Products

• What's Happening to XPS?

  Tue. May. 13, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  I saw that Gizmodo and Engadget reacted to the Wall Street Journal story about plans for our XPS brand and Alienware. Several other blogs like Tech Digest and CyberNet News and others reported details as well. IdeaStorm user dabrace1984 posted an idea called Keep the XPS Product Line.

  Bottom line, we aren't phasing out any gaming machines early and we are not dropping the XPS line. For more details on what's going on, take a look at Anne Camden's post on Your Blog.

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• Latest on the Graphics Card Upgrade for XPS M1730 Customers

  Tue. May. 13, 2008
  by John Blain, Consumer & Gaming Liaison

  A few months ago, Lionel blogged that Dell had added the NVIDIA Dual 8800M GTX to the XPS M1730. This raised a lot of questions from existing M1730 owners, as you can see from the comments to the post, mostly regarding the possibility of an upgrade program. Given how absolutely amazing this card is, I’m surprised it didn’t generate more churn than it did.

  As the gaming/consumer liaison for the Dell community, I was able to take some of these questions to those in the know and get a few answers.

  First thing’s first: an upgrade solution is in the works, and will hopefully be released later this month. From what I’ve seen, there will be two options, one with an installation package, and one do-it-yourself kit for those die-hard techies. Considering the number of screws holding this beast together, most people will probably want the installation, but the do-it-yourself kit will be appealing to people like me that like playing with computer innards. The price of these upgrades is yet to be determined.

  So what’s taking so long? The core issue is that MediaDirect 3.3 is not compatible with the driver for the NVIDIA card. This incompatibility means that the Media Direct software needs to be upgraded. Unfortunately, the upgrade will require a reformat and reinstallation. Beyond that, it will also require you to repartition the hard disk to make room for the new version of MediaDirect, which is a bit larger. Data loss has been a major concern for the engineers working on a solution. At this point, it would appear that there’s really no way around wiping the drive to make the upgrade work with every feature.

  Since this card is obviously “the r0x0r”, I would think people’s inner gamer would be perfectly fine with a reinstallation in order to make this card work. This card is just that cool.

  I know this upgrade has been long in coming, and I know it's caused some frustration. We're sorry this is taking so long, and are working to get this card into your hands as quickly as possible.

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• Issue Fix: XPS M1330 CD Eject Freezes System

  Thu. May. 08, 2008
  by Bill Bivin, Laptop Liaison

  Thanks to Notebook Review user nexas for pointing out an issue with the XPS M1330. When a user presses the eject button on the optical drive, the system may hang for a few seconds.

  Dell Community Forum users like Vishnu M. issue reported this issue. We've identified the issue and corrected it with the latest BIOS revision posted yesterday, version A10, which will correct the symptoms.

  Again, users that have encountered this issue can click here to download the BIOS.

  There have also been reports of this issue on the XPS M1530. The next BIOS revision is being tested now, and will also correct the symptoms. That revision is slated for web posting in June.

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• Dell & the BMW Sauber Formula 1 Team

  Mon. May. 05, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  For many fans, Formula 1 racing is a global phenomenon. Dell is an official partner of the BMW Sauber F1 Racing Team that is led by drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

  With the 2008 season still in the early stages, the BMW Sauber team is in second place overall. Take a look at the official Formula 1 site for all kinds of information and click here for more about all the driving teams in competition.

  Over at the Inside IT blog, Brett McAnally blogged on this topic, and focused much of it on the Latitude D830 notebooks that the team uses in the pits. The reality is that the BMW Sauber team uses all kinds of Dell technology to drive their mobile pit system, including servers workstations, laptops and Dell flat panels. We'll be providing updates as the season progresses at www.dell.com/F1.

  And besides the BMW Sauber team, it looks like some other F1 crews use Latitude notebooks in their pits as well.

  

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• Dell's XPS 730 Gaming Desktop Details Over at Your Blog

  Thu. May. 01, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Update: This time on the Direct2Dell homepage.

