Dell needs to pick up the pace in releasing new designs

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Dell needs to pick up the pace in releasing new designs

490 points posted to Dell, Desktops and Laptops by jervis961 Mar 13

Dell is notorious for lack of innovation and has been making strides to change. Unfortunately they are still loosing out because they take to long to get to market and by the time they do someone else has usually beat them to the punch.

Here is an example: At CES this year Dell showed off an XPS 16 inch Laptop concept that has yet to make it to market.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/dell-showing-off-16-inch-xps-concept-laptop/

Yesterday Acer (who overtook Dell in notebook sales recently) came out with its Gemstone line of notebooks.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/12/acer-unveils-the-second-gen-gemstone/

"Coming in a special blue ("Gemstone Blue," how wild), the new 16- and 18.4-inch machines feature 16:9 1080p screens, 1.5GHz Penryn processors, 512MB NVIDIA 9650m GS graphics, and those Blu-ray drives we heard about. The graphics chip is at the center of Acer's new CineReal system, which offloads BD playback to the GPU and provides Dolby headphone output (and real 5.1 sound on the bigger model)."

Pick up the pace Dell.

jervis961 Mar 13	http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/6099/How-to-Solve-Dell'
okroger104 Mar 13	You want a Santa Rosa laptop or a Montevina one? That Gemstone is a Santa Rosa. Come late May/June you'll see Dell's new Montevina line up.
jervis961 Mar 13	The point is that the regular user doesn't look at the processor they look at the whole product. I try all the time to tell people about features that are lacking in the cheaper computers but all they see is a good value and snap it up. The point is that while Dell waits others continue forward and steal the sales.
okroger104 Mar 13	Side effect of refreshing your lines quickly is that you alienate and disappoint those who bought only a few months ago. 6 months tend to be the standard refresh times with 1 year on model form factor and/or cosmetic changes across all manufacturers. How would you feel if just two months ago you bought an XPS 1530 only to see an XPS 1630 released and at a price point that fits your budget? And then 1 month after that an XPS 1535 and 1635 debuts? Though I do understand what you are talking about, being first and fast isn't always best. HP has been rocking the practically same design for their Pavillion line for 3 years now, adding a feature here and there every 6 months to a year. Yet they're wiping the floor with Dell in notebook sales. And they did it slow and steady. What Dell needs to do is leak info to generate buzz at least 2 to 3 months in advance. HP does it and it pays. For instance google "HP 2133." Plus Dell needs to advertise their strengths. For instance, Dell is the first manufacturer to offer wireless USB. That huge. But how many people know or understand the benefits of wireless USB? Dell offers better discrete GPUs than HP, but how many people know the benefits of a GT versus GS? Dell needs to educate the public about the engineering choices that they make relative to the competition.
millhauz Mar 13	I personally don't like the new gemstone design, but find the XPS M1330 design refreshing quite good...when something is good and sells well, whz change it that much. It's probably more of the other lines that need a new design
jervis961 Mar 13	Back in the day the processor's from Intel were not updated often and they started losing market share to AMD who was innovating. Then they broke the mold and started the tic toc cycle and climbed back into the lead position. No mater when you release products someone will not know about your cycle and get mad about it. All the people who bought a M1530 2 weeks ago could all be mad now that new processors are available. Dell can't afford to lose business to try and make sure a few people don't get upset. I do agree with the leaks though.
jervis961 Mar 13	millhauz, this was more in reference to the 16 inch 16:9 ratio with 1080p than just looks
aikiwolfie Mar 13	Nice laptop. Prettier than anything Dell has right now.
jervis961 Mar 13	I saw one of the newer HPs yesterday that looked nice as well. I liked that the monitor frame had color all the way around instead of just the back like Dell does. Too bad I don't like HP. :)
