rcovington

Add higher screen resolution to all home & home office laptops

Monitors and Displays, Laptops submitted by ccpljat Apr 25

I have been using a used [another brand's] business laptop that has a high screen resolution. The cheaper Inspiron laptops can only go up to 1280x800. I cannot be productive on a screen that small any more. At least bump it up to 1440x900 or equivalent. I have basically been forced to shop in the Small Business section to find an affordable computer with a higher screen resolution. 4 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 »

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 »

8GB of RAM capacity on M1730. C'mon Dell, you already offer it in Precision M6300

Sales Strategies, XPS products, Laptops submitted by kanoneno May 12

Please make posible upgrading to 8GB of RAM on the M1730, and also offer 64 bit Vista so we can really take advantage of the memory. I mean, 4 GB is kind of new, but 64 bit applications are starting to emerge and soon 4 GB wont be enough, Vista uses 1 GB or something like that so you are only left with 3GB, thats pretty much the same you can use in Windows XP. If you can already make 8GB laptops (precision M6300) then upgrade the M1730 so that we can really start taking advantage of 64 bit apps.
By the way, Alienware Area 51 laptop already has a firewire 800 port, that could also be useful in the M1730, it's really hard to capture video to an external drive if you only have one firewire port. 18 Comments »

Just the same CPU!

Sales Strategies submitted by sautiller May 11

At Dell Taiwan, the default CPU for Inspiron and XPS laptops is Intel T8300 now. But the prices for an upgrade from T8300 to T9300 vary! Isn't it just the same CPU? Why?

Inspiron 1520:
T8300 to T9300: Cost NT$ 3141.6-

Inspiron 1720:
T8300 to T9300: Cost NT$ 4983.3-

XPS M1530:
T8300 to T9300: Cost NT$ 2946.3-

Dell Taiwan website:
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=tw&cs=twdh... 4 Comments »

Allow anyone to get any product in any channel (home, business, etc.) on the Dell site.

Sales Strategies submitted by winoffice May 4

Sometimes Dell posts some products only in certain channels; for example home offices cannot get Vostros.

It is like saying that business users want Vostros, but nobody in, for example, a home office, would want it. But some home offices might want it. For some people in home offices, it might be exactly what they might be looking for. The same applies to all channels and all products actually.

In any case, this is extremely annoying for those who do encounter this.

An idea has been submitted and suggests that Dell merge all channels into one for simplicity. But until then Dell, please offer all products in all of your channels.

(I want to note that I posted this in an earlier post, but that was only for PCs. I decided to generalize it to all products). 3 Comments »

All 64 Bit PC's

Desktops submitted by class2008 05/25/07

Dell should begin producing all 64 bit pc's. WIth rumors of Windows Vista being the last OS available in 32 bit, they should get consumers ready with 64 bit pc's, at reasonable prices. 50 Comments »

Ubuntu Linux systems Down Under

Advertising and Marketing, Linux, Sales Strategies submitted by finkisadink May 10

At present it's not possible to buy a Dell system with Linux preinstalled within Australia. This is something that I believe should be resolved as soon as practicable — at present I'm having to buy systems with Windows preinstalled, only to never use that license... and this also costs me time & money as I have to perform a full SOE build from scratch. 6 Comments »

Laptops/mousepad

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by radiohaze May 8

Why are mousepads on the left-hand side of laptops, when most of us are RIGHT-HANDED, using a mouse with our RIGHT hand and the keyboard with our LEFT ? I'm finding it incredibly frustrating, trying to find a laptop that doesn't force me to use it left-handed. 13 Comments »

Provide Linux Drivers for all your Hardware

Linux submitted by gergnz 02/19/07 **IN PROGRESS**

I don't care whether the OS is pre-installed or not, I want all the hardware to be totally supported in the Linux kernel without in mucking around. I currently have a Dell M1210 and I wish the modem would work, just in case I need it. The web cam would work, just in case I need it. At least the Intel wireless card is totally supported. Thanks Intel!!
Drivers are available for Linux to make some but not all hardware work. We continue to work with our partners to provide for better hardware support. See more specifics from john_h.




184 Comments »

Stop Advertising Windows Vista On Your Linux Pages

Advertising and Marketing, Dell Web Site submitted by aikiwolfie May 11

A while ago I noticed the Latitude XT promotional demo video in the Linux section of the Dell community page. And questioned it's relevance then. In the open source page on Dell.com Dell is still trying to steer open source users back to Windows.

