The small form factor Optiplex GX520 computer is so small that it only supports a laptop DVD drive, a standard floppy drive and one standard internal 3.5” hard drive.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: laptop-gate.com)

Today most retailers sell only the larger version of the Dell Optiplex GX520 computer, see in the picture above. It features a standard 5.25” optical drive bay, a 3.5” floppy drive bay and two internal 3.5” hard drive bays. The processor is usually a Pentium 4 2.8GHz model with HyperThreading, installed in an LGA775 socket. This was the cheapest high-end processor of its time, but the manufacturer also shipped its desktops with slower Celeron and early Pentium Dual Core processors.

The mainboard of Dell Optiplex GX520 computers is pretty standard, featuring two DDR2 memory slots, a couple of SATA, IDE ports and USB ports. To cool the processor, Dell installed a special heat sink with plastic casing to guide the air right between the fins, thus increasing efficiency.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: tekgems.com)

Although you can see three lo-profile expansion slots on the back, in reality this small Dell Optiplex GX520 desktop has only two PCI slots on the motherboard, which means no real video card upgrade. Sure, you can try installing an expensive low-end video card manufactured for simple PCI slots, but it won't have the same performance as the PCI-Express 16X slot version and there will also be a couple of features missing. The small form factor Dell Optiplex GX520 computer has the same video card limitation, as it features only one PCI slot.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: esaitech.com)

The only real video card upgrade is supported by the mini tower version of the Dell Optiplex GX520 computer, select models only. Unfortunately most of these desktops also come with just two simple PCI slots, so you're probably left with the option to switch the motherboard with a Dell BTX board with an AGP or PCI-Express 16X slot or to use the on-board Intel GMA 950 video card, which can barely handle 2D and standard movie formats.

The meanest and toughest Alienware laptop is quite large with a 18.4″ FullHD screen. It’s simply called AlienWare M18x and is based on the beast hardware components the industry has to offer.

 

Alienware Laptop Video Card (Source: newnotebookinfo.com)

When ordering an AlienWare M18x laptop you have five processor choices: Core i7-2630QM, 2720QM, 2820QM, 2920XM and 2920XM with overclocked Turbo Boost. We have recently seen that there isn’t a very big difference between these fine quad core processors when it comes to gaming, but considering that AlienWare laptops come with one or two high-end video cards, it’s better to choose the best processor also (the overclocked Core i7-2920XM).

System memory isn’t a problem, as this AlienWare laptop has four SODIMM memory slots for up to 32GB of total system memory on two channels. Fast game loading is also helped by the two hard drive bays, which can hold two high-speed SSD units, delivering read speeds of up to 400-500MB/s in RAID mode. Games who aren’t concerned with loading times and want more storage space, can install two 500-1500GB classic hard drives, so they can take all their favorite games with them on the laptop.

The most important piece of computer hardware for gaming is the video card, two of which can be installed in the AlienWare M18x laptop. On the official website you can choose between one nVidia Geforce GTX 460M card, two of them in SLI, two nVidia Geforce GTX 580M cards or two AMD Radeon 6970M cards, depending on your budget.

 

Alienware Laptop Video Card (Source: notebookcheck.net)

I don’t have to tell you that a laptop with two video cards will generate a lot of heat, so in this case you have three fans in the AlienWare M18x laptop. To understand what kind of power we’re talking about, I will tell you that the combination with the two Radeon 68970M video cards is the fastest, as it can score up to 25600 point in 3DMark06, depending on the other components of course. The second best choice is with the two nVidia Geforce GTX 580M video cards, which score up to 22400 point in 3DMark06, but in some games they actually deliver a higher performance than the two Radeons.

In order to own this 5.41kg, 436 x 322 x 54 mm big laptop with the best hardware components you’ll have to spend about $6,554. This configuration will include the best processor, two Radeon 6970M video cards, 32GB memory and two high-speed 256GB SSD units in RAID 0 mode. I can honestly say that it will run ANY game you throw at it, in high or very high detail.

At the time of writing Dell offers two HD Ready 18.5” monitors and one professional 19” 5:4 aspect ratio screen without a stand.

