November 2007 - Direct2Dell

If I've learned anything from surfing customers' blogs over the last year and a half, I've learned one thing: customers do have a voice at Dell.

When you meet people for the first time, usually the conversation drifts towards what each of you "do for a living". When it does for me, I am never surprised to see a "knowing look" when I tell people I work at Dell. Being the kind of guy I am, I hit that look head-on more often than not. I explain that rather than working at a "big, faceless corporation" as a "drone", my job is proof that the customer has a voice. When people find out I surf and respond to blogs for a living, that "knowing look" usually melts right off of their faces. "Dell actually pays people to do that?"

In my day to day experience, I am constantly getting feedback from customers, and forwarding that feedback along to the appropriate groups. Customers are always telling me "wouldn't it be great if Dell would do <yoursuggestionhere>". I usually refer people to IdeaStorm, unless their suggestion is break/fix related. IdeaStorm is a great place to share your ideas, but sometimes our product engineers could use some specific feedback while putting together a new product design. Now is one of those times.

We have used the same AC adapters for all Dell notebook lines since 2003. In that time, notebooks have undergone some fairly significant changes, and also during this time, virtually no changes were made to the AC adapters being shipped with our notebooks. Four years is a lifetime in the computer industry, so it's safe to say these adapters are quickly becoming yesterday's technology. They have worked well, but there's always room for improvements.

There is at least one AC adapter in circulation for every notebook we sell, so not only is it the most common piece of Dell equipment, it is also probably one of the products we receive the most feedback about. Given these facts, our engineers have decided to focus on the AC adapter to try and determine the best ways to improve its design. This gives us a golden opportunity to give feedback at a critical time in a product's life:

AC Adapter Survey

Our engineers want to know how you use the AC adapters with your notebooks so they can take these scenarios into consideration during design. Being that this is one of the most ubiquitous pieces of Dell equipment, this is a chance for us as customers to tell the designers themselves how wecollectively use their product, so that they can improve the design and make an AC adapter designed to meet our needs. The survey is yet another way the customer has a voice at Dell.

I've already filled it out, and I hope you'll join me.

Today, the XPS M1530 is available for order worldwide. It features all of the design elements that have made the XPS M1330 a success, but it also brings a larger 15.4" display and a more powerful graphics card option—NVIDIA's 8600M GT with 256MB RAM with Direct X 10 support. Initially, the 15.4" display will support WXGA resolution, or 1280 x 800. 

Update: 12/21—Today, we began offering higher resolution display options to customers in the United States. In addition to the original 1280 x 800, display, customers can now choose 1440 x 900, or the WSXGA+ panel that is capable of  a maximum resolution of 1680 x 1050.

 

I've received e-mails and comments from customers requesting a 15" XPS notebook, and user lilredfoxie submitted an idea called 15.4 size XPS system on IdeaStorm. The XPS M1530 inludes standard features like an integrated webcam, touch-sensitive multimedia controls, a travel slot remote, brushed aluminum accents and a fingerprint reader.We'll offer a slot-loading Blu-ray disc player option (something we don't yet offer on the XPS M1330), and the system also features an HDMI output. Like most other other Inspiron and XPS notebooks, the XPS M1530 can be outfitted with built-in mobile broadband, with a choice of carriers.

Here's a picture that compares the M1330 (on top) with the M1530 (on bottom):

In this vlog, Mike Horn from the XPS Product Team discusses the features in more detail.

Take your pick... you might have seen some notices on Engadget, Gizmodo or Crave that the XPS One was available for pre-order. If you missed those, you may have seen the PC Magazine review, where it earned a 4.5 star rating and an Editors' Choice award. Well now it's official, we have officially launched the XPS One. It's our first-ever all-in-one system, which means the computer, the flat panel, the speakers and the integrated 2 megapixel camera and microphone are all integrated in a single piece.The XPS One will initially be available to customer in Japan and the United States.

