lordcobol

Make Physical Manuals An Option

Environment, Service and Support submitted by joyscant1980 Jun 25

This is not my idea, it was mentioned by roguent in "No more plastic wrap, please" on June 12. Where I disagree with the idea of no manuals, I do agree that if you do not want to receive the physical manual, you should not have to.

I honestly would love to have a manual that I can hold in my hand because if I can't get onto the internet to use the website, I will still be able to access the manual. But I know I am not like everyone so make it an option to forego the manuals or even choose the type of manual you want, if you want the physical manual or do you want it as a .pdf document on your desktop.

If you are going to have the option to forego the manuals, have receiving the manuals as the default and have the customer deselect it so to avoid persons not getting the manual when they wanted it. Comment »

Have Firefox pre-installed as default browser

Software submitted by robinjfisher 02/19/07 **REVIEWED**

Does what it says on the tin! Most people only use IE because they aren't aware of other browsers - they think Internet Explorer is the Internet! What would really drive take up of alternative browsers is if Firefox was pre-installed as the default browser so that when people look for the "Internet" in Windows, they are using FF.
Firefox advocates at Dell have initiated discussions and driven action around exploring alternative internet browsers and experiences. As you can tell from our response to the Linux community, open source continues to be a part of our conversations about new products and services.





774 Comments »

give the origianl CD of the OS and not an ISO

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Service and Support submitted by siger May 19

when there is a problem with the Master Boot Record the ISO can't repair it and we have to go to a reparation company.

Please give us the original disc and not an ISO. IT Is more expensive but , more satisfaction for the customer. 10 Comments »

How about another update on the highest voted ideas.

IdeaStorm submitted by jmxz Jun 19

It seems many of the highest voted Ideas are the most neglected by Dell

Pre-Installed OpenOffice | alternative to MS Works & MS Office (currently with 138079 points) has been one of the top-5-highest-voted Ideas on IdeaStorm since Feb 07. It has no "Status" regarding whether it's in progress, or rejected; and the only comments from Dell were just one employee's personal opinion.

No OS Preloaded (with 85050 points), has also been one of the top-5-highest for over a year. It's status is the same partial implementation (available on a couple models) that has been true from Dell since long before IdeaStorm was around (2004, if I recall). Clearly the Idea is popular because people want to see it on more models. Rather than just labeling the Idea as "partially implemented as always" - could you give some update on the progress on this Idea.

Firefox instead of IE (with 115593 points) has also been a top-5 idea for over a year. With the recent release of FireFox 3 - along with great press from the technology and business industry alike, another update on this idea would be very welcome. The recent Forbes article Why Firefox Matters clearly sees Firefox as the industry leader, and Wall Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal explicitly states that Firefox 3.0 Is the Best Browser for Web. Surely Dell would want to offer the best for their customers, no? 41 Comments »

Dell Computers with e-sata ports

Servers and Storage, Desktops and Laptops submitted by chasrome Jun 13

Dell needs to supply and announce the availability of desktop, notebook, and servers with e-sata ports to which the many available external drives can be attached. RAID (0 and 1) could be available especially for servers. The ports should support six foot cables (not just three foot). Comment »

Don't charge up to $50 more to downgrade from Vista to XP

Operating Systems - Multiboot, Desktops and Laptops submitted by jervis961 Jun 17

Dell is going to start charging customers up to $50 to downgrade thier systems operating system from Vista to XP after Wednesday. While some people see XP as an upgrade, I don't think there should be a charge for it. 17 Comments »

re-use of shipping boxes

Environment submitted by parasite May 25

Shipping boxes for desktop computers and monitors are the perfect size and durability for small animals to use as a place to sleep & play. Or you can spend a few hours and go overboard like I did--anyway, it's better than sending more boxes to a landfill.

4 Comments »

show the picture of the actual mouse included

Dell Web Site submitted by ro_bro May 29

on your dell website for home, you can't see the picture of the actual mouse you're going to get. No matter what you select, you see a generic image of what seems like an old ps2 mouse.

Can we see what we're actually going to get?

Also, I like for example, tigerdirect.com. They actually have numerous pictures of what you're going to get, at different angles, etc. You see everything in the box.

I wish dell would do the same, or something similar, rather than showing generic images. 2 Comments »

Stop selling 32 bit machines

Operating Systems submitted by bbr Jun 4

As 32 bit software is slowly going down the void, 64 bits is becoming more prominent.

Vistra is 64 bit capable, and needed for your system to read more than 3GB of ram.

Stop selling 32 bit machines completely and focus purely on 64 bit systems, or at least make SURE that a buying customer is aware of what he is receiving. 7 Comments »

Make the "recent ideas" the default page

IdeaStorm submitted by ccpljat Jun 7

I think this is what most people are interested in looking at. The popular ideas page doesn't change too much. But new ideas are constantly showing up. I for one go there first. 1 Comment »

Label the CDs with which models they affect

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Simplify IT submitted by djtansey May 20

Label the Resource CDs, and any other machine-specific CDs, with a list of which models it supports. This would make it much easier for IT departments to file their resource CDs for further use. 5 Comments »

Optical mice only please

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by falbert May 22

How come we can still get in 2008 mechanical mice. Come on guys, in 2008 there should be only optical mice available. Also please make it clear on the web site what people are purchasing. 26 Comments »

Let Home customers know it's OK to buy from the Business section and vice versa.

Advertising and Marketing, Sales Strategies, Small Business submitted by jmxz May 7

From a conversation with Dell's robert_p, under a different Idea it seems that "Home" customers are welcome to buy from Dell's "Small & Medium Business" section, and Dell's "small and/or medium business" customers are welcome to buy from Dell's "Home & Home Office" section.

