LGR Tech Tales - How Dell Dominated PCs Worldwide

MOAR Tech Tales!

Chad Keck

Haha, I do not doubt it

LGR

More is incoming!

LGR

I used to live in Austin, and pretty much everyone there has a story about how they were Dell's college buddy, roommate, early partner, blah blah but somehow they chose not to join him to run his new company. They're the same ones always running into Matthew McConaughey in the produce aisle.

Kevin Furr

YES.. good job Clint, more of this will be appreciated

K. Troest Kjeldsen

For another day indeed! Planning to cover some Japanese companies for sure

LGR

I'd gotten used to more depressing Tech Tales, but this is nice. On a related note, I wonder why Japanese computer makers were not more successful in America. (except Sony and Toshiba) That's a tech tale for another day.

Zabe

I work for a global company that buys Dell Optiplex and Precision desktops. We're talking thousands of units annually. When you pay that much, suddenly the support improves dramatically!

RetroSwim

Woah, that's pretty awesome! An ex introduced me to Alienware back in 2008, so I've coveted the shit out of them ever since! I want one so badly, but they're soooo expensive! I could never rationalize dropping $800 - $1000 for one. But man would I love to own one! Going back to 90s things, I know this is random, but did you ever or do you now own one of those Apple pcs that were those half off-white, half neon colored ones they used to make? I don't know why I started thinking about them, but I am. :P They were so cool, and I always wanted one as a kid!

Jess the Stampede

Yup, I've actually never bought a pre-built computer personally. Other than all the retro ones, but that's different :)

LGR

You still can, just have to watch in 480p though. Or watch on a mobile device. If I could provide 30fps options I would, but that's up to YouTube now

LGR

I hate that youtube won't let me watch these videos 30fps anymore. c2d and 1080p60fps is not the best combo :(

Joonas K

Gateway was my first PC back in the mid-90's after begging my parents for some kind of computer for several months, i hadnt heard of Dell at the time. i just remember it had Win95 and a 1 GB HDD!! lol. I prefer my home built computers theses days.

Jason Binger

I always really liked the Dell Dimension series in the late 90's. I usually prefer to build my own machines and am not to keen on OEM systems from the later 90's and up but there's something about those dimension machines. I think the cases are really nice looking and I also like how there a lot thinner then other PC towers without really giving up any expandability. The proprietary PSU connectors suck though suck if yours happens to die.

Justin Laughlin

I never have either, but they definitely dropped the ball on the desktop/laptop market too with all their bad service and so-so pricing.

LGR

Dell still owns Alienware! They're just one of many, MANY subsidiaries making Dell tons of cash still :)

LGR

Very interesting stuff! Knowing the history of the company now, I feel bad that the only thing I remember about Dell are those silly "Dude you're gettin' a Dell" commercials. :P Also, it was kinda wonderful seeing their website layout from the 90s. I wonder what would've happened if Dell had kept Alienware. They're a pretty big to do company in the world of PC gaming. Maybe that would've helped Dell financially, or kept them relevant. Although it seems Dell is happier being a private company.

Jess the Stampede

Just shows that sometimes it's best to follow your gut instinct and not give a damn what others are thinking.

Alyxx the Rat

We never had Gateway here in Norway. We had Dell, Compaq and Packard Bell but not Gateway... weird...

Alyxx the Rat

Very good episode again, Clint! I was never a big fan of Dell, but I remember their computers were everywhere for a while in the 2000's. I always wondered what happened to them but now it seems pretty obvious it was the mobile market... Strange as I never considered mobiles a replacement for a desktop or laptop...

Alyxx the Rat

Never had a 3DO myself (I live in Norway and we never really got exposed to the system up here) but my interest in it definitely also came from watching Clint's videos on it.

Alyxx the Rat

Awesome, enjoy the absurdly long boxes!

LGR

Dell is currently the number one is monitor producers, last time I checked! But yeah, their support in recent years for computers really went down the tubes.

LGR

I appreciate that :)

LGR

Oh yeah, the mobile boom really caught Dell by surprise it seems, and they didn't even really start to compete there until around 2013.

LGR

I've watched through the series twice now, really looking forward to season 2 starting next week.

LGR

I always liked Gateway far better. They had cool stores (Gateway Country!) and those cow-patterned boxes they computers came in were neat.

LGR

Hehe, yeah, humble beginnings for like, 3 months. Then 80k a month just like that. Some people get all the luck.

