“Where’s Michael Dell?” BL Ochman asks

by on July 22, 2006

BL Ochman has an interesting post today about Dell’s recent business problems.

I think it’s even deeper than the support issues that Dell has had with bloggers.

But, let’s start there. This week Patrick’s power supply broke for his Apple iBook. So, I dropped him off this afternoon at the Apple store in Bellevue, Washington.

He promptly walked out with a new powersupply. I didn’t have to even be involved. He just got a reservation at the Genius Bar and took care of the problem himself. I wasn’t even in the store.

Dell can’t match that customer support. If he had a product from Dell he’d need to wait until Tuesday to receive his new power supply.

If Dell hasn’t figured it out yet Apple is now just another Windows OEM. But what an OEM it is! And Apple is definitely taking away marketshare from Dell (all the new MacBooks at Microsoft that I saw were evidence of this — passionate computer users appreciate great design and great service). Dell is also being hurt on the innovation side of the house. By not doing a Tablet PC Dell has told the marketplace that the innovation is gonna come from other places. I’m typing to you on a Lenovo Tablet PC right now. Why isn’t this a Dell? Because Dell didn’t innovate.

Apple has marketing that makes everyone pay attention. Does Dell inspire anti-Dell advertising imagery like this?

But it gets worse from there. I need a new laptop for work. PodTech has given me a budget of $2,500 to spend on a new laptop.

I’m a home user. Quick, find me the new Dell that has a high-definition screen on Dell’s home laptop page. Hint: it doesn’t exist there. If I hadn’t seen them at Microsoft I wouldn’t even know about them. This is a competitive advantage that Dell has over Apple (Apple doesn’t have 1080 screens in its laptops yet) but Dell is hiding them.

But, I look at how Apple treated a 12-year-old today. And, I probably will hold out for an Apple product because of that service aspect that Dell just can’t provide because Dell’s business model requires cutting every bit of cost out of its distribution chain.

  • I am fortunate enough not to have had experienced Dell's customer service. I've spoken to many people who all have had some kind of problem with Dell.

    The worst was when a friend of mine was told that his PC would be picked up from his home on a particular day.

    Several months later I believe he is still waiting! :-D

    Good on you for getting an Apple, even if I don't use them they are excellent products.
  • Christopher Coulter
    I thought you called for a 'cooling-off period' per Dell slams now that Dell is a be-bop blogging. So the cool-off is now off? :)
  • Christopher: that was specifically about the Dell blog, not about Dell itself. And, I called for a period of two weeks to give corporate bloggers enough time to get their sea legs.
  • Mike
    I don't get it. What is your fascination with 1080. Heck these are just 17-inch screens. Either you visual acuity is exceptional or you are exaggerating the importance of 1080. If you really care about viewing DVDs at 1080, just get a nice plasma TV and a suitable DVD player instead of trying to get that kind of movie viewing on a freakin' laptop. Buy the Mac you know is best and be happy!!!
  • I love high resolution. You can fit more on the screen. And, my new camcorder shoots in 1080. I want to see every pixel that's coming off of its imaging sensors.

    We don't live in 640x480 anymore, sorry.

    I have a nice TV, by the way (Plasma isn't nearly as sharp as Sony's rear projection screens, by the way, at least not at the $4,000 price level).

    DVD players don't do HD, at least not on computers yet. I wish I could buy a HD-DVD player along with one of those nice screens, though.

    But, seriously, if I hadn't seen how stunning these new screens are I would have totally been agreeing with you now (and I would have already purchased a MacBook Pro like Maryam got a week ago).
  • met
    Patrick was lucky that his powersupply broke.

    The geniuses said that my powerbook would take 10 days for it to be repaired and sent back (that time it took 20 days because they didn't have the part in stock). I believe 10 days is what it takes normally.

    Dell repairs and sends the laptop back within 2 to 3 working days. No one can beat that.
    For a replacement part like powersupply, they ship it priority (before 10AM next day). So if you call in today, you should have the powersupply the next day morning. Oh, and if you don't like staying on the phone, use their chat service, its faster and you can have a transcript of the conversation.
    I've used an inspiron for 4 years now, and they've only made one error with the shipping once, which they rectified and gave me a coupon for the trouble.


