SMALL BIZ ADVICE
What would you ask Michael?
The Dell Community has contributed: 9794 ideas | promoted 668321 times | 76291 comments

How IdeaStorm Works:

Post Promote Discuss See

adorettic

Dashboard  |  Ideas Submitted  |  Ideas Voted On  |  Comments  |  Saved Items

1440

15" XPS Laptop

XPS products submitted by nosintake 02/21/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

I think there should be a 15" XPS laptop. There are plenty of companies that have a 15" "gaming laptop". I think there should be a Dell XPS with a rotating camera, 1GB RAM, Blu-Ray player, and 80GB hard drive standard.


Check out our latest Idea in Action
29 Comments »

480

XPS Laptops - The Next Generation

XPS products submitted by rkolling 07/12/07

With the XPS M1330, it looks like Dell is in the process of redoing the XPS series and creating unique platforms rather than optioning up basic Inspiron or Latitude platforms. Given the Insipron, Vostro, Latitude, and Precision lines, I hope Dell really tries to make the XPS laptop line a unique, definitive, state-of-the-art statement. The cachet would provide a halo effect for the other Dell products as well.



I hope Dell offers a light weight 15.4” (well under 6 lbs) or a light 17” (at less than 7 lbs.) form factor XPS. It would be good if such machines could combine magnesium and carbon fiber construction to achieve light yet robust construction. I like the roll cage approach used by Lenovo in the lids to their ThinkPad models since it gives the wireless device antennas good access to the wave stream while affording light weight and strength. While the gamers may like 17”, I find the 15.4” travels easier and is also easier to open up and use on an airplane flight than a 17”.



I would opt for a premium, LED-lit, 1920X1200 WUXGA screen driven by a top of the line Nvidia 8700 series video card with 512 MB (or more) of RAM that can play HD content from a Blue Ray drive as well as games. Hopefully the screen would have great brightness, color gamut, contrast and response time. The high water mark in laptop screens seem to be the Sony’s. I hope Dell can equal or exceed that mark.



I like the way the M1330 includes various ports and jacks such as dual headphone jacks. To the M1330’s port layout I would add 2 more USB ports and a dual link DVI port to drive the Dell 3007 series of 2560X1600 displays when hooked up directly (as well as via the docking station).



The CPU should have 4 GB of RAM with Vista and hopefully Dell can twist Intel’s arm to offer a Santa Rosa 7700G CPU that can be overclocked. The 7600G in the XPS M1710 can be easily overclocked to 2.83 GHz with negligible impact on battery life or fan noise. Anything over 2.83 was a very different story, however. 2.83 represents a .5 GHz increase over the stock 2.33, a substantial 20+% increase. I of course would like the computer with the Intel draft-N wireless and the internal cell phone network wireless cards as well as with Blue Tooth and gigabit ethernet.



I would suggest a 64 GB SSD option – 32 GB can be a little skimpy with today's applications and voluminous files. This should lower weight, increase battery life and eliminate a typical laptop point of failure – the hard drive. Perhaps a package could be offered with both the SSD plus a conventional 7200 rpm hard drive. The conventional hard drive could be deployed inside the machine, ideally, along with the 64 GB SSD and then removed when not desired or needed. Alternatively, the conventional hard drive could be swapped for the SSD or also connected to the laptop via an adaptor through a USB port to perform back-up, offloading of unneeded files or downloading needed files to the SSD.



That’s my $.02. 6 Comments »

6220

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.
Beautiful - we want more great designs like this. 41 Comments »

169

Dual monitor and TV out at the same time on laptops

Monitors and Displays, Laptops submitted by theblackcat 02/17/07

Currently dell laptops have at least 3 video outputs. One, naturally, is the built-in screen. The other is a monitor port. The third is a a TV-out. Some brands and docking stations may also have a DVI-D out, but that is secondary here.

The problem is that only two of these outputs can be used a time. It can be any two. For instance you can use an external monitor and a TV and just have the laptop monitor disabled off, even with docking stations. But you can never have, say, a dual-monitor setup and also have your TV-out running as a third monitor. As I understand it this is a limitation of the graphics cards, neither ATI or nVidia make triple-monitor graphics cards. Multiple graphics cards can be used, but this is not possible on a laptop without an expensive upgrade or two.

Now it would be extremely difficult to have three ordinary monitors. It would be extremely taxing on the video card, so I would honestly not expect this to happen. However, TV's use much lower resolution (640 x 480) and much lower frame rates (since they use interlaced frames instead progressive scan like computer monitors). So I could easily see dell offering an optional component that basically acts as a mini graphics card just to run the TV-out. Due to the low graphics requirements this could probably be much smaller, cheaper, require less power, and produce less heat than an ordinary graphics card. The date transfer requirements are low enough that a USB device can handle it, so I see no reason it should be impossible or overly expensive. Really this would only be that useful for video, so it could be limited to only running when a program is playing videos. nVidia graphics cards (and I would assume ATI as well) already support taking over one of the monitors entirely to run a full-screen duplicate of the video on the other screen (but not for 3 monitors).

