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Linux Hardware Compatibility List

Dell Web Site, Linux submitted by s3indiana 02/20/07 **IN PROGRESS**

Create a listing of Dell hardware that's compatible with the major Linux distributions (Fedora, OpenSuse, ubuntu, Freespire) providing compatibility with not just systems (desktops and laptops) but include peripherals (printers, camera's, flash drives, compatible routers, etc.). Include levels of compatibility so the reviewer can make an educated choice. This would provide the greatest assistance for those looking at alternatives...

We're working to add something like this to our linux.dell.com wiki. Click here to see what john_h has to say.




30 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 the white LED backlights on the <ahref>XPS M1730.
296 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 »

Use magsafe power connectors

Laptops, Laptop Power submitted by badblood 05/20/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

MagSafe power connectors, by Apple, are magnetic power connectors that pull out harmlessly when the cord is tripped upon.



They are very cool and quite sensible.





87 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 »

Make XP/Linux drivers available for all model even if only Vista is pre-installed

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Linux, Operating Systems submitted by vineets001 09/24/07 **REVIEWED**

There are good hardware models coming out. And only Vista is pre-install option. If people want to wipe off Vista and install XP or Linux, let them do that. Make a commitment to have the drivers available.


We're working on having drivers for the hardware we ship more widely available. Click here to learn more from john_h.





28 Comments »

Upcoming Inspiron 1725 options to consider.

submitted by okroger104 12/02/07

The Inspiron 1525 refresh later this month is going to have HDMI, so we're good on that. I'm assuming the 1425 and 1725 will have it as well.

But for the 1725, graphics card wise, I'd like to see the new Nvidia 8800M GTS 256MB option. Last year around this time, the e1705 had a Nvidia 7900GS 256MB as an option. I say 8800M GTS and not GTX because it would be a cost effective option considering who the Inspiron is marketed to.

Also, the addition of WSXGA+ LCD (1680x1050).

Thanks for your consideration. 2 Comments »

HDMI on all laptops

Inspiron products, Monitors and Displays submitted by blackkitty 06/27/07

I would like to see all Inspiron laptops have HDMI connectors standard, or at a minimum make it an option on the 17" screen version. 3 Comments »

DVI for Notebooks

Sales Strategies, Laptops submitted by dellmanfred 02/20/07

I cannot understand why we still have to be punished with these vga plugs build into notebooks. Who's actually buying a CRT monitor these days so that he/she would need a vga plug?!?!
On top of that it must be cheaper too to have a straight digital ouptut without a D/A converter. So please, get rid of the vga plug and put a proper DVI plug into your notebooks. For the sake of our eyes!!!! 10 Comments »

NICE New Dell montor! Keep making great designs like this.

Monitors and Displays submitted by jmxz 05/18/07

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/18/dells-ultra-thin-concept-lcd-with-displayp...

Dell's ultra-thin LCD concept with DisplayPort going retail?
...
Remember that super swanky Dell monitor concept we went ga ga over back at January's CES? Yeah, we still find it hard to believe it's a Dell design. Well, it'll apparently be up for sale later in the year.

Gigabit ethernet throughout

Dell, Simplify IT submitted by boolda 07/09/07

Threre is not point in sticking with old fast ethernet, particularly, when gigabit ethernet is so cheap. Use gigabit ethernet in all your products. 5 Comments »

More RAM!

Desktops and Laptops submitted by mwmtjm 01/30/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

Do away with 512MB of memory as a base option to buy consumer desktops and notebooks. With Vista running best on 1GB at a minimum, don't make customers have a basic experience with the new OS because Dell wants to be able to advertise at a lower price point. The success of Vista -- and subsequently for Dell -- will be largely in word of mouth. Take a long-term view and build the momentum one great customer experience at a time right now!


113 Comments »

Inspirons Need Selectable USB Boot Device Menu

Inspiron products submitted by alfredska 12/15/07

The BIOS on Inspiron notebooks allows us to select:
Hard Drive, CD/DVD Drive, Network, USB

We need the BIOS to go further and actually let us select which USB device we need to boot. This applies to the boot menu that appears when F12 is pressed during startup. After the BIOS has gone through and detected hardware, it should be able to report which devices are connected to USB and give the option to select which particular one should be booted. 3 Comments »

http://www.dell.com/open shouldn't steer people towards Windows

Dell Web Site, Linux submitted by limulus 08/02/07

If I want to look at the open source offerings on Dell's site, there's a nice short URL that redirects to the appropriate page: http://www.dell.com/open

However, some of the wording on the page sounds like it was written to DISCOURAGE people from buying those systems and steer them towards Windows; an excerpt:

---
Not sure Open Source is for You?

The main thing to note is that when you choose open source you don’t get a Windows® operating system. If you’re here by mistake and you are looking for a Dell PC with Windows, please use the following link.

Shop Dell PCs with Windows
---

To make the page better:

* remove the "Not sure Open Source is for You?" and "Already an Open Source fan?" sections or change them to something like this:

---
New to Open Source?

