Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is quickly becoming my favorite writer over at ZDNet. Whether I agree or not with what he writes, he always conveys a sense of involvement, which to me is like saying ‘honesty++’. The reasons for the conclusions are given, usually well thought out, and better yet, well put. He never sounds like he is ‘phoning it in’, simply going through the motions of doing a story.

For that reason, I find his article pondering whether Dell could ever have the ‘cool factor’ of Apple. very entertaining, if somewhat brief. He talks of his daughter’s new Dell laptop, and compares it to a Macbook, claiming that the build quality of the Dell isn’t up to the standards of Apple.

Well, that is probably true, but - I don’t especially think the build quality of Apple notebooks is all that spectacular. For that matter, the build quality of no notebook that I am aware of is that great, save for maybe a Panasonic Toughbook. IBM used to build laptops with quality feel, and the old Compaqs - now there were some machines!

The thing is Dell was built from the ground up as being an inexpensive alternative to the ‘high-priced spread’.

Any move away from that would (necessarily) remove all of those cheapskates that have made Dell what it is today. I always assumed that is why Mr. Dell purchased Alienware. In a world where his XPS products ‘get no respect’, the Alienware name has recognition and cachet. Alienware has ‘cool’ that just oozes!

As to Apple, the notebooks have never made me want one, but I certainly have spent hours lusting over the biggest Macs for the desktop. I have had to be told to ‘move along now’ at a Fry’s when I was drooling over a Dual G5 tower (almost!). And yet, as much as I think Apple has certain ‘cool’ hardware, it is the software that makes the stuff what it is - yes, I’m not the first to say that - but perhaps if I add my voice to others Steve Jobs will get the point and make OS X available for all x86 computer owners. Only then will Apple get to the top of the mountain of ‘cool’. iPhones, are great, Mac minis are a designers dream, but what makes us want the stuff is the way it works, not the hardware itself.

That is why Dell will never be as cool, nor Alienware, for that matter - now an Area 51 that ran OS X….that would be frozen!

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Quote of the day:
If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead. - Johnny Carson

Technorati Tags: Apple - Dell - OS X - iPhone - XPS - Alienware - Panasonic Toughbook - IBM Thinkpad - Compaq - Area 51

Tags: apple, dell, os x, iphone, xps, alienware, panasonic toughbook, ibm thinkpad, compaq, area 51