Pictured above is the new Dell Optiplex 960 in the Desktop form factor my initial reaction isn’t 100% positive. My first thought was it looked like a 1970’s VCR.

Next up we have a front facing shot of the Tower, Desktop and Small Desktop.

For sure this is a bold design move but from these shots the contrast between the black and silver facia just doesn’t work for me. My first thought was “the front grill looks like a cheese grater”.

I would have taken some of design ideas from the Dell XPS 420 and hid the optical drives behind a front facing facia that folds out.

This shot of the Tower from the side is the only one I think makes the Optiplex look good.

The Dell Optiplex range now consists of the 960,760 and 360. It would appear only the 960’s have this new design.

To me this just looks like two design styles that have been smashed together.

The Optiplex is a great general purpose office computer and thankfully that audience typically doesn’t care about aesthetics as the computer is most often chosen for them by corporate I.T.

Official Optiplex 960 Product Link:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-optiplex-960?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

I have been having what I consider to be significant problems placing an order for a Dell Latitude E4200.

You can read all about it here. http://www.colindiponio.com/category/dell/

I was hoping for a compromise in the form of a Seed machine or Loan/Review machine to tide me through until the late November delivery date of the E4200.

In fact the suggestion of a Seed machine came from Dell Partner Direct. But it would now appear I don’t meet their criteria. I can’t magic up an order for 20 of these.

So my options are:-

1) Break with a 14 year tradition of supplying 100% Dell Hardware and investigate solutions from HP or Lenovo. A decision that will impact on my choice of hardware vendor moving forward for me and my Clients.

I can’t for example take a spiffy Lenovo X300 into a Client and then offer to supply them Dell. I take pride in the fact I supply clients what I myself use (PowerEdge, Latitude, Precision and Optiplex).

2) Place an order for the Latitude E4200 and hurry up and wait for what will be a total of 72 days  from when I placed the original order.

3) Take the Credit Crunch / Economic issues seriously and don’t invest in any new technology.

As time ticks on and various people around the globe are receiving their E4200’s and I jealous? Sure The E4200 sounds great but it’s not all smooth sailing one Chap over at the forums on  www.notebookreiew.com is less than impressed (See Posts 45 and 72).

Link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=306454&page=8

So what now?

I asked in an e-mail to Dell Partner Direct earlier today if we had run out of options but I haven’t heard from them since?

I have recently been having a nightmare ordering a Latitude E4200 from Dell. So I did some sleuthing around the Dell.co.uk website this morning at 10am 22nd October 2008 to see if any other models were also being delayed.

In my case the 1.4 Ghz CPU on the Latitude E4200 is apparently causing the delay of up to 35 days.

As you can see above this isn’t just isolated to one machine or product family. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon as this represents a significant percentage of Dell’s Business offerings and must be forcing consumers to consider other options.

For back story see: [Here], [Here], [Here], [Here] and [Here]  All these posts are about the trials and tribulations of ordering one single Dell Latitude E4200 laptop from Dell.

—

My Dell Partner Direct Account Manager called me late yesterday afternoon.

This was further to my e-mail earlier in the day asking for lead time confirmation and to ask if the  costs had changed.

I was re-quoted and the E4200 was £115 more expensive but we soon resolved that.

The next stumbling block is the current lead time. As you can see from the above that’s up to 36 days on top of the 35 days that have passed since I placed my original order.

I was told the hold up is the 1.4Ghz CPU.

I had to be honest with my rep without throwing my weight around. I’m not prepared to wait 71 days for a laptop product that Dell offer on their web site when I can order one off the shelf from HP or Lenovo.

The demand for the E4200 was clearly started too early, in the UK at least.  It has been featured on the Dell business site as an orderable product since September 16th. I ordered one on the 17th but with a Delivery date in the late Novembers its all a bit vapourware for my liking.

Disheartened but still brand loyal I asked about the availability of the E4300’s but they too have a long lead time.

Earlier in the day I spent an hour or so doing real research into alternative products from other vendors like HP, Lenovo and Sony. Specifically their small form factor laptops in the 12.1” range.

Ill be honest HP 2710p below is getting pretty near top of my list.

If the 2710p came with a faster CPU 2nd generation SSD I would be giving it some serious thought.

As it stands I have a call in with Dell to see if we can work out a deal on a seed unit or something to tide me over.

The reason why my order was cancelled was given as:-

“There was an error on our systems and the order did not download correctly and interface with the systems down in the factory.”

It sounds like I was spot on  in my post of yesterday:-

“I can’t help thinking something is really wrong inside Dell if the simple business of buying and selling fails so miserably.”

I am still shocked that the internal systems at Dell could allow this to happen. The order went from sales to the factory. There was a problem and the whole thing just stopped and disappeared down a black hole.

It took the customer to identify the order was cancelled. Now that can’t be right.

It sounds to me like Sales weren’t aware (or they would have fixed it).

I certainly didn’t know or was contacted or e-mailed.

Moving on…..

So I now have achieved one of my impossible missions finding out why the original order from 35 days ago was cancelled.

I had asked for the new lead time of a E4200 as the Dell UK Website worryingly indicates

“Due to unprecedented demand for this system, we regret to inform you of a prolonged delivery time on your order”

Sadly this information was not given. So 35 Days into the ordering process I am still unclear when I would actually receive a Dell Latitude E4200. So this morning I have e-mailed Dell Partner Direct and asked for confirmation on lead times.

If I have to wait 20+ Days then I am not sure I can afford to wait and will be forced to find another solution from HP or Lenovo. That would be sad because I have been ordering Dell’s exclusively since 1994.

One thing missing from my Voice Mail from Dell Partner Direct. An Apology.

I am glad this order is mine personally because if it were for a Client I’m not sure I could put a positive spin on what’s going on.

To read the other posts relating to this topic see here

2008/09/17/dell-in-slowdown-of-demand-as-dell-partner-direct-is-unresponsive/

2008/10/14/dell-cancel-my-latitude-e4200-order-but-dont-tell-me/

2008/10/17/i-still-have-issues-with-dell-partner-direct-in-the-uk/

2008/10/20/michael-dell-blogs-direct-to-it-decision-makers/