A History of Dell Computers   

Dell is a renowned information technology company famous for it's customized computers. Most people are familiar with the name but do you know about it's history?

Dell Computer Corporation’s origin can be traced back to 1984 when Michael Dell founded PCs Limited while he was still studying at the University of Texas in Austin. From his dorm, Dell started selling IBM PC-compatible computers assembled from readily available parts with a meager $1,000 as start-up capital. His principle was to sell PC systems straight to customers eliminating added costs, thus making his product cheaper than those of his competitors. Dell also believed that consumers wanted customized computers to meet their requirements and that's what he provided.

PCs Limited did very well. So, its founder quit school to invest his time into his growing business. His business began to grow rapidly after he got an additional capital investment of $300,000 from his parents. PCs Limited built its first original computer in 1985. The computer was called "Turbo PC" and it was designed by Michael Dell himself. The PC’s price was $795 and it performed very well on the market. This was a cheap price compared to his competitors. It was promoted on national computer magazines in such a way that it was for sale straight to end users and they had several configuration options to choose from. PCs Limited was one of the first computer companies to offer a customizable PC. Although a number of other companies used this same idea, it was Dell that made it flourish. In a span of one year since they sold their first Turbo PC, their sales totaled to over $73 million selling just one model.

In 1988, PCs Limited was changed to Dell Computer Corporation or simply Dell, and started to expand internationally. However, Dell had to make some modifications in its business approach a year after because there were only a few retailers eager to sell their products. They started to put up service centres at strategic locations where patrons could go and have their PC customized. These service centers would eventually expand globally.

Dell grasped the power of the Internet and taking advantage of this they developed slick websites to make it easy for customers to order their computers. They began selling them online in 1996. Dell makes it very easy to buy a customised computer! Dell now offer many other products - printers, handheld devices, tablet pcs, LCD televisions and much more. Their sales over the Internet were averaging $1 million each day in 1996 and $50 million in 2000. To distinguish the company’s growth outside computer systems, the company was called Dell Inc. in 2003.

Dell continues to improve it's existing products and add more items to it's product line. But most important of all, they continue to find ways to improve the concept that made Dell one of the top 50 companies in Fortune 500 – customizing computers.

We love Dell computers. In fact, our office is full of them. And when they occasionally go wrong, we know how to repair Dell computers.

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