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Bring back the DELL Dude at the launch of your redesigned products!

Laptops submitted by benjesuit 03/23/07

Bring Back the Dell Dude!

"Martha Stewart. Miss USA. Robert Downey Jr. Everybody loves a comeback story, so why not give Benjamin Curtis (the Dell Dude) another turn in the spotlight just in time for Dell's back-to-school push? Last we heard, the Dell Dude's record would be cleared if he behaved like a good boy for one year following his 2003 arrest on suspicion of trying to buy marijuana. I can see the campaign slogan now: "Just say no to HP!" - Mark Spoonauer, Editor in Chief of LAPTOP

Mark's right. A great way to kick off not just the August selling season, but to kick off the inevitable redesign of your product lines. Especially your notebook line. It's obvious that the new notebooks will have features similiar to HP's such as the 102 key full size keyboard on 17" screen models and perhaps a webcam. And your colour scheme will be something more sensible than the current silver and white.

Bring back the excitement of "DUDE?! You're getting a DELL!"

Because right now, I feel like getting a Dell is a comprimise at best, lesser of two evils at worse. 1 Comment »

Integral DSL/Cable Modem, Integral Router

Broadband and Mobility, Desktops and Laptops submitted by zafo 03/07/07

I would love the get the router and broadband modem off the top of my computer. Can you make internal modems and router ordering options? We've had internal dial-up/FAX modems forever. 1 Comment »

Don't make us buy Vista

Operating Systems submitted by icantseeyou 02/21/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

From all of the press I have read it is plain that Vista is a big bomb. To buy the cheapest version I hear it isn't even as good as XP SP2. At the same time you need at least 4 Gig to run it. Offer other options... I don't care if it's Linux, XP, or a rat running on a wheel. Don't make us buy Vista.

You can read more about this the OS options Dell offers here.






93 Comments »

Would be Nice to Get the New Hybrid Hard Drives As Soon As Possible

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by guest_houston 02/17/07

Sometime this year some hard disk makers are to release "hybrid hard drive" technology, which is supported by the new Windows Vista.

This technology could possibly provide greater speed and energy savings, as well as making the computer quieter.

I can't wait for this to become available. 4 Comments »

Better looking PCs

Desktops and Laptops submitted by shanx24 02/17/07

If Dell wants to regain relevance with its target audience, it should seriously hire a couple of leading designers and make machines that don't look like poor man's tin clunkers. Yes, even that 'luxury' line of machines you've started look hideous. Take inspiration from Vaio SZ or the small full-black Fujitsu or just about anything from Apple. I used to be an avid Dell evangelist for nearly 5 years, until it became to make less and less sense to me (even your 'international support' was useless. It does NOT work). 3 Comments »

Give Dell employees better discounts so they can experience the customer experience

Dell submitted by pwalker 02/02/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Dell employees tell me they don't get discounts on Dell products. It's time to give Dell employees good discounts so they will more frequently experience your customer experience. This is important. I believe motivating them to be Dell customers more frequently will generate a lot of ideas for improving dell.com, products and services.


We did update our Employee Purchase Program in November.
60 Comments »

AVG Free Edition (Virus and Spyware Utilities) Installation Option

Software submitted by solidsource 02/19/07

Allow for AVG (or other virus software/spy ware manufacture alternative) instead of, or alongside, the other options (Norton,etc...). AVG is a comprehensive suite of virus and spy ware protection applications that remains very un-intrusive compared to the other options Dell provides. Simply allowing for an alternative(s) to the big 2 would be great. 8 Comments »

Laptop & Desktop Boot in seconds from Flash Drives

Broadband and Mobility, Desktops and Laptops submitted by reg 02/19/07

Have laptops and PCs that boot quickly & quietly from fast internal flash drives,
and run the whole OS and application programs in RAM.
The New Dell PC will boot from internal Fast USB 2.0 flash drives in just a few seconds.
The Hard drive can stay powered down, completely off, unless the user needs to store some extra large files (video, photos).

Laptop Battery life is measured in days, not hours.


Have 2 Recessed USB 2.0 Slots.
Two USB Flash Drives would fit neatly into the laptop.
In this way the whole OS and Apps run in RAM, and stores data files on an 8 GB flash drive.

The 8GB is used transparently as the 'On Line' Storage, with a hard drive acting as secondary storage.
This gives desktops and laptops much greater speed and power savings.

<font> On-Line/Near-Line Storage Model for Laptops</font>
1. OS and App all run from RAM (so the machine should have 2GB+ of RAM)
2. Modified files are worked on in RAM, and stored on the Flash Drive
3. Older (non-system) files, that are 'inactive', get pushed down to the hard drive,

Hard Drive files are stored with on-the-fly hardware compression / decompression (back to RAM), with the flash drive file replaced with a pointer to the hard drive file.
Data is always safely copied down to the hard drive on shut down.



