Notebooks - better quality, better options, better design
Sales Strategies submitted by dspector
02/17/07
I have been in the market for a laptop for almost 6 months now. I have avoided buying one as I havent found one that actually fit my needs perfectly.
14.1" widescreen notebook are arguably the perfect balance between the small, yet mobile, 13.3 or 12.1" screen, and their mid range 15.4". For those of us who want a laptop that is portable yet viewable, 14.1" is the ideal candidate.
Now if we take the 14.1" even further as a multimedia portable machine, it should incluce all the bells and whisles like memory card readers, svideo (d620 doesnt have) and even a webcam. And it should all be packaged in a thin and light casing that is still durable and stylish.
That is my recommendation to dell.
1430
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.
2117
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.
3531
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.
4953
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.
3498
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
3406
Backlit Keyboards
Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by rarmasu
02/21/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**
I find myself many, many times in dark or poorly lit environments having to guess the various keys - would be fantastic to have a backlit keyboard - with backlit individual keys as the best option.
I would actually pay extra for that convenience if the option was available.
This could be done for desktops or notebooks.
Check out Vida_K's comment below on the New Latitude.
24090
Product enhancement for Dell power adapter
Laptop Power submitted by gbrugman
02/21/07
For your information: daily winding and unwinding the notebook connecting cord, will eventually cause the cable shield and isolation to tear down, just outside the housing. It happened to many Dell notebook cords at work, causing the power flow to stop or, even worse, to short-circuit.
The cord at the other end of the AC wall mount doesn't have this problem because this cord already points at the right angle. So as to avoid said problem in the future, both cords should leave the housing in the proper winding-angle: problem solved.
I hope to have been of help, because I think it's a shame that a minor cord problem makes it this risky to work with an otherwise good product. It seems easy enough to remedy. :-)
5865
Better Styling, More Choices on Video Cards and a Hybrid Video Design, and Definately less or NO pre-installed Software.
Sales Strategies, Software, Laptops submitted by kman79
02/16/07 **REVIEWED**
Dell probably does build one of the best performing notebooks that one could order, well at least you could make it to be one of the best performing notebooks, but they lack in style. Of course the priority of having the notebook is having good performance, but having a stylish exterior adds value and want for the notebook/laptop. The white and gray casing gets old, and needs updating. I like the simple yet stylish look of the M1210, the rest of the line should be updated. Maybe it's just me, but the rest of the XPS line of laptops need to be toned down, it just looks to kidish and has too many things going on with it. Design a better looking notebook with the current hardware performance you have available right now, and you can guarantee it will sell better. The design does not have to be complex, but anything is better than white and gray plastic exterior you currently use. Get ideas from Apple, Asus, Sony, Toshiba and even HP. Give the exterior look of the notebook some curves......maybe evem a glossy finish, and a little texture. People spend thousands of dollars on their Dell Notebooks, at least make them feel better by making the notebooks look like it's worth the money spent on them. Give the notebook some attitude, a personality and a soul and not just a piece of plastic with a keyboard and a screen.
Dell should also give customers more choices with the video cards. I wanted to get an M1210, but was dissapointed that it only had a Geforce Go 7400 as the only choice for video card. I was more than willig to spend the extra cash on a higher end video card. Also, if sony has not patented this design/idea, what about a Video Hybrid design where you have a choice between intel graphics while on battery, and purve Nvidia graphics when plugged in. I think the idea is genious and very useful. You can use intel graphics when your running on battery to save and extend battery life, and switch over to nvidia graphics for full-on graphics power when the notebook is plugged in.
More importantly, let it be the customer's choice on which programs and services they want installed on their ordered computer. I hate turning on my newly ordered computer and having all these unwanted software and services already installed. I hate having to spend the first minutes to hours after receiving my computer uninstalling programs or doing a clean OS install.
Over the past year we launched several laptops that were developed purely for the consumer. Check out all the details on mike_h's post.
7696
No Extra Software Option
Software submitted by ootleman
02/16/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**
Would love the ability to have a clean Vista install. No AOL software, no earthlink software, no google software - just a clean, original OS.
Check out jeremy_f's update on our current software options.
120784
 track my votes
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