Dell has updated its 24-inch 2407WFP widescreen monitor with the introduction of the 2407WFP-HC LCD model. The new 2407WFP-HC features Dell's TrueColor technology, 1920x1200 (WUXGA) resolution, 6ms response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 image brightness, 178°/178° viewing angle and a new W-CCFL (wide cold-cathode florescent lighting) backlight. Although, the specs and features appear to remain unchanged the updated 2407WFP-HC LCD panel now covers 92% of the NTSC color gamut, just like the 3007WFP-HC big brother. Orders of the new Dell 2407WFP-HC start tommorow in Japan with a MSRP of ¥108,000 or around USD $875.

Computer manufacturer Dell is set to axe at least 7,000 jobs due to falling sales and rising costs as part of a move that will see the firm cut its global workforce by 10%. With tough competition from companies such as Hewlett Packard over recent months, Dell has lost the top spot for pre-built computer sales and now accounts for only 15.2% of the total market, with HP ahead on 19.1%. "While reductions in headcount are always difficult for a company, we know these actions are critical to our ability to deliver unprecedented value to our customers," Mr Dell said. Dell currently employs 78,700 staff worldwide, although the scale of cutbacks in different regions will depend upon current trading and legal considerations. Dell also announced that first quarter profits had actually risen from $762m to $947m, with sales rising 1% over the last three months to $14.6bn.

Dell today expanded its internationally recognized line of desktop gaming systems with the XPSTM 720 H2C Edition, a performance junkie's dream built around a variety of premium technologies designed for overclocking.

The XPS 720 H2C Edition pushes the limits of extreme performance with Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP) memory technology. The system ships with 800MHz Corsair DOMINATORTM EPP memory modules (factory overclocked1 to 1066MHz) combined with Intel multi-core processors (factory overclocked up to bin+3). Additionally, BIOS switches allow users to manipulate the speed of the front-side bus and chipset through the Windows operating system and third-party applications such as nVIDIA nTune.

Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced that Dell Inc. is the first major systems provider to join the business collaboration that was formed by Microsoft and Novell in response to customer demand for greater interoperability and intellectual property (IP) assurance. As part of the agreement, Dell will purchase SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates from Microsoft and establish a services and marketing program to migrate existing Linux users who are not Dell Linux customers to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Alienware and Dell, are now taking enthusiasts to the next level by offering the mega-powerful NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards on high-performance Alienware Area 51, Alienware Aurora and Dell XPS gaming desktops. The SLI-Ready GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics processor delivers outstanding graphics quality for even the most challenging and complex gaming and multimedia applications. Systems configured with multi-core processors and the GeForce 8800 Ultra GPUs will be primed to take on this year's highly anticipated DirectX 10 gaming titles as well as next-generation OpenGL titles. Dell XPS gaming system details and pricing are available at www.dell.com/gaming. Alienware system details and pricing are available at www.alienware.com/desktops.

It's been no secret that Dell has been planning to offer Linux as an option of some of its PCs to please customers, but until now there's been no strong indication of which distribution it is likely to choose. Red Hat and SUSE were strong contenders because Dell already certifies some of its models to work with those distributions, but now it seems the PC manufacturer has opted to go with Ubuntu Linux. 'Feisty Fawn' (the newest version of Ubuntu) should be available to Dell customers from the end of May on both desktop and notebook models, although Dell has not specified which systems will and won't offer Linux as an extra. Buyers will also be able to chose to purchase optional support if they wish, although Dell has not revealed whether Linux itself will be free or require a charge (it is possible the basic models will be shipped with Ubuntu by default and customers may have to pay to upgrade to Windows).

In a figurative triple play, the Delaware Multimedia Patent Trust (MPT) is suing three technology giants for large sums of money. They are claiming that they own patents to Lucent technologies, and the right to sue for past infringements. The MPT is suing over patents regarding an "adaptive non-linear quantizer", "optimized scanning of transform coefficients in video coding", and "video coding with optimized low complexity variable length codes". The MPT wants a lot of money to cover damages, costs, and expenses.

Dell is the next big manufacturer to enter the solid-state disk arena today by offering 1.8" SanDisk UATA 5000 drives on its Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and Latitude D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks. SanDisk's 1.8" SSD drive was first announced in early January and features patented TrueFFS flash management technology. Also of importance is the drive's MTBF of 2 million hours. The drive offers sustained read speeds of 62MB/sec and had an average access speed of 0.12 milliseconds. The drive also boosts overall system performance by 23 percent and reduced boot times by 34 percent on the D420 and D620. The SanDisk UATA 5000 is currently available as a $450 option on the D420 and a $300 option on the D620 ATG. The drive is also available direct from Dell at a price of $549.

