DELL OBSERVER – WEEK IN REVIEW

Its been a busy week here at The Dell Observer. With the launch of Windows 7, we took a look at new Dell products that allow consumers to have more fun or more portability for the money. In addition, things are heating up on the corporate side of the company as the new/old management team looks to shore up Dell’s business strategy and deal with ongoing competition with HP and Acer. Dell Zino HD Available; Media Center Goodness Starting at $229 For a lovely $229 price tag, you can now go to Dell.com to purchase the Zino HD mini form-factor PC. This system should be able to handle media streaming and work great with a large screen tv due to its HDMI ports and the AMD Neo processor. (read more at: http://dellobserver.com/dell-zino-hd-available-media-center-goodness-starting-at-229/) Dell To Report Earnings; Sales Decline Expected Dell Inc. reports earnings next week and analysts are expecting the company to report a continued decline in sales and earnings for its third fiscal quarter. Investors are looking forward to hearing how Dell’s strategy shift is progressing in light of a highly competitive environment with HP, Acer and Lenovo. (read more at: http://dellobserver.com/dell-to-report-earnings-sales-decline-expected/) HP Acquires 3Com; Does Dell Have Counter? HP announced today that it is purchasing networking equipment maker 3Com for $2.7 billion and adding a new set of products which could help it fight in enterprise / data center customer opportunities. The deal, however, puts even greater distance between HP and Dell both in revenues, but in breadth of product offerings. Dell followed HP’s acquisition of enterprise service provider EDS with the purchase of Perot systems. In the networking space, there does not seem to be a clear “me too” deal. (read more at: http://dellobserver.com/hp-acquires-3com-does-dell-have-counter/) Dell, HP Customers Upset With Windows 7 Delays Computerworld reports that Dell & HP customers are angry due to delays in the shipping of Windows 7 media as promised under the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program. The program is supposed to ship replacement media to customers on or about October 22nd, the date of the Windows 7 launch. Customers are being notified that their orders are on backorder and could take many more weeks. (read more at: http://dellobserver.com/dell-hp-customers-upset-with-windows-7-delays/) Notebooks shedding DVD drives I n order to lower weight and improve battery consumption, PC manufacturers are omitting DVD drives. This is fine line in a world where your applications and media are downloaded or can be loaded via flash. However, I think this is an instance of the industry being a bit hasty and an opportunity for backlash. Many applications, including Microsoft Office, still install applications via CD or DVD media. Also, movies are still in disc form and last time I checked, none of the major studios were all warm and fuzzy about users ripping films to their computers. (read more at: http://dellobserver.com/good-read-notebooks-shedding-dvd-drives/)

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