deafening.quiet

"Completed ideas" tab

IdeaStorm submitted by mattd 03/29/07

Create a "Completed ideas" tab. When Dell implements an idea submitted on IdeaStorm, they should move the idea off of the "Popular ideas" tab and on to the "Completed ideas" tab. That will show a direct link between an idea that is submitted and the idea being implemented.

And then when Dell finally delivers their Linux computer, they can move the 65674 Linux requests there.

2 Comments »

Better Service Tag Placement... Or Stickers!

Desktops and Laptops submitted by john_saddington 02/18/07

Dell should provide a way to assist customers find their service tag easier. I know that the computer has software that can show the customer their service tag, but, sometimes all I want to do is just "see" it.

Possibly better placement, either on the free space above the keyboard on a laptop... or on top of a tower for a desktop....

A great idea is a set of stickers customers could place anywhere they want for easy access!!! 14 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 »

Linux + Beryl

Linux, Operating Systems, Software submitted by oposit 02/21/07

I think dell computers with Linux or without OS is a good idea, but the potential for a hit resides in Linux with Beryl. Dell executives cold miss a great oportunity if they didn't realize the sales that can be made only on Beryl eyecandy (or enhanced productivity, if you are business minded).

Just look at it and surely you say "I want this in my computer"

Don't take my word about it. Better watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw78IIEbzHs<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYWaEJmpa5M<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNb7gPA1JFk<

I know this is going to sound horrible, but I'm really convinced that is "Beryl nice".

People who knows linux will buy the dell computers if they had installed for the sake of security, stability, lower cost of software. People that doesn't knows linux will buy dell computers for Beryl, and get the security, stability and others advantages of linux as a bonus. 11 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 »

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 »

OS Reinstall CD's

Service and Support submitted by xhotardx 02/24/07

How about auctually including real install cd's for the original OS. So when you have to reimage I dont have to spend 2 hours uninstalling stuff that I dont want. Why can these not be provided for free? If a consumer is paying for a license there is no reason that you cant front the 4 cents and give them a copy of that software (even microsoft is cool with that). 10 Comments »

Touchpads suck! A new internal mouse invention for Notebooks

Laptops submitted by liurical 02/16/07

Touchpads suck. I don't get why they've been around for so long. None of the big companies offer a good alternative besides us having to buy and carry around an external mouse.

I came across this invention that is effective like a normal mouse, but can be contained within a notebook computer. It can definitely remove the issues I face with the touchpad .

I characterize it as the trackball of an optical mouse, but would actually work well if designed properly.

I came across this invention after stumbling on the inventor's site. http://www.nextintuit.com He has a prototype simulation of the simple invention in flash.

The Wii and iPod were both hits, the way they input data had a lot to do with that success. I want to see something different from Dell for a change. 32 Comments »

4 RAM slots on laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by theblackcat 02/19/07

Currently most desktop PCs come with 4 slots to insert RAM. This is extremely useful since it is often much more expensive in total to buy 1 DIMM then it is to buy 2 DIMMs that are each half as large. However, DELL laptops only come with 2 slots for RAM. So if you wanted to get 4 GB of RAM you would need two 2 GB modules, which is extremely expensive (as you can see on the website). However, if the laptops were to have 4 RAM slots instead of 2 then you could have four 1GB modules and save a ton of money (close to $500 on the Latitude D820, for example). At least on the larger laptop models there is plenty of space, the RAM modules are pretty small relative to the size of the laptop and the bottom of the motherboard is mostly empty space from the looks of things. This could also be extremely useful with the move to 64 bit processors, since they can use far more than 4 GB of RAM but currently it is not possible to have more than that simply because of how the laptops are designed. 2 Comments »

Off sound switch before startup in laptops

Operating Systems, Laptops submitted by socunasindria 02/19/07

Many times in silent places i've got to plug headphones in my laptop just to avoid the startup windows sound.

It should be a switch button to avoid this. 14 Comments »

ReactOS

Operating Systems submitted by fireball 03/07/07

There have been a number of ideas for offerings computers with some flavour of Linux preinstalled, and that's great. But, there are customers, who would still want to have benefits of Windows (still the majority of software applications are targeted at Win32 API and .NET Framework, not to speak about drivers for various consumer devices).

Would DELL be interested in supporting a project aimed at creating a compatible implementation of Windows (the same architecture, API and ABI), but under a GPL license?

This would sound crazy if it's to be done from scratch, but we already spent quite some time for development and even came up with a few releases (they are more like proof of concept, not usable at the moment for preinstalling on PCs).
If you like to read more - http://www.reactos.org

Thanks. 120 Comments »

Add Mac OSX

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by rmartin 02/17/07

Need to add Mac OSX. Esp good idea when bundled with Parallels software so you could run Windows and linux at the same time. v10.5 will be out soon that makes it an ever better idea. 136 Comments »

Have Michael Dell in the Dell Commercials

Advertising and Marketing submitted by carap 02/16/07

It would be really cool to have Michael appear in a commerical where the customer is shown ordering a system on line. Cut to - The door bell rings -Customer opens the door and Michael is standing there with their system.
YOU GOT A DELL!! 28 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 »

Universal power adapter (power supply) for all Dell products

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptop Power submitted by rguptaos-dyndns 02/19/07

How many of us have to buy multiple “AC / DC Adapter or power bricks” for each of electronic devices and laptops? I have power supply adapter for home, office and travel bag… about 2-3 of these for my laptop, cell phone and external hard disk or other devices I use.