For a long time, Dell has enjoyed the "most pre-built PC sales" crown. Now, it seems like HP, with the right combo of advertising and good products, has called snatchies on that crown. While a lot of factors went into the specifics of this little title change, I'll shorten it. Quite simply, HP now has 19.1% of the PC market, and Dell has 15.2%. We'll see if this trend continues, or if Dell has some sort of ace-in-the-hole to combat this recent lapse in sales.

The Dell XPS M2010 laptop is definitely not going to sound like a laptop. Sporting a rather large 500GB RAID 0 array, a 20.1" widescreen monitor, high-definition sound/video stuff, and a gazillion (very professional term for a lot) other un-announced features, the M2010 is going to be one of the most feature-laden DTR (DeskTop Replacement) laptops to ever hit the market. But now, word on the street is that the M2010 is going to have another pioneer feature: a slot-loading Blu-ray drive. This would make the M2010 the first laptop to come with a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, assuming there are no surprise releases to beat Dell to the market.

After making the switch to offering just Vista on most of its systems, computer manufacturer Dell has backtracked a little and decided to re-introduce Microsoft's 'old' OS. This move comes due after customers were asking for XP back via Dell's IdeaStorm project which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. "We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings," said Dell. Bringing back XP was one of the most popular requests, but it was still well below the demand for features such as Linux and OpenOffice on Dell PCs. Windows XP will be introduced to at least four Inspiron laptops and two Dimension desktops - a move which Microsoft is unlikely to support as it persuades customers towards the new Windows Vista, however Microsoft representatives were unavailable to comment.

Dell has begun offering 250 GB 2.5" hard drives with perpendicular magnetic recording technology in two portable computers. The first mobile computers to offer either single or dual 5400 rpm 250 GB drives are the Alienware Aurora m9700 notebook and Dell's fancy XPS M2010 portable computer. For the Alienware model, the high-capacity drive is offered as a $300 upgrade over the standard 80GB hard drive, while the extra 250GB of space in the XPS M2010 will cost $250 over the standard 80GB model. A two disc configuration of 500GB lists for $500, while the RAID option is priced at $525. The Alienware Aurora m9700 is available from about $1600 while the XPS 2010 price starts from $3000.

After 5 years and generally very innovative PDAs at great prices, Dell has quietly removed the last Axim - the x51v from their website. The Axim is still a very high end product, featuring a VGA display, 3D system, 624MHz CPU as well as WiFI and Bluetooth. I had the pleasure of testing on such a device and am rather dissapointed to see them discontinued.

Dell said it is now providing buyers of the XPS M1210, 1710 and the M2010 computers access to LoJack's one year of theft protection service free of charge. After the first year, users will have to subscribe to the regular LoJack service, which currently goes for $50 per year. The LoJack for Laptops service does not require GPS functionality, but works with a relatively simple call-home software. Computers with the LoJack contact the monitoring center of the company when connected to the Internet. If a notebook is reported stolen, the device is placed on "high-alert" and it will try to call home every 15 minutes, allowing the LoJack recovery team to track down its position. The company claims that it can recover three out of four stolen laptops.

After a months long survey Dell finally came up with a great solution. As this survey revealed more than 70% of the participants would use Linux as their OS of choice. Now Dell expands its Linux factory installed options to selected desktop and notebook systems. What systems exactly this will include is unclear, Dell will provide an update with detailed information in the coming weeks.
If you look for more information regarding Dell and Linux I suggest you look at Dell's Direct2Dell Linux Website.

Dell this week announced that it will be the first manufacturer in the industry to start shipping computers with the first consumer 1 terabyte (TB) hard drive. Using the Deskstar 7K1000 drive from Hitachi, Dell will begin including the new drives in both its own line of XPS gaming systems and under the Alienware brand. Alienware Aurora and Area 51 systems will be receiving the new 1TB drives first. According to official Hitachi specifications, the new drive is a Serial ATA 3Gbps model with a 7200 RPM spindle rate and 32MB data buffer. Read time comes in at 8.5ms and write times at 9.2ms. Along with the new 1TB drive, Dell is launching a service called StudioDell, which the company calls a "video time capsule". StudioDell will allow subscribers to upload videos, which will be stored at Dell headquarters for 50 years, so that later generations may view them. Dell even indicated that the videos will be stored on the new 1TB drives from Hitachi.

Thanks to recent letters to Dell, we may soon be seeing Dell computers (mainly laptops) without an operating system installed. This has several benefits. The cost of the machine is lowered, because a Microsoft operating system costs a considerable sum of money. The customer also has an option to configure their operating system however they want, be it from Microsoft or a *nix distribution. They also do not have to deal with the large amount of generally unwanted pre-installed software.