Dell IN1920 is a 18.5” monitor with an inappropriate name. The 1920 number usually refers to the FullHD resolution, but this monitor doesn’t have anything to do with it. In fact the native resolution of this 19 inch Dell LCD monitor is just 1360 x 768 according to Dell‘s official website. If it’s not a typo, than this is not a standard monitor, as the standard monitor resolution for the smaller HD is 1366 x 768, six vertical lines more than what the Dell IN1920 has.

Contrast ratio on the other hand is above normal, 1000:1 typical and 15,000:1 dynamic. Efficiency is also very good, only 19Watts typical (23Watts maximum) power consumption for HD picture quality on a screen slightly bigger than an average notebook’s. Viewing angles are 160/160 degrees horizontal/vertical, not too impressive in times when other manufacturers are very close to 180 degrees. My 23” Philips TFT for example, which is also one of the cheapest monitors in its category, offers 176/170 degrees viewing angles, so 160/160 from Dell is a bit shameful. Analog VGA is the only input port on the Dell IN1920. This means that multimedia devices, that tend to have only HDMI outputs, can’t be connected to this monitor in order to display HD content.

Considering all these specs and the $129 price tag with 1 year warranty (also available on the previous product’s page), this monitor may be a good choice for very basic computing on older computers that don’t have a digital output, just analog VGA.

The second monitor which is displayed in the 18.5” category on Dell‘s website is actually the same model at the same price. I don’t know why they had to add it again as a Daily Deal, when the other entry already included much more information about the product.

The third 19 inch Dell monitor is a professional 5:4 aspect ratio TFT with very good image quality, 85% typical color gamut, a feature that’s very important to users who edit videos or photos (professionally) on their computers.

As the picture shows, the Dell P190S is sold without a stand, but with both VGA and DVI cables. 1280 x 1024 is really a quite respectable resolution for a 19” screen, let’s not forget that 18.5” screens have only 1,049,088 pixels, 30% less than this professional 19 inch Dell monitor (1,310,720). This 19 inch Dell monitor also has four USB 2.0 ports built in, which are very useful to quickly connect USB devices to your computer. By connecting the keyboard and mouse to the monitor you’ll have less cables to disconnect if you have to take the computer out from under the desk (or wherever it’s located).

According to Dell this professional monitor is compliant with Energy Star, VESA and EPEAT standards, but doesn’t say how much energy it consumes. My best guess is somewhere around 40-50 Watts, considering that it’s a professional monitor. $229 may be an exaggerated price for this model, as it doesn’t have a HD resolution, mandatory for any computer in the year 2011.

Another explanation would be that these new processors allow manufacturers to build unprecedented types of machines for video editing and encoding with only the integrated Intel GMA HD 2000 or 3000 GPU, inside most Sandy Bridge processors. Some very slim case designs may appear soon, which will have only the Sandy Bridge processor inside, no graphics cards at all, just a couple of high-speed hard drives and possibly a Blu-Ray burner.

Until new Dell computersappear, most of the best available Dell desktops feature Core i7 processors and only few of them are based on AMD processors.

Dell Studio XPS 7100 is a relatively slow AMD desktop computer. As you can see it has a very elegant, yet simple design. There’s nothing fancy on the front of the case, just a memory card reader and a few 2.5″/3.5″ bay openings, still covered on the photo, but they can be filled by choosing from a list of matching optical drives and accessories.

This Dell Desktop computer can be configured with AMD processors such as AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, which has the best multi-threaded performance, while the Athlon II X4 630 processors are the cheapest ones, still offering a decent Quad Core grade performance for under $100. These processors can be equipped with 4 modules of DDR3 memory up to 16GB total capacity, supported even by the cheap Athlon II X4 processor.

There are two 3.5″ internal hard drive bays, one 3.5″ external FlexBay and two 5.25″ external bays. Although on Dell‘s website it says that hard drives can be installed only up to 2TB, currently there are 3TB drives available on the market, three of which can be fitted inside the small Dell chassis; two in the internal bays and one in the so called FlexBay.

Two optical drives can be installed, which will allow on-the-fly CD, DVD and Blu-ray copying, at lower speeds of course, for safety.

