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Dell makes its move to retail via Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart announced today that it will sell Dell Dimension desktops in its retails store beginning on June 10. Earlier this week, Dell announced its intentions to expand into the retail market.

"The direct model was a revolution. It's not a religion,” said Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell in a company memo.

The Dell Dimension Multimedia Desktop Computer will be available at all of Wal-Mart's 3,400 retail stores. A second, Wal-Mart exclusive Dimension model will also be available at 3,000 stores. Likewise, Sams Club locations and Wal-Mart stores in Canada will see their own exclusive Dell Dimension models.

"Dell is a proven electronics brand and adds a new compliment to our other high quality desktop selections, and we’re very excited to now bring our customers new access to a product they want, with the ability to purchase a Dell right away," said Wal-Mart senior VP of Home Entertainment Gary Severson.

The move to retail will help Dell gain some momentum in chasing down #1 PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard. For Q1 2007, HP saw its worldwide market share grow by 28.7 percent from the previous year. Dell, on the other hand, saw its market share dip by 7.8 percent according to Gartner Inc.

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Impressive
By NuroMancer on 5/24/2007 2:27:15 PM , Rating: 5
I think this is a good move for dell from a market share standpoint. They want to regain first place and I think this will help them do it.




RE: Impressive
By kibets on 5/24/2007 2:38:32 PM , Rating: 2
I hope they give the product a facelift, Dell doesn't look too good compared to all those shiney HP machines! But eMachines are probably Wal-Mart's best selling brand.


RE: Impressive
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 5/24/2007 2:44:49 PM , Rating: 3
eMachines is also the laughing stock of the tech industry.


RE: Impressive
By peritusONE on 5/24/2007 2:52:23 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
eMachines is also the laughing stock of the tech industry.


Wrong, they are the laughing stock for the tech nerds of the internet. eMachines used to make a quality, problem-free machine. I can't speak for present day, but after a rough start, they really got their stuff together.


RE: Impressive
By Samus on 5/25/07, Rating: 0
RE: Impressive
By ColossusX on 5/24/2007 2:54:03 PM , Rating: 5
eMachines are merely the laughing stock of the tech snobs. While I wouldnt have one, many of my customers do have eMachines and for the most part, they are fine machines when use by their intended markets. They are computers meant to connect people to the net so that they can check their email, type correspondence, maybe look at some photos...they are not meant to be high end video-editing or gaming systems. And most of those types of people dont read AT/DT. For many people, they dont need anything more. If they were truly bad, like the old Packard Bell systems...they wouldnt be around anymore.


RE: Impressive
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/24/2007 3:05:50 PM , Rating: 4
eMachines used to be pure crap, but they are excellent machines now. Great value for the money for those looking for a cheap desktop to surf the internet and do basic desktop stuff.

I wouldn't hesitate in recommending one to a friend/family member.


RE: Impressive
By imaheadcase on 5/24/2007 3:57:15 PM , Rating: 2
Walmart sells them like candy, I know I work there. They are good machines for the normal person.

Btw I saw Dell machines on shelf listings last week. I just assumed it was a misprint for the emachines place.


RE: Impressive
By IceTron on 5/25/07, Rating: -1
RE: Impressive
By JBird7986 on 5/24/2007 10:31:58 PM , Rating: 2
As someone who owns an eMachines laptop, I can speak to that. It's a great quality machine, packed with power (although it's now three years old). Even today, my machine is better equipped than some laptops with an Athlon 64 3400+, 768 MB of RAM (upped from 512), 80GB HDD, DVD burner, and perhaps most telling, a discrete 64MB Mobility Radeon 9600. Not even today do too many mass-market laptops have discrete graphics. It's been incredibly reliable, as I use it on a daily basis, and although it is outclassed today by newer more powerful machine, its specs are still respectible.


RE: Impressive
By chick0n on 5/24/07, Rating: -1
RE: Impressive
By MatthewAC on 5/25/2007 1:15:00 AM , Rating: 2
The question is, do you like or hate your family members?