After conducting a survey to find out what consumers wanted, desktop and notebook builder Dell has announced that it is planning a new line of computers which have the option of pre-installed Linux. Until now, Dell hasn't been overly keen to provide the open source operating system, opting instead to persuade users towards Windows. However, this new line of user-ready certified desktops and laptops could encourage people buying a new computer to give Linux a try, with SUSE Linux being made available on a number of OptiPlex and Precision desktops, along with Latitude notebooks. The company may eventually choose to expand its range of Linux machines and even offer more distributions, but at present it is only working with Novell.

The lawsuit, brought about by investors, accuses computer maker Dell Inc. of "secretly receiving approximately $250 million a quarter in likely illegal kickbacks payments" from its long time partner Intel. This money was supposedly received in return for an exclusive purchase agreement for Intel's microprocessors. Chip maker Intel claims that the accusations are just a renewal of similar previous complaints by chip maker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). Dell would not comment on the lawsuit. In the past Dell has only used processors manufactured by Intel, but just last year began buying processors from Intel's competition AMD.

In addition, Dell is also currently under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Justice Dept. for its accounting practices.

Source: CNNMoney

It seems that the recent trouble with NVIDIA's G80 driver is taking it's toll on more than just gamers. Dell was one of the first PC makers to promote the complete move to Windows Vista. However, it seems that all the PC's they sell with a G80 onboard, such as the XPS 7x0 series, still ship with Windows XP. This is a smart move on Dell's part, because they realize that their customers are not going to be happy with a beta driver running their brand new and expensive machine. This indicates one of two very bad things about NVIDIA's relationship with Dell. The first is that NVIDIA doesn't keep Dell "in the loop" about it's happenings, and will give Dell a G80 Vista driver when they make it. The second (and much worse) possibility is that NVIDIA keeps Dell "in the loop", and they themselves do not know when they will have a G80 driver for Windows Vista.

The picture below is Dell's high-end PC offerings, pay close attention to the operating system included.

It certainly seems unlike Dell, jumping into a field predominated by the competition. Dell just last year left the MP3 player field, due to their player's inability to crack the domination of Apple and SanDisk in the market. However, Dell seems very dedicated to making it's own entry into the mobile console market. The most logical way to do this based on current tech is to make a Dell Axim model designed for gaming. If it could boot a version of Windows Mobile, it would certainly have access to a lot of games. However, games take a lot of battery power, something Dell should not take lightly. It will certainly be interesting to watch how Dell moves along with this idea.

How The Register imagines it will look-

Generally speaking, Dell isn't well known for producing beautiful monitors which sit elegantly on your desk, but this new concept design could prompt a change in direction for Dell. The prototype, although this is unlikely to reach the production stage, features an ultra-flat LCD panel encased in a sheet of glass, with a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels. The monitor also features build in speakers and a microphone/webcam at the top. The power supply rests on the floor nearer the mains rather than being enclosed within the case, which allows a much thinner screen. Although this may not be to everyone's tastes, it's certainly a new image for Dell, but you'll probably never be given the chance to buy one.

A lawsuit filed in Ontario Superior Court, which aspires to gaining class-action status, accuses Dell of selling notebooks with defects...that they knew about. The prosecution is claiming that the Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 or 5160 were designed in a way that caused premature motherboard failure due to overheating. A Dell spokeswoman has no comment on this lawsuit.

At CES, DELL introduced the XPS 710 H2C Edition high performance desktop PC. The new flagman is equipped with Intel Core 2 Quad QX6700 processor, NVIDIA Dual SLI graphics featuring dual GeForce 8800GTX 768MB video cards, DELL's exclusive H2C cooling, 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory and up to 2TB of storage capacity in RAID 0 configuration. You can also add optional components like the AGEIA PhysX accelerator and Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card. DELL's exclusive H2C cooling system combines a liquid radiator, a thermoelectric cooling module and control circuitry to optimize CPU cooling with minimal power. DELL also introduced new 27" UltraSharp 12ms widescreen monitor. The Dell UltraSharp 2707WFP features TrueColor technology, resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, 6ms (Grey to Grey)/16ms (Black to White) response time, 400cd/m brightness, and 1000:1 contrast ratio. The XPS 710 H2C Edition is available now starting from $5499 with 20" widescreen UltraSharp panel, while the new 2707WFP can be owned separately for $1399.

Earlier we reported that Dell plans to release brand new 27" display with Samsung widescreen panel. Late last week the product page for the Dell 2007WFP (20" widescreen model) was updated with a "new" image of the product. By mistake it was the image of the yet to be released 27" display. Dell representative explained that the image came from a training manual for the upcoming W2707C display. Dell is expected to announce its new display and roadmaps at the Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled to take place the second week of January.