   If you're interested in the latest information on the XPS 730, see Anne's post on at Your Blog. If you are a gamer, there's probably some stuff you'll want to see.

  It's got three videos: one that gives an overview of the system, a second all about overclocking and a third that highlights the new H2C cooling system.

  Enough babbling from me... if gaming's your thing, hop on over.

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• Conversations About Personal Technology: Your Blog

  Thu. May. 01, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Today, we're unveiling a new blog. This one's about personal technology. It's more focused on categories of interest rather than Dell-specific things.  We hope that it's a mashup that's a little bit Community + Lifehacker + ReadWriteWeb + Gamespy. Take a look at John Pope's intro post for more context.

  It's clear to us that our customers don't think in terms of brand names or initiatives that are important to us. Instead, most folks tend to think in terms of what they want to use a machine for: surfing the Web, streaming HD content, sending e-mails, playing games, creating movies, etc. 

  If you care to check out the blog, go to: www.direct2dell.com/yourblog

  We will have blog posts from Dell employees who have something to say about certain topic areas, but the folks behind it really hope that you use it to shape discussions you want to have with us. That's why we featured the Idea Submission section at the top right corner of the page. Beyond that, we hope that some of you out there would like to author a blog post or two.

  I expect there will be some overlap between Your Blog and Direct2Dell. You will see product details that apply to certain topic areas there. Blog posts about technical support will continue to reside here on Direct2Dell, since so much of its heritage is based on customer service.

  You can find Your Blog here and you can also subscribe to the RSS feed here.

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• XPS M1330 and M1530 Laptops Now in PINK

  Mon. Apr. 28, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  

  Whether we're talking fashion, home decor, or laptops, it's pretty clear that people like pink. Since we unveiled our color Inspiron laptops last June, pink is the second most popular color. And lots of our customers have made it clear that they want to see pink on more laptops.

  That's why we introduced pink as an option for XPS M1330 and XPS 1530 customers worldwide beginning recently. For more details, check out www.dell.com/thinkpink, or watch this YouTube clip.

  

  Note: Clicking on the above picture will take you to the XPS M1330 configurator for customers in the United States.

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• Are You Really Green or Green with Envy?

  Thu. Apr. 24, 2008
  by Bob Skelley, Dir.—Enterprise Architecture Channel

  In thinking about Earth Day this week I was contemplating the opportunities that are out there for channel partners to go GREEN. Rarely have partners been able to effectively articulate a business strategy built around Green IT initiatives. A lot of channel providers talk about green, they want to be green, but at the end of the day, are they really more green than the rest of the IT industry?

  And yet there are so many opportunities to make this real. Look at what VMware did in 2007 by leveraging their virtualization products to reduce power and cooling consumption. VMware worked closely with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) - who have already paid energy credits and refunds on 5 projects with another 60 pending - while at the same time executing on Green IT initiatives that saved companies about 7,000 kwH per server that they virtualized.

  And now Dell is in the news, Michael Dell was a keynote speaker at Fortune's Brainstorm: GREEN Summit where he was introduced as one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in the country when it comes to environmental issues. It was interesting to me as a fairly new employee at Dell (due to the EqualLogic acquisition) that there were so many Green IT initiatives underway. One of the new product introductions this year is the new Dell blade series that boasts a 28% improvement in energy efficiency and at the conference Michael Dell previewed the company’s smallest and most environmentally-responsible consumer desktop PC. Scheduled to be released later this year, the computer is approximately 81 percent smaller than a standard mini-tower desktop, uses 70 percent less energy and comes in recycled and recyclable packaging – talk about products that channel partners can leverage to begin building a real go to market strategy around Green IT. Add to that a strategy around server and storage virtualization and channel talk becomes channel action. Making it real. What else can we do?

