Sales of Linux on Dell computers continue to grow

(From Computerworld) As Dell Inc. approaches its one-year anniversary of selling laptop and desktop computers preloaded with Ubuntu Linux, the company is continuing to expand the fledgling program to new computer models and markets.

Read the entire article here.

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Just waiting

Good morning. I sold the computer that I mentioned in an earlier post today. I had 3 calls about it this morning and one yesterday. The computer is going to a school teacher so it will go to good use.

My wifes friends Kara and Sheila from Arkansas are coming up to visit us this week. They should be here sometime today or tomorrow and are planning on staying until Sunday. My wife Vicki has been friends with them since they were kids. Kara is bringing her Dell Dimension 4600 with her for me to work on. It's running slow and has some other problems, but that is to be expected after 4 years. I will probably format the hard drive and reinstall the OS and suggest that she get some more memory for it.

Dell CEO Blames Laptop Delays on Poor Planning

Dell Inc.'s CEO this week blamed too-conservative sales forecasting for the long delays in getting new notebooks to consumers, but he said nothing about problems in painting the laptops, the main reason other executives have given customers.

Read the rest at PC World

This is exactly why I am reluctant to ever buy a Dell again after the problem my son had with trying to order the XPS M1330 a few weeks ago.

My son is going to Start his own Blog

My son John is going to start his own Blog. The address is going to be navygeek.blogspot.com. He said that he has about 30 post ready to put up as soon as he gets a chance. He still has to buy a Laptop computer and really wanted a Dell but after going to their site and building several laptops to his specifications, all the ship dates are a month away. If anyone has a good suggestion for a laptop with the following minimum specifications let me know.

* $1700.00 max Price, that's with tax and shipping.

* 160 gig 7200rpm hard drive ( he would go down to a 5400rpm if needed )
* 256meg dedicated graphics card
* 2 megs system memory
* Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (2MB cache/1.8GHz/800Mhz FSB)
* Windows Vista Ultimate
* Wireless 802.11a/g/Draft n
* CD/DVD burner
* Bluetooth
* Webcam
* Built In microphone and Speakers

* A reasonable build and shipping time. ( 1-2 Weeks at the most )

I found several at HP well within the specifications and price that he wants but I would love to hear what other people have to say. He wants to use it for school and some gaming. This will be his only computer and he will be using it all over the world. John was majoring in Computer Science in College before joining the Navy.

This post is a reply to Neal from Dell Inc.

This post is a reply to Neal from Dell, Inc. I first posted it as a follow-up comment to his comment to an earlier Post ( you can click here to read that Post ) and then thought it deserved it's own Post on my Blog so here it is. If you want to follow the whole story just click on "Dell" in the Labels section under this post.

Replying to Neal from Dell Corp, First of all thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my Blog post. I'll start with what you said last. I don't know your e-mail address or phone number so there is no way for me to contact you. If you want to give me that info you can by signing my guestbook privately ( so everyone doesn't call and e-mail you ). I have looked the the entire picture and I just got off the phone with my son and he told me that one of his room-mates just bought a Toshiba Laptop and had it within TWO days of placing the order. That's what I call service. By the way he configured it himself.

I have been dealing with Dell for years and have personally been involved in helping people order well over 50 Dell computers and all of them, with the exception of one was over $1000.00 . Until "recently" I never had a "major problem" with your company. The sales person that my son talked to was in Malaysia and didn't even know what the U.S. Navy was. I find that to be incredible in itself. I will tell you that I wouldn't mind paying a little more for a computer that has all North American sales and tech support. I hate calling India and having the support person telling me their name is Tom. That is laughable. I could relate a few other horror stories about Dell that have happened recently but I won't ..."Yet". I think the problem is that Dell is trying to compete with Wal-Mart and such places. Too bad... I don't buy my computers from Wal-Mart for a reason, but you are taking that away.

My son John said today that when he orders a computer he "HAS" to have it fast! If there is a long delay he might not even be at the same address. Remember he is in the United States Navy. He will be going on a Ship soon and I don't think you will deliver to the middle of the ocean. Will you? I look forward to your response.

Again, I am typing this Blog post on a Dell computer and I love it. Hope the company can get itself back up to par, I would love my next computer to be a Dell also.

P.S. It's nice to know that Dell cares enough to read my Blog. I am getting allot of hits on my Blog from an internal Dell website
http://fusion.us.dell.com/Fusion/Core/update.aspx?id=7478160

More on Dell and how things are playing out.

