Studio Hybrids in the Small Business channel

Small Business submitted by tkline79 2 days ago

It would be fantastic to be able to purchase a new Studio Hybrid instead of those ugly Optiplex units. Typical office staffers dont' need the horsepower and the Hybrids are available in different colors and offer a small footprint which is ideal for deskspace. Perhaps an "Optiplex" equivalent of the Hybrid could be offered one day? I'd be recommending the Hybrid PC's now if I could get Vista Business w/ downgrade rights to XP on them! 1 Comment »

SB Questions for Michael: IT without a Department

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: If your business isn`t large enough for an IT department, what would you suggest for the best way to maintain your business? 1 Comment »

SB Questions for Michael: Organizing IT

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: What core resources or methods do you feel should be employed to keep an IT staff organized? Web based help-desk, in-house IT wiki, etc. 1 Comment »

SB Questions for Michael: IT Training

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: We have found that this level of integration offers a lot of advantages to us but the training resources for methods of deployment are few. Who offers the best quality training for small business IT employees? 9 Comments »

Ubuntu on all models where it works

Linux, Operating Systems, Small Business submitted by jonsmirl 08/01/07 **IN PROGRESS**

I'm still throwing away copies of Windows. Recently I have ordered some Dimension 9200s from Small Business. All of these machines are running Ubuntu today without problem. They're being used to replace some PE400SCs that are starting to die. A 2GB quad core for $649 was too good a deal to pass up. It makes a great small server.

Please offer Ubuntu as a choice on all configurations where it works. I would have still paid $649 for the box and you could have kept the money you're sending to Microsoft.
We continue to explore different Linux opportunities on our systems. Check out daniel_j's comment below.




40 Comments »

SB Questions for Michael: Best Way to Buy

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: When buying systems from Dell for a business, do you suggest they do it online or over the phone? 8 Comments »

SB Questions for Michael: IT for Healthcare

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: When building a new medical office (13,000 sq ft medical office with 13 exam rooms and 30 computer stations using electronic medical records) what would be the most streamline desktop system to use? 2 Comments »

SB Questions for Michael: Web site Creation

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: What is the best way and the best software to create my own site? Buy big bucks, or save a little? 11 Comments »

Questions for Michael: What Hardware Do You Really Need

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: When setting up a business network with around 200 computers, what types of hardware do you suggest we get? 2 Comments »

Small form factor no frills computer

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Small Business, Desktops and Laptops submitted by bknfla Jul 31

We need a low cost, no frills computer for our call center and rest of the business. Combine the small features of a laptop with a desktop. We do not need a CD-rom. We do not need any speakers, we only need USB ports, to plug headset with a microphone into, and if speakers were needed, they could be plugged into an usb port. If possible, make the keyboard and mouse wireless, if not make keyboard have multiple usb ports so that mouse and headphone/microphone could plug into the keyboard.

If mouse/keyboard/headset with microphone could all be wireless and be able to sit in close proximity with other computers that would be icing on the cake. If all we had to do was, plug monitor into computer and plug the computer up to power that would be amazing!

We need at least 1 gig of ram but 2 would be nice (so we do not have to upgrade the machine for a while. Quiet or no fan would be nice. The computer should be as small as possible, a mounting bracket for under the desk. USB ports need to be able to be turned on an off via the bios so that if we wanted to disable a USB port so people could not plug in anything else we could.

If it had a built in battery backup similar to a laptop so we did not have to put a UPS at the desktop that would be great as well. This would allow the machine to shut down gracefully during power outage or make it through a power surge.

Thank you 12 Comments »

Make Dell Ubuntu PCs available to businesses and non-profits

Linux, Sales Strategies, Small Business submitted by wyleyr 06/20/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

Dell is apparently not yet willing to sell Ubuntu-based PCs to business users, non-profits, or other organizations larger than a "home office." See this Ubuntu forum thread for more:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=478975

If Dell is serious about offering "choice" to consumers -- the main reason that they're offering up Ubuntu -- they ought to offer it to all their customers, including commercial and non-profit organizations.

Perhaps the greatest barrier here is that these other customers often require different support contracts than home users. It wouldn't be necessary to offer the same support options to organizations that purchase Ubuntu PCs as are offered to home users, or to organizations that purchase Windows PCs. (Perhaps Dell doesn't need to offer any support at all, except for hardware; as long as Canonical can support these organizations.) But they ought to at least have the option of buying the boxes, even if they have to get support in a different way.











15 Comments »

Sell Ubuntu Systems to Businesses

Linux, Sales Strategies, Small Business submitted by defrex 06/20/07

Recently Dell refused to sell their Ubuntu PCs to a small non-profit business. Please do sell them in future, letting the market for the Ubuntu PCs expand however it chooses.

see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=478975 9 Comments »

SB Questions for Michael: Integrated System Sets

Small Business submitted by kara_k 2 days ago

We asked you on the Small Business Blog to tell us what kind of business advice you would want from Michael Dell. We've narrowed the questions down to 10, which now you have a chance to vote on via IdeaStorm. The top five questions - as voted by the IdeaStorm community - will be answered by Michael Dell in a vlog on the Small Business Blog.

Question for Michael: As Microsoft and system retailers/builders like Dell develop more integrated system sets (i.e. Exchange 2008 Integrated Messaging, VOIP, SharePoint Servers) when do you think it's appropriate to add these components to a small business environment? Comment »

Dell should offer a cheaper 14.1" notebook PC in the small business section

Sales Strategies, Small Business, Laptops submitted by winoffice Jul 24

Why is it that in the small business section the cheapest 13.3" notebook PC is $749 but the cheapest 14.1" is $779. That means that 14.1" is a more expensive screen size than 13.3"?? It should be the other way around! And $779 IS WAY TOO HIGH of a starting price for the 14.1" screen size in small business notebooks. I have seen other 14.1" notebooks for far less, for $499/$599 if not less.