  While traveling in the UK this past summer, I met a channel partner that has already made this strategy real for their clients. At the core of their business model was virtualization but they made sure their clients understood virtualization was a means to realize their vision for reducing client power and cooling costs. But they do not stop there, they are active in community green forums, they belong and contribute to the GreenGrid initiative and they actively market their green strategy. Wow, a partner really doing it and serving their customer’s IT needs at the same time.

  What is your company doing? How are you making it real? What are the other real efforts out there?

  I want to know.

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• Green IT and a Future Low Carbon Economy

  Tue. Apr. 22, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  Today, Michael is joining corporate and NGO leaders at the FORTUNE Brainstorm: GREEN Summit in Pasadena, California. The summit is organized to bring together thought leaders on business’ role in protecting our environment.

  Michael will speak on the critical role Green IT has in our future low-carbon economy – one that allows for growth and innovation with access to reliable power while drastically reducing emissions.

  Dell is making important strides on our company’s climate goals.  Earlier this month, we announced that our 300-acre global headquarters campus is running on 100 percent green power and reaffirmed our commitment to purchase as much green power as is feasible.  We are also ahead of schedule to make our operations carbon neutral beginning this year.

  Dell is working towards environmental goals and achieving cost-saving benefits of efficiencies – currently more than $2 million a year in energy-cost savings.  Our customers are seeing equally dramatic savings from switching to energy-efficient IT products.

  Also today, we’re announcing plans to convene a formal ReGeneration Advisory Group to help guide its efforts. The group will be chaired by Alexandra Cousteau, president of EarthEcho and granddaughter of marine biologist Jacques Cousteau; Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, conservationist and avid tree farmer; and Laura Turner Seydel, eco-living expert and chairman of the Captain Planet Foundation.

  If you haven’t been to ReGeneration.org in the past 24 hours, be sure to drop in. The finalist designs in the International Green Computing Technology Design Competition are posted on the homepage.

  Also be sure to cast your vote in the latest Facebook Graffiti contest.  About 4,900 entries were submitted, many of which have to be seen to be believed.  The 150 entries with the most votes will move on to the judging phase of ther competition.  The text entries that accompany the artwork are being considered in a seperate contest, so if you want the judges to notice your favorites, be sure to vote them up here.

  Lots going on, as you can see, but what matters most on this 39^th Earth Day is that everyone make a contribution to help improve the planet. You can share your ideas here or at ReGeneration.org. The future will require the cooperation of companies, governments, stakeholders and individuals around the globe to protect our shared Earth.

  Happy Earth Day!

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• A Capital Recycling Event

  Fri. Apr. 18, 2008
  by Joe Strathmann, Sr. Mgr.—Asset Recovery Services

  This Sunday, Dell employees will join volunteers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in hosting a consumer computer recycling event on the Washington mall.  For those in the Washington, D.C. metro area reading this, the event will be held at Freedom Plaza from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on April 20th.

  The National Recycling Coalition and TechTurn are also supporting the event, which is being held in honor of Earth Day.

  Dell hosts one-day recycling events like this from periodically to help raise consumer awareness about the importance of recycling used electronics.  We encourage customers anywhere to use our recycling programs available any day of the year, those include:

  • Free consumer recycling for any Dell branded product at any time
  • Free recycling of other branded products with purchase of new Dell products
  • Product recovery services available to our business and public institution customers providing value recovery, responsible recycling and robust reporting
  • Free donation programs available to any consumer for working, used computer products of any brand which will place the donated equipment with non-profit organizations in the donor’s community.

  It’s important to point out that our recycling partners around the globe who receive this equipment are operating under strict Dell global standards governing their workplace and environmental performance – requirements we require by contract and enforce through third-party audits. Chief among those requirements is a prohibition on export of any waste.

  I know Sunday will be a great event and thank you to the volunteers who are spending time to help D.C.-area customers do the right thing with their used electronics. As always, I look forward to any comments and questions about our recycling programs.

  And an early wish for a Happy Earth Day to all.

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