News Bits: Less Dell Deals, OQO Model 01+, LG Fuel Cells, HP and EV-DO

Dell Ends Free Shipping and Reduces Coupon Code Amounts

Dell might not stand for Deal quite so much as it used to. Over the past few years savvy buyers have become used to using Dell coupon codes to bring the price of their laptop down. In addition, consumers have also beenable to take advantage of freeshipping offers Dell frequently offered. Since you can only buy a Dell PC online and have it shipped, you automatically have to pay an extra $50 to get it delivered, but saving on shipping negated that disadvantage. But now Dell says there'll be no more direct to home free shipping to cut costs. What Dell will do instead for cheaper (and sometimes free) shippingis offer the US Postal Service new "hold for pickup" option in which packages can be shipped tothe customers nearest post officeand then held for pickup for up to 10-days.

In addition to this change in shipping promotions, we received an email indicating coupon codes will have lower amounts to the hay-day of 35% - 50% off coupons we saw even this year. In a statement from Dell to affiliates (like this site) it is said:

"Some of you may have noticed that the level of discounts on our affiliate offers this week have been smaller discount coupons than in the past. This is because we have slightly changed our pricing on both Dimensions and Inspirons for all systems on Dell.com generally resulting in a more simplified pricing structure and lower regular prices for our customers.

With these changes, the coupons that we now distribute going forward will at first seem like the discounts are less than what they use to be, however, after the new coupons are applied to the new regular price of the system, the affiliate customers generally will still receive end prices on par with the old discounts."

At first seem like less? I don't think there's much seeming about it, prices are definitely higher without the 50% coupon code steals we've seen.

OQO Announces the OQO 01+

OQO is a San Francisco based company that makes possibly the smallest, most functional PC on the market, the OQO Model 01.The Model 01 was released last year and now OQO has it's first update to their tiny computer in the form of the Model 01+. The Model 01+ isa full fledged PC in a handheld design with 4.9" x 3.4" x .9" (w x h x d) dimensions and weighing 14 ounces. The screen is a widescreen VGA display that's serviceable for viewing web pages.

The upgraded version of the Model 01+ boasts an advanced memory range (512MB), larger hard drive (30GB, improved from 20GB), faster USB (USB 2.0), an internal speaker and improved pen-based digitizer. The design stays the same, just higher specs. The OQO Model 01+ is immediately available via OQO.com and will sell for about $1,899.

Below are pictures I took holding the OQO Model 01+ this past week in San Francisco.

New Fuel Cell Batteries for Laptops Unveiled in Korea by LG Chemical

Fuel cell batteries promising 10 hours of life for a laptop that actually make it out of a laboratory are like the seeing the lesser spotted red winged blue jay bird -- because they don't exist. Until now (the battery that is).

LG Chem, South Korea's No.1 chemical company, has developed the world's most efficient portable fuel cell that can power a notebook PC for longer than 10 hours.

New fuel cell batteries from LG

The company Wednesday took the wraps off the futuristic fuel cells that use methanol and announced it will commercialize the product by late this year.

``This is a kind of miniature electric generator aimed at providing electricity for those who frequently use notebook PCs or power-hungry info-tech devices on the move," LG Chem spokesman Lee Dong-joo said.

A fuel cell is a mechanism for transforming chemical energy such as hydrogen and methanol into electricity. Unlike batteries that require recharging, a fuel cell can produce electricity as long as it has fuel. A cartridge containing methanol provides fuel, which combines with oxygen to generate electricity. The cartridge can be replaced after the methanol runs out.

Lee added the newfangled fuel cell boasts a durability of over 4,000 hours, about eight times longer than the norm, and each cartridge would run a notebook PC for up to 10 hours.

HP Jumps on Integrated EV-DO for Laptops As Well

Sony, Dell and Lenovo have all announced and released notebooks with either integrated EV-DO or EDGE cellular communication technologies for near broadband speed access in most major American major cities. Now HP has also announced they will release notebooks with integrated EV-DO antennas and modems starting January of 2006. HP was demoing it's nc4200 notebook with EV-DO technology at a tech show in San Francisco this past Tuesday and we were able to play with it and talk to HP about it. The performance with the antenna at the top of the screen was very good, even with only 2 bars of reception in the show hall. HP intends to release quite a few notebooks with the integrated EV-DO as time goes by.

HP notebook with integrated EV-DO, the antenna is in the top of the screen (view larger image)

 

Hmmmm, the batteries sound sweet! Go LG

Dell price changes....hmmm.

 

Dell's probably on to something. Their pricing structure was a joke and anyone who bought anything without a coupon was getting screwed, probably not knowing it. Their games were ridiculous, I hope they follow through with cleaning it up.

 

is it me or do those batteries sound scary, i dont think you would be able to get on a plane.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, is a chemical compound with chemical formula CH3OH. It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colourless, flammable, poisonous liquid that is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethyl alcohol.

Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria. As a result, there is a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. Over the course of several days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized by oxygen by the help of sunlight to carbon dioxide and water.

Methanol burns in air forming carbon dioxide and water:

2CH3OH + 3 O2 → 2CO2 + 4H2O
A methanol flame is almost colorless. Care should be exercised around burning methanol to avoid burning oneself on the almost invisible fire.

 

Right, it opens up a whole new can of worms in terms of airline safety. Taking something that could serve as a lighter fluid on a plane is not something any of us would want to know is happening. But it's going to be a while before this type of battery becomes available commercially in any sizable amount, so such issues will need to be tackled by politicians and safety authorities in the years ahead.

 

hmm....what do u mean???? ???

 

They issued 40% off coupons so regularly that it was pretty much assumed that you would get 40% off no matter when you purchased, if you knew where to find a coupon(ie:here). However, ppl not aware of the coupons were getting screwed because they were paying a lot more than they had to.

 

While I'm not at all happy about the coupon reductions, Dell has clearly dropped prices on some of its models or has made more advanced features standard on base configuration. For example, on the M170, it comes standard with Media Center, an 80 GB hard drive (5400 rpm), and 1 GB memory now for the same base price as before.

 

Well, this is good insight. It is more consumer friendly to offer better things at a reasonable price to everyone and not just a certain set that know of or found coupons. But, for those that were aware of coupons (it only takes a half savvy internet user and shopper to know about these, they've been around forever) you're just not going to get the same astounding deal you could have gotten in the past. Still, even without the 50% off offers Dell is still the one to beat for price to features.

 

I really didn't like Dell's coupon game. I found myself spending quite a bit of time checking deals to make sure they weren't screwing me over in some fashion. And buying at one deal only to see another bigger deal that could save you $600 come out 3 weeks later pissed me off to no end. I hate the price-changing and coupon game, although I do like discounts and reduced prices. I like it that they're trying to stabilize prices, but it also looks like a price increase since some of their models have not dropped in price to meet the lack of coupons half way. They were reminding me of those big box retail stores that run things on sale 85% of the time while having a regular price that's much higher when they're not on sale, even though it's practically all the time. I don't like those sort of things.