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All posts tagged "dell"


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

LAPTOP's Tech Support Showdown 2011: The Worst and the Best Tech Support

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Articles & Resources" @ 03:31 PM

http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-lif...wdown-2011.aspx

"Who wouldn't jump at the chance to wait on hold only to barely understand the person on the other end? And why wouldn't you want to conduct a live chat with a tech support rep who asks you a million questions before addressing your issue? Fortunately, not all laptop tech support is bad, and knowing who's good could tip the balance during your next shopping trip."

I'll spoil the surprise for you: Apple is at the top, with Dell and Samsung fairly close behind. The latter two have improved a great deal since the last report, so it looks like someone is paying attention. Do your own experiences with the companies in this report match up with the results? From my perspective, the 22 minute average call time for Dell seems rosy - I'd venture my calls with Dell are always 45 minutes or more...and usually rt 15 minutes of that are my call being transferred from one department to another while someone tries to figure out who can assist me. About 20% of the time, said transfer disconnects my call, which means I have to start over again. I am not fond of Dell tech support, though once I get to the right person, they usually help me with a fair degree of competence.


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

It Really is Mostly About the Software

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad" @ 09:30 AM

http://www.9to5mac.com/58456/its-th...17-tablet-apps/

"Dying to compete with iPad, rivals are drumming up speeds and feeds in the absence of quality software. Unfortunately for them, the game is software, not hardware. Blogger Justin Williams took time to sort through Android Market and count apps that are featured for Android slates."

Compare the 20 or so apps the author found that met his criteria (specifically written in Android 3.0 or written specifically for the tablet platform) to the over 65,000 that Apple has in their App Store and you can see the advantage does go to Apple. I've seen the Xoom and I do like it's form factor, but when it gets right down to it I have to agree: the apps are where it's at, especially when you consider games such as this one. So even though Dell and HP are throwing down the "Apple's not all that" comments, and Microsoft sounds like they are throwing in the towel when it comes to the tablet market, I still think Apple is in the driver's seat when it comes to the tablet market. What are your thoughts?


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Which Shift Key Do You Primarily Use?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Talk" @ 12:00 PM

After reading Chris' post about what makes a perfect keyboard, it got me thinking about Shift keys. In Canada, many laptop brands ship their laptops with a French/English keyboard, and when they do, the left shift key is cut in half to make room for an extra French-language key. The net result is that any touch typist trying to use that keyboard, if they're not accustomed to it, will constantly be missing the left shift key. I'm one of those people, and I flat-out refuse to purchase any laptop that doesn't have a full-sized shift key. That means no HP laptops for me - every single one of their consumer laptops sold in Canada have the shrunken left keyboard; it's one of the main reasons I tend to go for Dell laptops. I'm pleased that Apple allows you to choose what kind of keyboard you want on your laptop and wished more companies offered users that choice. If I primarily used the right shift key, however, I wouldn't have my choices curtailed.

What about you? Which shift key do you primarily use? I use the left shift key 100% of the time - never even touching the right-hand shift key.


Friday, June 25, 2010

Apple Market Cap Greater Than Microsoft and Dell Combined

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple News" @ 08:00 AM

http://www.macdailynews.com/index.p..._dell_combined/

"Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) closed today at $269.00, putting the company's market value at $244.77 billion."

As you can see above, the stock rose above $270.00 USD in after hours trading, at least as of 8pm Eastern. According to MacDailyNews, this puts the market cap of Apple ($244.77 billion) greater than the combined Microsoft and Dell market cap ($242.42 billion). Let's see what today brings.


Friday, April 16, 2010

Bad Dream for Hackintoshers

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 10:00 AM

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/14/hack...v-discontinued/

"The Dell Mini 10v, choice of netbook hackintosh owners everywhere, has apparently been discontinued as of a week ago. I discovered that today when I couldn't find any on Dell's site, and confirmed it with a live chat with a support representative who told me it was discontinued last week. A message was left for Dell's Media Relations team but was not immediately returned."

He finally did get a reply, and Dell has end-of-lifed this item since they are going to update their netbooks with the Intel Pine Trail Atom processor. Dell couldn't tell him if the new processor would be hackintosh-able. So if you were planning on doing this, check out eBay or the refurbished section on Dell.


Monday, March 8, 2010

Having Problems Hacking Your Dell? Perhaps This Will Help...

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Laptops" @ 08:00 AM

http://lowendmac.com/mac2win/10m2w/...ell-mini-9.html

"Last April, I wrote about the Dell Mini 9 netbook I'd purchased (see In Praise of Netbooks), and how - despite Steve Job's put-downs of the entire netbook product category as "a piece of junk" - I found it a usable little computer, trading off screen, keyboard, and trackpad size against portability and low cost."

