mordendrak

Easy access to fans for cleaning on laptops

Laptops submitted by celticgibson 04/22/07

As we all know, the inspiron laptops get hot once dust builds up on the CPU/GPU grills and it's impossible to clean them without having to resort to taking the latop apart. It would be awesome if you could put blank plates on the bottom of the laptop, where the fans take in air, to allow for easy access for removal of fans and hence the cleaning of the grills. This would save many a problem with overheating hardware and endless tech support problems. 17 Comments »

Make batteries compatible

Laptop Power submitted by lysglimt 04/20/07

I have a Dell Latitude laptop where I have bought spare batteries for when I travel. I was about to buy a new Latitude, same model - just newer. But my spare batteries won't work! They are the same voltage but the design is slightly different. So I have to trash 3 perfectly fine working batteries and buy new ones. Please think long-term - think 5-10-20 years ahead. Make sure the batteries and other parts are standardized and always fit. 9 Comments »

Drivers for every OS

New Product Ideas, Operating Systems submitted by goonmaster 02/20/07

A driver development kit for every peice of Dell hardware like Lexmark have, so if the driver doesnt exist you have the option of making it. 2 Comments »

Stop designing "For Microsoft" (as most of your products are labled) and start designing for your customers.

Dell submitted by jmxz 03/15/07

I think it's telling of where Dell's priorities lay when most of your boxes has a sticker that says "Designed for Microsoft [XP or Windows or Vista]" on it. Wouldn't it be better if you designed your products for your customers first; and particular software vendors's agendas second?

At my previous company the most important software we ran on Dells came from Oracle - a competitor of Microsoft. I'd feel much better if I could have gotten a computer from you that was "designed for Oracle clusters" rather than the systems I got from you which were clearly labeled that they were designed for a company with a vested interest in seeing Oracle fail. And even more uneasy since that particular vendor (Microsoft, if you hadn't guessed yet) had in the past had projects deliberately making competitors software fail and/or give error messages in unexpected ways:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/11/05/how_ms_played_the_incompatibility/
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+emails+focus+on+DR-DOS+threat/2100-1001_3-22512...
Considering that history - I'd be pretty wary of running Oracle on machines "Designed for Microsoft". 9 Comments »

Notebooks - better quality, better options, better design

Sales Strategies submitted by dspector 02/17/07

I have been in the market for a laptop for almost 6 months now. I have avoided buying one as I havent found one that actually fit my needs perfectly.

14.1" widescreen notebook are arguably the perfect balance between the small, yet mobile, 13.3 or 12.1" screen, and their mid range 15.4". For those of us who want a laptop that is portable yet viewable, 14.1" is the ideal candidate.

Now if we take the 14.1" even further as a multimedia portable machine, it should incluce all the bells and whisles like memory card readers, svideo (d620 doesnt have) and even a webcam. And it should all be packaged in a thin and light casing that is still durable and stylish.

That is my recommendation to dell. Comment »

Show the drivers/firmware updates I actually need

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Service and Support submitted by jgv999 04/20/07

In the drivers support section even when you enter your express service code, there are still a mess of drivers and firmware updates that do not apply to the machine as shipped.

Show a default view of the latest drivers and firmware updates that apply to the specific machine I have. You have the information so make my life easier :) 10 Comments »

Recovery Hard Drive partitions are not needed, other solutions are better

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Laptops submitted by carganegativa18 04/22/07

When I ordered my laptop, I selected the 120 HD, thinking it would be enough for my school work and photography. To my surprice when the laptop arrived, I only had 85 gigs available. I then took a look at "my computer" and wala, there it was

1. A ten gig partition for Recovery purpuses:
Althoug there are times when one really needs to have a computer back to its factory setting, I think its unfar that the user has to give up 10 GB of disk storage.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION
1. Give the consumer a DVD of the recovery ISO,
2. Give the consumer the option, either have it installed or have a DVD for it, I rather pay for DVD, than pay for a larger HD.

2. There are tons of pre-installed software that takes up huge amounts of disk space. Some of that stuff we don't need it, and sometimes we dn't know how to get that software out of our systems.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION
1. Ship installations CD's to consumers, and let the consumer deside which software they want to install. Hence allowing consumer enjoy more HD space.

2. Advice the consumer when they are buying the laptop/pc of how much "possible" available HD is going to be available upon arrival of laptop. Had I known I was only going to have 85 gigs left, I would have gotten a bigger HD.

I hope this gets promoted, and I hope that many people feel the same way, that we want what is adverticed (120 gigs, not 85 when the laptop arrives) 21 Comments »

Dont force people to choose Windows Vista

Operating Systems submitted by gaborlake 03/13/07

When buying a new Dell computer, Windows Vista is the only OS of choice. So far, with all I have seen about Vista, I would rather want to stick with XP, since Microsoft announced that it would support XP even longer than Vista. There is no real reason for having a computer with Vista installed at the moment. So it would be a good thing to still have the option to have Windows XP installed instead. 9 Comments »

Promote IdeaStorm/Dell Blog/Studio Dell on homepage!

Dell Community, IdeaStorm submitted by explorer5 02/18/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Dell should put links (or even those nice looking graphics at the top of all the ideastorm webpages) on the homepage, or even on most pages within the dell.com site.

Show people that Dell Cares, and is trying to make changes based on peoples comments, complaints and experiences!

The average user will never hear about ideastorm via an rss feed (which is where i found it) nor will they come across the dell blog since it is not promoted within dell.com (who is going to go to "about dell" and expect it to be there?)

Dell is doing a GREAT job of trying to get customer's suggestions, comments, complaints, and i feel that they really will put those comments into consideration for future products, improvments, etc... Why not promote it more?!