All Dell Studio XPS 7100 desktop computers come with an on-board ATI Radeon HD4200 graphics chip, because the motherboard in mATX, all of which come with integrated video solutions (very few exceptions, most on the Intel side). There’s a 16X PCI-Express slot present, so any high-end ATI (AMD) graphics card can be added to improve performance. Unfortunately the 450Watt REAL power supply supports one ATI Radeon 5870 at most. Cards with a higher power consumption can only be safely installed after you buy a stronger power supply, from Dell or separately. The Dell XPS computer case supports even > 1000Watt long power supplies, so there shouldn’t be any difficulty in installing an ATX power supply, however the size of the case suggests a limit of 600-700Watts, as there isn’t any room inside for so many parts with high power requirements.

The cheapest configuration includes an Athlon II X4 processor, 3GB of DDR3 (2 x 1GB + 2 x 512MB), 500GB hard drive, on-board AMD Radeon 4200 graphics, DVD burner, multimedia keyboard and genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit operating system, all just under $500.

People who want to buy the best configuration (of this Dell XPS model) will spend $1,599. The top configuration includes a Phenom II X6 1090T processor, 12GB (2 x 4GB + 2 x 2GB) of DDR3 memory, 2TB hard drive, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, Blu-ray burner, Dell wireless desktop mouse and keyboard, Dell Wi-fi card and Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. Honestly I don’t know why Dell didn’t include 16GB of DDR3 in its offer. Both the processor and operating system support up to 16GB of system memory, and DDR3 modules are really cheap now.

Before the new platform is released, let’s take a look at similarly priced Intel-based Dell desktops.

Dell Studio XPS 8100 is built around Intel’s champion Core i5 and i7 processors, which fit in LGA1156 sockets. Its case is very similar (if not identical) to the previously mentioned AMD-based Dell desktops, so the configurations that can be installed must be similar too.

The ventilation holes, the USB ports and the memory card reader are in the same place. Delldidn’t publish any pictures with the inside of the case unfortunately, but some can be found on Google.

As you can see, the same size mATX motherboard is inside, and the power supply is also standard ATX, a lot of space being available for longer power supplies. The only downside of the system in comparison with the AMD one, is the lack of on-board video ports. This was decided probably by a democratic vote. Three of the four processors chosen by Dell for this desktop don’t have integrated graphics, so only those who choose the dual core Core i5 650 processor pay for integrated graphics, but can’t use it because of the motherboard.

The Core i5 760, Core i7 870 and 880 processors are quad cores and don’t have integrated graphics inside, so the lack of on-board display ports doesn’t affect the configurations with these processors at all. Dell sells the Studio XPS 8100 desktops with up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, up to 2TB hard drive capacity and a couple of low end and mainstream graphics cards. AMD Radeon 5450, nVidia Geforce G310 and GT220 are low-end, inappropriate for gaming or any 3D work, while Radeon 5670, 5770 and nVidia GTS 240 offer a decent performance in most games and applications.

Prices range from $699 to $1600 and some configurations include a Blu-ray burner as well.

The U.S. daily has had access to the records of a lawsuit brought in 2007 by a company that had acquired the American brand appliances. “The documents which have just been made public show that Dell employees knew that computers were likely to fail,” wrote The New York Times.

The deficient  computers are the professionals OptiPlex, Dell‘s flagship products, both were sold to small and medium companies  to large retailers like Wal Mart, or even government authorities, the newspaper said.

The manufacturing defect is bound to capacitors integrated into the motherboard of the computers. “A survey by Dell found that these capacitors were likely to cause problems in 97% of cases over a period of three years,” said the New York Times, quoting from the documents. The crux of the matter is not the default, but the fact that Dell knew that these capacitors, provided by the Japanese company Nichicon, were defective. The Texan manufacturer did not focus on the quality control, but has preferred to treat the problem downstream, through its customer service. Consequence: if Dell has replaced the motherboards of the defective computers , the replacement cards themselves were defective! In part because Dell has squandered, 97% of the production Nichicon, over a period of nearly three years, were flawed. Quality problems were thus ten times worse than what Dell had planned.