LGR

Mine was dominated by Compaqs. They all worked HORRIBLY, but then, my computer admin was a bit odd and refused to upgrade them but still wanted new versions of Windows on there. Ugh.

LGR

286, 386, 486, and Pentium MMX systems are all new additions recently :) Hope to show them all sometime!

LGR

Not sure why I would? That was never a line of computers, it was just a type of CPU from Intel, and it never really "fell" it was just replaced by the next Intel CPU. Now, I'd certainly do a video on Intel in general, and they're still around obviously :)

LGR

Newly patreon'd and i'm glad I did, as I love a good story. Thanks to you I've taken up an interest in collecting old 3DO games, particularly the long box variety. Big cardboard rules! Thanks Clint, looking forward to more.

Iron Arse Hands

Fun fact I bought a laptop 3 years ago from Dell and I was pretty pissed about the really! Really! Bad support, only one year waranty? WTF? But this year I bought a brand new Monitor by Dell, why? 3 Years of Premium waranty!. I always wondered why ma Monitor has so much more Warenty that this shitty laptop that just barely survived a year without getting some pretty nasty problems with the skreen.

Ezydenias

Are you gonna do a Tech Tales video about the rise and fall of the Pentium line of computers?

Harry Thornton

Good job man, I really enjoyed this. I ran a PC repair and consulting company from 2000-2008 and we started out building custom PCs for businesses but on the small scale. We couldn't keep up with Dell's pricing model however, they were able to undercut everybody else so we switched to being more of a VAR and eventually started selling for Dell. All that started to slow down in the late 2000s' with the boom of the mobile market. I think that hit Dell and everybody else a lot harder than expected.

Daniel Nelms

Hey LGR and everyone else interested in this stuff. There is a TV show on Netflix and probably available other places as well called Halt and Catch Fire that may be of interest to everyone. If you haven't heard of it, it airs on AMC and is about a fictional company taking a risk developing an IBM compatible PC in 1984. It is a really interesting view of the Silicon Prairie of Texas at the time. Check it out if you are at all interested. As always LGR, I love your content and love supporting you here on Patreon. Keep it up! Thank you for more Tech Tales too. This is one of my favorite shows of yours.

Kevin

When it came time for my father and I to get a new computer back in late 1999, we went with Gateway over Dell for the simple fact it was cheaper at the time for almost identical components. :B

Kris Asick

"Where one guy can take a good idea to the point of recording-setting prosperity." This is what I hope for you and your channel Clint. :)

Wow, I can't believe I'd never heard the story behind Dell before. I guess I always assumed Dell was an acronym instead of a name for some reason. They definitely still have a strong grip on the school PC market with the Optiplex and Latitude, and I was actually surprised when my engineering laptop showed up at work and it was an HP Z-Book. I was expecting it to be a Dell. Anyway, that was entertaining! I hope we get to see your new 386 and 486 machines soon (or were they 286 and 386? I just know they looked classy.)

Interesting episode to watch as always! I wasn't exposed to 'em until the 2000s (I still have my trusty 2405 I grabbed a decade or so in use as a secondary display & for my Xbox - such a solid bit of kit), but it's amazing to see their (kind of) humble start.

Rob Caporetto

Certainly will!

LGR

I guess I can see where his parents are coming from though - it was hard to tell at the time if his success would last, but apparently it did! He seemed like a natural businessman from a young age, so I'm not surprised he had the success he did.

Lindsay Michelle

Really enjoying this series. Keep em coming!

_nderscore

They are pretty great displays, indeed. I love the fact that I can rotate my screen 90 degrees easily and adjust the height.

ksen

0:50 - I am McLovin.

RetroSwim

Happy to provide some illumination!

LGR

Dell is currently the largest monitor manufacturer last time I checked! I've always been impressed with their displays

LGR

And believe it or not, his parents STILL disapproved. Glad to hear it was interesting!

LGR

I keep reading "how hell dominated PCs worldwide". That's a thinker. Interesting video. I didn't know Dell past the crappy costumer service.

Sabrina

Dell seems like go to place to get nice budget IPS monitors which are better overall for CG artists. Or it was few years back when I researched monitor market. Still using my Dell 2209WA and pretty happy with it, tho I don't work with printing stuff. Anyway, great episode!

ksen

Making $80k a month his freshman year of college???? Yeah, dropping out of school would be tempting at that point. :P Boring PCs or not, this story was interesting. :)

Lindsay Michelle