Update, 12-6: Just saw we posted the XPS One commercial on Dell.com. Lots of old computers blow up in a stylized environment and there's a song playing in the background. Kinda cool.

From a design perspective, it's more symmetrical than many of our competitors' all-in-ones. It looks more like a standalone flat panel display. The 20" widescreen features an edge-to-edge temepered glass for an uninterrupted, seamless look. The strong yet sleek aluminum stand feeds into the smoked-glass base of the unit. Another cool feature is the motion-sensing multimedia buttons on the right side of the unit. If you move within a foot of the buttons, they light up for just a few seconds before they turn back off. The slot-loaded DVD drive also lights blue so you can see where to insert a disc. Bottom line, you can insert a DVD without turning the lights on. Soon after you start the movie, the lights fade from view so you can wach the movie undistracted.

Just like some of our competition the XPS One can be plugged in with a single power cord. It supports multiple wireless technologies, including 802.11 a/b/g/ and draft-N for WiFi connectivity. The wireless keyboard and mouse utilize Radio Frequency (RF) technology. We chose to support RF so we could make it easier to set up—RF technology does not require pairing like Bluetooth does. However, the all XPS One units come standard with Bluetooth 2.0 support, so if you have headphones, a headset or other Bluetooth peripherals, those will work with the system as well.

Update: RF Technology does indeed require pairing. We do this in the factory before shipping the system.

Like some designs of our competitors, the XPS One only requires one cable to power the system, display, speakers, and the integrated camera and microphone. Things like the internal analog/digital hybrid TV tuner will add at least one cable, but regardless of how many cables you will use in your setup, they can be easily routed through clips on the base.

Graphics-wise, you have two options: integrated video or the optional ATI Mobility Radeon 2400 HD. That card features an HDMI output and also supports DirectX 10. Just don't expect to be playing DX10 games at high resolution with this system... it's not designed to be a high-end gaming box. However, with the optional Blu-ray disk player (optional only in the United States at this point) (standard in Japan) and analog/ digital TV tuner, it does make a pretty slick high-def system. Since I usually get asked about this, the hybrid analog/digital tuner supports over-the-air HD. Connecting to a satellite or cable box requires a break out box and an IR sensor. Cable Card is not supported with the ATI 2400 HD hybrid tuner. One other note is that the maximum monitor resultion for the 20" flat panel is 1680 x 1050—that means that 1080P is not supported, since it requires 1920 x 1080.

Note from Lionel, 11/19—I incorrectly linked to the desktop version of the ATI Radeon 2400HD card—I have updated it. Please note that we support the mobility version of the card, which does not have HDMI out. Also the analog/digital TV tuner is a separate card, not part of the ATI 2400 HD graphics card like I had said in the previous sentence. My apologies for the inconvenience.  

Like the XPS 420, the XPS One comes with Adobe Elements Studio, which is full versions of these three Adobe applications:

• Premiere Elements 4-For video editing
• Photoshop Elements 6-For digital photo organization and editing
• SoundBooth CS3-For audio editing and sound design

In this vlog, Mary Miller from the XPS product team goes into more detail about what kind of customers we designed the system for, and takes you through some of the key usability and design features that make this product unique.

Some of you have been asking me about the Inquirer's recent story that we were dumping support for Ubuntu in the U.K. Let me just get this out of the way—the Inquirer was wrong. Now to be fair, the Inquirer did publish an update story after speaking with Dell—more on that in just a bit. What really happened? For a short time yesterday, the link to the Inspiron 6400n was broken on the Dell UK Ubuntu page. That broken link was fixed early this morning, so UK customers can go here to order an Inspiron 6400n with Ubuntu. Sorry for any churn this has caused.

