Apple could buy Dell, with cash, but why?

Cleve Nettles
|
October 26, 2008
|
Share

We were looking at Dell's new $599 Macro Mini 12 Netbook with a 1.6Ghz processor and 1Gb of RAM running Vista(ouch)...thinking how much better that would be running MacOSX (or XP or Linux or Amiga or anything).  It is just basically the Air class parts in a much bigger, slower MacBook sized package.  Vista runs slow on computers twice as fast.  But that's not the point.  It is $600 and it could run OSX.  Some people would be well served by this.

Just like the iPhone hacking put the iPhone in a lot more hands, hopefully some of this hackintosh stuff starts going more mainstream so that fewer people have to endure Vista.  Realistically, a lot of people just can't afford a $1000 laptop.  If this demographic was better served by Apple, there's be a whole lot more happy consumers.

Oh, BTW, with $25 Billion in the bank, Apple has enough cash on hand to buy Dell which is worth $22 billion today. 

So maybe Apple's idea of making a high end only computer is slightly better than ol' Dell's.

Read Dell's page

 

Comments (8)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 10:29pm

I'd like to see a large multitouch convertible

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 11:32pm

since you don't specify what currency you're talking about, let's be clear that's $699 in AUSTRALIA-- and for the mini 9, NOT the mini 12. a quick peek reveals the mini 9 still starts at $349 US. perhaps you didn't read the page carefully, or is it just a case of sloppy as usual here at 9to5mac? for bloggers with unusually good insider connections, you're also unusually poor readers and writers. it's getting annoying.

Benjamin Dobson | October 27, 2008 - 2:37am

2. Choose an Operating System:

Maybe Dell could do with being bought by Apple.

gewfy (not verified) | October 27, 2008 - 2:59am

I've always wanted to have a Dell laptop design case for my MBP. The design is so awful that nobody would ever steal it.

Maybe this is a business opportunity for Apple? Hmm...

CWB (not verified) | October 27, 2008 - 6:03am

Not only would it put some extra cash in their pocket they could use it to their advantage.
Doing things like shipping windows boxes loaded with apple software like itunes, safari or ichat if they port that over.

They wouldn't apply the apple design to the machines but they could build them to be a little bit more appealing then the previous dell machines or other windows boxes.

It would seem like they would be competing with themselves but I think that this way they could take advantage of a market that wouldn't have bought a mac anyway and they would get alienware too wouldn't they? Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Yacko (not verified) | October 27, 2008 - 7:39am

Sun. About 3 billion would do it given the number of shares out and the current price, about $4. Lotsa reasons because much of what they do intersect each other though Sun is on a bigger workstation scale. Also Apple would get control over the direction of ZFS.

What's the frequency, Kenneth? (not verified) | October 27, 2008 - 3:56pm

Well, Apple could sell cheap crap under the DELL name, which DELL excels at, and the next time someone says their stuff is too expensive, point them to DELL. An advantage of this is how "well equipped" DELL is to sell cheap crap in China--an emerging market--already.