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Thin and Light Laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by yaletownkid 04/19/07

I used to be all about performance and display with my choice of laptop. But I went "thin and light" about 3 years ago, and I will never go back!

I know the majority of buyers prefer the 15" (or bigger) screens, and big wrist-wrest keypads, but have you ever tried to use one on a plane? Send the Product Manager on a few cross-country, economy class flights and they'll see what I mean. I have an office, home office, and i"m mobile daily. Honestly try carrying around 8lbs and 15" form factor - its like carrying dumbbells.

Please look into:
1. Form factors of 12" screens, Less than 3lbs
2. try magnetitic power connection
3. solid state memory possibilities
4. Dire need of a style/design update. My 640m has all the sex appeal of a dial tone.
5. I would pay a premium to NOT have all that bloatware pre-installed.
6. the optical drive - can we make this totally optional?

Thanks for letting me participate. 1 Comment »

OS vitrualisation built into preload Linux as standard.

Linux, Operating Systems submitted by smah 05/01/07

Preloading Ubuntu or other Linux distribution with KVM as standard built in and ready to go, with VNC clients for Windows and Linux and a Windows OS install script included on the standard install, would allow users to install and reuse old OSes like Windows. There is a market for PCs with no OS, and I believe that much of the demand for them is to allow customers to install old versions of Windows.

Providing hardware accelerated KVM virtualisation with preloaded Linux will overcome most objections of users who might buy Dell PCs preloaded and be dissapointed that they can't run a particular Windows application that they want to. It will also appeal to those who would otherwise have bought an OSless PC, since they can have a modern, security update supported OS with a 3D desktop, and still run Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/Vista Pro in a sandbox. Dell might even sell new boxed sets or OEM Windows disks for running as virtual machines, particularly from businesses.

I would complain also about the Microsoft EULA which allows the most expensive version of Vista to be run as a virtual machine (which is the best for a virtual machine due to it's small footprint, low cost, and the fact that it runs in a virtual sandbox means poor security isn't so much of an issue), but prevents the home edition from being used in the same way. This seems to me to be interference with business, and an abuse of monopoly. After all, what business does Microsoft have to tell users what system (physical or virtual) they can run Microsoft's OS on? What right does Microsoft have to dictate that you can run other OSes on Vista, but you can't run Vista on other OSes? 4 Comments »

Numeric Keypad on 17" Laptops

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

HP, Acer, Toshiba and a bunch of others offer it. HP has even an option of dual HDD. 17" laptops have quite a bit of space inside to pack a lot of goodies.



Most people looking for desktop replacement with the mobility option need the full keyboard. What's the holdup at Dell? 10 Comments »

Offer Windwos Vista compatible ReadyDrives with system.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Operating Systems submitted by toddsims 05/01/07

Samsung and other manufacturers have ReadyDrive hard disk drives available that will dramatically boost random access dik access times. You should offer these. Solid state memory is fairly cheap now. 1 Comment »

SOFTWARE INSTALLED OPTION

Sales Strategies, Software submitted by creativeguy 04/22/07

Just so you know - every single Dell computer that comes out of the box gets formatted and clean installed before it is ever turned on. When I am installing for corporate customers, we do not want your Dell support software, any of the AOL (etc) stuff, and all of the other stuff. To the companies paying Dell to install the crap (and SPYWARE), it never makes it to the user. To Dell, I will pay the couple extra dollars not to have this stuff installed. Give me an opption to select what I want on the system (EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM). There is no benefit to clicking on corporate from home. Why even bother have the sections? When you are dealing with corporate customers, we already have enterprise versions of Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus programs. 3 Comments »

ISO Image for Downloaded Dell Diagnostics

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by jknauth 04/28/07

Floppy drives are no longer provided on many PCs. However Dell
downloads, e.g., for the Dell 32-bit Dell Diagnostics, come in the form
of floppy disk images. Dell should provide an ISO image of a bootable
CD containing the latest level of the diagnostics. Also provide a small
tool to burn the image to a CD, along the lines of BURNCDCC in
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html, for users who do not
have such software. 6 Comments »

Better graphics options in dell 15.4 inch laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Gaming, Laptops submitted by deusx 04/21/07

I think that dell should offer better graphics cards in their 15.4 inch laptops in the inspiron line of laptops. Though you have excellent options in most of your 17 inch laptops such as the E1705 and the XPS 1710, the E1505 has no options for decent 3D cards and there are no XPS 15.4 inch laptops.