The Latitude XT is a Microsoft Windows only product and is not offered with Ubuntu or any other form of Linux so far as i know. In fact the demo video shows the Latitude XT running Windows Vista. Please stop badgering open source users and stop hounding them with this Windows Vista nonsense. We've already decided we're not interested. 7 Comments »

Power Button On Outside Casing

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by bosweto May 11

An external power-on button would be very handy for those of us (and I know there are many) who have their laptop attached to an external monitor for most of the time. Having to open it every time you need to boot up is quite annoying, especially if you keep the laptop on a storage shelf. I understand that a lock button of some sort may need to be implemented along with this, as when transporting the laptop the power button may accidently be pressed and powered on.
Thanks 4 Comments »

gives a higher graphic card for 15 inch XPS laptop

Gaming, XPS products submitted by hanlya May 6

it is better if Dell offer a gaming product with high graphic in 15 inch laptop..for example m1530..dell should offer for an additional better video card such as 8800Gt or 8700 GT..and this m1530 will be like kaboom...1 of the best 15 inch laptop ever build..so i suggest dell put additional option for higher graphic or just build a new product 15 inch laptop with gaming characteristic..or maybe m1535..with a better video card.. 2 Comments »

Sell AC adapters at retail stores

Advertising and Marketing, Laptop Power submitted by undead999 May 7

Since Dell is selling computers at retail outlets offer ac adapters for laptops at best buy, staples and anywhere you sell laptops. Also offer ac adapters at your kiosks.

AC adapter usually fail without warning, waiting days or weeks for a replacement AC adapter is not always an option for many users. Generic adapters dont always work on Dells, in addition many are underpowered espicially for 17 inch models Comment »

Offer new cheaper SSD's in XPS notebooks

Sales Strategies, XPS products submitted by redrubberpenguin May 7

Solid state drives have been ridiculously expensive for the last few years. The price is over $15 per GB of storage, as opposed to hard disk drives, which come for even less than $1 per GB of storage at times. But there's no arguing the benefits of SSD's... better performance, quicker boot times, and much better data protection all in exchange for a premium price.

Super Talent has just released a series of solid state drives that are actually AFFORDABLE. The series starts of with a 30GB ssd (120 mb/s read, 40 mb/s write)... FOR 300 DOLLARS. Compare that to Mtron's Mobi 6000 32GB solid state drive, which costs $699. Super Talent's 60GB version runs for $449, while Mtron's 64GB costs over $1000 at the moment.

http://www.supertalent.com/press_view.php?prid=ed3d2c21991e3bef5e069713af9fa6...

Note that the write speeds of these SSD's is lower than some other SSD's out there, but most consumers would agree that they were willing to sacrifice that write speed for the huge amount of money they save. Dell, please offer this SSD on your notebooks, especially on the XPS series, as quickly as you can! And readers, please promote this idea if you want cheap SSD's (and I know you do!). 2 Comments »

Stop Overcharging on Notebook RAM

Sales Strategies, Laptops submitted by realskript 08/28/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

Dell really... REALLY need to stop overcharging... and when i say overcharing... i mean atleast double what you would pay to pick up the ram yourself.
On XPS Notebooks... you are charging $500 for 4GB of ram... when you could easily go pick them up at your local computer shop for $250... and pocket the other half of the $500...

It would be nice if dell could save the customers as well as the company itself this hassle.. and start charging NORMAL prices for an upgrade in RAM.

thanks =D

PS..... PROMOTE THIS!!!!











86 Comments »

Dell: join in! Offer a low-cost Linux PC!

Linux, Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by phubert Apr 2

It appears Dell remains afraid of Microsoft... and here is an answer we haven't heard from Dell on IdeaStorm:

"The top PC makers have so far treaded carefully. Dell's website sells Ubuntu computers in a separate section for open-source PCs, out of direct comparison with Windows machines. Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said the placement reflects the fact that Linux is still not a mainstream consumer product."

From the USA Today article:

Burst of low-end PCs could boost Linux

"Business computing suppliers are finding open-source desktops especially gaining traction in cost-conscious developing markets. For example, IBM and Linux vendor Red Hat recently launched Microsoft-free desktops for Eastern Europe.

One buyer is Aleksandar Spagnut, a director of Moscow-based Rushotel, which needed new desktop PCs for a hotel-building project. Spagnut said his company saved 30 to 35% over comparable Windows machines. He added that Linux PCs are now common enough that a snowball effect is emerging, whereby technical support and "drivers" — which essentially tell programs how to interact with hardware — are much easier to find." ****

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/software/2008-04-01-cheap-pc-linux_N.ht... 19 Comments »

Cut the cost of a 9-cell battery upgrade

Sales Strategies, Laptop Power submitted by ccpljat May 6

Yes a 9-cell is more powerful and lasts longer, but $169? Come on. It can't be that much. Cut down the price to honestly reflect the difference. I mean good grief, you can buy a 9-cell replacement for an Inspiron 1720 for $154! An upgrade is always supposed to be less.

FIX IT, DELL!!!! 8 Comments »

switch to LED monitors

Monitors and Displays, Laptop Power submitted by yardsale Jan 16

I dont know why dell hasnt done this yet. switch all monitors on desktops and notebooks to LED. did you know that you can run an LED screen at full brightniess and it uses less power than a LCD monitor at the lowest brighting level?!? its cheaper, its energy efficent, and it needs to be done! promote this, if you demote i wanna know why! 47 Comments »

Give XPS Notebooks Gigabit Ethernet

XPS products submitted by croftki Feb 17

I understand that Dell market research says home users in general are not interested in gigabit ethernet for home networks. Those who pay for the premium design in the XPS line, however, are more likely to want gigabit ethernet. I would rather buy something more exciting than a business class notebook, but I want to build on my home technology with each purchase I make. XPS Notebooks unfortunately do not help me do this. It seems my only option is to buy a Latitude. 28 Comments »