MB of flash memory and 128 megs of RAM, so don't expect to play Half-Life 2 on it, but it should be able to handle basic Internet functions decently. With my home directory (and media files, etc) on file server in my garage anyway - and at work all compute intensive stuff is done on servers anyway, I don't need hard disks or fans or large boxes in most of the computers I use. It seems for everything except laptops (which need to be self contained) and gaming machines (where obviously you need bigger chips, more memories, and big graphics cards) I think this form factor computer would meet most needs. Update: Better information from the company that makes it here: http://www.jadeintegration.com/prinfo.php?i=efi6700
310
Dell true mini-sized desktop
Desktops submitted by jerbl
02/17/07
I suggest that Dell design and sell a true mini-sized desktop CPU.
It would be similiar in size, weight and power to the Apple Mac Mini, but with Windows software.
Customers who buy a LCD or Plasma TV also prefer a CPU with a small footprint.
1759
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.
3800
Cancel and back out of the Novell Microsoft collaboration.
Linux submitted by jmxz
07/03/07
And earlier IdeaStorm posting made recently wasn't really an idea; so here's a rephrasing of it as an Idea.
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/07/14120.aspx
Under the agreement, Dell will purchase SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates from Microsoft and will establish a services and marketing program to help exisiting Linux customers who are not Dell Linux customers to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server....
Update (5/10): This post has sparked a bit of controversy in the Linux community.
Dell, you've come a long way at rebuilding trust with the Linux community after you largely abandoned it in 2002 when the media first reported that Microsoft killed Dell Linux. Surely you realize that one of the major reasons customers want Linux is to get out of the abusive
legal minefield that Microsoft lays in front of it's customers. By dealing in these these Microsoft Linux certificates you are very much undermining the trust you were gaining in the Linux community. You can win it back, though. Two ideas to recover from this breach of trust:
- Donate whatever Microsoft Certificates you already have to some charity or legally knowledgeable non-profit like the FSF so you don't contaminate your customers with the bizarre IP agreement (not a patent license, but a 'we won't sue until 5 years pass' covenant) attached to those certificates.
- Publicly announce that you made a mistake like EV1's CEO did after he was similarly tricked by the SCO / Microsoft anti-linux PR campaign.
250
IdeaStorm, our deadline is coming, so get off the pot Dell.
IdeaStorm submitted by jorge
07/02/07 **NOT NOW**
We want the stuff on the most voted on idea's to be implemented because it means that, that many people will buy it! As in if you provide it, it will sell, as opposed to offering products no one wants and why you (Dell) have to give it away later when its been sitting in the warehouse for more than a year!
In a short summary for Dell, Linux on all systems!, No-OS option on all systems!, Lighted notebook keyboards!, Firefox instead of Internet Exploder!, No Bloatware!, Straight up pricing and components on Microsoft vs Ubuntu/No-OS systems! Offer all these features worldwide!, Options to Microsoft Office (i.e. Productivity Software) like OpenOffice!, Support that makes sense (common language per country, knowledgeable techs)! Laptops that don't explode or cause global warming to increase!
Thats just off the top of my head! There are so many more highly voted upon ideas, yes they're all on multiple (aka duplicate) ideas but the facts are there! Get you know who's rear end off the throne and merge those ideas so Dell management can see what we want! I want to buy/recommend systems I can work with, not junk I have to modify to do what I want!
So who ever is in charge of this whole thing get off the pot! and do your job! Get this information up to someone who can provide this or we'll end up buying from someone else! That is the take home message! Don't make us go elsewhere for our computer systems, we are telling you what to do so we don't have to leave, but if you don't we will go elsewhere for our computer systems!
Tic tok the clock is on...
Start Jul 2nd:  provided by florida web site design .
340
Low Power Usage Machines
Environment, Desktops and Laptops submitted by bluefoxicy
06/12/07
This proposal suggests creating specifically low-energy systems, with mid-level performance. We suggest a market for this proposal; a handful of existing technologies useful to these ends; and theoretical initiatives to continue on with this initiative.