I propose that you add a 15.4 inch XPS laptop (with an excellent 3d Card) and also introduce better 3d cards into your 15.4 inspiron lineup for the budget-minded gamers out there. 1 Comment »

Stop gouging Windows Vista prices

Operating Systems, Sales Strategies submitted by cullend 04/29/07

Come on Dell! You charge an ADDITIONAL $200 to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Windows Vista Ultimate. THAT IS ABSURD! We all know that you use OEM, as you are an OEM... The price for Windows Vista Home Premium is 111.99 from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202) . For Ulimate OEM, it is 189.99 via (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116213) We all know Dell gets a way deeper discount, that is fine. But when you charge $200 for Ultimate, when the real price difference between the two is $78. Where does Dell get off charging a $200 difference?! Dell, lower the price of ultimate... 7 Comments »

Solid State Drive as option in Notebooks

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by tablet205 03/28/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Definition

A solid state drive is primarily a data storage device, for use in computing applications that traditionally use a hard disk drive.

A solid state drive is based on non-volatile memory instead of the spinning platter and mechanical-magnetic head found in a conventional hard disk drive. With no moving parts, a solid state drive eliminates seek time, latency and other electro-mechanical delays and failures associated with a conventional hard disk drive.

Advantages

* Faster startup - Since no spin-up required.
* Faster read time – In some cases, twice or more than that of the fastest hard drives.
* Low read and write latency (seek) time, hundreds of times faster than a mechanical disk.
* Faster boot and application launch time - Result of the faster read and especially seek time. But only if application already resides in flash and is more dependent on read speed than other issues, eg. OS bootup that detects devices will not be significantly sped up even with faster seeks & reads.
* Lower power consumption and heat production - no mechanical parts results in less power consumption.
* No noise - Lack of mechanical parts makes the SSD completely silent.
* Better mechanical reliability - Lack of mechanical parts results in less wear and tear. High level of ability to endure extreme shock, vibration and temperatures, which apply to laptops and other mobile devices, or when transported.
* Security - allowing a very quick "wipe" of all data stored.
* Deterministic performance - unlike mechanical hard drives, performance of SSDs is constant and deterministic across the entire storage. "Seek" time is constant, and performance does not deteriorate as the media fills up (See: Fragmentation).
* Lower weight and (depending upon type) size
* Faster than conventional disks on random I/O
Check out the Idea in Action on the SSD enhancements Dell is making.




49 Comments »

Higher screen resolution options with laptops

Monitors and Displays, Laptops submitted by rdoorn 02/22/07

Laptops should have more options in screen resolutions.
Latitude D620 1280 x 800 resolution 1440 X 900 resolution
That is 800 pixels, Not much when you look at your photos from you digicam.
7 megapixel = 3072 x 2304 so you can only see 30% of a picture. 2 Comments »

remove mcafee 30 days trial software

Software submitted by robertobiggio 05/03/07

its a pain to remove mcafee, u have to go into msconfig to remove this antivirus.

to much trouble, pls, who wants mcafee,
consumer is more important than a little software bundle fees, isnt it? 4 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 »

64 bit operating systems

Desktops and Laptops submitted by jeffcityjon 02/20/07

If your processor is 64 bit (Core 2 duo), then you should have the option of receiving the system pre-installed with a 64 bit OS. 5 Comments »

Firefox, Mozilla thunderbird as well as mozilla sunbird

Linux, Software submitted by rakeshinnovation 02/27/07

I have been an internet user for the past 5 years, I have used all almost all the browsers, and without doubt i can say that in terms of performance, security, and user interface the open source browsers are the best, the kind of addons and features i get with Firefox i will never be getting with internet explorer, so i was thinking why do not dell ship computers with Firefox Mozilla thunderbird and the calendar software subird???? it could add to the efforts of the open source community, me as a supporter for the open source community would love to see Dell systems with open source applications, I would request that all people who support open source please cast your valuable vote for this idea, I was also thinking that if the Mozilla community cooperates with Dell , Dell could have a customized browser which will be really good for the customers of the Dell and it could add value to the Dell line of products, lets see the what Dell's thinks about this idea//?

