From The Front End - ZDNet Edition
My ZDNet version of my blog. Will feature news my mad opinions and relevant posts or partial quotes from my blog - http://www.fromthefrontend.co.uk
Topics: Wed Standards, Tools and Services for Designers, Photography and graphics, Accessibility and other Front-End Webdesign related info.
Thursday 11 October 2007, 3:13 PM
Dell runs out of...glass?
Users waiting on orders of laptops and PCs from Dell may wonder what is causing the unusually long delays for their systems to arrive.
When I asked Dell what is causing lead times of up to a month I was advised they have shortages of some components such as the biometric fingerprint reader which has a 7 week waiting list. However, as my order does not include this I investigated further.
It appears Dell has a server shortage of glass! I was expecting some hi-tech or rare component but it appears that glass is in short supply. This is obviously needed for all laptops and Monitors - desktops without monitors will not be affected by the problem.
Maybe I can go down to Brighton and borrow some sand for them...
PreviousComments on this post
I read this post and the first thing that popped into my head was that LCD screens are surely made of plastic? While that is true up to a point - having chatted to our technical editor Rupert "fountain of all knowledge" Goodwins - it turns out that not only is glass involved - but it's a very important component.
http://www.semiconductor-technology.com/projects/philips/
And while I'm spurting...
The front of LCDs is often plastic, for optical reasons and general robustness, but you have to have glass beneath.
That's because LCDs are made like silicon chips - they're dunked in acid, heated up to hundreds of degrees in a vacuum, bombarded with plasma and generally given a very hard time. There's no plastic on earth that can cope with that sort of regime - only extremely special glass (which is, after all, silicon dioxide).
What I find amazing is that the process involves such a range of extreme techniques, including building millions of transparent transistors atop a sea of precisely delineated chemicals, in a physical format as fragile as Mother Theresa's hip-bone, and still gets sold for a few pounds.
(Incidentally, the difficulties organic LEDs have with surviving this sort of production experience is one of the reasons that particular technology is taking a while to come to market in the larger formats).
I got a mail from Dell regarding this post:
=================================
Hi David
I saw your article on the glass shortages that Dell is currently experiencing and I wanted to highlight our official statement on this to you:
‘Dell is seeing supply constraints across various components, including LCD displays used in notebooks and monitors. Depending upon the model ordered by the customer and options chosen, the components included in their order will vary. We understand that customers are frustrated because this is not a common occurrence for Dell. We are making steady progress toward addressing the backlog of orders. Teams are working around the clock globally to decrease the number of systems affected by delays. We regret any inconvenience this may be causing our customers.’
Please let me know if you have any questions.
================================
Responding even to my blog posts! Now that's a company that takes an interest in it's customers opinions
