The DELL of Tomorrow

[Eidorian]

A shot of the Dell Inspiron xx35 Series has shown up online.

Redesigning the display hinge(s) appears to be a popular thing among laptop makers. Slot drives are showing up as well.

The Latitude is covered here.

 

[techlover828]

looks pretty good, nowhere near as nice as the mbp's though...

 

[Eidorian]

Or the MB's for that matter. They're offering a smaller/lighter version, and it's ugly.

I'm sure you'd be better off discussing OS X vs. Windows in your own thread. Don't drag a topic that we've beaten to death countless times into my thread.

Keep in mind that Dell has done major changes with the Inspiron with the 1x20, 1x30, and now the 1x35 series. The Latitude is finally seeing some significant exterior changes after switching over to 4/6/8xx line.

Hopefully this will light a fire under our favorite fruit company to update their laptop looks.

 

[yellow]

Keep it on topic.. and while we're at it.. in a more appropriate forum (e.g., not under "MacBook, iBook").

 

[PlaceofDis]

certainly not groundbreaking, but progression nonetheless.

and yes, lets hope that this leads to more innovation on apple's part.

 

[Eidorian]

Keep it on topic.. and while we're at it.. in a more appropriate forum (e.g., not under "MacBook, iBook").

Apple, Industry and Internet Discussion gets insignificant traffic. Where would you suggest then?

 

[yellow]

Apple, Industry and Internet Discussion gets insignificant traffic.

Be that as it may.. It becomes a tradeoff.

"Heavier" traffic in a forum where a thread of this type might be considered trollish?
or
"Lighter" traffic in an appropriate forum where perhaps we might minimize the mod's jobs in cleaning up the OT that this thread would have (continued) to drag in a heavier traffic forum?

 

[Eidorian]

Be that as it may..

I was hoping to engender more discussion since this forum is a death sentence for the majority of new threads.

 

[Stampyhead]

I'm sure you'd be better off discussing OS X vs. Windows in your own thread...

It's nothing to do with OS X vs. Windows. Techlover was simply comparing hardware to hardware. Anyway, the Inspiron xx35 is fugly even if you don't compare it to the MBP. Surely you don't have a problem with people having opinions that don't agree with yours?

 

[yellow]

It doesn't look bad, for the utilitarian PC world.

But I am more concerned with Lenovo. It's time to redesign the Stinkpad. That thing is boring as hell to look at.

 

[Eidorian]

It's nothing to do with OS X vs. Windows. Techlover was simply comparing hardware to hardware. Anyway, the Inspiron xx35 is fugly even if you don't compare it to the MBP. Surely you don't have a problem with people having opinions that don't agree with yours?

There's nothing wrong with having an opinion but it saddens me when it appears to be as simple as jumping on the hate anything but Apple bandwagon. If they backed up their complain with how they've watched the evolution of the design and it's flaws or strengths that's another story. I don't really appreciate Apple good everything else bad style opinions.

Yes I do own a Mac. I think we'll agree we want new laptop designs when Dell is turning them out almost yearly.

It doesn't look bad, for the utilitarian PC world.

But I am more concerned with Lenovo. It's time to redesign the Stinkpad. That thing is boring as hell to look at.

Surprisingly enough Dell's new designs make their Inspirons and Latitudes look MORE like the Thinkpad.

 

[yellow]

At least there's no red nubbin.

 

[PlaceofDis]

It doesn't look bad, for the utilitarian PC world.

But I am more concerned with Lenovo. It's time to redesign the Stinkpad. That thing is boring as hell to look at.

well the thinkpad team cares about function over form.
apple cares about both, and you can tell.
dell is obviously trying to be stylish, and they've been getting better, but they're not revolutionary at all.

 

[flopticalcube]

I think we'll agree we want new laptop designs when Dell is turning them out almost yearly.

Surprisingly enough Dell's new designs make their Inspirons and Latitudes look MORE like the Thinkpad.

I think they are redesigning so frequently because they haven't found their design style like Apple has. Change isn't always a good thing. I actually prefer the 1330/1530/1730 style.

 

[yellow]

dell is obviously trying to be stylish, and they've been getting better, but they're not revolutionary at all.

Do they need to be, though?

IMO, Dell is in a similar situation as Microsoft and to a lesser extent, Apple.

Big, lumbering giants with little to no real competition in their respective field.
Why bother innovating when you can just repackage the same old thing?

 

[PlaceofDis]

Do they need to be, though?

IMO, Dell is in a similar situation as Microsoft and to a lesser extent, Apple.

Big, lumbering giants with little to no real competition in their respective field.
Why bother innovating when you can just repackage the same old thing?

does dell need to innovate? yes. whether it be through their designs or business model, they don't have much room to move or grow right now, they're well within saturation point imo.

Microsoft certainly is in the same position, they're huge and don't have to really do anything but release mediocre software, but again, look at the backlash that has happened with Vista. at least they've been exploring other venues for sales.

Apple needs to move on with its design, since they're so known for it, and they have been resting too long, but they are too looking in more areas to move into, TV and phone, they already have music.

 

[Eidorian]

I think they are redesigning so frequently because they haven't found their design style like Apple has. Change isn't always a good thing. I actually prefer the 1330/1530/1730 style.

