Dell's Misleading Graphics Card Buying Advice 381
Barence writes "Dell's website includes a guide to graphics cards for PC novices which contains a dangerous chunk of misinformation. The monitor on the left, labelled as a PC that uses a 'standard graphics card,' is displaying a Windows desktop that's washed out and blurry. The seemingly identical Dell TFT on the right, powered by a 'high-end graphics card,' is showing the same desktop – but this time it's much sharper and more vivid. They're both outputting at the same resolution."
The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
... using words like "misleading" and "unfair." It's fraud, plain and simple.
Standard? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no such thing as a "standard" graphics card
Analog vs digital, maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe Dell is comparing the VGA port of onboard graphics vs. DVI/HDMI of a discrete card. I do notice a difference between VGA and DVI on a 17" monitor.
Meh. (Score:0, Insightful)
Is this really worth any kind of discussion?
The people who would be fooled by this, would not have the capacity to adjust their monitor settings in Windows, let alone possess the skill necessary to Photoshop an image's brightness and contrast.
These are the same people who have a hard time understanding that having black bars on top and underneath your picture when watching letterbox on an NTSC monitor, versus having black bars on the left and right when watching an NTSC video on an HD monitor, is the result of something called "aspect ratio".
I just hate having those black bars on my TV, durrrrrrr...
Let's not even get into an xorg configuration.
Spend more money (Score:5, Insightful)
Dell’s page says that its picture is for “demonstrative purposes only”
Dell should rephrase it and clearly state that this is for "promotional purposes only" instead.
Re:Analog vs digital, maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this really worth any kind of discussion?
The people who would be fooled by this, would not have the capacity to adjust their monitor settings in Windows, let alone possess the skill necessary to Photoshop an image's brightness and contrast.
So you're saying it's okay to defraud people if they're ignorant?
Here's a tip: everyone's ignorant about something. In fact, everyone's ignorant about most things. You know enough to spot the fraud in the Dell ad, great, good for you. But I guarantee you that there are people working very hard to part you from your money who will do their best to find the gaps in your knowledge -- and they will find those gaps, because you have just as many of them as everyone else does.
Normally, when (not if, when) that happens, people will be sympathetic. In your case, they'll point and laugh.
Non-native resolution can be blurry (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe Dell is comparing the VGA port of onboard graphics vs. DVI/HDMI of a discrete card. I do notice a difference between VGA and DVI on a 17" monitor.
If the monitor is a flat panel and its native resolution is not VGA, or an exact multiple of VGA, then the image can appear blurry. Every play an old fixed resolution 640x480 game on a modern flat panel?
Lol (Score:2, Insightful)
And the sad part is, I remember when Dell didn't have to resort to cheap tricks to sell PCs. Speccing in non-standard and substandard parts, plus rolling over for every sad business brain-fart has destroyed that company. Such a pity, at one time their Just-In-Time business model was seen as a something of a wonder.
Try a new tactic. Go back to doing what made you successful in the first place. Put on a black turtleneck (if you must), and inform your customers that while their money means a lot to you, you simply cannot sell them machines that run like dogs anymore. If that laptop doesn't have at least 8 GBs of RAM and a 1 TB 7200 RPM HD or 256 GB SSD, with a separate video card, it cannot be sold. Your company depends on repeat business, correct?
Advertisiing Standards don't seem to work (Score:5, Insightful)
I know that in Europe we have fairly strong advertising standards regulation and in theory every ad is supposed to be "legal, decent honest and truthful". I see the odd case of outrageous ads being challenged but for the most part we get exactly the same litany of gullible customers being sold products they don't need: €100 hdmi cables, ultimate broadband for Facebook browsing etc.
I am not sure that any amount of regulation can stop it. I have become quite resigned to the whole business and I accept it as a kind of ignorance tax. While I can be smug about the fact that I am knowledgeable enough about tech products to avoid paying this ignorance tax I am quite sure that in other areas where I am less knowledgeable I am probably duped into paying more than I should.
Re:Standard? (Score:5, Insightful)
Optiplex is in Dell's business section, so people here are expected to have some idea what's going on (or hire somebody who does).
Unless, ofcourse, the business in question is one of the millions of mom & pop shops that need a basic PC to help with the bookkeeping.
There's a difference between "buyer beware" and outright lying to your customers.
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
My God,
Three posts in and now its the governments fault? You need to get a serious grip on reality.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
We elected the politicians, we put them in office, we empowered them to look out for Corporations...
We may have elected them, but before that they were selected by those very same corporations.
When every candidate is a corporate tool, you can't blame the electorate for picking a corporate tool.
It's an AD- they ALWAYS lie (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe I'm just cynical, but I ALWAYS expect advertisements to lie. Every claim that is not quantified and expressed in numbers is definitely a lie. Claims that are expressed in numbers are probably a lie. Only specs that are very easy to verify and actually define fitness for purpose can be relied on- like RAM size or dimensions. Claims that are hard to verify like quality or reliability or performance or health benefits will be lies. Salesmen who have vested interest will ALWAYS lie to you. You'll never get honest advice from people who stand to profit from your decision. Even independent sources are often biased one way or the other and often won't give advice that is best for you and your situation.
This doesn't just hold true for tech. This is true for everything you purchase from washing machines and pencils to computers and cars. I still don't understand how some people don't realize this and just walk into a shop and ask someone there to help with their purchase.
--Coder
Re:Lol (Score:5, Insightful)
If that laptop doesn't have at least 8 GBs of RAM and a 1 TB 7200 RPM HD or 256 GB SSD, with a separate video card, it cannot be sold. Your company depends on repeat business, correct?
I don't disagree with your point, but I think your "minimum" specs are a little high. 1 TB 7200 rpm 2.5" HDDs don't even exist yet in the 9.5mm format that will actually fit inside most laptops. And if it has discrete graphics, then I'm not buying it. I value battery runtime over flashy graphics, and I doubt I'm the only one. And given that even the i945 integrated graphics in my five year old laptop can do flashy graphics (compiz) at 1920x1080 just fine, I doubt any modern chip couldn't. Unless you play games or run CAD software, discrete graphics are overkill.
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's an AD- they ALWAYS lie (Score:5, Insightful)
So yes, it's not surprising that Dell did this, but now that they've been caught, they should be accused and punished, so that next time they'll maybe think twice. That's how we train people, and that's how we can train corporations to behave better in society.
Re:Analog vs digital, maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
I've used VGA on a 17" for years on an aging graphics card, and it never looked as bad as the Dell picture.
If may be a bit more fuzzy, but I could still see individual pixels and there's really no reason why the colors would be that flat.
Don't Dell TFT's have contrast/brightness settings?
Of course they do. This image has been knocked up in photoshop and they even tell you that on the image. The bit saying "images shown are for demonstrative purposes only" literally translates into "we knocked this shit up in photoshop" when you translate it from legalese marketing speak into plain english.
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The article is much too kind ... (Score:2, Insightful)