Does Dell make its own motherboards?

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 10:08:02 +0000, Rob Nicholson wrote:

20% for not being able to support them *properly* when the machine goes
down is worth it is it?

Dell kit is incredibly reliable mainly because you don't mess around with
it. The only Dell hardware we've had fail is a CD-ROM and video output from
one laptop. Compared to the Compaq iPAQ that litereraly blew up, the custom
built Gigabyte system that decided to stop working with WD hard disk and
won't run through the KVM, the 3 Toshiba laptops that have developed several
faults etc...

If one of the Dell base units failed, we wouldn't bother trying to fix it.
We'd simply buy a new base unit for ~£200. £200 doesn't buy you a lot of
"fixing" time and you'll have a nice new higher-spec box anyway.


Surely that would depend on what blew. If a hard drive, optical unit
etc. goes then you just order up random new hard disk and stick it in.
Fans might be more tricky as they use blowers on at least the small
desktop chassis, but the mini towers use normal fans. Generally speaking
motherboards are not something that go frequently.

You do have to be careful with the upgrades. Last time I checked (just
before Christmas) a dual layer DVD writer upgrade was something like
£99+VAT, and it only does +R disks, and a CDRW/DVD combo unit was
about £37+VAT. I always get my own separately and fit it myself, takes
about 5 minutes and saves a bundle.

JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Northumberland, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 1661-832195

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:25:40 +0000, Rob Nicholson wrote:

Any small time independent who goes out of business isn't going to have
the same impact on a business *if* they supplied 100% compliant ATX
systems.

I agree with this :-) I'm at a loss why they use propriatary parts. Unless
it's for cost saving.


Because they offer something different. Tell me how you propose to
build a system like a small desktop chassis Optiplex with standard
parts, in a screwless chassis? You are not.

Dell are sufficiently large that they can do their own case/form
factors which allows them to do things not possible (or easy/cheap)
if you are trying to conform to the ATX specification.

JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Northumberland, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 1661-832195