August 9, 2006 4:17 PM PDT
Dell's XPS 700 still stuck in neutral
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Dell has shipped only a few units of the most powerful desktop in its lineup since the XPS 700 was introduced in May. Last month, the company announced on its new blog that shipments were set to resume. But those shipments were halted earlier this week due to a problem with the unit's cooling system, said Liem Nguyen, a company spokesman.
The issues have since been fixed, and shipments are slowly resuming as Dell makes sure the systems are ready for customers, Nguyen said. Customers who placed early orders for the system, however, are still looking at a backlog of four to eight weeks, and customers who order today will probably have to wait until mid-October, according to Dell's site.
It's probably safe to say Dell has had better years. The company's financial performance over the past few quarters has disappointed Wall Street, especially the most recent news that Dell will miss its financial earnings targets by 10 cents a share. Image problems from poor customer service and a sequence of exploding laptop batteries have forced executives into damage control stations, and now even its vaunted manufacturing operation has run into problems with the XPS 700 introduction.
The few customers who received XPS 700 systems before the cooling- system problems were discovered should contact Dell if they have any questions about their systems, Nguyen said. The problem that was discovered occurs only in rare situations, he said, declining to state the exact nature of the glitch. Returns or refunds will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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What are you really buying?
Is it the 590 chipset or is it leftover nForce4?
Why only supporting 533 and 667MHz memory (the 590 chipset specs represents 800MHz capability)?
Does it support RAID 5 & 10 like the other 590 chipset motherboards coming out?
Does it have two 1Gig Enet ports like the other 590 chipset motherboards coming out?
Will it support C2D Cpu overclocking?
Does the SB X-Fi have all the functionality of the retail?
Why is Dell forcing SB X-Fi on all configs when the 590 motherboard has 7.1 sound integrated?
Is the Dell's current top of the line 7900 GTX video card really leading edge of technology?
Is the 7950 GX2 video card going to be leading edge technology when Dell finally ships these systems in Oct or maybe even Nov?
Did the customers who have waited for months really get a "free upgrade"? Or did they just get what they paid for (top of the line Intel processors at current market value).
Will the XPS 700 be customer upgradable as shipped? to Kentsfield quad core? to 800MHz memory? (without a motherboard change!)
Is it really a "cooling problem"? Why then are they changing optical drives? Removing XP x64? Removing ATI 1900? Why aren't they shipping, at least, single 7950 GX2's like everyone else?
What about all the other "minor" problems? Plastic flimsy front panels, power button, cracking paint, bluetooth kybd/mouse and whatever else the public doesn't know about.
What is Dell selling? What is the XPS 700? Better yet, how can Dell start charging several thousands of dollars for something they refuse to define, with specs, for months?
Don't use Mac OS?
The Mac Pro IS a PC, a really nice and fast PC. Just purchase and install Windows XP or whatever PC operating system you like.
http://www.apple.com/macpro/
You can't compare the Mac Pro to the XPS 700 because they are both meant to be used for different things.
The description, cpu, and graphics configuration all tell you that the Mac Pro is in the same category as the Dell Precision.
Hence it is not a PC.
I am not bad mouthing the Intel Macs at all, I think they are great and with Vista coming and Dell going down the tubes I may wind up with one.
It's not emulation software, just an integrated bundle of utilities to help XP feel at home on Apple's Intel hardware.
It's a little more complex than some PCs bios configuration utilities which optimize bios settings for Windows or Linux, but from a user perspective, it's does the same thing.
- Stuck in Neutral
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by StuckInARut
August 11, 2006 6:04 PM PDT
- It seems like it's more in reverse than neutral. Forward motion would be great for a change.
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