"Toughbook" Laptops
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by carlosponti
03/06/07
I noticed that Panasonic is the only maker of "Toughbook" Laptops. In a recent article one actually took a bullet and saved the soldiers life. If it is possible to design you should design one too. I see no reason why Panasonic should be the only one out there to make a commercially available laptop that can stop a bullet like that. Granted I know the laptop was destroyed in doing that but at least its a testament to how they survive rough usage.
150
CD Tray
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by frozenflames
03/05/07
Instead of having the CD Drive tray coming out you could have it like a car stereo system where the cd drive is like a hole where you push the CD in. Its less messy and looks nicer. There is also a less chance of you damaging the drive, cause sometimes when insertign a CD and push too hard, then the tray gets stuck and you have to take it for repairs. So if you have it like this it would be less of a hassel and easier to use.
150
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
Make the US Federal Aviation Administration's requested Linux / Google Office system available to home users.
Linux, Sales Strategies, Software submitted by jmxz
03/07/07
The US Federal Aviation Administration requested information about a Linux/Google Office configuration from Dell.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197800480
"Bowen [FAA's CIO] said he's in talks with the aviation safety agency's main hardware supplier, Dell Computer, to determine if it could deliver Linux-based computers capable of accessing Google Apps through a non-Microsoft browser once the FAA's XP-based computers pass their shelf life. "We have discussions going on with Dell," Bowen said. "We're trying to figure out what our roadmap will be after we're no longer able to acquire Windows XP.""
This sounds exactly like the kind of computer I'd like at home.
Please make this system available in your Home section and not just the government sales section.
This is not a dup of the other Linux requests - because it should be even easier for Dell -- rather than configuring a new model, just sell one you're already probably working on anyway to home users.
100
Get rid of BIOS, use EFI
New Product Ideas, Desktops and Laptops submitted by joeaguy
02/19/07
Why are PC makers so slow to swith from BIOS to EFI? Apple did it with their Intel macs, and there are tons of reports that Windows runs faster on a Mac under BootCamp than with equivalent PC hardware. There is something to be said for their simpler EFI based hardware architecture helping speed. If Microsoft is the big hold up here, surely PC makers can put some pressure on. The PC needs to shed all of the old tech that is still in the spec.
676
We don't care which Linux distribution you support
Operating Systems, Service and Support, Software submitted by mkirkland
02/26/07
Pick whatever works best for you. So long as you make sure there are working drivers for one distribution, all the others can pick up from there and integrate what you release.
You can have whatever distribution makes you the most money in support contracts all shinnied up with Dell emblazoned all over it for people who just want to turn it on and go a la Mac, and let the rest of us worry about our own distributions.
Just give us the tools to do it.
140
Open standard support
Service and Support, Software submitted by federico2
02/28/07
When a Dell pc comes with preinstalled software, such software (whichever it is) should let the user use ALSO standard open formats.
This includes e.g.:
- OpenDocument (ISO standard)
- OGG Vorbis (de facto standard open format for compressed audio)
- OGG Theora (the same for compressed video)
- SIP and/or H.323 (VoIP)
- SVG (vector graphics)
- XMPP (Jabber) (instant messaging compatible with Google Talk)
- iCalendar (calendar data exchange)
... and so on.
There are many free plugins that enable closed software (i.e. Microsoft Office) to use such standards.
630
Take advantage of the linux kernel developers offer to develop fully supported linux PC's
Dell, Linux submitted by iphtashufitz
02/24/07
On January 29th the linux kernel developers posted an offer on the Kerneltrap website (http://kerneltrap.org/node/7636) offering free linux driver development to any company who asks. To quote from their announcement:
"You will receive a complete and working Linux driver that is added to the main Linux kernel source tree. The driver will be written by some of the members of the Linux kernel developer community (over 1500 strong and growing). This driver will then be automatically included in all Linux distributions, including the 'enterprise ones. It will be automatically kept up to date and working through all Linux kernel API changes. This driver will work with all of the different CPU types supported by Linux (for the CPUs that support the bus types that your device works on), the largest number of CPU types supported by any operating system ever before in the history of computing."