A very important thing for people familiar with Microsoft Windows® but new to open source to note before buying is that it is an alternative to Windows®, not a cheap version of Windows®. Programs specifically designed to run on Windows® will NOT run by default on Dell's open source systems. If you want to run programs such as "Microsoft Office® 2007", "Adobe Photoshop® CS3", "iTunes® 7.3" and "The Sims® 2" you're in the wrong place! (Dell's Windows® systems may be found here.)

If you already knew that or are ok with it, please continue shopping below...
---

* if its to be kept, move the "You asked, we listened." part down into the Ubuntu description, but get rid of the "advanced users and tech enthusiasts" mention; installing an OS (regardless of the OS) is usually the most difficult step (and one not done by 'average users') but Dell has done all the hard work (most notably by selecting compatible hardware) and after that Ubuntu is really not that hard to use :)

* in the "What Is Open Source?" section, the following sentence needs work: "A downside is that some open source software requires intermediate or advanced knowledge to use, and in the case of operating systems, may not be compatible with the same software applications and hardware as Windows operating systems."

What is the reference for "advanced knowledge to use"? Are we talking about the command line? Ubuntu can be used without ever seeing it. Perhaps consider striking that. The real meat of the issue, of course, is that Windows embraces proprietary things and its an uphill battle to try to support them in an open OS. Perhaps use the following:

"A downside is that consumer software applications and hardware choices which are compatible with the proprietary Windows operating system may not work in an open source environment or may require significant tweaking to make them work."

(for software, the tweaking is a reference to Wine... for the hardware, we can hope for support in future Ubuntu versions ;) 42 Comments »

Give us the OPTION to sort ideas by score.

IdeaStorm submitted by winoffice 11/17/07

Dell already allows people to sort by category (i.e., Dell, IdeaStorm, Software, etc.), and by the person who submitted it (i.e., show only ideas submitted by a certain user), and cosh suggested sorting by Dell-assigned tags (i.e., **NOT NOW**, **IMPLEMENTED**, **UNDER REVIEW**, etc.)

However, the ideas with the higher scores go down the list as they become older, and thus become more and more hidden in the site and their top spots are taken by ideas with significantly smaller scores. Thus, some people will never see the top ideas unless the browse though tens if not hundreds of pages to get to the top ideas or throgh a link in an idea or a comment.

Therefore, I suggest that Dell allow us to sort by score like this:

Less than 0
0 to 100
100 to 250
250 to 500
500 to 750
750 to 1000
1000 to 2500
2500 to 5000
5000 to 7500
7500 to 10000
10000 to 25000
25000 to 50000
More than 50000

As jervis961 noticed in his idea concerning the halflife formula for calculating the position of an idea in the site, ideas get visible in the first few pages only for some time, and after that some might never see the idea again except by browsing for a long time or through a link in an idea or a comment. So I suggest that Dell allow us to sort by score to see the ideas with the highest scores (or ideas in any score range actually) easily. 11 Comments »

XPS ONE NEEDS A BOOST

XPS products submitted by mike2912 Jan 12

The XPS ONE looks great but it needs 1950x1200 resolution. It also needs to offer Vista Ultimate and Vista Ultimate only. 4 Comments »

Move Faster To Implement Ideas, Remove Them and Give Feedback!

IdeaStorm submitted by aikiwolfie 12/05/07

I count 20 Ideas on the first page of the popular Ideas page. I only know the status of one of them and that's the Dell Linux Repository idea. I know it's status because matt_d very kindly keeps us informed.

The other 19 ideas are a mystery. What's happening to these ideas? Give us feed back, implement or delete. Stop waisting my time. 35 Comments »

Overclocking options

Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by carlobaluta 02/20/07

Have overclocking options in BIOS, as other motherboard manufacturers have. This should apply to high end gaming machines, designed for people who know what they are doing.
Also, i believe this kind of computers are way too pricey as I can always buy the parts and build such a machine for way less and with far more options...

Carlo 54 Comments »

Promote Windows Home Server Bigtime

Servers and Storage submitted by gcreese 02/17/07

Microsoft is coming out with Windows Home Server this year, which will allow households to backup and manage their house PCs from a single spot. At this point, a lot of households are in this situation (e.g., with two adults and a child, we have three laptops, a desktop, and three PDAs). Get out in front of the curve on this one (HP made its announcement at the CES Show), talk about it, promote the fact that you will offer it, and in the vein of the other "make the website easier to use" suggestions, explain how Windows Home Server is something to consider for a family going digital.

Also, offer a Windows Home Server discount to current customers who've ordered two or more PCs from Dell in the past five years. You have the data to run an effective, targeted marketing campaign. Use it! 168 Comments »

An option as how our name needs to appear in Idea Storm

IdeaStorm submitted by petzymathuram Jan 10

When we click on Account details we get a display as

Password
Change Password
Email address

It would be better if you would add an option:

How do you want your name to appear

so that people need not use multiple email IDs to sign in.with different names.
Hence we use the same email address but can change the way the name gets displayed. 4 Comments »