The Inspiron 9300 was the flagship for Dell's design toward the end of the Pentium-M era. The one significant thing I've noticed among many other laptop manufacturers is the unified display hinge design. They're much less prone to breaking then the older ones.

Do they need to be, though?

IMO, Dell is in a similar situation as Microsoft and to a lesser extent, Apple.

Big, lumbering giants with little to no real competition in their respective field.
Why bother innovating when you can just repackage the same old thing?

The MacBook is a widescreen iBook and some people can't tell a MacBook Pro apart from the PowerBook G4 at a glance.

 

[yellow]

The MacBook is a widescreen iBook and some people can't tell a MacBook Pro apart from the PowerBook G4 at a glance.

That kind of what I am saying.. As Apple grows in popularity, their "innovation" seems to have slowed down. But, as PoD said, they (Apple) have a lot of eggs in their basket. They can't innovate everything all at once. We saw that with Leopard vs iPhone. And Apple tries REALLY hard to avoid bad press and missteps.

Vista, I want to like Vista. I hate the 8-bit graphics look of XP. But after 17 months of release, Vista still struggles because developers (hard/soft) are resistant and it includes so much F'd up code from Win16?

Dell. I don't care what they do, as long as they stop with the printer manufactuing. Oh, please stop you mofos!




How does one really "innovate" a laptop? Laptops already account for the majority of computer sales, and that number is on the rise. But there are some basic necessities, screen, keyboard, trackpad, NIC, and optical device (sorry apple, this is still needed until Teh Intarwebs infratructure is better).

Everything else is just guts and aesthetics. Bigger, faster, lighter, cooler. Are these just expectations of the consumer, or are they true innovations?

 

[netdog]

I really think that the ThinkPads are some of the nicest laptops on the market, both in terms of design and function.

That said, I choose to use an Apple.

As for this Dell, it really seems quite ungainly to me. Perhaps an improvement, but still a dog in terms of design.

 

[PlaceofDis]

How does one really "innovate" a laptop? Laptops already account for the majority of computer sales, and that number is on the rise. But there are some basic necessities, screen, keyboard, trackpad, NIC, and optical device (sorry apple, this is still needed until Teh Intarwebs infratructure is better).

Everything else is just guts and aesthetics. Bigger, faster, lighter, cooler. Are these just expectations of the consumer, or are they true innovations?

the design itself can be innovate, as long as it remains functional. look at the MBA, yeah its missing an optical drive and tons of ports, but its still certainly functional and innovative in its own right, even if its for only a niche. in the same way i'd call an EEE PC innovative.

apple seems to approach design innovation via styling, which i don't always agree with; but dell just keeps using the same materials and keeps things rather static. yes the design changes gradually, but its nothing that will change a consumer's reaction either.

i think you're right that their hitting a wall in what can be done, but i do think that changes can be made, even small ones. OLED screens? OLED keys (like the optimus kb) new ports, new materials, etc. there is room to grow, but nothing astounding, but then again there are things that might be going on behind the scenes that we know nothing of, however doubtful.

 

[yellow]

but dell just keeps using the same materials and keeps things rather static. yes the design changes gradually, but its nothing that will change a consumer's reaction either.

Good point.

Minimizing their impact to major changes in the manufacturing process, thereby reducing cost?

Hell, any change is probably a major (and costly) change in the manufacturing process.

 

[gkarris]

Wake me up when Dell actually starts caring about its customers...

 

[beige matchbox]

I generally don't care what a computer looks like, as long as it isn't hot pink i'm happy, the only thing that really bothers me are the hinges, I can't think of a single PC laptop with nice hinges, the above dell included, they either look like an after thought stuck to the top of the lower section, or they're massive, chunky looking things



oo ya, I also don't like the fact most PC lappies have a light for everything, blue one for bluetooth, orange for WiFi, one on the optical drive, another to indicate HDD activity and of course the power light

For example, my acer laptop, when watching a dvd with the lights off has the DVD drive light constantly flashing, and it's so bright it lights up the wall of the room really not needed.

Where as, my powerbook only has capslock and numlock LEDs, no need for any more, better still are the apple displays, when they're on, but not displaying anything they light up the power light, when theres stuff on teh screen it goes out, perfect.



Anyway, until the above are fixed I won't consider any PC laptop to be as good, or better than Apples offerings. But of course, where a PC laptop will do a better job than a Mac i will use one, just be annoyed by the christmas lights

 

[Eidorian]

How does one really "innovate" a laptop? Laptops already account for the majority of computer sales, and that number is on the rise. But there are some basic necessities, screen, keyboard, trackpad, NIC, and optical device (sorry apple, this is still needed until Teh Intarwebs infratructure is better).

Everything else is just guts and aesthetics. Bigger, faster, lighter, cooler. Are these just expectations of the consumer, or are they true innovations?

As sad truth. A laptop 15 years ago looks much like a laptop does today. I'm a much bigger fan of the smooth, single piece look laptops are taking now.

Wake me up when Dell actually starts caring about its customers...

I wonder what experience you've had with Dell to say this. I've had nothing but wonderful support from Dell and HP.

 

[Techguy172]

I happen to like where dell is going with these new machines, They are starting to look better than the MacBook Pro's Dated Design.