Do post your feedbacks,

Thank you 1 Comment »

Disable the spyware pre-built into Vista - or warn customers about it before the purchase

Operating Systems, Software submitted by jmxz 03/21/07

One of your software vendors (Microsoft) seems to have a habit of building spyware into the software they get you to pre-install.

There are many examples, but I'll give 3 specific examples here to let you know

For one example, the Windows Media Player
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,3995,00.asp
"February 21 Associated Press report that alleged the existence of DVD-tracking spyware hidden deep within Windows Media Player for Windows XP (aka Windows Media Player 8, or simply MPXP). .. It's bad enough that the very existence of a DVD cache might tempt nosy roommates, private investigators, and overzealous government agents. But, the article asserts, privacy experts fear that the ID-based tracking mechanism could even be exploited by media conglomerates"
I don't really want Microsoft and my ISP knowing my preferences in home movies; and I assume neither do many other Dell customers.

For another example, Windows Activtation's Hardware checks. I don't want Microsoft checking on what kinds of hard drives I put in my system - for example, if they don't like one particular hardware vendor in the future, I don't want them making my machine flaky on purpose.

For a third, Vista has spyware that scans your software as well looking for software they don't like:
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=20916
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/6149/983/
"Vista 'Spyware': The Best Thing to Happen to Linux" "Microsoft's intention to crack down on software piracy by putting what amounts to spyware on users' computers. Now I'm thinking twice about whether I really need or want this new operating system."

.

Remember, it's us your customers buying these machines - not Microsoft.

And I promise you your customers would prefer getting their machines spyware-free regardless of how well-intentioned it was.

And as much as your home customers don't like it; corporate IT security should be even more panicked that your servers out of the box are off sending packets around the internet at one of their competitor's (many of your customers are competitors of the company in question) requests.

If you can't (for technical reasons) disable these spyware features - please make sure a pretty visible "spyware warning" is placed right on the infected OS's right on the "select your OS" part of your web page; since I'm pretty sure your customers would at least like to be warned that you're helping companies spy on your customers. 15 Comments »

Make Gigabit Ethernet Standard on Notebooks

Broadband and Mobility, Laptops submitted by techsage 02/24/07

This should be a given at the least for Small Business and above notebooks. Another option would be to at least allow an option for this with an additional charge. This feature is very important for those wishing to do quicker backups via the network (since this is faster than even via USB 2.0). Apple and Sony, if not others as well have this as standard at this point.

NOTE: I know that this is standard on XPS systems, but that is not good enough. 7 Comments »

Stop Installing Crippleware

Software submitted by leado 05/02/07

Please stop installing demonstration software (demoware), more appropriately defined as "crippleware" on new Dell machines. These useless applications slow down a machine and many are worse than spyware or viruses. 2 Comments »

Need Windows disc not recovery option

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Operating Systems - Multiboot, Service and Support submitted by sleepydude 03/27/07

I do not like that Dell does not offer any longer a Windows disc with their systems. I do not like the recovery option. It limits what I can do when there is a problem. The only way I could get a Windows disc from them currently is to order a system without an operating system and pay full price for Windows. They didn't even offer me the OEM price. I ordered a system from Gateway instead. They still send WIndows discs with their systems. I will not order a system from Dell ever again unless I can get a Windows disc with it. The option of being able to dual boot with Linux would be nice also. 5 Comments »

Readable names on driver files.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by sangelnet 04/06/07

I suggest, readable names on files that correspond to drivers. most drivers have like code names. Cant tell what they are for just by looking at the file.

Example: ds321pctweb.exe

They're all like that. Give them corresponding names. 5 Comments »

No more ball mice

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) submitted by mazemaster 03/27/07

The default mouse that ships with a new dell computer continues to be an outdated ball mouse. Sure, you can upgrade to optical for $10 but I can buy that same optical mouse new (OEM) for less than that. I'm sure you guys buy mice in large enough quantities to get huge discounts. The ball mouse probably costs you $2 and the optical probably costs you 4$. A cheap mouse can have a dramatic effect on the overall user experience. Just ditch the ball mouse and include an optical one by default, please. 3 Comments »