The flash drive is removeable and upgradeable, so later if someone wants to upgrade to a 32GB flash drive, just unplug and plug in the new one.

On-line / Near-Line storage works great on very large data servers, where data is mostly write once, read infrequently.
(Also known as Write Once, Read Mostly - WORM drives.)

It's time such ideas are put into practice for desktops and laptops.


You can run your Dell Laptop TODAY from 100% Flash Drive - Pen Drive using Puppy Linux.



www.puppylinux.org delivers a complete, small, fast Linux Distribution including all major tools in under 90MB. You can add Open Office, GIMP, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc and they all fit right in a USB Flash Drive.
Pupply Linux Applications.
Download Puppy Linux so you Can Try Flash Drive Dell Notebooks Today. 21 Comments »

Bring support back.........

Service and Support submitted by onthemovefit 02/17/07

Dell used to have the best support, so good you advertised being the consumers choice. Now, at least for home based support, Dell's support is terrible. Business support still seems to do a good job. It's time for Dell to get back to basics.

As an Software Developer for 15yrs I always used Dell's products. First Dell computer was a Pentium II Workstation. I also would recommend Dell products to anyone who would listen. This has now stopped. The last person I recommended to Dell had such terrible support (from india) I doubt they'd ever buy a Dell again. I've even considered looking elsewhere for my next laptop and PC. Comment »

BloatWare Uninstall- single click software remove

Software submitted by raymc 02/19/07

I understand the importance to Dell of the additional revenue stream collected from the suppliers of 'free' bundled software. So to shift the decision making process onto the customer, can Dell make the removal of such bundled software a single click choice 'remove bloatware' on first power-up of new products? Ergo Revenue stream retained and customer choice satisfied! 6 Comments »

Do not hire nontechnical people for techsupport

Service and Support submitted by jbrogers 02/17/07

This is the main problem with the India call centers - they have no idea what they are doing. They are obviously reading a scripted diagnosing tool and have no personal knowledge of computing issues.

I have both home and business accounts with Dell. When I call in for support on my Business account, I get a good old-fashioned American geek, who instantly understands that I am fairly technical, and doesn't treat me like an idiot.

The Indian call centers, not having knowledge themselves, do not recognize that I know anything, and treat me like an idiot as they read from the diagnosis tool. Yeah, I know the computer is plugged in. Yeah I know that I have internet connectivity. Sheesh.

33 Comments »

A single DVD that will install correct drivers on any model of Dell PC

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by danwarne 02/18/07

I've just posted an opinion editorial about this at APCMag.com -- http://apcmag.com/node/5359. Seems to me that a largely overlooked feature of Apple Boot Camp is the driver CD that will install drivers onto any model of Intel Mac with no searching/downloading required by the user. This could be a 'Dell crushing feature' unless Dell comes up with something similar. It has to be this easy: one click, and all drivers for that machine are identified and installed. And the CD or DVD image has to be downloadable. 18 Comments »

Better Styling, More Choices on Video Cards and a Hybrid Video Design, and Definately less or NO pre-installed Software.

Sales Strategies, Software, Laptops submitted by kman79 02/16/07 **REVIEWED**

Dell probably does build one of the best performing notebooks that one could order, well at least you could make it to be one of the best performing notebooks, but they lack in style. Of course the priority of having the notebook is having good performance, but having a stylish exterior adds value and want for the notebook/laptop. The white and gray casing gets old, and needs updating. I like the simple yet stylish look of the M1210, the rest of the line should be updated. Maybe it's just me, but the rest of the XPS line of laptops need to be toned down, it just looks to kidish and has too many things going on with it. Design a better looking notebook with the current hardware performance you have available right now, and you can guarantee it will sell better. The design does not have to be complex, but anything is better than white and gray plastic exterior you currently use. Get ideas from Apple, Asus, Sony, Toshiba and even HP. Give the exterior look of the notebook some curves......maybe evem a glossy finish, and a little texture. People spend thousands of dollars on their Dell Notebooks, at least make them feel better by making the notebooks look like it's worth the money spent on them. Give the notebook some attitude, a personality and a soul and not just a piece of plastic with a keyboard and a screen.

Dell should also give customers more choices with the video cards. I wanted to get an M1210, but was dissapointed that it only had a Geforce Go 7400 as the only choice for video card. I was more than willig to spend the extra cash on a higher end video card. Also, if sony has not patented this design/idea, what about a Video Hybrid design where you have a choice between intel graphics while on battery, and purve Nvidia graphics when plugged in. I think the idea is genious and very useful. You can use intel graphics when your running on battery to save and extend battery life, and switch over to nvidia graphics for full-on graphics power when the notebook is plugged in.

