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Dell tells customer 'Mac is good option'

Anything Jobs can do...

Computer giant Dell stunned a Reg reader seeking a processor upgrade when it told him he might want to consider a "Mac".

The El Reg reader had emailed the firm's hardware technical support team asking whether it was possible to upgrade his one year old Dimension 9150's processor to a Core2 CPU without having to also replace other components.

Here's how Dell hardware frontline responded:

Thank you for your response to Dell hardware tech support. It's true that if you want to upgrade the processor to a high end, you need to upgrade motherboard and consequently other devices like PSU, proc fan etc. I would suggest that purchasing a new PC is a better option than to upgrade it on this system as replacing the motherboard and processor is going to be expensive.

It's better you get a new system with duo or quad core processor. Mac is a good option. You may also look at XPS systems of Dell [XPS One is the best in XPS performance line], you may google on this system to get more information.

In case you missed it, we'll give you that quote just one more time, "Mac is a good option".

Now, it's possible that the techie was referring to a 1970s rock band, or to an item of waterproof clothing. But we can't help concluding that he was indeed talking about Apple's Mac.

It wouldn't be the first time the company has spun a donut before going into reverse. In the last year, it has ditched its Wintel roots to embrace Ubuntu (sort of), and reversed its direct only policy by punting its machines alongside pints of milk in Tesco.

We asked the company if this is yet another symptom of its corporate identity crisis. Strangely, it's yet to respond to our questions. ®

Latest Comments

RE: I Still Don't Get It

Whichever one does what you need it to. There is no "best" here. Windows excel at playing games (I'll throw in a caveat - XP excels; Vista's a piece of ----); Linux can save your butt and your data if your Windows hard drive crashes and you've been stupid and haven't backed it up lately; and Macs will run all three OSs, some better than others, if you are looking for an all-arounder and your games don't require the blazing speed of an XP based gaming PC and you don't feel like going the boot camp route.

It all comes down to the right tool for the right job. That's all the computer and its OS is - a tool. This isn't Sunday school and we aren't learning the Ten Commandments here (but all the fanbois would have you think otherwise): "Thou shalt have no other OS but Me!" sort of thing. In short, the best OS, and the best computer, is the one that works best for YOU, whether it is Mac Tiger/Leopard, Windows XP/Vista, or any of the many flavors of Linux/Unix.

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Real Musicians

Real Musicians Play Modulus Guitars.

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To Steve

Real guitarists play Carvin.

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bah

why do people even send this stuff in?

once it does come in does anyone vet for accuracy truth or can I send one in tomorrow from Dell\HP\the Pope?

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Miracle on 34th Street anyone?

This whole debacle reminds me of that movie... where Kris Kringle tells people to go elsewhere to find better/cheaper products that provide more value for money to accomodate their purse strings.

In the film, the store "Santa" worked at used it as a marketing ploy and used it to their advantage. Realistically it wouldn't happen... but hey, this guy was the Digital Santa.

So, to conclude, Santa does exist and he works at Dell!!!

Hurrah!

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