This proposal suggests low-energy, mid-level performance systems. These systems would serve for generic tasks taken by a number of individual groups; in a nutshell, the system would function as a generic machine running Linux, although further initiatives would allow running Windows. These machines would be geared more towards tasks such as Web browsing, E-mail, audio and video encoding, video conferencing, and graphics editing; but would find deficiency in running high-intensity real time scientific applications or leading-edge 3D games. Such machines would utilize less electricity and thus cost less to run; also laptops and computers running on UPS would last longer on battery.
Existing technologies include alternate processor architectures such as Intel's Xscale ARM processor as I suggested earlier[1]; Mary Lou Jepsen's new LCD design[4] as I suggested earlier[2]; a low-power wireless chipset; and flash-based disks.
The Intel Xscale ARM processor runs at 600MHz and only in 32-bit mode, dual processor SMP could allow 1200MHz total. The high efficiency of the ARM architecture allows high performance at these low clock speeds; more importantly to this proposal, the Intel Xscale@600MMhz consumes 0.5 watts of power[3]. An Intel Core2duo X6800@2.93GHz consumes 75 watts of power[3], while a Core2duo U7600@1.20GHz consumes 10 watts. A dual processor Xscale system would utilize 1 watt of power for 1.20GHz to run the processors; this translates into lower heat production and thus reduced cooling requirements as well, further reducing power usage and also possibly allowing for fanless, quieter systems.
Mary Lou Jepsen designed a new display technology[4] for the One Laptop Per Child project. This technology uses a bright white LED and refraction to project colors to individual pixels; power usage reductions come from removing the high-power fluorescent back light. The display has color artifact issues, currently solved by applying a slight amount of blurring; sharpness falls below 200dpi. I am unsure of the potential to improve this technology for sharper displays; however it does have a wider color gamut than a normal LCD, and a very low manufacture cost.
The One Laptop Per Child project also uses a low-power wireless networking chipset. I believe this chipset uses an embedded, low-clockrate, self-clocked ARM processor with built-in RAM used to store firmware (loaded by the driver). The chipset uses, overall, a few tens of milliwatts of electricity at most; the power footprint of this wireless chipset is almost nothing. The particular chipset is an 802.11b chipset; however, similar designs for 802.11a/g/n chipsets should be possible. Having such a low power usage chipset for wireless would obviously contribute to the lower power footprint of the system.
Flash based "hard disks" (main storage) also supply a method of reducing system power usage; unfortunately, the technology carries a high price tag. Newegg sells 16GB USB flash drives for around $130, so I estimate retail price of 96GB flash storage drives would fall at $780 currently. Still, the price point moves rapidly with this technology, so in a few years this will become quite viable; I remember around 2003 things like 128MB drives cost $90, and 2GB drives cost $200 in 2005. If we look at the 2005 price and assume at least an 8-fold increase in capacity for the same price, then 128GB flash drives should fall around $100-$150 by 2009; realistically, the fabrication processes for smaller semiconductors become easier and the capacity per price grows exponentially.
Further theoretical initiatives include a hardware x86-to-ARM translator chipset; low-power 3D graphics; and static graphics buffers that can stay on without the CPU or most of the graphics chipset.
This proposal specifically suggests a low-power-usage ARM processor; however, modern operating systems run on x86. Modern x86 processors use a RISC language internally and apply translation to x86 instruction code to produce RISC instructions; in the same way, an expansion chipset could translate x86 code to ARM. The BIOS and its shadow would always run directly on the ARM; but a setting in the BIOS would control whether all other code runs on x86 or ARM. Setting this to x86 would activate a chipset which translates x86 instructions to ARM instructions upon fetch, and caches the output in an additional cache (Possibly a reserved segment of main memory, size adjustable in BIOS for performance). In the presence of a completely ARM operating system, this translation chipset could be completely disabled and unpowered, saving power.
Many desktop applications utilize menial 3D graphics, or can be accelerated by 3D graphics. A fully OpenGL 2.0 or higher and DirectX 10 or higher supporting 3D chipset could provide support to desktop environments like Aero and Compiz and simplistic games on the level of Armagetron or Nexuiz. This chipset could run at a low clock rate and utilize a low power footprint; not much power is needed to run simple 3D desktops. The chipset could alternately scale to high clock rates as needed, possibly supporting more intensive 3D applications.
