parucoool

Dell could try this!

Desktops and Laptops submitted by kmashraf 04/14/07

Out here in India (my country) we have the option of goin' out and gettin' components of a PC and put it together ourselves or if you ain't that type you could get an 'assembler' to put one together according to you specs. He will take care of service, warranty and support. He probably will charge you a fee over and above the actual cost of the components, depending on the depth of support you require. I know of assemblers who will accompany the customer to the vendor where the latter will pay for the components and assembler goes to the customers premises and puts the machine together for the customer. Pimp my computer that is! The only downside to this scenario currently is that piracy is rampant because of this. But people are becoming more aware of the consequences of piracy and take the option of buying their copies of Windows, though this route is more expensive these days than buying a pre-installed OS from a brand name PC vendor. But if you want a high level of customisation and expandability then this is the route to take. A brand name PC with a 3D graphics card is vastly more expensive than the above even if it includes the OS.
So my suggestion to Dell would be to take this model, a version of which they already have a step further and offer support for a selected bunch of main stream distro' s or put together their own distro and support it. I also suggest that they negotiate the licensing issues carefully for that could be cause of some trouble what with a mix of free and prop licensing. 1 Comment »

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 »

Dell should sponser the Wayne county humane society

Advertising and Marketing submitted by theflykyle 04/14/07

The wayne county humane society has had low grade computers and it is hard for them to be able to do the jobs they need with the low end computers they have. The wayne county humane society is not able to purchace new computers, and upgrade their electronics because the are a non profit orginization and cannot afford to. If dell were to sponser them they would be able to show proof that dells sponsers the wayne county humane society. 1 Comment »

Affordability and Durability for Student Laptop Initiative

Education, Laptops submitted by hdrews 02/21/07

If our district was to even consider a 1:1 student to computer ratio, we would need something much more affordable than what is out there now. Money could be saved by cutting storage space, video quality, and more. What our students generally need at their desks is the ability to surf the net and work in an "office" suite. Advanced projects can be done in our more robust labs.

Also, a laptop initiative is no good if in-house support increases 10-fold. These have to be durable. If they fall off a desk, they have to keep working. Replacement batteries need to be less expensive or an extra battery should come with each purchase. 18 Comments »

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 »

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 »

April 22 is Earth Day

Environment submitted by reg 04/16/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

www.earthday.net - Earth Day Website

April 22 is Earth Day, Dell should do something nice, or fun, or both - for the environment. How about bring your tree to work day? Any *Good* ideas?



On Earth Day, Dell holds a lot of employee activities.

40 Comments »