We do now have link on Ideastorm to the other sites and at www.dell.com, bottom of page "about dell" takes you to the front of the corporate information page where "Dell Communities" are featured. You can go here: www.dell.com/conversations.
3 Comments »

Apply Thermal Grease At The Factory - Thermal Pads Are Terrible.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by burner 04/19/07

The use of thermal grease instead of a thermal pad will cause better heat transfer between the CPU and heatsink. More heat will be removed by the heatsink as a result. This should increase the lifespan of several components and reduce fan speed/noise.

I dropped the idle temperature by 34 degrees celcius (from 84 to 50) on my Inspiron 1300 by replacing the Dell-supplied thermal pad with my own thermal grease. The fan is now barely audible and the case/exhaust is cool to the touch.

This small change could result in cooler, quieter and longer lasting computers. 8 Comments »

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. 5 Comments »

Carbon Neutral

Environment, Sales Strategies submitted by smotchberry 02/17/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Dell should adopt a Carbon Neutral program for its products or at least make it an option for consumers in their ordering process. People seem to have the impression that Apple is doing a lot for the environment, when the reality is - Dell's doing more and can do even more!
Check out the Idea in Action on Dell's goal for carbon neutrality.




11 Comments »

Better Service Tag Placement... Or Stickers!

Desktops and Laptops submitted by john_saddington 02/18/07

Dell should provide a way to assist customers find their service tag easier. I know that the computer has software that can show the customer their service tag, but, sometimes all I want to do is just "see" it.

Possibly better placement, either on the free space above the keyboard on a laptop... or on top of a tower for a desktop....

A great idea is a set of stickers customers could place anywhere they want for easy access!!! 14 Comments »

Make spare parts prices sane.

Sales Strategies submitted by macka 03/14/07

Don't take it when it comes to upgrade prices. It's Dell that is losing out here.

If the prices Dell charged for upgrades were sane (ie 20-30% premium), then I personally would buy Dell replacement parts (for out of warranty or machines needing an upgrade).

Unfortunately in many cases, especially for laptops, the prices Dell charge for upgrades after P&P and VAT are three to six TIMES (no kidding) the price I could buy on the open market. This is just nuts.

While I prefer to keep all the inventory supplied by a single manufacturer, I insist on buying all our after-market parts on the open market. Probably half of our IT spend on hardware comprises these after-market parts, so it's a lot of money Dell is missing out on here. 4 Comments »

Support for OGG VORBIS codec

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by yesmathew 02/21/07

Vorbis is an open source, lossy audio codec project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and intended to serve as a replacement for MP3. It is most commonly used in conjunction with the Ogg container and is then called Ogg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg_vorbis 5 Comments »

Backlit Keys on Laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by fwayne 04/20/07

Anyone who has used a laptop in dim or dark lighting knows that the keys are very difficult to see. Back-lighting the keys would be a huge improvement, and for those with vision imparements it could be a real useability feature. There are external keyboards on the market that have this feature and it would be great to have on a business or home class system.

One note: Please dont go for the translucent "light up the whole key" method. This is not very effective. The keys themselves should remain dark, witht the actual charactors being illuminated.

Also, a competitor has used a screen mounted LED to project light onto the keys, this isnt all that great either.

Do you agree? 5 Comments »

Get rid of the powerbrick

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptop Power submitted by fcnc05 02/16/07

I have a Dell 17in notebook and I love it. Don't mind to carry around at all. But haveing to unplug, wind up all the cables and pack the power brick together really annoys me. So It would be very nice if dell make available for the large form factor laptop (at least the 17 and 20in) a power brick the same size of the battery, so I could replace it (an internal power supply). A retractable power cord inside would be a plus. Even better if had 1 or 2 batteries cells inside so it could give a 15minutes for emergencies. Why have 6 or 9 cells...it barely gives me one hour anyway....This kind of notebook really is a Desktop replacement, so why bother about batteries? Get rid of the power suplly and it would be MUCH better! 14 Comments »

ONE SHOPPING CART PLEASE (dell.com)

Dell Web Site submitted by ootleman 02/16/07

Why split it up into 4 different shopping carts (home, small business, etc)? I still don't know how it works. 1/2 my products go into one cart, 1/2 my orders go into the other, possibly depending on where I was browsing from.

And, then, seems like the shopping carts expire after a few hours. After all that time spent configuring, why not keep it around longer.

Matter of fact, why not split the site up at all? If I click on desktops - show me all desktops. Do I, as a small company, need differ computers then a medium business? Please show me everything and let me figure out what works best.

6 Comments »

Add Mac OSX

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by rmartin 02/17/07

Need to add Mac OSX. Esp good idea when bundled with Parallels software so you could run Windows and linux at the same time. v10.5 will be out soon that makes it an ever better idea. 129 Comments »

Let customers choose what trialware/demoware to pre-install to subsidize their machine.

Sales Strategies, Software submitted by jmxz 04/19/07

Many people understandably complain about third party software on Dells (it's one of the top rated items on ideastorm).

Many people also respond by defending this software pointing out that it subsidizes the cost of the machines.

And perhaps show it in a "optional trial / reduced functionality software" section like this:

on your purchase pages.

That would give people who don't want the hassle of the third party windows software ways to avoid it; and it would give power users who don't mind it and know how to uninstall/avoid it the benefit of the cheaper subsidized machine.

Personally I would get them all -- yes, including Norton and Macafee and any other antivirus programs - because the first thing I'd do is remove Windows from the machine anyway. But it would be interesting to see if I can get a machine sufficiently cheaper that my savings would offset the time it would take to install Linux vs the presumably higher cost of buying a less subsidized pre-installed Linux machine. 9 Comments »