RE: Impressive
By Samus on 5/25/2007 2:56:17 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
The question is, do you like or hate your family members?


rofl


RE: Impressive
By honeg on 5/25/2007 3:33:58 AM , Rating: 3
I have a $350 eMachines desktop that I put another 512MB of RAM into, and its been solid as a rock for two years or so (can't remember exactly when I bought it). When I bought it. it was by far the cheapest desktop around, and its only a Windows box anyway, so there is no need to spend more. It surfs and Offices just fine.

I also bought a $400 eM desktop as a present for my nieces 3 years ago, flew it to New Zealand, and its been humming along just fine since then - and the power supply was 110-240V switchable, which none of the Dells or IBMs I've had have been.

eMachines *may* have been crap when they started out, but they're totally fine if you understand their limitations - I wouldn't (couldn't) game on either of them, but then I don't game, so...


RE: Impressive
By Munkles on 5/25/2007 10:06:32 AM , Rating: 2
I agree whole heartedly. People who seriously believe HP, or Compaq(same company) Sony, Gateway or other NON boutique manufacturer uses higher quality components and THEREFORE is higher quality is delusional. 90% of the time they all use the same exact stuff. Only thing thats different is the name plate and in layout of the case.


RE: Impressive
By Storkme on 5/24/2007 3:26:31 PM , Rating: 2
As opposed to dell, who are a serious alternative to buying a decent computer.


RE: Impressive
By RyanM on 5/24/2007 4:22:49 PM , Rating: 4
Only the laughing stock of those who don't know better.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2006502,00.as...

Emachines has been pretty high in initial quality for a while now. They use a lot of off-the-shelf parts and don't do the proprietary stuff some of the OEMs do. Their restore process is less painful than HP and Compaq as well.


RE: Impressive
By christojojo on 5/24/2007 7:03:13 PM , Rating: 2
I had an E machine once; then I changed the video card, the sound card, the MB and the CPU, and the.... Well you get the idea now I have an E machine case.

I hate working on Dell stuff; I hate there slide down hill on customer service (yes, I know other Manufacturers have as well. I used to give my word that Dell's were an excellent buy. Now I can't, I lost face suggesting them . I actually, go with what ever is a non-proprietary, best performance to price ratio that my friends and family need.


RE: Impressive
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 5/24/2007 11:22:24 PM , Rating: 2
Let me correct that. I worked at Best Buy a few years back, and we went through eMachines like candy. We replaced more power supplies than I have ever done in my life. System boards on one of the models went bad pretty often as well.

After going through that, I would never buy an eMachine.


Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By RjBass on 5/24/2007 3:20:08 PM , Rating: 4
This is actually really cool. Being a bench tech, the bulk of my income is from fixing people's old busted computers. 85% of the machines I work on are from Dell. I couldn't say if this is because they sell more computers or from a serious lack of quality products, or maybe a combo of both, but regardless, if every redneck and their sister/cousin can now purchase a lame Dell machine at every corner Wal-Mart I will most likely get some more business fixing them after their limited 1 year support policy runs out.

*starts counting the possible $$*




RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Pythias on 5/24/2007 3:38:06 PM , Rating: 4
You shouldn't assume that just because YOUR family tree has no branches, that everyone else's the same.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By RjBass on 5/24/2007 4:53:24 PM , Rating: 2
Funny.

Actually I was refering to the quality of shoppers in my local Wal-Mart's.

It could just be where I live, but when I walk into a Wal-Mart (I try not to as much as possible) I all of a sudden feel as though I am on top of the IQ world, and I really don't consider myself to be all that bright.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By imaheadcase on 5/24/2007 6:44:06 PM , Rating: 2
quote:

It could just be where I live, but when I walk into a Wal-Mart (I try not to as much as possible) I all of a sudden feel as though I am on top of the IQ world, and I really don't consider myself to be all that bright.


Those same shoppers are thinking the same thing when they see you.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By RjBass on 5/24/2007 9:38:21 PM , Rating: 2
It's probably my mullet.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Ringold on 5/24/2007 11:07:46 PM , Rating: 2
You guys are a rough crowd :P

Rj; don't worry, I feel the same way. I shop there because it's cheap, but I let my shopping list fill before making a monthly or bi-monthly visit. Just a class of people I feel no need to bother being around.