Dell should offer a cheaper 14.1" notebook ($499/$599 instead of $779 base starting price) for the small business section. Oh, and it had better be a Vostro. 1 Comment »

Ditch the Home/Small Business/Enterprise trichotomy

Sales Strategies, Small Business, Laptops submitted by majid 02/17/07

What products I am interested in do not correlate with myself or my company size. It used to be that high-end thin-and-light laptops would not be available in the Home segment, only the Enterprise segment. I'm sorry, just because I am a small-business owner or a home user does not mean I am ready to settle for inferior options deemed "good enough" by the powers that be.

This whole notion of three segments is a relic of a company-centric rather than customer centric marketing culture. 9 Comments »

Buy Motorola's handset division (its a steal right now)

Broadband and Mobility, Dell, Small Business submitted by jervis961 Jul 10

Dell is always looking for new opportunities to expand its offerings and become a one stop shopping spot for business and government. The one thing Dell has been lacking is cell phones.

Recently Motorola's handset division has fallen upon hard times and they are looking to get rid of it. Just last year an analyst valued the division at $8 BILLION but now the same analyst has said that Motorola would be lucky to fetch $500 million. Another Analyst has gone as far as to say Motorola may need to pay a company to take the division off its hands.

Strike while the price is low Dell and scoop up Motorola's handset division. You already have the guy who knows how to run it and with Dell's resources you could easily make a killing in the long run.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/10/anaylst-says-motorola-would-be-lucky-to-ge... 5 Comments »

TV Tuners on Vostro Desktops

New Product Ideas, Small Business, Vostro products submitted by dellrox Jul 23

How about it? I bought several Vostro 200 slim desktops and they didn't have an option for TV tuners. I upgraded it myself, but why can't it be offered by dell? It can be done because the home Inspiron 530s is a slim model and it has the option to get a factory installed TV Tuner with remote control. Why not Small Business PCs? Please take a look at this. Thanks 2 Comments »

Low profile, solid state servers

Servers and Storage, Small Business, Simplify IT submitted by arbitraryconstant Jul 6

We've had great success with lower profile servers internally and with clients. Some examples of OEMs that sell these machines:

http://www.soekris.com/
http://www.portwell.com/

There's a few key attributes that define these sorts of machines, and give them their advantages over more conventional entry servers, if an entry server doesn't cost much more:

-Cheap SSDs as the default storage (typically compact flash). If there's not much I/O, these are less of a maintenance headache than RAID. Hard drives are handy if they're optional.
-Lower overall system power. These machines use embedded or mobile CPUs for the most part, and this also leads to fewer fans (or none). This makes the system quiet, allows it to be deployed in poorly ventilated areas, reduces power usage in a rack, etc.
-Serial console in addition to VGA, since a display and keyboard aren't always convenient if the machine is in a closet somewhere (Linux can handle this). Many organizations are used to dealing with serial consoles on their switches, so this isn't that big a deal.

We've used systems like this as file servers, various things that don't virtualize well like busy DNS servers, firewalls, etc. The power available in lower power platforms has even expanded to the point where Windows servers aren't even a problem.

The big problem with Soekris and Portwell and OEMs like them are that they really leave you to your own resources in a lot of ways. The documentation is highly technical but doesn't cover OS support, and they don't offer fast turnaround support contracts or supported OSes and software. Ultimately this is worthwhile if you're using more than a few of the machines, but an OEM like Dell would be welcome because the support would be much better for shops too small to do the homework necessary to do support in-house. Comment »

recovery disaster plan

Dell, Software, Small Business submitted by meeliton May 31

Hi
small and medium companies when purchase Dell server and storage machines, ask for valued aded services such as disaster recovery software, Why can't Dell develope this software or make an agreement with other companis, i. e norton, or acronis?

Seeya 2 Comments »

Let Home customers know it's OK to buy from the Business section and vice versa.

Advertising and Marketing, Sales Strategies, Small Business submitted by jmxz May 7

From a conversation with Dell's robert_p, under a different Idea it seems that "Home" customers are welcome to buy from Dell's "Small & Medium Business" section, and Dell's "small and/or medium business" customers are welcome to buy from Dell's "Home & Home Office" section.

This is very useful since often computers in the "Small Business" section may be more appropriate for home use (the Latitude's light weight and reliability make it a great college computer); and often computers in the "Home" section may be more appropriate for office use (where the better graphics options in Home are valuable for graphical visualization). It's also useful because an identically-spec'd system may be cheaper the Home Section one week, and then be cheaper in the Small Business section the next.

I think many Dell Business and Home customers are missing out on the best deals and failing to find machines that meet their needs because the home user's are afraid of falsely claiming to be a business and because the business customers are afraid of falsely claiming to by buying systems for personal use.

So a few ideas:

1. Assuming robert_p's right in saying Home Customers are welcome to buy from Small Business - add links to the Home product pages saying "If you don't see what you need here, check out Dell's Small Business section. You're welcome to buy those for Home use too".
2. Assuming robert_p's right in saying Small Business are welcome to buy from the Home section - add links to the Small Business product pages saying "If you don't see what you need here, check out Dell's Home section. You're welcome to buy those for Business Use too".
3. Extrapolating - if it's also OK for Home an Small Biz customers to buy from Dell's "Large Business" and "Government, Education, Healthcare & Life Sciences" section, add those links too.
4. Make a price comparison engine that compares the prices of an identically spec'd system from each of Dell's sections so I don't have to manually dig through all of your painful to navigate website sections to compare Home vs Small Business myself. 2 Comments »