The AMD Geode GX and Geode LX contain an integrated graphics chipset. This graphics chipset maintains the video buffer even when power to the processor is completely removed (power to the graphics area stays). I believe it also can maintain the display with most of the graphics hardware off, as long as the frame buffer stays powered; in this case, the same static image can stay on the screen, so as long as the cursor isn't blinking and the mouse isn't moving power usage drops drastically. A graphics chipset which behaves in this way would allow for large power savings if a properly coded operating system took advantage of it.
Once again, this proposal in general suggests low-power, mid-performance machines for desktops and laptops. The above ideas give some possible methods for implementing this; further research is required, but I believe I've given some interesting direction here.
[1] http://ideastorm.com/article/show/67331/ARM_PCs
[2] http://ideastorm.com/article/show/67334/LowPower_nomercury_LCD_Monitors
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_dissipation
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Machine#Display
1540
ATX Motherboards.
Gaming, XPS products submitted by pdonket
02/16/07
At least for me, I think one mistake in the gaming section of dell is the use of ATX motherboards, well dell, if you want my desktop business...stop using those BTX boards in your XPS line, make them upgradable. The people buying those are buying them because they're gamers and want the ability to upgrade.
639
TheOpenCD.org should be an option for any Dell OS, regardless if Windows or Ubuntu
Linux, Operating Systems, Software submitted by jorge
05/26/07
Dell should offer the TheOpenCD.org CD as an option for customers to select when configuring their purchase. Again, irrelevant of Windows or Ubuntu. TheOpenCD offers the following Software Suites for Free and without the usual Bloatware that irritates customers:
Design - Blender, GNU Image Manipulation Program, Inkscape, NVU, Scribus, Tux Paint.
Games - Battle for Wesnoth, Enigma, Neverball, Sokoban YASC.
Internet - Azureus, FileZilla, Firefox, Gaim, HTTrack, RSSOwl, Thunderbird, TightVNC, WinSCP.
Multimedia - Audacity, Celestia, Really Slick Screensavers, Stellarium.
Productivity - MoinMoin, OpenOffice.org, PDFCreator, Notepad2.
Utilities - 7-zip, Abakt, Clamwin, GTK+, HealthMonitor, Workrave.
Due to an unpredictable change I alter my idea to !
TheOpenDisc.com CD should be given out if TheOpenCD.org is not complete enough for you! Its pretty much the same thing, opensource software for the price of Free yet many more apps! So a win win for all! Yeay!
TheOpenDisc
2380
Use standard (ATX) instead of nonstandard (BTX) motherboards.
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Simplify IT submitted by billyoneal
07/03/07
Even Intel, the creator of the BTX standard, is no longer supporting it, or improving upon it. In contrast, all major cases and configurations support the more common ATX standard.
I actually agree that the BTX form factor is better, because of it's better heat handling characteristics. However, you are severely limiting your customer's upgrade path by using non-upgradeable parts.
I understand that you are trying to sell more PCs by obsoleting the machines you sell (relatively) quickly. That's your incentive as an OEM.
However, my bigger reason than the upgrade path problem is repairs. I do my own pc repairs. If the motherboard fails in my new XPS410, I am stuck, and have to pay for inferior overpriced "refurbished" parts.
An alternative is to have some sort of way to obtain new motherboards for machines manufactured and shipped within the last 5 years, if you do not want to use standard parts.
I would personally have paid $200 more for my XPS 410 I got recently if it had standard components.
290
Additional cosmetic customization options for Inspiron and XPS notebooks.
Inspiron products, Sales Strategies, XPS products submitted by benjesuit
06/24/07
Color panels on the lid is a good start. But one would only get to enjoy that when the lid is down - which isn't often.
Therefore, I propose a range of additional cosmetics choices:
1. Choice of LCD screen bezel surround: (same range of colors for the lid)
2. Choice of Keyboard color (Black, Silver, Gray, White)
3. Choice of Touchpad/button color (same range as keyboard colors)
4. Choice of Keyboard surround color (Same range as lid colors)
5. Choice of LED panel light colors using colored inserts (Blue, cyan, red, green, yellow.)
600
REUSEABLE SHIPPING CONTAINERS
Environment submitted by scotty750
06/08/07
I'm an onsite tech. I've been griping for years about the large boxes for shipping parts for warranty calls that don't have handholds. And I just thought of a way to solve my gripe, make dell green and save money.