    For the inspiron, I had replaced the powersupply, cd-drive and ram slots for my Dell over the last 3 years. Recently I called due to some dead pixels on the screen. They sent me a refurbished (new - because I saw it was built that month) laptop within a week - of course the laptop was a new model, had double the ram, a better screen, a faster dvd-drive and the latest processor (times had changed :) )


    In my experience... I've had better times with Dell support than Apple's.
    Not to mention, I've never liked the attitudes of those geniuses at the Apple bar.
    Thats just me :)


    There are two sides to everything. Dell gets parts changed easily, not like the Apple folks.

    An apple is good if you don't have problems with that.

    I was under the impression that Macs were made to last, but my
  • Oh, and text is much sharper on one of these new screens. You should see what text looks like on it when compared with Maryam's Apple screen.
  • Met: good point. I had a Dell go out at work once and they just sent a whole new one. It took a business day, but I did appreciate that service.
  • The Dell laptop with the HD screen is here, by the way: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.a...
  • BlogReader
    The reason Dell doesn't open a store is then they would have to stock dozens of the hundreds of different types of power supplies they have.

    After watching my magnetically attached power supply cable pop off after accidently snagging the cord I'm never going back to normal supplies.

    And while I'm on the subject: all cell phones should be powered by USB, like the blackberry 7100. I'm not sure why that isn't more popular.
  • high-def is nice, but do you really need it on a laptop? :) if i were you, i'd get a macbook pro. that's what i use for work, and i couldn't be happier. you can get a nicely loaded one for $2500 or less, especially if you shop around. and the great thing is, with parallels desktop, you can run os x and windows simultaneously. i am currently typing to you in opera for mac, and in another window i have windows xp running outlook 2k3 via a windows-based vpn to my office. there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to own anything but an apple anymore, in my opinion. the capabilities i have with this machine far surpass what i could do with a dell or any other pc.
  • The question is - why "hold out"? Apple's products are great already. Only with Apple can you run Macintosh and Windows on the same machine, and Apple's design and ease of use is legendary. If you want a Macintosh, buy one today.

    As a guy who's focused on podcasting now, you should be in bed with the company that made "Pod" casting possible. If it were not for the i"Pod", would "Pod"Tech even exist? After all, what is a podcast if not just an MP3 recording that can be distributed online? iPods made your business possible.

    Oh... and I bought Naked Conversations yesterday. Amazon should have it in my hands next week. Better be good!
  • met
    Podtech wants you to get a macbook pro :) Why else would they have decided on the number 2500 ?

    What about those supposed issues with the gen1 ? Are they just rumors?
  • met
    May I ask, why you aren't buying tablet PC ?
  • Jp
    I agree with the innovation bit. On my blog, I wrote about why their focus to be the low cost, low price leader is affecting their business and their ability to innovate. I think they learned a lot from their experiment with selling $10,000 XPS gaming computers, which sold out immediately and they are now an official product. It had enough product differentiation that people just wanted it badly. I'm not saying they need more $10,000 computers, but more innovative development, sales, and support.
  • jamesl
    Where's the Apple store in Bozeman, Montana?

    In most places and for most customers, Apple and Dell (and HP and Gateway and Toshiba and ... ) use the same UPS and FedEx trucks to deliver support.

    The first thing you should be looking at (after making sure the computer will do everything you need and fit your budget) is the probability that you will need support. And that cannot come from anecdotal evidence in blog comments.

    The best support is that which you never need.
  • $2,500 bucks you say? Well, looks like you cant afford this-
    http://www.dell.com/content/products/results.as...
    :-P
  • Scoble,

    If you think the hi-def Dell screen looks better than the Apple screens then just get it. While my MacBook Pro screen is fine for me , you should make sure you love two things about your laptop:

    1. The Screen
    2. The Keyboard

    I don't care how nice a laptop is, if you don't love those two things you'll never like your laptop.
  • If you look for a reason to not buy an Apple, you can always find one. People have been doing it for years. Though, honestly, if you apply the same 'look for a reason' mentality to any other computer, you'll find yourself holding back on them as well.

    Just make the jump.