More importantly, let it be the customer's choice on which programs and services they want installed on their ordered computer. I hate turning on my newly ordered computer and having all these unwanted software and services already installed. I hate having to spend the first minutes to hours after receiving my computer uninstalling programs or doing a clean OS install.


Over the past year we launched several laptops that were developed purely for the consumer. Check out all the details on mike_h's post.





10 Comments »

No Extra Software Option

Software submitted by ootleman 02/16/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Would love the ability to have a clean Vista install. No AOL software, no earthlink software, no google software - just a clean, original OS.


Check out jeremy_f's update on our current software options.


591 Comments »

Backlit Keyboards

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by rarmasu 02/21/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

I find myself many, many times in dark or poorly lit environments having to guess the various keys - would be fantastic to have a backlit keyboard - with backlit individual keys as the best option.

I would actually pay extra for that convenience if the option was available.
This could be done for desktops or notebooks.


Check out Vida_K's comment below on the New Latitude.
300 Comments »

Minimum 2 Gigs RAM standard on all XPS machines

XPS products submitted by silversow 02/24/07

This should be pretty obvious. Nobody is going to buy an XPS machine with just 1 gig. 1 Comment »

Make Gigabit Ethernet Standard on Notebooks

Broadband and Mobility, Laptops submitted by techsage 02/24/07

This should be a given at the least for Small Business and above notebooks. Another option would be to at least allow an option for this with an additional charge. This feature is very important for those wishing to do quicker backups via the network (since this is faster than even via USB 2.0). Apple and Sony, if not others as well have this as standard at this point.

NOTE: I know that this is standard on XPS systems, but that is not good enough. 7 Comments »

Mail this!

IdeaStorm submitted by cabal 02/26/07

Can we have a "Share this IdeaStorm" link, so that we have an easy way to share a specific IdeaStorm thread? Comment »

Solid State Drive as option in Notebooks

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by tablet205 03/28/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Definition

A solid state drive is primarily a data storage device, for use in computing applications that traditionally use a hard disk drive.

A solid state drive is based on non-volatile memory instead of the spinning platter and mechanical-magnetic head found in a conventional hard disk drive. With no moving parts, a solid state drive eliminates seek time, latency and other electro-mechanical delays and failures associated with a conventional hard disk drive.

Advantages

* Faster startup - Since no spin-up required.
* Faster read time – In some cases, twice or more than that of the fastest hard drives.
* Low read and write latency (seek) time, hundreds of times faster than a mechanical disk.
* Faster boot and application launch time - Result of the faster read and especially seek time. But only if application already resides in flash and is more dependent on read speed than other issues, eg. OS bootup that detects devices will not be significantly sped up even with faster seeks & reads.
* Lower power consumption and heat production - no mechanical parts results in less power consumption.
* No noise - Lack of mechanical parts makes the SSD completely silent.
* Better mechanical reliability - Lack of mechanical parts results in less wear and tear. High level of ability to endure extreme shock, vibration and temperatures, which apply to laptops and other mobile devices, or when transported.
* Security - allowing a very quick "wipe" of all data stored.
* Deterministic performance - unlike mechanical hard drives, performance of SSDs is constant and deterministic across the entire storage. "Seek" time is constant, and performance does not deteriorate as the media fills up (See: Fragmentation).
* Lower weight and (depending upon type) size
* Faster than conventional disks on random I/O
Check out the Idea in Action on the SSD enhancements Dell is making.




49 Comments »

15" laptop full featured laptop with tablet capability

Monitors and Displays, Laptops submitted by iano 03/03/07

15" Displays are typical for notebooks now, but the biggest convertible tablet is 14".
I know the all the arguments "too big to carry on your arm" etc.....
There are plenty of purpose built tablets for tablet applications, and students who frequently attend lectures and vertical markets do need special devices, but most people I know what a laptop 1st and tablet capabilites are only welcome if the laptop is NOT compromised as a laptop.

How I, and the people i mix with, use a tablet is to take notes in meetings in situations where using a laptop in conventional manner is not appropriate. This is less than 5% of my laptop usage, but is worth paying a premium for if the laptop is not compromised the other 95% of the time.

So DON'T shrink the screen to make it more portable, that would compromise 96% of usage. And DO make it full featured, as i suggest those who do mind paying extra for this feature also are prepared to pay for other features and wont buy a stripped down model. Personally I would seek 1600x1060 as an approximate minimum screen resolution. Comment »