Dell’s approach to letting customers configure their PCs can be a little daunting, so I applaud them for providing helpful advice. Except in this instance where an image implied that choosing a cheaper graphics card would mean a blurry desktop.
The image in question was spotted by a Reddit user after clicking a “Help me choose” link while configuring a compact OptiPlex PC. While both monitors in the image appear to be the exact same model, the one on the left, powered by a cheaper “standard graphics card” is having a hard time keeping the desktop in focus, compared to the more expensive option on the right. There are certainly differences between what a low-end and high-end graphics card can do, but that’s not properly illustrated in this graphic which can unfortunately lead to inexperienced users choosing the more expensive option, when they probably don’t need it.
In a response sent to PC Pro, Dell apologised for the misleading image and said it would be removing it from their site so as not to cause any further confusion:
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Dell endeavours to help customers to make the best decisions regarding their purchases. It was never our intention to mislead customers, and we apologise for any confusion caused. We have now removed the image from our Global sites. Dell remains committed to delivering the best possible experience to all our customers.”
I’ll be the first to admit that explaining to a novice PC user why they don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a new system isn’t easy, but misleading them into spending more money than they need to, whether intentionally or not, is a little shady. [Reddit via PC Pro]
Timmahh
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 9:46 AMIt was never our intention to mislead customers
Bullshit, that’s exactly what they were doing!
ozoneocean
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 12:39 PMThat’s what was happening but I’d doubt that was a deliberite intention here, more likely it was just a very lazy and stupid graphic artist taking a very big shortcut in the illustration of the concept of the effect of a premium video card.
Peter
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 5:06 PM“lol games??? I use my computer for ART!”
olearymo
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 10:38 AM+1. Not intended, but they’re not really sorry either.
Vuunik
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 4:20 PMThey should of simply changed the picture on the monitors to a game and could of got away with it imo
DarthDVD
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 5:25 PMYeah and put down the settings really low on the standard graphics card.
TSH
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 9:44 AMexactly. Have a 2 screenshots of a Hatchery from SC2: one with all settings turned down Low, one at Ultra. The difference is chalk and cheese.
Watsonega
Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 6:56 PMevery company is guilty of this. Go on any PC hardware website and look at monitors in general. They all say (including companies worst models) that their image is XX times better than this other model (insert blurry, pixelated image).
Goddy
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 4:56 AMDell would need to deceive people to sell their product, wouldn’t they.
Owen
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 6:52 AMWouldn’t it depend on the size of the monitor? If it’s a U2711, running it on your standard Optiplex would probably limit the resolution to 1920×1200 or so but having an upgraded card would allow DualLink DVI, so then to 2560×1440?
Really depends on context. While not “blurry” per se, it would still have less graphical fidelity.
Ozoneocean
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 12:50 PMThe “graphical fidelity” is the same at ANY size. A larger res output for your desktop just means that all the the icons and menus are smaller in relation to the rest of the screen.
Jono
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 8:57 AMYou would hope Dell would only provide suitable graphic card / monitor combos.
e.g providing a low end card that can support the native resolution of the monitor.
Just This Guy ...
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 2:42 PMBut all the images look the same to me … On MY computer. On MY graphics card .on MY monitor.
Seriously trying to show different display quality via the one display panel I’m actually looking at NOW is destined to fail.
The only way you can really tell is by, well, looking at them IRL.
As for Dell needing to have it brought to their attention?
Do they not pay any attention to what they plan on using for ads in the first place? Do they not bother to check what they’ve spent their marketing money on?
Bah, marketing.
They say money is the root of all evil. I say it’s Marketing.
chris
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 1:50 PMthats wrong! alot of people would fall for that too and upgrade..