    Here's my rationale. Buy a Mac (on someone else's dime) and play with it for the next until Vista comes out. If you really hate it (it will be an adjustment at times) then you'll be ready for a new machine just in time for the new Microsoft OS....probably...

    If you end up hating the Mac, you'd probably hate it more if it came out of your own wallet.
  • My Dell Inspiron 8600 has a 1920 x 1200 screen (the only way to order it at the time was to enter a code from a magazine to get the spec used in the review), there's no way I would use a lower resolution.

    Having my web browser at 1024 x 1150 on the left of the screen and FeedDemon on the right at 852 x 953 and still having room above to see what my downloads are doing or to have Windows Media Player playing a podcast is great.

    Oh and HD videos look great on it too, perfect for checking out the latest Xbox 360 trailers.
  • yep, dell refused to innovate in their core business, pc's i could never understand why they wouldn't want to make the fat margins that come with selling new technology like the tablet pc. am sure they will get through this situation, but innovating on processes only, sounds like the same thing spammers do full time.
  • I like Macs only because of the hardware design. The Operating System is amongst the most important things for me in a computer, as it probably is for nearly everyone else. After extensively using Windows XP, Linux, and trying out Mac OS X, I have found that I am most productive on XP, thus I am sticking with it. I don't care what these operating systems are called (abc1, abc2, abc3) or who develops them. The ideal scenario for me would be XP in a Mac box...and that is already happening. Only problem is the price..I am simply not willing to pay an extra ~$1500 just for a prettier box (considering dell laptops are $600 onwards).
  • >high-def is nice, but do you really need it on a laptop?

    Yes, I do. I'm a video producer now and am recording in HD resolutions.

    Met: why not a Tablet? I already have a Tablet PC. A Lenovo model. I'm looking for something with a lot more horsepower.

    Why not Apple right now? Cause I've heard rumors that new machines will be announced in early August and I want to wait to see what will come down the pike (Apple is holding a big developer conference then).
  • I'm holding out for an Apple Table... that would be my dream machine. I've used Dell machines for year through my previous employer, and besides the crappy IBM "Deathstar" drives, they've performed well. No I use a Thnkpad for daily use.

    BTW, I wonder if when Patrick went to the "Genius Booth" or bar, or whatever (if you call it a bar, I should be able to get a damn beer while I wait!) the conversation didn't go something like this:

    Patrick: "Hi, my power supply is dead, I think."

    Genius: "OK, let's take a look" (enters serial number into computer). "Oh, Mr. Scoble - not related to THAT Scoble are you?"

    Patrick: "Sure, he's my dad"

    Genius: "Here's a new power supply, have a great day!"
  • kr8tr: heheh, no, I don't even think his name came up. Despite my ego, most people have no idea about who I am.
  • http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

    Most of the rumors around the developers conference surround new desktops (the first with the Intel chip). Not sure if a new laptop is in the offing, especially while the Macbook is selling so well.
  • Robert, saw that you've blogged about an interest in an 1080 HD-capable notebook a couple of times. We do offer one for consumers, the Inspiron E1705. From the www.dell4me.com (Home & Home Office page), choose the Notebooks tab near the top of the page, then choose E1705. In the 3D-view window, after the 360 degree rotation, click the 17" Widescreen Display button. There you can see the details that it supports 480p, 720p and even 1080p.

    You can customize it from that same page. We'd love to have you as a customer. Feel free to contact me directly if I can help.

    Cheers,

    Lionel Menchaca
    Digital Media Manager
    www.dellone2one.com
  • I would buy an imac then install windows on it. robert go for alienware.

    www.irin.co.uk
  • LayZ
    Robert, believe me the difference you think you are seeing with and HDTV 17" computer monitor is you imagination. You have convinced yourself there is a difference. (And I'm sure Mr. Mechaca appreciates it), but physiologically your eye cannot discern the difference with that small of a screen size. Basically HD is designed for large screens. But hey, it's your money.
  • By the way, the Dell Precision M65 you provided a link to is VERY similar the Latitude D820. I have the D820 and it is a few hundred lower. It looks like they recently changed the M65 video card. Maybe someone from NVIDIA can comment on the differences. The M65 looks very solid.
  • LayZ: >>Robert, believe me the difference you think you are seeing with and HDTV 17″ computer monitor is you imagination.

