Dell: Late as usual

Posted on March 6, 2003 by Gene

Dell’s newly released laptop, the Inspiron 8500, is being touted as a breakthrough. Well, maybe for PCs! Here’s an except from the CNET review:

Dell should bundle a big supply of popcorn with its new Inspiron 8500 series because the laptop’s awesome 15.4-inch, wide-aspect display will have you watching DVD movies all night. This completely redesigned desktop replacement has plenty more in store as well, including the fastest mobile Pentium 4-M CPUs; integrated dual-band antennae for 802.11b and 802.11g wireless; and sizzling performance. All of these features are wrapped in a silver case that you can customize with QuickSnap lid covers in a variety of colors.

Wow! a 15 inch wide-aspect screen in a laptop? What an innovation! Built-in wireless? Who’d have imagined such a thing?
Maybe Apple? The ones who brought out a lighter, longer-battery life, inch-thin, gigabit Ethernet, CD-slot-loading, widescreen, stylish 15″ laptop years ago? The ones who now are releasing a 17″ version? It seems that the reason Dell is profitable is that they let others take all the risk of innovation, then years later, they create a cheap knock-off. This thing looks like a snap-together model and has 8 big screws on the face of the screen. It weighs in at 7 pounds (the PB is 4.6 pounds), is 50% thicker than the PowerBook (the PowerBook is 1.1″ thick”, and measures 10.9″ deep and 14.2″ wide. It’s as DEEP as the PowerBook is WIDE! (8.6″ deep, 10.9″ wide). Better get a suitcase to carry this thing in.
Dude, you’re getting a piece of crap!
[You know, despite all my lefty rants on this blog, it's the computer-related entries that seem to get comments. The PC war is obviously more worthy of discourse. Maybe we should find out what computers our leaders are using. I'm sorry to say that I have heard many times that Mr. Bush uses a Mac in the White House. I have a feeling he thinks "it's purty."]