Dell machines not standard PCs

THE DELL CORPORATION may think it's all over for its competition but that doesn't mean it can start dictating non standard ATX devices.

Bob Thompson, author of O'Reilly's PC Hardware in a Nutshell and owner of Thompson's Techno Grotto, claims there is a real problem with Dell's PCs because they're not bog standard boxes after all.

He said he has learned that the Great Satan of Hardware has used non-standard mobos and power supplies for the last few years, and says that although these use what seems to be a standard ATX connector, the pinouts are quite different.

That means that if you replace the Dell PSU with a bog standard ATX PSU, you might have to wave goodbye to both mobo and power supply when you turn the juice on.

Further, he claims, if you upgrade a Dell system with a new non Dell mobo, wave goodbye to that as well.

Said Thompson in a letter to the INQ: "This situation is particularly insidious because Dell uses what appear to be standard components. For example, they buy Intel motherboards by the million, and those "Dell-version" motherboards resemble standard Intel motherboards in all respects except that the power supply connector is wired differently."

To his credit, Bob says that another site was the first to notice this "peculiarity", and you can find that site here.

Bob's site is here.

Bob wonders why Dell has done this because he claims there is no technical reason for so doing.

Perhaps this could be related to the fact that Dell sells upgrades for its machines on its site.

And we all know, for example, that memory for Compaq and other machines is gazillions of times cheaper than when you buy approved kit from firms like Kingston Technology.

But that's a different can of worms altogether. µ