Either that or just bully nVidia and/or ATI into getting their graphics cards to do this internally. Or switch to another graphics card manufacturer that does support triple monitors. Comment »

270

Bring back the 15.4 inch XPS Laptop

Gaming, XPS products submitted by hoopsomuah 04/26/07

The Latitude D820 is a great laptop as long as you don't want to game. It's got fantastic resolution in a nice form factor and pretty good battery life.

Unfortunately there is no Inspiron or XPS equivalent of the D820. This means there's no high-resolution gaming road warrior laptop (think AlienWare m5550)

An XPS inspired by the D820 would be the ultimate work/gaming laptop.

Things to change from the D820 or to add to the XPS version:
1. Much better GPU options
2. DVI port
3. Better speakers
4. Built in web camera

Keeping the docking station connector would be really nice but I'll be talking for that elsewhere... Comment »

109

Hardware

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by omaha 02/20/07

4 items that should be standard issue on laptops:

- Bluetooth with stereo support
- 1 gig minimum memory
- Separate graphics memory
- DVI instead of VGA external monitor
Comment »

550

New/updated XPS M1710/M1720 17" performance notebook

Gaming, XPS products submitted by hjwasson 05/02/07

Dell's well regarded XPS M1710 is arguably the flagship of their notebook line. Unfortunately, it is starting to show it's age, and I am hoping that Dell will soon update it. Here is my personal wish-list for an updated M1710/M1720. Please make additional <u>realistic</u> suggestions, or discuss what you'd like to have that is different from my vision.

<u>XPS M1710/M1720 wish list:</u>



Processor: Intel Montevina (Mobile counterpart to Penryn) Core 2 Quad. If that's not yet ready when the new M1710/M1720 debuts, then Intel Centrino Pro(aka 'Santa Rosa') T7700 & T7500 Core 2 Duo.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3265
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/29/intels-penryn-core-2-quad-processor-on-sch...
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/20/intels-santa-rosa-platform-officially-dubb...
Alternative Processor: If AMD manages to strike back at Intel with a powerful alternative to the Core 2 Duo, perhaps Dell could add a 'M1715' alternative with the AMD processor

DX10 compatible GPU: To fully support Windows Vista & DirectX 10, Dell needs to offer DX10 compatible video processors on all new notebooks. The nVidia Go 8800 (and AMD/ATI's mobile DX10 GPU, whenever it comes out) should make any XPS notebook gamer drool. Even Linux users wouldn't scoff at the 8800 - would they?

HDD/SSD Storage Options: Since Dell has acquired Alineware as a wholly owned subsidiary, perhaps we'll see some new technologies coming out of Area 51 to infuse the M1710? Specifically, I'd like to see multiple Hard Disk Drive/Solid State Drive bays available on the M1710. I'd be happy with 2 bays, which would allow for:

1. 32 GB (64 GB* or larger) SSD Primary Boot drive + 7200 RPM 160 GB SATA HDD** for additional storage (slower but larger HDD's could of course be offered in addition)

2. 2 Raid 0 (Striped) or Raid 1 (Mirrored) 7200 RPM SATA HDD's** (RAID 0 for increased storage and performance, RAID 1 for data redundancy [this does not replace the need for regular backups])

3. 2 Raid 0*** (Striped) SSD's for the extreme performance geeks (& you know who you are!)
* SuperTalent has already announced 64 GB SSD's, according to OverClockersClub: http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=69431
** I would want these 7200 RPM drives to be Seagate Momentus 7200.2 drives with "free fall protection" to protect data from loss due to drive head collisions with the platters.
http://www.techshout.com/hardware/2007/13/worlds-first-7200-rpm-160gb-momentu...
*** I have not seen real-world performance tests on striped SSD's yet, but the extreme performance enthusiasts sites seem to think it should work
http://news.com.com/Dell+to+acquire+Alienware/2100-1003_3-6052842.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1941376,00.asp
Memory: 4 DIMM slots to allow for up to 4 GB per core (800 MHz as well as 667 MHz offerings, natch)

UXGA (1920x1200) Display: Dell's current M1710 display is already impressive, but I've seen many posts requesting a minor antiglare coated screen option to the TrueLife display. Not a return to old anti-glare technology - just something a little less shiny. I guess not everyone enjoys looking at themselves, (especially when trying to use the display outdoors or in heavily backlit conditions). Why not use the same anti-glare coating technology used in eye-glasses and SLR cameras?