You can purchase hardened plastic laptop shipping cases that are lockable and pretty much infinitely reusable. Why not a similar solution for warranty parts.
Currently dell is using cardboard boxes. Lifespan of a box, 2 ships, out and back. if your lucky, maybe a second warranty call but not likely. cost of a box say 40 cents. number of boxes used a year??? well if we figure 30,000 systems built per day and a failure rate of say 10% (industry average is beleived to be about 15%) thats 3000 units a day that break.
Yes theres an upfront cost of purchasing the shipping cases, but they can get used an unlimited number of times. since they don't have to be constantly remade like cardboard, its a lower carbon footprint, and can lower to total cost over time from reuse. and it adds zero waste to landfill.
summary:
zero landfill
infinite reusability
lower carbon foottprint per unit over time
lower manufacturing costs over time
easy to implement
free advertising of dells commitment to green. make em a nice white with a nice big dell logo and a nice big recycle logo on it. every customer that gets a warranty repair would see the commitment to green
1620
Advertise Ubuntu a little more loudly
Advertising and Marketing, Linux submitted by zhinker
05/16/07 **NOT NOW**
I may be wrong about this but it doesn't seem to me like Dell's done any sort of advertising at all for the new Ubuntu pc's that it'll be rolling out soon, except for it's initial declaration I haven't heard a word about on any non-linux media (everyone using linux knows about it of course).
Unless Dell is planning on marketing this solely to linux users, it might want to let the rest of the world know that it's going to be selling Ubuntu soon (a simple photo and note on their website would be enough to make a bunch of pc buyers at least interested, and the ad wouldn't even cost anything). The problem with going after only current linux users is that you're substantially lowering your market base (which of course, is already pretty low--I realize this is just an experiment) to people who might already have pc's their perfectly happy with for the next couple of years, and I'm also worried that this perceived lack of interest might give Dell, and hence other pc manufacturers, the idea that selling linux computers is still a failing enterprise.
That's my 2 cents
5100
Allow Notebook "Upgrades" - reuse old chassis, parts, cut down on waste
Environment, Sales Strategies submitted by pkchen
06/29/07
Any way we can get machine "upgrades" instead of having to buy a whole new computer? I notice that many of the laptop designs use the same chassis across multiple platform generations -- is there a way we can turn in our old notebook and get the guts replaced?
We'd be able to reuse not only the notebook chassis, but also the screen, keyboard, CD/DVD drive, etc. Whatever is reusable we should reuse ... and the stuff that isn't compatible w/ the upgrade ... recycle! Or reuse in someone else's notebook config. Dell could offer a discounted pricing for reusing parts ... and we wouldn't have to create as much waste as buying a completely new computer.
650
Allow customers to come to Dell.com and Order just "Plant a Tree"
Dell Web Site, Environment, New Product Ideas submitted by clocks
06/27/07 **ALREADY OFFERED**
Allow users to work with dell to imrpove Dell's "green" image. Make an "Accessories" product to allow people to just order "plant a tree" or to order as many "Plant a tree"s as they want. This option was not presented when I bought a desktop just a few days ago and I personally would go back right now and order "Plant a tree" because I would like to.
I think that if nothing else, the few minutes it would take Dell to setup this option would give you guys something to point to, even if it wasnt an option that a lot of people had taken advantage of.
if you wanted to take the concept a step forward, build a few add banners/buttons etc to make freely availible with the code to insert one on your web page. The button would be something along the lines of "Join Dell in planting trees". Your logo is associated with an environmental practice, blue logo on green with various tree abstracts in the image, etc. Reputation boost, plus you have genuinely provided a capability to your user base and various concerns on the internet to actively take part in helping Dell be green.
Sure, maybe you are using a few hours of the time of your salaried workers who you already pay for to add the item to the site and create some logos but if you really care about improving your reputation in this area, it might be an investment well worth it.
700
 track my votes
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