So Dell will certainly have to pay a heavy fine, and a hefty bill in compensation to its customers. This example is instructive, because it affects a large number of machines: it is very nearly the equivalent of the annual production of computers from Apple. But Dell is not an isolated case , Apple itself had problems with capacitors at its iMac G5 . In 2007, Advanced Internet Technologies has filed a complaint against Dell after purchasing a fleet of 2,000 of these computers which a significant number of them quickly broke down.

The investigation  conducted in this case focused on whether Dell was, yes or no aware of these risks and problems related to components used in assembling its machines. According to the New York Times who obtained certain documents from the investigation, there is no doubt that Dell has knowingly sold defective computers that they knew about .

Indeed, we learn that Dell had even commissioned a study of these machines that revealed that these computers were 97% likely to fail within three years after their first power. But Dell had continued to sell them. An issue with these revelations, should take on new dimensions. Indeed, many professional  customers  will discover the existence of the complaint and support it. There is already talk of many class-actions and millions of dollars in compensation to be paid by Dell.

Regarding the consequences of such a scandal in terms of image, it could be disastrous for the Texan company!

Already covered in recent years by several investigations and convicted, the leading manufacturer of LCD screens are again the subject of a complaint for unlawful agreement.

The New York Attorney Andrew Cuomo has opened an antitrust lawsuit against several brands among which include Hitachi, LG, Toshiba, Samsung, Sharp, AU Optronics, Chi Mei . Some manufacturers already heavy sentences. Cuomo accused them of having together to fix prices of their products and the prices to be charged with computer manufacturers. They are accused of selling their panels to illegally fixed prices to companies like Dell and IBM.

The problem is huge, since both companies have sold their machines to public services such as the federal government, counties, municipalities, schools, hospitals or barracks. He has claimed damages for consequential compensation for the “hundreds of millions of dollars” for those municipalities, schools and cities of the State of New York that would have spent on overpaying LCDs.

In the U.S, Dell recovery a matter of cartel around the LCD and wants to dismantle a cartel of manufacturers for questionable business practices … First end 2008 and end 2009 under the leadership of Nokia’s business unlawful agreement on the price of LCD screens have exploded into the open. The U.S. manufacturer Dell was filling earlier this year  a new complaint against HannStar, Hitachi, Seiko Epson, Sharp and Toshiba to the court in San Francisco. For the moment, none of the defendants were willing to answer these charges.

Recall that in 2009, the U.S. court had already sentenced Hitachi, Sharp, LG and Chunghwa Picture Tubes for price fixing, condemning them to pay some $ 585 million in damages, including $ 400 million just for LG.  Nokia and Dell have each filed complaints against most of the brands mentioned. Why a new procedure. Because the trial covered only the period from 2001 to 2006, and since, things have clearly not arranged on the market of the screen.

Moreover, the problem is obviously not only in the United States, and at the same time, the European Commission publishes a list of accusations against certain manufacturers of screens that would violate European law. If we do not know the names of all businesses worried, however we know that LG and Philips are part confirmed they have received threats from the Commission.

And that’s not all, Japan also competition authorities began to search for manufacturers of LCD panels, hoping to stop suspected illegal business practices. If all these procedures reach the same conclusions at the same time, manufacturers could have complained to regularize their situation in each continent and pay heavy damages and fines …

Suppose you buy a Dell computer, desk computer or laptop. Like all computers on the market nowadays Dell computers come with Windows Vista operating systems installed on them. For some reasons, Vista is a tricky program. Many of its users are unsatisfied with the way this system works. It comes as no surprise that it rejects some programs or works inadequately with others. If Windows Vista is running slow or it shuts down, what can we do to return to the initial settings from fabric?

Here are some steps we must take in order to get to restore the Dell Windows Vista to its fabric settings.

The first step you have to take is securing your files. To that end, you must burn them all to a CD-ROM or to copy them on a memory stick. When you begin the operation of restoring the fabric settings all files will be lost including the files you had installed, like Microsoft Office.

The next step is to unplug all devices or modems you had working on your computer except for the keyboard.