Optional A/V Communications Module: Similar to what is already offered on the M1210. There are many posts requesting webcams, and this module would allow the use of an internal cellular broadband modem Mini-Card, like the M1210 (1.3 MP webcam, microphone, internal loop antenna in the display panel for the cellular modem).

Mini-Card cellular Broadband modem: Drop the legacy dial-up modem port on the chassis (people who still need dial-up can use an ExpressCard or PC-Card option). Instead, offer cellular broadband modem Mini-Card options, HSUPA/HSDPA (aka 3G) for AT&T (formerly Cingular, formerly AT&T) and EVDO for Sprint/Verizon. I recommend the Option GTM380 HUSPA Mini-Card: http://www.option.com/products/gtm_380.shtml
AT&T is already upgrading to this standard (increases upload speeds - download speeds remain unaffected).
* Those who don't opt for the A/V Communications Module can of course utilize ExpressCard versions of these cellular broadband modems.
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/82652
http://www.phonenews.com/content/view/1989/31/
Backlighted buttons & keyboard: There are many posts requesting LED backlit keyboard and mediadirect keys that can be read in the dark. There are additional requests that the backlighting be controlled by the user (Off, as well as brightness settings). This would greatly enhance the usability of the notebook in low-light conditions. The MediaDirect buttons on the M1210 light up, but do not show the function symbols - this needs to be addressed in future models.

Auto screen brightness sensor: This feature is now found on many notebooks, including Apple iBooks. It should be adjustable & overrideable by the user. This sensor could also be set to control automatic keyboard/MediaDirect button backlighting.

Dedicated hardware controlls for Wireless: Seperate dedicated buttons (or Fn-key combination buttons) to turn on/off Bluetooth, WiFi & Cellular Broadband transceivers (WiFi & Cellular Broadband <u>could</u> share a button and toggle in a loop, since it's unlikely you'd want both on at the same time: Off>WiFi>Cellular)

Update video ports: Keep S-Video, but drop the VGA in favor of two DVI outputs.

Better audio: Larger diameter speakers (primaries as well as sub-woofer) for better fidelity & greater volume output. Multiple 3.5mm audio jacks (like the M1210) that can convert to surround sound output. Integrated (not ExpressCard add-on) Creative X-Fi* audio option to power those new speakers.
* http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3589
Larger touchpad: I hate touchpads, but if the M1710/M1720 has one, it should take up the entire space from the spacebar to the front edge of the computer (for less lift & drag, lift & drag suckiness and higher precision) Dimensions should match screen ratio (WideScreen). There should be a physical Scroll wheel/middle button between the Left & Right buttons (or perhaps on the front bezel, centered between the L&R buttons - to avoid issues with closing the display).

Dedicated Numeric Keypad: There have been many posts requesting a dedicated numeric keypad on larger notebooks (no, the function-key enabled embedded keypad does not cut it). I personally would not want to sit off-center from my display to have this feature (like those found on Toshiba & HP notebooks), but would welcome a dedicated pad in the unused palm-rest area below the
keyboard & immediately to the right of the touch-pad.

Increased I/O ports: 2 ExpressCard slots (or 1 ExpressCard + 1 PC-Card for legacy support), eSATA & FireWire in addition to USB 2.0 ports on the chassis.

Multiple battery charger option for XPS notebooks: Especially for a power hungry beast such as this, it would be nice if there was a multiple battery charger accessory to charge spare batteries while the notebook is in use. I realize that most owners would keep their M1710/M1720 tethered to the wall for gaming, but sometimes it's nice to be able to sit on the couch next to the missus/mister/significant other and just surf the web. More importantly, while this system is heavily focused towards LAN party gamers, it would make an absolutely dandy mobile sales presentation machine! You wouldn't even need to bring along a digital projector for small group presentations (1 or 2 clients). See this

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/66117


11 Comments »

650

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 »

552

Drive adoption of up-to-date hardware (no more legacy ports!)

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by fabricationarbory 02/19/07

There's an analog VGA port on my brand new Latitude. A serial port. A 56K modem. This is on a laptop purchased in 2006!

Where's my Firewire, my digital DVI, my optical audio-out jack? My Mom's iBook seems more advanced than my $3000 Latitude.

I'd like to see Dell building ALL of its desktop and notebook machines, even the cheapest, with up-to-date hardware interfaces.

Beyond that, take the lead! Standardize smart-card readers and fingerprint readers on both consumer and business machines. Maybe microphones and webcams on consumer models. Drive adoption of these technologies and see where it takes you. Show some vision.

I know that businesses want backwards compatibility, and that's what converters are for. Need a serial port? Order a $5 USB-serial converter. Got an old monitor? $2 DVI-to-VGA thingy.

