Who makes the Dell XPS M1530?

Does anybody know who makes the Dell Xps M1530? Quanta? Compal? somebody else?

How does one tell?

 

This is probably too obvious to be right but... Dell?

 

"We Don't Rely On ODM Completely

Yong Tang: In fact, the criticism by Chinese media focused on innovation. Some newspapers claim Dell is a marketing miracle but lacks strong innovation spirit. One piece of evidence they often cite is 95% of Dell's first stage manufacturing of notebooks is completed in China. They even said Dell doesn't do any of its notebook design and relies completely on Taiwan Original Design Manufacturers (ODM). Is the report accurate? If yes, why does Dell rely on China so heavily for notebook manufacturing and rely on ODM so heavily for design?

Hunter: Dell partners with ODMs for basic design elements of some systems. However, Dell is highly influential and very much involved in the design process because of the customer feedback we receive directly from customers about the features and specifications they want. We will tell ODMs the feedback of our customers and also test the reliability of the systems designed by ODM. More than 70 percent of the value of notebook systems is added in Dell's design centers, contrary to what many reports falsely indicate. Some of our competitors ship systems directly from ODMs to customers. Dell never does this.

There are certain things that Dell is extremely good at. There are many things that other people are very good at. We do not try to do things that other people are very good at and we are not good at. So our value comes from the knowledge about what our customers want and our design teams that are very good at integrating. We are not inventing things for the sake of invention."

source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200601/04/eng20060104_232869.html

 

Foxconn make the motherboard in my Vostro 1700, screen by AUO, HD's by Hitachi and Samsung, Keyboard and Touchpad by ALPs, Optical drive by Hitachi/LG, RAM by Hyundai ......

You get the picture

 

MSI's laptops do look similar though

 

They have a new factory in Poland.

 

I meant, who is (are) the ODM(s) (Original Design Manufacturer) who designed and now make(s) the chassis of the XPS 1530?

It seems to me that knowing the ODM is is the best way to predict build quality, since various Dell models are made by various ODM's (and conversely, various models of competing OEM brands. e.g Dell, Lenovo, are all made in the same factory by the same ODM).

The main ODM's are Quanta, Compal, Wistron, etc. There are a few ODM's and they design and make nearly all the laptops in the world.

Dell, Apple, HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc, do not make laptops.

Like all OEM computer sellers, apart from Asus and Compal (who are both OEM and ODM), Dell just orders laptops from one or more ODM's and, in the case of configurable laptops, Dell configures them in its plants in Ireland, Poland, Malaysia and Round Rock. That is, it inserts the various configurable items, like GPU, CPU, HDD, RAM and software, into the shell that was made by one or more of the ODM's.

Here's more info:

http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_oem.html

http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1248

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59968

 

I have a m1530 and according to SiSoftware Sandra both manufacturer and motherboard is DELL. I have 3gb RAM and one is a Kingston and the other is from Hyundai Electronics! Why didn't they just put 2 Kingston?

 

Doesn't Dell use Compal, or does anyone know that Dell uses different ones?

I thought the SmartStep machines, when they came out, were built by a different ODM, and were cheaper and less configurable for that reason, but it seemed that the mainstream lines are from the same ODM.

 

I don't think everyone here understands what ODM's are. His question is not asking what brand of components are inside the machine, but what company designs the computer.

ODM stands for Original Design Manufacturer.

Quoted from Wikipedia:

"An original design manufacturer (ODM) is a company which manufactures a product which ultimately will be branded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the brand firm to produce (either as a supplement or solely) without having to engage in the organization or running of a factory. ODMs have grown in size in recent years and many are now sufficient in size to handle production for multiple clients, often providing a large portion of overall production. A primary attribute of this business model is that the ODM owns and/or designs in-house the products that are branded by the buying firm. This is in contrast to a contract manufacturer (CM).

This model is especially used in international trade, where a local ODM is used to produce goods for a foreign company which sees some advantage in the transaction, such as low labor inputs, transport links or proximity to markets. This is also used where local ownership laws possibly prohibit direct ownership of assets by foreigners, allowing a local firm to produce for a brand company for either the domestic market or export.

This type of business is part of "outsourcing". An example is Compal Electronics, which makes notebook computers and monitors, and operates as a mass producer for numerous brand companies, assisted by low labor costs, low-cost transport, and the near commodity nature of the physical inputs (in Compal's case, computer components).

The market research firm iSuppli issued a report in 2006 which demonstrated that 82.6% of PC notebooks are made in Taiwan by Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) and ODMs." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Design_Manufacturer

Again, check out my post:

 

Does anyone know who acctually makes the Dell XPS M1530? I was gonna post this, then found this topic and decided to reply (to bump it). I'm curious if it's Quanta or whoever it is that makes it.

 

The box that my XPS M1530 came in had a sticker on it: "Made in Malaysia"