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Mossberg: Dell Vostro Business System Misses Mark

Mossberg: Dell Vostro Business System Misses Mark

by , 1:40 PM EDT, August 24th, 2007

The new Dell Vostro business focused notebook from Dell misses the mark and is just an OK notebook, not really different enough from consumer models to earn the small-business designation is claims, according to Walt Mossberg, the Personal Technology editor with the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Mossberg is noted for his thorough and balanced review of personal technology items. His first reaction to the 15.4 inch notebook, the Vostro 1500, was fairly blunt. "Judged by its hardware and software, the Vostro 1500 is mostly a branding-and-marketing ploy at the moment. Dell concedes the new line is 'just a first step' in what it swears will be a major initiative to serve very small businesses."

Aside from noting, with approval, that "crapware" was not installed, Mr. Mossberg found little to characterize the Vostro as a computer suitable for business. It booted up fine, ran quickly, and easily connected to his Wi-Fi network. However, there was severe criticism for the computer supposedly targeted at small businesses.

"The Vostros with XP, like my test unit, also lack a modern, secure Web browser. They come with the old, insecure Internet Explorer 6.0 instead of Mozilla’s Firefox or Microsoft’s much safer Internet Explorer 7.0. A small business buying a Vostro with XP would have to immediately replace the browser," Mr. Mossberg wrote.

TMO notes that that most large businesses install a custom [OS] image on every computer they buy. The idea behind a computer aimed at small business is to avoid tedious setup work, deliver a secure system, and get it into the hands of users when there is no large IT department to configure the computer. Dell, according to Mr. Mossberg, seems to have missed the mark by not differentiating this system for small business in significant ways.

Finally, recent reports suggest that while Apple is finding great success in the consumer market, Dell and HP still own the enterprise, with HP having now taken the lead. Mr. Mossberg's review suggests that Dell may losing its way in the enterprise as well.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:BanjoBanker Posts: 86 Joined: 27 Dec 2004
Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:07 pm Subject: Oh well,

It is a Dell. They have missed the mark on many of their products, including tyhe laptop my employer provides me.


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Close Name:Guest
Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:05 pm Subject: Dell's products are a joke...

In fact, Dell as a company is a joke, and sad, sorry one at that...

My wife is an IT support and network security manager at a major California university. A few years ago, her office purchased 40 Latitude laptops. 25 of them had defective port configurations; they wouldn't connect to the docking stations they came with. The Dell technical support people told her, and I am absolutely not joking when I say this, to "Slam the laptop into the docking station 10 or 15 times to get the ports to line up." (!!!) Needless to say, she didn't take their advice, but did have to fight with them tooth and nail to get them to RMA the defective units and replace them. In fact, it wasn't until the legal representation for her university contacted Dell and threatened to sue them for breach of contract did they issue the RMA's for the laptops.

"Bummer dude, you bought a Dell"...


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Close Name:dhp Posts: 182 Joined: 22 May 2003
Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:13 pm Subject: Why oh why does this article exist?

Please, please, PLEASE, Mac Observer, do not become another MacDailyNews, writing articles about other articles on Dell, the Zune, and any other company or product that happens to compete with Apple. I swore to never read MDN again after they did that ad nauseum.


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Close Name:macinnerd Posts: 1748 Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:05 am Subject:

This laptop looks like a relabeled 1999-2000 Dimension. At any rate one couldn't say that is sports breakthrough design.


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Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2088 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:12 am Subject: Re: Why oh why does this article exist?

Quote
dhp wrote:
Please, please, PLEASE, Mac Observer, do not become another MacDailyNews, writing articles about other articles on Dell, the Zune, and any other company or product that happens to compete with Apple. I swore to never read MDN again after they did that ad nauseum.


It is puzzling why you decided to not only read this article, but comment upon it, since you dislike such articles so much.


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Close Name:Terrin Posts: 414 Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:48 am Subject:

I second gslusher's remarks. Let me add that the MacObserver is a business. It makes advertising money when people visit it's website. There isn't a lot of Mac related news out right now, as such the MacObserver, like many Mac related publications, are improvising. This is likely in hopes that some Mac users will find such articles interesting.

The article wasn't one of my favorites, but I did read it, where I ignored other articles. You could follow the same approach, and give FREE publications that make a living on advertising a break.

You could also be more positive and suggest to the editors what type of topics you would like to read about in these slow news times.



Quote
dhp wrote:
Please, please, PLEASE, Mac Observer, do not become another MacDailyNews, writing articles about other articles on Dell, the Zune, and any other company or product that happens to compete with Apple. I swore to never read MDN again after they did that ad nauseum.


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Close Name:Guest
Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:05 am Subject: Have you seen the Vostro Ad?

The TV ad basically says Dell has a new computer for business, its main feature is the lack of crapware. WOW!

Always wondered if there were some other unstated benefits. This article provided the answer.

Now, can someone tell me why Sprint is running an ad for the iPhone? Did you grow up dreaming of video, photos and music on your phone? well Spri..ah, the iPhone has delivered it!


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