A third step requires to shut the computer down, or at least restart it. When you restart the computer, as soon as you see the Dell logo continue to hit the F8 key more than once. Keep doing this until you see on the screen the message: “Repair your computer”. Choose this option, although there are others, and then press Enter.

Next thing you see on the screen if you do that is a window inviting you to select the keyboard layout. From the drop-down menu select US, and click OK.

Then, you will see another window that tells you to select user ID and the password of the Windows Vista account. Select the account but make sure the user account has an administrative function. If you have a password, type it in. If you don’t, leave it blank and then click OK.

The final step takes you in front of a window with multiple options. On the bottom there is an option that says “Dell Factory Image Restore”. At this point, you still have an option: if you don’t want to lose the settings you have added recently, all you have to do is click Restart or Shut down on that window. If you do that, the computer restarts with the latest settings on it. If not, click on Dell Factory Image Restore, and the computer will perform the operation of restoring the fabric settings in about 45 minutes.

Michael Dell was a prodigy kid which attempted at the age of 8 to graduate high school, and had his own auction before the age of 18. All the way he showed a fascination with commerce and business propositions, and that would bring him the enormous success he now enjoys. By the time he turned 18, Michael Dell set out to outsmart IBM and build a company more successful than any other computer manufacturing company in the world.

He was a freshman at the University of Texas in Houston when he began a lucrative business based on selling upgraded computers. Except for commerce Michael Dell really loved computers. He combined the two, and the combination was a real breakthrough. Michael Dell had a new policy, however: building a relationship with the customers.

In 1984, Michael Dell founded the company Dell Corporation Company, the company that provides computing products and services to the client. Dell explained the success of his company by saying that the most important thing is to have a serious organizational culture and to unite all those who work for you around a common goal, to make them feel they are part of something big and special, which is the case here.

By the time he built the company, Dell had a capital of $1,000. He was 19. He left the university after the inception of this business and dedicated his entire time and resources to the success of this endeavor. Seven years later he made it to Fortune 500, as the all times youngest CEO of a corporation.

Once Dell company started, it went on very well, and sky was the limit (almost literally in his case). In 1987 Dell established its first subsidiary overseas, in the United Kingdom. A year later Dell brings its capitalization to the amount of $85 million.

In 1991 Dell took a leap of faith by converting its entire product line to use Intel 486 microprocessors. That labeled Dell as the company that takes the risks and wins, at the same time bringing to the customer the latest technological achievements.

It doesn’t come as such a surprise then that in 1992 Dell increases its profits by 127%. “Liquidity, profitability and growth” became in 1993 the company’s motto. In 1996, Dell became the third server vendor in the world with its PowerEdge server line.

Another break is the Latitude notebook with a battery that broke all records in longevity. In 1998 Dell becomes the number two manufacturer of personal computers in the world. After one year, the company becomes number one in the United States. Michael Dell’s dream of beating IBM finally came true.

In a few years, Dell became one of the most important laptop manufacturers, and it is present on the market of cell phones and cutting edge iPhones, too.

Dell laptops and desktops are split into many groups, but the most representative are: Inspiron, Studio and Alienware.

The cheapest Dell computers are the members of the Inspiron family. The cheapest Dell Inspiron laptop (Inspiron 11z) costs $350, and it has a very basic configuration:

- 11.6” LED-backlit HD Ready widescreen supporting resolutions up to 1366 x 768
- Intel Celeron 743 or Intel Pentium SU4100 processor, both from the ULV family at 1.3Ghz frequency
- 2GB or 4GB DDR2-800 memory, although the Intel GS45 chipset suggests support for up to 2 x 4GB of DDR2 SODIMM memory
- only Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics with shared memory up to 1.7GB
- standard 2.5” S-ATA laptop hard drive with different capacities: 160GB, 250GB or 320GB, but of course it can be later changed to any capacity available (in the time of writing up to 640GB or 750GB)
- 3-cell 24Whr or 6-cell 56Whr Li-ion battery, considering that it’s an ultra portable laptop you should choose the 6-cell battery
- it doesn’t have an optical drive, an external one can be used through a USB2.0 port
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, flash memory card reader and 1.3megapixel Webcam are part of the basic configuration
- Ports: LAN 10/100, HDMI, 3 x USB 2.0, Kensington lock and AC power in

The most expensive Dell laptop computer is specifically built for gaming.