I talked to "Thomas", a Business Controls Manager from Dell today. He contacted me last week after I posted about my sons bad experience with trying to order a Dell XPS M1330 Laptop and subsequent cancellation of that order. Dell made us an offer that I think is kinda fare ( They would match a competitor's price on a laptop with similar components, and he would also work on getting it shipped quickly ). I would think with all that we went through last week that the offer would be better than that for someone serving in the military, but I digress. I will have to talk to my son and find out if this is the route he wants to take. He really had his heart set on a Dell XPS but the bad experience left a bad taste in his mouth, and mine.

After talking to "Thomas" from Dell today I talked to my Father ( a retired Physicist ) and he was telling me that a friend of his just got a new Dell Desktop and the LCD monitor didn't work when he set it up. After 45min on the phone Dell agreed to send him a new monitor. My Dad said to me "I thought they "Dell" would have tested the monitor before it was shipped". He also conveyed that another of his friends had spent 4 hrs on the phone with Dell tech support trying to get another problem resolved. This is really sad for a company that was always a leader in their filed of Direct to consumer sales. Hopefully Dell can pull itself out of this slump and come out on top again. I currently own two Dell computers and have had others before these. With the exception of a few minor problems in the past I have been very happy with them. By the way, Dad has two Dell computers also...

I am hesitant on recommending Dell to my friends and family at the current time but hopefully that will change in the near future. I will let you know how this all plays out.

Dell's New XPS 420 Details Revealed

Engadget has posted details about the up coming Dell XPS 420. The XPS 420 will have hardware MPEG-4 encoder and Vista SideShow display up top. The other features of the system are Core 2 Duo Extreme or Quad processor, Intel X 38 chipset with DDR2 800, Dell Xcelerator hardware MPEG-4 encoder, ten USB ports, two 1394 ports and audio ports in front and back. The MiniView (SIdeShow) up top shows time, date, calendar, system stats and controls for media access.

You can read more on Engadget.

Dude, Your Not Getting a Dell

My son John ( in the Navy ) ordered a Dell XPS M1330 laptop Saturday over the phone. He told the Dell Sales Rep the items that he wanted ( the specifications ) for the laptop and placed his order. He was given a total and he told the sales rep that he wanted it fast and the Dell Rep promised he would have it within a week ( he paid for quick shipping ). Sunday I checked his order online and found out that he was not getting the parts in the Laptop that he had told me the night before and the price was $200.00 higher than he had told me, also they had his address wrong. I e-mailed John Sunday morning and luckily he used a computer on base and checked his e-mail and he was very upset and asked me to cancel his order so I did. They had already debited his bank account for the purchase. The estimated shipping date was September 25 with a delivery date of October 2nd, not a week later as he was told. When I called Dell I was told that he would get his money back within 10-15 business days. I advised John to go to his Bank ( The Navy Federal Credit Union ) and tell them what happened, he did that yesterday ( Monday ) and the banker told John that if Dell has not refunded his money to his account that they would take care of it with the help of the Navy Legal Department. I guess he should have known that something was going to happen when the Dell Sales Rep ( this one in The USA ) did not know what the "United States Navy" was. :)

I have been buying Dells for years now and have never had a problem with them. John said Sunday " I loved Dell computers but now I don't know if I will ever buy from them again". I feel the same way.

Once he is refunded his money I am going to help him buy a laptop and I will get a cheaper and better one for him. Just one piece of advice. DON'T order over the phone. Order online, that way you can see what components you are going to get before you pay the company the money. He didn't know that the Dell XPS M1330 has been having build and shipping problems when he placed his order ( he was out of the loop while in Boot Camp ) and couldn't read the latest tech news and the Sales Rep did not tell him.

When we get him his laptop I will let you know what he gets. I can tell you one thing ( It won't be a Dell ).
Read more about the Delays on the Dell XPS M1330 at these links from Dell.

From the Dell Blog Link 1

From the Dell Blog Link 2

Another article about the Dell Shipping Delays

UPDATE: His money was refunded back to him today. :) ( August 23, 2007 )

UPDATE: Dell also blames Inspiron delays on inability to paint stuff

Update: Friday, September 07, 2007

Dell CEO Blames Laptop Delays on Poor Planning

Dell, Alienware Ship Systems With One Terabyte Drives

Dell and Alienware are the first PC manufacturers to include an internal 1TB (that’s one terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes) hard drive as a build-to-order options on their systems. You’ll find this hulking hard drive on “select” XPS, Aurora and Area 51 boxes. Adding 1TB of space will cost you just a little bit, somewhere in the neighborhood of $540



read more | digg story

First Dell store to open Tuesday in Dallas

"The first Dell Inc. store opens Tuesday in an upscale Dallas mall, but company officials insist they're not abandoning the computer maker's strategy of selling directly to customers over the phone and the Internet."

read more | digg story

Dell hooks up PC customers with online support | CNET News.com

Dell hooks up PC customers with online support | CNET News.com:

"Dell is hoping to stanch criticism of its tech support program with a service that lets technicians remotely troubleshoot balky PCs over a high-speed Internet connection.