    It isn't my imagination. Have you ever been on a screen with 1900xsomething resolution? It's stunning. And, sorry, 1400xsomething just won't do.

    You can claim that 500 pixels don't matter, but they do.
  • You know, I recently saw a new Dell shop front in a computer center in Hong Kong, I was quite surprised, seeing as I always thought of it as "online only"...
  • Mike
    The native resolution of a 17-inch MacBook Pro is 1690x1050. Robert, perhaps you are thinking of the 15-inch when you refer to "1400=something." Native on the 15-inch MacBook Pro is 1440x900.

    Also, are you planning to produce HD videos that only a handful of folks could experience in all their glory or do you want something that "the rest of us" might enjoy too?
  • Dell did have marketing that made everyone pay attention. It was one single 30-second ad. The Ad. And it was brilliant.

    Not because it contained a catchphrase that actually become part of the language for a while: "Dude, you're getting a Dell!"

    It succeeded because its pitch was perfectly executed, and came at exactly the right time. It said, look, middle-aged mother of a high-schooler. You suddenly want to buy a PC again. Because now it has the Interthingy, and suddenly you can actually use a computer. But you don't even know how to do that. You know if you go to one of those superstores, you wouldn't get any real help. But your son's cool friend -- not your son, but his cool friend, because all the kids know the PC stuff -- says you can just call Dell, and they will take care of everything. And for the first time, you can get away under a grand, a price point you never saw before.

    Plus Dell has "award-winning support", said the ad.

    The real problem was, the ad worked too well.
  • Cybereer
    Scoble, get a MacBppk Pro if you really want to be a geek who knows Mac and Windows as well as UNIX. Nothing else on the market can run Mac OS X / Windows / Linux simultaneously, Dell is so 20th century.
  • >Also, are you planning to produce HD videos that only a handful of folks could experience in all their glory or do you want something that “the rest of us” might enjoy too?

    I'm going for Internet distribution, so most of you will not get my videos in HD. Look at Rocketboom. They shoot on a Sony Camcorder in HD and Widescreen. You probably download it at far lower quality than they shoot it at (me too). But they still have the HD version in case some distribution mechanism opens up for HD (RedSwoosh, for instance).
  • Mike: >>The native resolution of a 17-inch MacBook Pro is 1690×1050

    Wonderful. That's still about 300 less pixels than the Dell's have. It also means that a 17-inch MacBook Pro isn't showing you 1:1 every pixel in HD video.
  • David R
    "I’m a home user. Quick, find me the new Dell that has a high-definition screen on Dell’s home laptop page. Hint: it doesn’t exist there."

    This is totally wrong. Just click on XPS from the page you referenced and it takes you right there.
    http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdet...
  • But aren't we comparing apples and oranges here? Dell was never Mister Innovation, and Apple will never be Mister Discount. Don't they serve their own market niches well enough? There will always be the premium customers and the ones looking for a bargain above all.

    I am inclined to put a fatwa out on any company that knowingly sold me Windows ME, but that aside my experience with Dell service was pretty good. I ordered my computer, paid for it to be delivered to my door, and when it arrived it turned out that Purolater only made deliveries in the morning; it made pickups in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I was at a client's, many miles away, every morning, and so could not be home to receive the Dell. I called and complained and they refunded the $180 delivery fee, since I did have to go down to the Purolater office in the afternoon and pick it up, a couple of hours out of my day and a huge inconvenience for those of us with no car.
  • Rain: the problem is that the difference between a low end machine and a high end one (in terms of price) is shrinking. And, Apple and Dell never competed on the same turf before last quarter. Now Apple machines can use Windows. That changes a bunch of things. And Apple only needs to tear away a percent of market share a year to see huge gains.

    Internally Apple only talks about beating Dell. The financial results are starting to show that Apple is having an effect.
  • So, do you think Apple is premiuming-down, so to speak? That all computer distributors and manufacturers will meet in the middle?

    I look at it as a maturing industry, and in most of them we can see that the spectrum remains fairly wide. Look at watches, ferinstance. There are watches that cost as much as my apartment and watches you get free when you buy a box of cereal.