The Alienware M17x with the best hardware components is one of the fastest gaming laptops ever built:
- 17” FullHD 1920 x 1200 RGB LED-backlit LCD screen
- Intel Core i7 Extreme 920XM 2GHz processor (true quad core)
- two Radeon Mobility 5870 graphics cards in Crossfire mode
- 8GB DDR3-1333MHz Dual Channel memory
- 512GB SSD (2 x 256GB in RAID 0 mode) for the shortest loading times
- slot-loading Blu-ray burner
- Razer Mamba wireless laser gaming mouse
- Intel Ultimate N Wi-Fi card with MIMO technology
- Expresscard digital TV-Tuner

It costs no less than $5,390.00, but there’s no game available today that won’t run in maximum detail quality.

The best gaming Dell desktop computer is also from the Alienware category:

The best possible configuration comes with:
- factory overclocked Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Six Core processor at 4GHz and 12MB cache
- Alienware High-Performance liquid cooling system
- two ATI Radeon 5970 graphics cards in Crossfire mode, with a total of 4 graphics processors and 2GB GDDR5 memory
- 12GB DDR3-1600Mhz memory, three channel mode
- 512GB SSD (2 x 256GB in RAID 0 mode)
- 2TB secondary hard drive (2 x 2TB in RAID 1 mode)
- two optical drives: Blu-ray burner and DVD-ROM
- 24” Dell Ultra Sharp FullHD monitor
- HaupPage internal TV-TUNER
- Alienware TactX keyboard and mouse

The total cost of this gaming supercomputer is $9,858.00. For ultimate gaming experience you’ll want nothing less. You may also consider adding 2-5 extra monitors to extend the desktop area using Eyefinity technology.

Most Dell laptop computer accessories are much like the products of other accessory manufacturers. Laptops have two parts that are brand-specific: battery pack and docking station. In these two cases it’s always recommended to go with the original parts, even if other manufacturers offer compatible products at much lower prices. It’s important to buy original Dell Docking Station for your Dell laptop, because original Dell laptop computer accessories have the best quality. The docking station’s most important feature is the docking connector that has to make perfect contact every time you attach your laptop to the docking station.

The Dell Simple E-Port Replicator sells for $129 and is the ideal solution for expanding your laptop into a workstation, while you’ll be able to detach you laptop anytime by removing a single connector.

This specific docking station comes with a 130Watt power supply, making it compatible with a wide range of Dell laptops: Latitude 2110, E4200, E4300, E4310, E5400, E5410, E5500, E5510, E6400, E6400 ATG, E6400 XFR, E6410, E6410 ATG, E6500 and E6510, Precision M2400, M4400 and M4500.

It has got all important ports: 5 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x network – RJ-45, 1 x display / video – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x display / video – 24 pin digital DVI, 1 x display / video – 20 pin DisplayPort, 1 x eSATA / Hi-Speed USB and Audio Input/Output jacks. It’s one of the most important Dell laptop computer accessories, because all additional accessories can be connected to it.

Other docking stations connected through a USB port may not be as fast when it comes to video output and other devices that require bigger transfer rates. USB 2.0 limits total speed to a theoretical 480Megabits/s (60MB/s), but practically you’re lucky if a USB device reaches 75% of that speed. Most cheap computer accessories (like external USB 2.0 hard disk racks) function at speed around only 20MB/s (160Megabits/s).

It costs $129, but it doesn’t have a laptop power adapter because it only connects through one USB port, so this only complicates things with it’s additional power supply only for the docking station.

For travel, the most important accessory to take with you is the mouse, some kind of Internet connection and a universal power supply that will run on any AC/DC current found in outlets around the world.

At $29 the original wireless Dell mouse is the most efficient choice:

It’s compatible with Windows 7, this important to know if you intend to use the programmable buttons on it. Most laptops have integrated Bluetooth modules that will run the mouse without a problem. Laptops without Bluetooth require an additional USB to Bluetooth adapter that’s available in very small sizes, perfect for laptops.