Of course, a WalMart in the middle of an ultra-rich area may be different -- if one exists there. (There's plenty of classier chain retailers happy to have better decorating and charge 50% extra) No need to snipe Rj. Besides, WalMart makes no attempt to even appear to cater to the middle or upper classes. It's right there next to Dollar General.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By nekobawt on 5/25/2007 1:07:59 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Besides, WalMart makes no attempt to even appear to cater to the middle or upper classes. It's right there next to Dollar General.


True enough, though they may be making moves to change that. Well, if you consider college students to be "middle class," anyway. I live about 3 miles from Arizona State University, and the lease ran out on the Mervyn's by my house. Walmart swooped in and nabbed the land, with a press blurb saying something about wanting to tap the student market.

Granted, there IS a 99 cent store in the same minimall...used to be a thrift store, but apparently the owners burnt it down for the insurance money. Or something.


RE: Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By just4U on 5/27/2007 1:22:48 PM , Rating: 2
Well I won't comment on Emachine's here in Canada Wall mart also was selling Acer desktops. A relative of mine bought one (against my recommendations) and about a month later asked if I'd do a upgrade on it so he'd get better video.

I was not expecting much but when he brought the machine by it had a nicely ventilated case (which it did not need) and everything was laid out quite well. A little cheap on the ram, and naturally enough the PSU was suspect but otherwise.. for the price he paid I figured he did not get a bad PC. I was expecting a helluva lot worse!


Dell bashing
By tacoburrito on 5/24/2007 3:25:16 PM , Rating: 4
Over the last 10 years, I must have configured or bought close to 20 Dell systems for myself, friends, and family. So far, I have not heard a single complaint about Dell until I come to reading other people's blogs. Dell systems are reliable and does what you want it to do. They are not the flashiest systems in the world but they don't break down. Their prices are one of the lowest in the industry. All the tech geeks can lament that Dell uses propietary parts and make it difficult to upgrade, but considering their low prices, it might be better to just buy a new one when the time arises.




RE: Dell bashing
By rippleyaliens on 5/24/2007 4:02:31 PM , Rating: 1
WOW a whole 20 Dell computers??
Dells in the GOOD ole days, of piii's, were ok, but as with every vendor, who is loosing money, the need to cut corners they have fallen victom to.. IE, non-upgradable MB's, to lower cost (a whole $3) to exclude pcie 16 slots..
Now they are selling at wallyworld.
NOW for them to fully understand the Tech world..
Before, if you wanted a dell, you atleast had to know how to get on the internet, to purchase one.. NOW, with wallyworld people, the need for quality tech support, is gonna increase.. I predict many americans, who purchase from wallyworld, upon their first experience with dells techsupport, are just gonna through fits..

Dells enterprise support is actually good, especially, when you lie to the tech, and say, you did what you were supposed to do, lol, to make them send out a tech. and usually a sub contractor, who knows how to swap a MB out..

Now HP, on the other hand, well, 1, pre-fail warranty, (can be purchased down to the desktop), but more so, many years in the Game, of dealing with tech support...

Me personally, i would rather have a calculator, than a dell from wallyworld..


RE: Dell bashing
By RjBass on 5/24/2007 4:59:57 PM , Rating: 2
Well then I would have to assume that you and your family have been pretty lucky so far.

Currently I have 5 computers on my bench waiting to be or in the process of being serviced. Four of those machines are Dell's. The other is a Gateway (Which I rarely see).

Three of those Dell's went down due to bad hard drives (Maxtor). The other was just infected with the usual spyware/adware etc..


RE: Dell bashing
By Zelvek on 5/25/2007 1:49:10 AM , Rating: 2
Well I have to say that probably 85%-90% of all PCs I service are dell, given the market share thats priety poor reliability. Now also take into account that most every dell I service has a failed component of some sort wear as most other computers suffer from malware, driver issues or the like. Given these two factors I can safely say the the quality of dell machines sucks! Usually the HDDs in dells only last around 1.5-2 years the PSU about the same, that is just sad. Also their PSUs usually only just meet the power requirements of the system so factor in a little capacitor aging and they don't last long. Their laptops do however seem fairly reliable I get very few of them in the shop and very few of those have physical problems.


RE: Dell bashing
By xeltor on 5/25/2007 2:10:11 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
My Inspiron 5150 wouldn't power up last week and since it was bought from Dell Business, it got a 3 year warranty. I doubled-check the warranty online and it said I got 17 days left. I immediately called dell and they send over a technician with a replacement MB, and now everything is fine.


