Taking a Look at the Dell Computer

Dell, Inc. was ranked the 25th largest company on the Fortune 500 by Forbes, and began its stellar rise in 1984 when it was founded by Michael Dell on a shoestring budget of $1,000. In the beginning, Michael worked out of his University of Texas college dorm room, but had a vision to produce IBM compatible computers. As his company grew, Michael Dell dropped out of college and borrowed money from family members to expand his dream.

The first computer designed solely by this fledgling company was the Turbo PC which contained an Intel 8088 processor which ran at the rather impressive speed-for the time-of 8 MHz. Customers were allowed to choose which specific components they wanted in their very own personal computer, then the company built them as ordered.

In its very first year of being a full-blown company, Michael Dell grossed over $73 million dollars-a truly impressive accomplishment. Dell attempted to sell their pc's through warehouse club stores and stores like Wal-Mart, but customers had been happy with their ability to order exactly the computer they wanted, so the response to this type of marketing was tepid, to say the least, so the company returned to direct sales.

In 1988 Dell went public, selling 3.5 million shares at $8.50 per share. In 1999 Dell acquired Compaq and was soon known as the highest seller of pc's in the U.S, not to mention the broad overseas market.

2003 saw Dell branching out from their computer sales into the popular areas of televisions, printers and audio players, and Dell is also one of the biggest dedicated server and web hosting companies around as well. A long history of customer satisfaction has kept Dell at the forefront of the computer sales, and Dell has many loyal users.

By 2010, with Michael Dell still at the helm of his company, Dell is known for turning over their inventory every three days, which is truly an amazing feat.

How to Choose Your New Dell

Dell is now a name known throughout the computer world as being trustworthy and reliable at a reasonable price. If you want to customize your own Dell computer, first look at your computing needs, and decide what components are the most important for you. You can choose a desktop or laptop, and whether your computer is primarily used for business or personal will give you a direction to build upon.

Consider your budget, as Dell has a range from $350 all the way up to $3,000, depending on the model and the specs you choose. You can choose from a variety of hard drives, operating systems, monitor type, speed, and RAM memory, according to your needs. If you will only be using your new computer to do office work, using such programs as Word, PowerPoint, Excel and checking e-mails, then you won't need as high-powered a machine as you will if you plan on using your computer to edit photos and videos or if you are a serious gamer.

For the best speed, choose at least a Dual Core 2.4 Ghz or greater, and as much RAM as you can afford (preferably over 2 Gb) so your programs don't freeze or lock up. For serious gaming you may need to upgrade your video card as well.

If you are looking for a reliable computer at a reasonable price, Dell is a brand well-worth looking at.