The author ran into problems when he tried to turn his Dell Mini-9 into a Hackintosh, but he finally worked through it and his pain is your gain if you are trying the same thing. Interesting article on how you go about hacking your Dell.


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dell Designs Weaker, Heavier, Slower MacBook Air

Posted by Vincent Ferrari in "Apple Laptops" @ 02:00 PM

http://i.gizmodo.com/5205524/dell-a...kyline=true&s=i

"The Adamo is a bit of a strange beast. It's not as feathery as the Lenovo X301 or the MacBook Air, and even with that extra pound of heft, it's (overall) not as powerful as the MacBook Air—a computer that's incidentally cheaper than the Adamo in its base configuration. The Adamo has a few fantastic features: Integrated 3G, eSATA, and a butt that just won't quit. And its aluminum body, especially in black, simply looks sharp. Just don't dare buy this computer until Dell comes to their senses and realizes that $2000+ is absurd for a 4-pound laptop with no graphics muscle. Show some restraint and wait for the sequel. If it's anything like the Batman franchise, there will be many."

It always amazes me how everyone jumps on Apple for their design choices, then someone comes along and imitates them, poorly, and the imitator gets a pass. The Adamo was supposed to be "the answer" to the MacBook Air. Instead, it's a heavier, slower, graphically inept, external optical drive having (the same thing the Air was knocked for), unremovable internal battery having (another thing the Air was knocked for) weakling that costs more and weighs more.

Gizmodo didn't seem particularly enamored with it, and frankly they aren't exactly a bunch of Apple parrots over there. This is squarely targeted at the "anything but Apple" crowd and that's about it.

Tags: hardware, dell, fail, adamo

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hackintosh on the Cheap

Posted by Vincent Ferrari in "Apple Desktops" @ 09:00 AM

http://p0wnz.com/install-osx-1056-o...ell-vostro-410/

"If you missed out on the last p0wnz deal it looks like this deal from Dell is now bye bye see ya later gone. Sorry if you didn't take advantage of this because I got a 99.8% fully functional Mac Pro Hackintosh."

That really isn't too bad, actually. The Vostro 420 (the replacement for the 410) is going for under $500 on Dell's site right now. Not a bad way to dip your toe into the Mac waters. Of course you run the risk of not being able to do updates and so on, but if you can live with that, a Hackintosh might be for you.

Any of you folks out there running a Hackintosh of some kind?


Friday, February 6, 2009

Dell Shares Can't Reach Bottom Fast Enough

Posted by Vincent Ferrari in "Apple Talk" @ 01:00 PM

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Dell-...f-14268407.html

"Shares of computer maker Dell Inc. retreated Thursday after a JPMorgan analyst downgraded the stock, citing the company's high exposure to a withering PC market. Unlike rivals Apple Inc. with smart phones, and Hewlett-Packard Co. with printers, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell hasn't significantly diversified into other markets. That is likely to "make for a bumpy ride given our view on PCs," JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz told investors in a note, downgrading Dell to "Underweight" from "Neutral.""

Remember when Michael Dell said the quote I pasted over Steve Jobs' head? I sure do. It was in 1997, and was during one of the darkest phases of Apple's history. The company was floundering after utterly incompetent leadership left the company in shambles, and Apple had just bought out a small hardware company with some innovative ideas called NeXT. That company was headed by none other than Steve Jobs, who returned to Apple's top seat and turned the company from an also-ran joke into a compulsive innovator.

Today, no one is talking about Apple selling the company and returning money to shareholders in Cupertino. In Round Rock, however, I bet they're wondering if Michael Dell will put some of that bravado into the pockets of his shareholders.


Thursday, November 20, 2008

Apple Customer Service Tops PC Makers

Posted by Vincent Ferrari in "Apple Talk" @ 08:00 AM

http://vocalabs.com/sqtrack/

"Are you a PC or a Mac? If you're enjoying great customer service, chances are you're a Mac, based on some new data released by VocaLabs. They're one of those companies whose job it is to ask you at the end of your call with customer service how things went, and their survey results show that when asked how satisfied they were with their agent, 60% answered "very satisfied." Dell customers? Only 44%. Gateway followed with 37%. Not enough info is yet available on Toshiba and HP to be statistically significant."

In the end, this is nothing most of us here don't already know. My experiences with Apple Support have been very good over the years. Lita's story comes as a big surprise to PC users but not so much to us Mac users. I won't go too far into the results, but I can totally understand Toshiba being at the bottom of the food chain. I've never had a good experience with them in any way. And Gateway is a close second as far as my worst ever, so I tend to think this chart is pretty accurate. Anyone find these out of whack in any way?


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