All U.S. Dell customers under warranty will receive the one-on-one online tech support for free, the company announced on Friday."

Dell customers will not be charged for the DellConnect service as long as they are under warranty. Users will need a high-speed broadband connection to connect to the service.

Dell designs a "desknote" Desktop / Notebook

Dell's new XPS M2010, which starts at $3,500, includes two hard drives with up to 120GB capacity each, a Core Duo processor and 4GB of dual-channel (667MHz) memory.

The Dell XPS M2010 comes with a detachable wireless Bluetooth-enabled keyboard. A remote acts as a mouse. At nearly 20 pounds, the new Dell XPS M2010 is almost twice the size of compact laptops. In addition to executing expected computer functions, the XPS M2010 is designed to be a multimedia device. It sports a combination DVD+RW drive, a built-in video camera and digital microphone, and a 256MB video card for DVDs, 2D gaming and most high-end 3D gaming. For easy transport, the Dell XPS M2010 features a handle attached to the case. Attached to the flat horizontal PC, which remains on the desk, is a 20.1-inch wide-screen monitor

The concept behind Dell's luggable XPS M2010 harkens back to the early days of the PC era, when just about anything smaller than a mainframe could be considered a portable computer. The original Compaq Portable, seen here, even matched up to the new Dell in price ($3,590, according to Oldcomputers.net) and weight (OK, at 28 pounds, it was still a little chunkier).


For that price, back in 1983, you got this: a 4.77MHz Intel 8088 processor, 128K of RAM, two floppy drives, a 9-inch monochrome monitor and MS-DOS.

See more at Cnet

Read Cnets Review of the XPS M2010

Dell XPS M1210 has been leaked on the web

From Notebook Review

The Dell XPS M1210 has been leaked on the web with full pics and specs available. The XPS M1210 will be a 12.1" screen laptop with dedicated graphics via an nVidia 7300 or ATI X1300 card, Core Duo processor, 5-in-1 media card reader and many other cool features. Yes, this thing looks hot!


The specs and pictures for this XPS M1210 laptop come compliments of forum member iXPS in the NotebookForums.com Dell forum. Another forum member there, reldavison, reports the specs for this M1210 as being the following:

* Screen: 12" WXGA screen (1280 x 800)
* Graphics: Nvidia 7300 or ATI x1300 graphics
* Integrated optical drive DVD+-rw dual layer
* Processor: Intel Core Duo (unknown which specific processors)
* RAM: Up to 2 or 4GB (unknown specifically how much)
* Bluetooth v2 and 3945abg
* Ports and Slots:
Expresscard54 (left hand side)
5 in 1 media reader (right hand side)
S-video out (Left hand side)
2 headphone ports (front)
2 USB2 ports (left hand side)
Modem (left hand side)
Mic port (front)
VGA port (back)
10/100 lan (back)
* Webcam Option
* Front located media butto
* Nice black and silver finish
* Release Mid-May
* Price: ?

The $10,000 Dell PC

STARTING at $9930, the PC has a Pentium Extreme Edition processor that has been overclocked from 3.73 to 4.26 GHz, 2GB DDR2-667 memory, a 160 GB 10,000 RPM WD Raptor as well as a second WD 400 GB 7200 RPM hard drive. PC also comes with a FOUR GeForce 7900 GTX graphics processors with a total of 2 GB of GDDR3 memory.

read more | digg story

You get what you pay for.

I spent some time last week helping a guy that bought a Dell computer a few months ago. He didn't ask for any advice when he bought it, too bad. His hard drive failed last week, the good news is that Dell sent him a new one within 24hrs. The bad news has to do with his computer in general. He bought a Dell Dimension with a celeron processor, on board video and audio and a whopping 256 megs of memory, LOL. He is on Earthlink dialup and is running Windows XP home. Poor guy. After reinstalling the operating system and all the programs for him his computer was just barely crawling. I wished he would have talked to me before he bought that. I have always liked Dell and never really had a problem with them in general. But the old adage " you get what you pay for" is true. Oh well. I am trying to talk him into getting more memory ( at least a 1 gig ) Hopefully he will listen. :)

John

Dell denies Alienware acquisition

According to CNET.com.au, Dell has effectively denied rumours that it's acquired rival PC vendor Alienware, suggesting that all speculation should be taken "with a grain of salt".

read more | digg story

Dell Acquires Alienware

Looks like Dell will be selling AMD systems afterall, through Alienware that is. Reports comfirm the deal has gone down and is closed.

read more | digg story