What's most interesting to me is how this situation combined traditional PR with social media. Here's the chain of events.. soon after the original story broke, phubert brought it to our attention by posting an idea called KEEP OFFERING UBUNTU. Soon after seeing the idea, dell_admin1 contacted our counterparts in EMEA to fix the broken link. Matt Domsch weighed in on the IdeaStorm discussion thread to let folks know the initial Inquirer story was wrong. Once it was clear to phubert that we wen't dumping Ubuntu, he reached out to the Inquirer and edited his original idea, saying that they should print a retraction and that the Dell admins should delete the idea. Our PR colleague followed up with the Inquirer to reiterate that we remain committed to Ubuntu. In the end, the Inquirer posted an updated story—albeit a somewhat cynical one.

Thanks to phubert and the IdeaStorm community for bringing this issue to our attention. If you don't mind, we'll leave your idea thread up for a while.

Last month Dell went on record saying that Information Technology (IT) is too complex, and we have launched significant programs to simplify it.  The reactions from the marketplace - especially customers, analysts and the media - have been overwhelmingly positive.  This is certainly a ‘moon shot' kind of goal, and a risk on Dell's part. But it is a worthy initiative that can generate huge benefits for IT organizations and the companies in which they work. 

Update 12/5: I saw that Adam Lashinsky recently questioned our Simplify IT strategy. I agree that there's much more detail we need to share as we have new developments to discuss. That's the reason that I (and others on the team)  will blog about new developments as they occur. it's not so much a question about old systems vs. new systems. It's more about industry standard vs. proprietary architecture.  We will work to make our new systems easier to deploy and manage, but that's only a part of the idea behind Simplify IT.

What you might not know is the genesis behind this program.  It is so much more than a just a business move or some kind of fancy marketing ploy. Instead, it gets down to the very core of what millions of customers tell Dell every day. They want IT to be easier to get, run and grow, and they want someone to do something about it.  Dell listened and vowed to do just that. 

We see the overall issues breaking down into five core are:

• Simplification is needed today:  IT gets more complex every day, and the market is asking vendors to do something about it now.  Rather than making technology proprietary and mysterious, vendors are being asked to make IT simple to deploy, use, manage and update.   So Dell is focusing on the key components of simplification that will reduce complexity in the infrastructure:  Standardization, consolidation and automation, from the desktop to the datacenter.

• Maintenance is killing innovation:  Companies tell us they want to spend a lot less time on maintenance and a lot more on innovation (more interesting projects).  But they can't because maintenance - just keeping the lights on in IT - requires most of the resources that could otherwise be used on innovation projects.  For these reasons, Dell is focusing on those components of the IT infrastructure that can be commercialized, which just happen to be the maintenance components that drive IT people crazy and waste the most time and money. 

• Most IT projects should not require an army of consultants:  Sure, consultants are needed for complex projects or one-time deployments.  But basic infrastructure activities like email, image management, databases, virtualization, power & cooling, security and systems management should be easy enough to be managed by internal resources if a company chooses to do so.  Consolidated and automated tools with simple wizards and dashboards, along with standardized design, should be available to manage most of IT.  The goal is to use the fewest resources and deploy in the shortest time possible. Dell already provides these kinds of solutions and tools, and is working to streamline your path even more.  Dell's services model is also radically different, focusing on getting you to the finish line rather than keeping a hand in your pocket.

• IT can and should have a minimal environmental impact:  Today, more companies are looking to juggle the need for greater computing capacity with the desire to manage power costs and datacenter space.  The computing needs of the organization always come first, but IT can address all these issues and still go greener.   Dell was the first to offer servers and PCs with dramatically lower power use, but the mission didn't stop there.  Dell is the leader in power assessment and use, thermal management, eco-manufacturing and recycling. If you want to know more, check this out.

• IT wants to drive their own agenda and have more choice:  Proprietary technology locks an IT department into a never-ending cycle with a small number of vendors.  Over time this vendor lock-in makes it virtually impossible to change vendors or upgrade without expensive costs for hardware, software, and services.  This, in turn, creates an ongoing cycle of greater complexity.  Dell has always been about standardization and choice, with seamless upgrade paths. 

So the next time you talk to your technology vendor, ask them what they are doing to simplify IT.   More importantly, let us know if we have these core tenets correct.  If we're missing something, let's add it to the list.