    What is it about the computer industry uniquely that makes you feel that its extremes are moving towards the centre? Or are you expecting yet another company to pop up on each end and take the places formerly held by Apple and Dell?
  • Well, I don't see Apple taking any significant market share away from Dell or other OEMs (significant being more than a few percent a year), just enough to make Apple's stock go up and Dell's stock to go down, which is just what's happening.
  • I've seen mixed service from Apple amongst my colleagues, but complete motherboard/screen replacements via phone support were routinely getting collected, fixed and returned within 4 days in a number of cases I know well. The Genius Bar (here in the UK at least) is fantastic when the item looks basically broken and they can do a straight swap. The staff will spend a long time with you too, and are generally reluctant to send people away unhappy (the face-to-face factor I suspect). I've had busted Apple In-Ear Headphones replaced just by saying they were broken, and a new 30GB iPod swapped for new because I couldn't get photos to synch reliably (I now think it's a problem with my photo library or software, but the Apple guy couldn't see the problem and just replaced it on the basis that it might be the hardware). Undoubtedly the Stores are a competitive advantage, and it makes a big difference with iPods too. I know of nowhere that you can get this sort of face-to-face service and help when you're buying a Zen, a Walkman, or dare I say it, a Zune ;-)
  • A Mac Tablet PC? ... now, would not that be Übercool?
  • Stefan Constantinescu
    I sent you an email with the exact laptop you need to buy on that 2500 dollar budget.

    I hope you get it, I hope you buy it, and I hope you tell the blogging community about it becasue as a switcher all I have to say about Mac's is I've switched back to Windows.

    http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=1155
  • Stefan: That is a nice looking unit, and a nice set of specs. What's that bulge (or extension) on the right side of the LCD frame?
  • I'm an Apple booster but holding Dell to account for not making a tablet PC when Apple doesn't have one either seems a little odd.
  • Righteous: Apple is working on one. So, who'll be seen as "innovative"?

    Also, Dell had a chance to get out in front of the market and do something that was different and interesting and they didn't take that chance. Instead a bunch of executives left Dell and formed Motion Computing. Maybe the same ones who could have helped steer Dell to a better outcome.
  • toast
    In Australia, Apple cannot even begin to compete with DELL's Service and Support.

    I tell my friends "get a DELL and get their next business day onsite extended warranty and experience piece of mind"... and they do.

    We use DELL for our 3,000 desktops and laptops and their support is excellent, plus, their hardware doesn't fail all that often.

    I am in the market for a Tablet PC when Vista comes out. If DELL doesn't have one, I'll just get a Toshiba or something else (whatever has the best support for Aero). I understand why DELL don't yet have a Tablet, so it doesn't bother me.

    Apple does innovate (mostly in form-factor and user experience design) but you pay an arm-and-a-leg for it. DELL provides PCs that will run fast and reliably and at a great cost.

    The problem is not that DELL is failing, but that others are finally getting their act together.
  • Ty_the_Dell_Dude
    "I would buy an imac then install windows on it. robert go for alienware."


    DELL OWNS ALIENWARE GENIUS!!
  • After my experience with an iPod that died http://trevorcook.typepad.com/election/2005/05/...
    I would take a lot of convincing about Apple's service, at least here in Australia.
  • Rus
    I've been to Hell and back with Dell "Support". My £1,300 ($2,500) Dell Latitude D600 was unuseable for 18 months while I had to argue with them.
    I now have a £1,300 Toshiba Portégé M200...a much better investment.
    The Dell is dormant somewhere.

    However, Dell do make half-decent Pocket PC's. As you point out, though, they don't innovate. They entered the Pocket PC scene at least 2-3 years after everyone else. When the world's largest manufacturer of computer's doesn't innovate, it holds everything back. They're now even trying to use blogs to repair their image. It won't work.
    All Dell care about is the bottom line. Any claim by them otherwise is a lie.
  • ron
    my powerbook laptop will not turn on i am getting power thru the ac adapter but it wont turn on.i tried
    resetting and waiting five seconds and hitting power
    button, but it just wont turn on. i appreciate help
    if you can help me. i want to try and fix the problem
    myself before i spend any money on a technician

    thanks ron
  • Thanks for the tips. I'm looking to upgrade soon and I'll be referencing this.

    Thanks!
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