Below is a quote from a response you made in January of 07 strange how your two comments differ so much no?

quote:
So far, I have not heard a single complaint about Dell until I come to reading other people's blogs. Dell systems are reliable and does what you want it to do. They are not the flashiest systems in the world but they don't break down.


RE: Dell bashing
By xeltor on 5/25/2007 2:17:20 AM , Rating: 2
sorry below should be above.


E-Machine
By Grumpy1 on 5/24/2007 3:02:52 PM , Rating: 2
I would rather work on an E=Machine than a Dell or HP.

DaGrump




RE: E-Machine
By jlanders646 on 5/24/2007 3:11:13 PM , Rating: 2
agreed


RE: E-Machine
By Zelvek on 5/25/2007 1:35:39 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed but I would rather work on a hp than a dell. Aside from all the usual crap that everyone gripes about every time I reach into a dell I get cut on their cheap ass cases. I almost fell like charging the customers for bandaids but that might look strange on the bill.


RE: E-Machine
By IceTron on 5/25/07, Rating: 0
RE: E-Machine
By Zelvek on 5/25/2007 12:35:54 PM , Rating: 2
Acer makes the Aspire systems its kinda their model name. And just out of curiosity why is it that you would rather work on a dell?


RE: E-Machine
By just4U on 5/27/2007 1:34:27 PM , Rating: 2
I just made a comment on the acer machines a little way's up in the thread. I was sorta impressed by their systems based upon it's price point. The interior was nicely laid out and
the cables had a little bit of management done to them. There was expansion for a video card and extra pci slots.

I didnt like the fact that it came with so little ram and while i hadn't tested it the power supply was (in my opinion) not one I'd have considered but otherwise It seemed like a ok system for the price paid.


Laughing stock of the industry?
By KingOfOldSkool on 5/25/2007 1:49:18 AM , Rating: 2
The "laughing stock of the industry" comment really gave me a good laugh.. as anyone who even bothers delving too deeply into brand names.. NONE of these companies manufacture the products.. its not "dell" branded processors or "HP" branded motherboards.. so I always thought alot of that debate was kinda of a joke.. what the real debate is what some others users have already eluded to is the best product for the money.. its pointles to use any other bias because at some point EVERY brand has positives and negatives.. and even those change from model to model and even store to store.. like Best-Buy compared to a Wal-Mart. In fact.. I have bought three Emachine desktops last year.. not because of them specifically being that brand.. but me deeming those the best values at their pricetags with seeing what brand it was at the very end.. over the last good amount of years I have noticed that eMachines is a far better value than alot of PCs with bloated pricetags full of crap no one is even interested in.. on the flip side Dell is consistently one of the WORST values.. so a Wal-Mart/Dell pairing is kinda of a worry.. so hopefully some changes are made. Anyways.. eMachines are a "laughing stock" to those who dont know better like one user already said.. also to those who have their mommy and daddy buy them everything and only like the "shiny" pc's.. or those who dont have any responsibilites they have to deal with when setting their PC budget. In the end for the most part I also have just a Emachine case, as over time I replace most of the parts as time progresses.. getting a good base PC at a great price and buying quality parts at better prices, because with the nature of the industry its better to conserve and build gradually than put all of your ggs in basket, over extend yourself, and then end up with an over-priced machine thats only "cutting edge" for about a month or two..




RE: Laughing stock of the industry?
By xeltor on 5/25/2007 2:16:18 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
NONE of these companies manufacture the products.. its not "dell" branded processors or "HP" branded motherboards.. so I always thought alot of that debate was kinda of a joke..


True but there are good and bad manufactures of the various components used in all of the vendor machines and dell always leans towards the cheapest and therefore likely the poorest quality. Emachiens use to have a very similar strategy until they got a really bad rep for sucking now they have picked up and are not all bad but they have never fully recovered their rep.