This is very useful since often computers in the "Small Business" section may be more appropriate for home use (the Latitude's light weight and reliability make it a great college computer); and often computers in the "Home" section may be more appropriate for office use (where the better graphics options in Home are valuable for graphical visualization). It's also useful because an identically-spec'd system may be cheaper the Home Section one week, and then be cheaper in the Small Business section the next.

I think many Dell Business and Home customers are missing out on the best deals and failing to find machines that meet their needs because the home user's are afraid of falsely claiming to be a business and because the business customers are afraid of falsely claiming to by buying systems for personal use.

So a few ideas:

1. Assuming robert_p's right in saying Home Customers are welcome to buy from Small Business - add links to the Home product pages saying "If you don't see what you need here, check out Dell's Small Business section. You're welcome to buy those for Home use too".
2. Assuming robert_p's right in saying Small Business are welcome to buy from the Home section - add links to the Small Business product pages saying "If you don't see what you need here, check out Dell's Home section. You're welcome to buy those for Business Use too".
3. Extrapolating - if it's also OK for Home an Small Biz customers to buy from Dell's "Large Business" and "Government, Education, Healthcare & Life Sciences" section, add those links too.
4. Make a price comparison engine that compares the prices of an identically spec'd system from each of Dell's sections so I don't have to manually dig through all of your painful to navigate website sections to compare Home vs Small Business myself. 2 Comments »

Pre-load OS on Replacement Hard Drives

Operating Systems, Servers and Storage submitted by rperritt May 2 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

When a Hard Drive fails on a Dell system and Dell replaces the hard drive with a new one, this is great. But often the end user is left re-installing the OS. Many novice users may do a poor job of this. Dell should have an image for that user (even if it is only an OS without any other licensed software) and have it already on the replacement drive. This way the user only needs to physically install the drive (or the tech can do it). The OS will just boot. Surly the additional features in Vista will allow you to do this in a cost effecent maner?


Please see aaron_h's comment below
5 Comments »

xp operating system offered on all products

Operating Systems, Desktops and Laptops submitted by winekfam Apr 24

I would like to have the option to buy windows xp on the xps 1530. We have vista on two computers and donot like the system. 4 Comments »

demistify the CPU upgrade choices

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Advertising and Marketing submitted by blackkittypounce Apr 25

Give us some information about CPU speeds when selecting which CPU to go with when ordering. I would like to see how each CPU performs on maybe 2 or 3 different benchmarks so that I know what I'm getting for my money. Please promote this! Even this tech-savy user has trouble figuring this out! 1 Comment »

XP Offered to XPS420 Customers

XPS products submitted by maddog Apr 30

Dell owes XPS 420 customers an apology and the option to purchase at reduced cost (better yet FREE) XP Pro, XP Media Center, XP Home WITH ALL drivers for installation on XPS 420 systems! I’ll gladly return my Vista disks for XP any day. I’ve learned to hate Vista with a passion I cannot express in a public forum. It’s the biggest joke Microsoft has played on its customers since Windows ME.

I recently purchased an XPS420 with Vista Home Premium. I was told by the sales person that XP was not available and would not work with this particular model. I had the system up and running XP Pro within 6 hours including hunting down drivers which was not easy. The only drivers that I haven’t been able to locate is for the Blue Tooth package (19 in 1 card reader). Some of the drivers came from the Vista Resource disk, some from the XPS210 drivers page, video card drivers from the manufacturer, and NIC from the internet using find drivers option. It feels like the system has doubled in speed and I’ve gained about 10 additional gigabytes in drive space over Vista. I’m a happy dude now BUT very disappointed in Dell for this deception. Still beats HP thought . . . 15 Comments »

Dump the static service call SCRIPTS!

Service and Support submitted by phubert Apr 1

All I needed was a simple 1U server POWER SUPPLY to replace the one that failed.

But the lady taking my 1-800-945-3355 call was CHAINED to her SCRIPT.

How many times I was asked about software issues, I cannot say.

I WISH I had a RECORDING of that time-wasting session!

And, although I gave her my SERVICE TAG #, I had to read it again to the Gold Queue tech!

Dell... you need to STREAMLINE! Or CUSTOMIZE!!

As I told the #1 phone answerer (I'm afraid she detected the impatience in my voice): "I'm not mad at YOU, I'm mad at DELL!!!"

**

Note: I NEVER call Dell about SOFTWARE issues, ONLY about replacement of failed HARDWARE components!!! 7 Comments »

Microsoft will extend life of Windows XP - Idea: Dell, make sure they let you put it on your computers.

Operating Systems submitted by jmxz Apr 4

Interesting CNet article:
Microsoft will extend life of Windows XP--again

April 3, 2008 11:17 AM PDT

As I predicted last week, Microsoft has decided to extend the life of Windows XP, although[ some gotcha's ...]

Microsoft will give PC makers the option of using Windows XP or Vista on [some models]

...The decision to discontinue Windows XP might have driven even more device makers into the hands of Linux, hence the extension.

Yeah, I know that so far Microsoft only announced they'll be letting manufacturers do this on low-end computers.

But Dell, for your customers, ask them to make it available on your higher end models as well. 15 Comments »

Do not scale back build-to-order systems

Desktops and Laptops submitted by masterr Apr 5 **ALREADY OFFERED**

Today in the news I read that Dell "is moving away from its build-to-order model to reduce costs. Dell is limiting the degree to which buyers can dictate specifications while expanding its line of prepackaged models". Please do not do this. The options build-to-order system is what sets Dell above some of the competition. By scaling this back and removing customization choices you remove some of the appeal of buying a Dell machine online. Please do not scale this back.


Please scroll down to see Dawn's comments below.


21 Comments »