Dell should embrace this offer to its fullest extent. They should work with the linux kernel developers to build fully supported linux PC's (servers, desktops, and notebooks/laptops). Any hardware vendor that doesn't take advantage of this offer is foolish. With the direct assistance of the kernel developers, Dell could offer a wide range of fully supported linux systems that would work with virtually any linux distro.
600
Dell should stop lying about preinstalled Linux
Linux, Sales Strategies submitted by beer28
02/25/07
Linux has been an option for corporate machines for 7 years now. NOTHING HAS changed. Quit lying Dell. The requests were for pre-installed openSuSE, Ubuntu and Fedora Core on Inspirons and other retail grade machines, not bulk purchased corporate class computers. We are not idiots and we can read through the lies.
I will never purchase from Dell again. If not for anything else, because they insult their own customers' intelligence.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/ideastorm/ideasinaction?c=us&l...
"Pre-Installed Linux Options
We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations. This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems."
420
Get ACPI working
Desktops and Laptops submitted by drizzt321
02/19/07
I have found in my e1505 which has an ExpressCard slot, that the BIOS does not have the proper ACPI support for PCI-Express hot swap. Currently to the best of my knowledge none of the ExpressCard systems have a properly working BIOS that correctly supports the PCI-E SIG specifications for ACPI hot swap.
There are other well known ACPI bugs, and functions that are not implemented. Dell, please improve your ACPI coding in the BIOS. Or just go LinuxBIOS and not worry about any of that at all.
624
Require Publicly available Specifications for your components
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Advertising and Marketing submitted by jd
02/19/07
With the influence you have on the component suppliers, why not require them to provide specifications for the devices to the public? Network cards, video cards, RAID controllers all should have the programming specifications available. The Linux and *BSD groups will flock to the hardware platforms that have documented programming interfaces. It will cost you nothing to implement. Intel, TI and Broadcom, are you willing to lose business?
806
Offer the possibility to donate to Free/OSS projects
Operating Systems submitted by pov
02/21/07
Buying DELL computers without any OS would be great, and many popular ideas expressed here already show that very clearly.
As we all use free and/or open source software (ranging from Firefox, OpenOffice to Linux, etc.), it would be really nice to be able offer some of the spared money to some FOSS organization(s).
This would be *optional* and any buyer would be able to select the exact amount of money he wishes to donate.
This would be a win-win(-win) situation:
- DELL's aura would get a great boost,
- Buyers would still pay less than when buying the legacy OS,
- FOSS projects would get some extra cash at no cost to cover their running expenses
And I am not even talking about the enormous well-being resulting from such good actions :)
592
Show random ideas on Ideastorm homepage
IdeaStorm submitted by pepitoe
02/19/07
Currently the top scoring ideas show on the home page of Ideastorm, meaning they get even more attention, while other good ideas get much less exposure. A random selection should be shown either instead of or as well as the top ideas.
968
More Consistent Pricing Please and Some Transparency
Dell Web Site submitted by irascian
02/18/07
Prices vary wildly across the Dell site meaning the user has to put in way too much hard work to get the best available price.
2 weeks ago I ordered a Dell Latitude 820 and decided it would be a good time to order a 24" widescreen monitor. As an option I was offered it as something close to £700 + VAT. Purely by accident I stopped the item mid-order because Dell never offer me the option of a second power supply for the laptop that was my main order when I order online (or a second battery - those of us who travel want spares at our home/work location and enough portable juice to carry on working)
Anyway in going in to look at the monitor separately I saw that not only was the recommended price for the monitor LOWER than when I'd been offered it as a bundled option, but also was "on sale" at a price reduction of a couple of hundred pounds. I shouldn't have to hunt around for the best price. I should just be told before I go and look at another manufacturer's offerings. In this particular case I wanted two monitors so the savings were substantial, but I really had to hunt for them.