I have background in electrical engineering and I know technically it is possible to use the same power supply / adapter unit with some intelligence built in to power up cell phones, hard-disk, laptops, speakers, mp3 players etc. I also understand that the accessories are one of the most profitable business aspects for electronic companies like Sony and Dell.

Dell wants to be the leader and differentiator? Well...

>> How about a smart universal power adaptor for all DELL products that intelligently recognizes the product and supplies the appropriate power.
One power supply and connector for all products!!!

I know technically it is possible – I did design this and did work on the patent application but, did not file because I got focused on some other activities. I am pretty sure there are enough smart engineers at Dell to design this. If you want a head start contact me for details. 9 Comments »

Let us choose a delivery date

Dell Web Site, Sales Strategies submitted by bitoclass 02/17/07

There's apparently no way to specify or choose a delivery date for computers or monitors from your site.

Given that most people are out of their house most days at work, and may need to arrange time off to take in a delivery, it would be much better if you could choose a convenient date for delivery when placing an order on the web site.

It would also give you some competitive advantage because I know from asking that (for instance) HP can't even do this by phone, let alone on their site.

Obviously the date would need to be after the product was ready but you could give a range of, say, a week after the product was due to be ready to ship, during the checkout process, for the buyer to select the delivery date from. 7 Comments »

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 »

Show the Vista performance rating during system configuration.

Dell Web Site submitted by jervis961 02/17/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

People may not realize that Vista gives your computer a performance rating based on several factors (processor, RAM, hard drive and video card).
Dell should show the performance rating on the side as you build your computer and update it as you go along changing the configuation. This should give people a guage as to if an upgrade will really improve your overall performance and also what kinds of games and programs your new computer will be capable of.

Lighter laptops - some suggestions

Laptops submitted by amri64 02/17/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Would like to see more laptops below 2kg (4.4lbs).

Suggestions:

1. Replace Hard Disk with solid state storage device. Advantage: 1) lighter 2)no moving parts means less probability of breaking down (esp due to wear & tear)

2. External DVD drives. On the road, most things needed are already in the laptop. Leave the movie-watching & software-installing to the home/office/hotel room. The DVD drive can be checked in the suitcase.

3. Option to power off graphics card, camera, etc when not used for task at hand. Prolong battery life.

4. Lithium polymer batteries? For comparable charge densities, aren't they lighter?

Challenge: Fujitsu already has a 15" notebook at 2.4kg, though specs aren't so impressive, imho. Can Dell produce one at 2kg or less, & with specs "to die for"?


Please see jackie_c's comment
24 Comments »

Should Apple licence OS X to Dell? | Bigmouth Strikes Again - Freelance journalist Gary Marshall on technology, the Internet, music, Macs and more

Operating Systems submitted by pwalker 01/30/07

There was an interesting op-ed by Doug Mohney in The Inquirer yesterday, which suggested that the launch of Vista provides a good opportunity for Apple - if it licences OS X to Dell.

However, Vista is being beaten like a dead horse by the mass media – most of them already are enthralled to the God of Jobs if you read between the lines, so Microsoft could make nuclear fusion work tomorrow and they’d give it a lukewarm review at best. The consensus view out of the babbling punditry is “Don’t buy Vista today, unless you have to buy a new computer tomorrow.”

On that front, I think the babbling pundits are right. Heh.

So what about Apple?

If Apple was serious, and I mean really serious, about gaining more PC market share, they’d realize they need to license/sell their operating system to another hardware manufacturer or two. Sure, Apple’s tried the license route before with mixed results, but it’s about time to bite the bullet, look into the mirror, and realize they should try something bold.

Apple should license their operating system to Dell.

Mohney isn’t suggesting that Apple should make OS X available to any PC user; the dangers of that (such as hardware incompatibilities or really crap machines ruining Apple’s reputation) have been talked to death for years. Rather, he’s suggesting that Apple could team up with a single PC manufacturing firm to make decent clones, expanding OS X’s market share without diluting the core Apple brand. It wouldn’t be an Apple Mac: it’d be a Dell Mac. Dell’s good at churning out PCs, so if Apple laid down strict criteria about what should and shouldn’t go into a clone you could get decent non-Apple Macs competing in different markets to Apple Macs. Does anyone really think Dell is capable of making something as sexy as a MacBook or as iconic as the iMac?

I’m sure Mohney will be inundated with angry emails, but I do wonder how many of the senders will have reacted similarly to suggestions a few years back that Macs should run Intel chips. I think his idea’s fascinating. 48 Comments »