jervis961 Mar 13	While I like the XPS look over the inspiron it is still lacking. I like the contrasts offered by the Acer with the glossy black with textured metal accents. The HP I saw was like a dark burnt orange but the lid was colored all the way around and the area around the keyboard had some color as well. It showed a sense of style which Dell is still trying to capture. The ultraportable (if we ever see it) at least came closer than the XPS did.
aikiwolfie Mar 13	It is nice. Just a shame it'll be outdated before it's released. Dell needs to start taking off the shelf parts and putting them in a nice box.
okroger104 Mar 13	Dell just can't seem to manage styling. But they usually compensate with better specs than the competition. XPS line, when you see them in person, they're not as impressive as other manufacturers. Certainly don't look like they are worth the price premium. Inspirons, spartan styling. Look cheap. XPS one - not bad but the keyboard size and styling is lacking as compared to iMAC. Here's the biggest disappointment: Silly colored lid idea. Don't know how that turns people on. You can't enjoy your color choice when you're using your notebook. If you go to the store to see the inspirons, they all look alike because when open, they're all silver. I mean, ALL silver. Boring. Let's see what Dell does this summer. Maybe they'll get it right or at least closer to what is subjectively right. But between you, me, and the rest of ideastorm, I doubt that Dell will break out of the number 3 position (worldwide) anytime soon. (HP, ACER, DELL). If ever. But that's ok. As long as Dell finds their niche and becomes number 1 at it, that's all that matters.
sugarbear Mar 13	I have to agree, Dell is always a day late and a dollar short. Perhaps they are being to cautious.
winoffice Mar 13	I demoted because usually newer designs are worse than the old designs are. And I demoted because I do not like the look of this rumored 1630. I bet that Dell is not releasing it because it does not even exist - I bet that it is a misspelling of 1530.
aikiwolfie Mar 13	The thing is though. The silly coloured lid idea worked. When Dell started selling the M1330 & M1330n they couldn't match production with demand.
jervis961 Mar 14	winoffice - If you read the article I included in the idea, the Dell is a 16 inch 16:9 prototype system. No misprint here, they were looking at doing something new and got beat to the punch, again.
zanlok Mar 22	Those E-series Latitudes are sounding very interesting to me.
jervis961 Mar 22	Info on the 14 and 15 inch models have now leaked. http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/22/dells-leaked-latitude-e6000-and-e5000-seri...
winoffice Mar 22	jervis961 - "the Dell is a 16 inch 16:9 prototype system." First off I dislike the look of the 1630. Second I dislike the fact that it is 16" - one of my least favorite laptop screen sizes. Third I dislike the fact that the screen is 16:9 (I prefer 16:10). Given all of that, I DEMOTED (at least when it comes to the 1630).
aikiwolfie Mar 22	How do Dell manage to design something that looks as good as the M1330 and then produce a black box throwback to the 90s?
jervis961 Mar 23	The black box look has worked for Lenovo and Apple has one too. The E-series is in the Latitude line that needs to look professional.
aikiwolfie Mar 23	Well hillsborospartans there is the 16" version of the M1330 pictured at the top of the page. What's wrong with sticking with that design? It's not as flash as the HP but it's better than the e6000 and e5000 and it fits into a professional and casual setting. It's one of those designs that just works where ever it happens to be.
zanlok Mar 23	is dav a kid? I know of other young-ins here on IS (no names for their sake), but, if he's a kid, dav has done a good job of sounding mature, to me :)
jervis961 Mar 23	.chris was a kid, but he is gone now. ;)
sugarbear Mar 23	He was banned for cussing and abusiveness.
jervis961 Mar 24	You called dave a kid, zanlock mentioned kids on IdeaStorm so I mentioned .chris who is no longer here. Why do you ask?
jervis961 Mar 24	Anyway back on topic more info leaked on new Latitude E series.
aikiwolfie Mar 24	That's a much better picture jervis. I still prefer the looks of the M1330 though.
winoffice Mar 24	Wow now that Latitude is ugly! (Though not as much as the 9 pound "rugged" model.) I still think that the best laptop look is that of the Dell Inspiron XPS Generation 2.
sgogeta4 May 29	rugged computers aren't designed to be "nice" looking, they're designed to take a beating. what's the use of having a nice looking laptop and having it get dirty and abused at work. besides I personally like the looks of it.

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