Come on, Dell, use your market position and drive adoption of up-to-date hardware standards! 9 Comments »

220

Notebook

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by davidgarthtorres 08/05/07

The new Dell Inspiron notebook are actually cool. So much feature it offers like Blu-ray drive however its is better to have the BD if the notebooks has DVI or HDMI so that you can connect the laptop to an HDTV. It would be nice if Dell will include these ports. Comment »

540

Bring Back a 15.4" 1920X1200 Inspiron

Inspiron products submitted by rockettech 05/25/07

Bring back a high-resolution 15.4" display coupled with a top-end video card. The Latitude D830 has a 15.4" 1920X1200 display but offers Intel integrated graphics only. The Precision M65 is not mainstream and comes with limited options while it is very expensive. I think a 15.4" 1920X12" laptop display would have great appeal to developers, graphic artists, hi-def video users and creators, and multi-taskers. The work area is huge, but still in a manageable and portable size. Don't forget to put a DVI video connector instead of VGA as well. 4 Comments »

280

DUAL DVI ON LAPTOP & PORT REPLICATOR

Monitors and Displays, Laptops submitted by jsun9 02/24/07

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR A VGA PORT ON LAPTOPS AND PORT REPLICATORS.

The laptop/replicator should come with two (2) DVI ports and the ability to add an adapter for VGA (DVI to VGA).

The dual DVI should allow for dual monitors and larger 30" monitors. 2 Comments »

490

New Inspiron 1720/21 - DVI-D or HDMI port.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Inspiron products submitted by benjesuit 06/26/07

Ummm.... What happened Dell? No DVI-D or HDMI port? 11 Comments »

540

No more VGA ports / Promote DVI and HDMI ports on laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by jeff_c_brown 02/23/07

VGA is dead why keep it alive? Please provide DVI and HDMI ports on your laptops. 8 Comments »

690

DVI ports on notebooks and tablets

Laptops submitted by sjss 02/21/07

With modern monitors and equipment shifting more and more towards DVI connections, and the fact that a DVI to VGA convertor is trivially obtained, but there are no VGA to DVI convertors easily obtainable, it makes sense to move notebooks to DVI. Those with VGA monitors can still easily connect them to their monitors, and those with DVI monitors will be able to use their monitors as well. 5 Comments »

855

DVI (incl. DVI-D) for _everything_ please

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by pstader 02/20/07

Too bad our purchasing missed to order the DVI Riser Card with our Optiplex. The guy who ordered extra picked Ultrasharp Displays with DVI input, which we have to use via the analog connection. No warning, no nothing during the order process. Why even sell computers without DVI ? Analog connections might have been alright for everything up to 1024 * 768 resolutions but everything above that really benefits a lot from dvi. So please. Make DVI standard and not optional. Would love to see Notebooks with Dvi connector too. 4 Comments »

934

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 »

277

College and University Sponsorship

Advertising and Marketing, Education submitted by john_saddington 02/19/07

Dell should provide College and University Sponsorship programs to give college and university students discounts on Dell machines. The universities would provide have to provide programs that Dell believes to be transformational ("important") in regards to computing, IT, software, etc...

These students, entering those particular programs, would get the discounts.

Imagine if Dell sponsored MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Carnegie Melon, Standford, etc. etc. etc. and gave those students entering those universities discounts on Dell computers... These are some of the top minds and the future of computing! They could say they developed on a Dell... and Dell helped them build the future. What great PR... 4 Comments »

19503

Student Discounts!

Education, Sales Strategies submitted by cnmopt 02/18/07 **ALREADY OFFERED**

Similar to Apple, Dell should offer students a special discount on Dell Products. The Apple market share is currently growing in the education sector and offering [college] students a discount would be useful to counter Apple's strategy. 42 Comments »

-41

Education

Education submitted by johnmorgan 02/17/07

Some district schools in Round Rock employ a program called Capturing Kids' Hearts. One of its key premises is knowledge of a student's familial and cultural environment. Without this, education is hollow. This is particularly true of bi- or multi-lingual children.

We need a program which allows us to postt and access multidimensional data on the interests, concerns, and issues affecting each student.

We cannot do this without the input of teachers and staff, past and present, and perhaps even the input of students, parents and family members as well. This will provide a much more holistic, threaded view of the perspective of the student, the parent, sibling, teacher, and administrator/staff.

This data cannot be static, but dynamic. When a new challenge or crisis confronts the family, student, teacher, or administrator, there must be a way to journal the data, and to have key words place the data in the students' constellation of needs, gifts, obstacles, and school/family dynamics.

Our goal is to truly identify with the needs of each student in as personal and educationally enhancing manner as possible. Comment »



Rss track my votes