I also hate the subterfuge used by sales staff to hide pricing and sell stuff they get better commision on. During negotiations of a deal for two monitors/docking stations etc I was offered a "free upgrade from Vista Business to Vista Ultimate" and the seller kept trying to offer me a special price on a PowerVault storage unit I had no interest in. When the "free upgrade to Vista Ultimate" came through the total price had jumped up since my first quote - it wasn't a free upgrade at all. The seller then pesuaded me the increase was acceptable because he was sending me a "free" PowerVault storage unit and like most when I was told I'd got a special free unit I figured I'd done well.
Then the invoice arrived showing I'd been charged £252.38 for a low capacity backup unit I'd never wanted and never ordered, only taken because I was told it was free. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell what the prices on the other items that made up my order really were because they were all lumped together in one sum, but I wouldn't have paid £10 for the measly 40GB backup unit I received let alone £252.38 and if there had been a price discount available instead I'd have taken that. Alternatively for the price differences available I MIGHT have been persuaded to pay the small price differential between the useless 40GB PowerVault unit and the much more useful 120GB one.
In short, I feel I was totally conned with talk of a "free" unit that clearly isn't reflected in the two separate invoices I received.
Dell need to get their act together, display consistent prices for items across their web site AND tell sales staff to be honest when putting together proposals about what is free and what isn't
901
Keyboard with no Windows logo
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops submitted by lucabrivio
02/27/07
It would be nice to have a keyboard without Windows logos, especially for those that use other operating environments than Microsoft Windows.
There would be several alternatives to have a Windows' logo on the "Super" key, including:
- having a Dell logo instead;
- having a custom key (maybe less cost-effective?);
- having a key with no logo, and perhaps several stickers with Windows, KDE, GNOME logos, Tux, etc.;
- having some other nice icon;
- ...
Desktop keyboards, which have two Windows logo keys, offer even more chances for alternatives.
1060
Pre-install gNewSense on laptops and desktops
Software, Desktops and Laptops submitted by libervisco
02/21/07
gNewSense, from http://gnewsense.org/ , is a pure 100% Free Software Ubuntu based GNU/Linux distribution sponsored by the Free Software Foundation, an organization which started the Free Software movement from which the latter Open Source Initiative sprung up. It is the organization behind the GNU General Public License.
gNewSense is special in that it does not contain any code under proprietary licenses at all, and is yet quite usable even for the average user. This means that it is easy to guarantee that all software within gNewSense is completely legally distributable.
The idea is to offer a line of laptops and desktop PCs whose hardware perfectly fits what this GNU/Linux distribution supports (and it doesn't support only a few hardware devices, notably some wifi chips and some Nvidia and ATI cards). It should be quite possible to build a system that doesn't contain any such unsupported parts.
The benefits of doing this is offering a choice for those who wish to have a completely legally free operating system working out of the box on Dell computers. There is a great number of people within the Free Software community who would appreciate having such a choice and would buy it for themselves and recommend it to their relatives and friends.
It would also certainly attract attention of the Free Software Foundation which would publicly commend Dell for offering this choice, which is very good for bettering Dell's reputation within the whole of Free Software and Open Source movements.
If Dell decides to do this, they should brand these boxes by the correct terminology, calling the operating system they are offering as "GNU/Linux" because the GNU Project, sponsored by the Free Software Foundation, started what we today know as GNU/Linux, a popular free operating system that rivals Microsoft Windows. Many of the core and essential components of the OS come from the GNU project.
640
Higher end Graphics card in 14.1"
Laptops submitted by notquitehere188
02/17/07
Dell needs to stop pretending that they can't fit a higher end graphics card into a smaller laptop. ASUS puts x1600's and 7700's in their 14.1" laptops and dont have to make them much thicker or anything.
1284
Make clear what Windows Vista costs
Operating Systems submitted by rvw
02/21/07
We all know the retail prices of Windows Vista for the different versions, OEM, etc. I would like to see the price difference if I don't want a Vista license. This should be a discount of course, not something you have to pay for (what has happened in the past). This should be the normal OEM price, but probably Dell has a special discount from Microsoft, so the true costs for Dell could be less. I wouldn't mind if Dell used the OEM price.
This way it becomes clear and transparant what the true costs are for using Windows. Of course it would mean that the customer can choose not to buy a Windows license. This should be offered for any notebook or desktop.
1519
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