By KingOfOldSkool on 5/25/2007 3:08:08 AM , Rating: 2
I know what exactly what you speak of xeltor, and completely agree.. I think the biggest problem are cheap disc drives and power supplies.. the vast majority of off-the-shelf desktops I see in the stores come with shoddy and unreliable power supplies.. so if you want to buy a video card at the same time of buying that new pc from a department store.. you need to upgrade the PS(usually just 300watts) as well.. for years I refused to go near either Dell or eMachines.. but they have gone opposite directions the past few years.. Dell has languished behind surging HP.. and eMachines has seen a substanitial boost since being bought by Gateway.


RE: Laughing stock of the industry?
By Webgod on 5/25/2007 11:14:15 AM , Rating: 2
Enjoying your cheap-o eMachines LCD monitors?


Dell is selling retail now? Yuck.
By ultimatebob on 5/24/2007 7:56:00 PM , Rating: 3
I thought that Dell's major advantage over it's competitors was that it ONLY sold built to order systems. This kept it's part inventories low, and their profit margins higher because they didn't have hot technology sitting on their shelves and depreciating in value. This was Michael Dell's entire business model in a nutshell back in the 90's, and it caused their revenues and stock price to skyrocket.

By becoming yet another big box computer and TV vendor for Walmart, aren't they giving up on what made them successful to begin with?

Man... I'm just glad that I don't own any of their stock anymore!




RE: Dell is selling retail now? Yuck.
By KingOfOldSkool on 5/25/2007 3:00:14 AM , Rating: 2
Thats an excellent point.. I think that should in fact be one of the main points of the entire story.. this is obviously a panic move by Dell to try and pick up some ground on HP, which obviously was not negatively affected by the Compaq merger.. and to make up on some ground on eMachines in thalot of business.. because for MANY years I saw nothing but Dell desktops.. but ever since Gateway bought eMachines.. eMachine desktops are picking up immense ground from what I am seeing. Regardless.. likw he alluded to.. its a move that moves away from what made them successful.. and could probably hurt their cause than help it.. in my opinion they need some new ideas than simply taking the easy route by selling out to Wal-Mart.

p.s.
I think for the most part people that have negative experiences with eMachines are the ones from Wal-mart.. I have never had a problem with eMachines EXCEPT certain ones that came from Wal-Mart.. that why the Dell/Wal-Mart thing is such a slippery slop because Wal-Mart does indeed affect the quality.. and that is something Dell does not need to deal with anymore than they already do.


By Oregonian2 on 5/25/2007 1:58:46 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Thats an excellent point.. I think that should in fact be one of the main points of the entire story.. this is obviously a panic move by Dell to try and pick up some ground on HP, which obviously was not negatively affected by the Compaq merger.. and to make up on some


Exactly. Means for the same selling price, Dell themselves gets less for it (loses the retail margin) which means they've got to cheapen the innards all the more for the same net user sales price. Or have lower gross margin. In either case, not good for Dell or the buyer. IMO.


Better Systems out there
By TimberJon on 5/25/2007 11:52:53 AM , Rating: 2
There are better systems out there than the XPS and what-not. for Sub 700 you get pretty good stuff.

Cyberpowerpc.com makes the top systems, scoring higher in tests than alienware in some cases. Buy from a brand name customizer, not a brand name retailer. That is, if you arent going to build it yourself.




RE: Better Systems out there
By Zelvek on 5/25/2007 12:41:21 PM , Rating: 2
Thats not saying much seeing as how Alienware systems seldom score near the top of the charts anyway.


RE: Better Systems out there
By RjBass on 5/25/2007 2:44:00 PM , Rating: 2
I would have to agree. The little time I have spent on an alienware machine taught me that they are mostly flash with not alot of bang.

I'm not saying their bad computers, but for the price you can do much much better.


Are they going to be Dells or Walmart Dells?
By mellondust on 5/24/2007 4:11:21 PM , Rating: 2
Walmart has a tendancy to sell similar but downscaled versions of brand name items that appear to be the same thing to reduce costs. You always hear of the walmart version of something, the kitchen aid mixer is a good example with some of the metal gears substitued with plastic ones on the models sold at Walmart. Would this be a Walmart exclusive pc or the some of the same dell models you can buy on line? I just wonder what the quality of components would be compared to dells sold online if there is any difference.




By Webgod on 5/25/2007 11:20:58 AM , Rating: 2
Made in communist China probably.

Tech support comes from India no doubt.

But a lot of people are as clueless as they are frugal, so it should go over well.


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