Smart stuff in Dell's simplified approach to the venerable PC

Whether sourcing furniture, a TV, sporting equipment or a fleet of PCs, simple but sound advice is always get the best you can afford to avoid paying twice. This principle is neatly demonstrated by English author Terry Pratchett's 'boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness'. Paraphrased, the theory goes that one person spends $50 on quality footwear that lasts. Another buys $10 boots, suffers discomfort, and clogs that fall apart in a year. Over a decade, the second individual spends $100 on replacements and suffers from wet feet, while paying double for an inferior product.

That much emerged in discussion with Kevin Terwilliger, Dell Technologies VP Client Product Engagement. While his title is perhaps clunky, what he does is not - Terwilliger leads the evangelism of the vendor's commercial PC portfolio, and of course Michael Dell built the company on the back of its commercial PCs. With AI-everything the eminent topic du jour, the big (and simple) ask: What is an AI PC?

"That's a great question," Terwilliger smiled - and then the detail (and candour) of his answer may surprise you. "We believe any PC that has an accelerator is an AI PC. Honestly, the industry has gone through an evolution of what an AI PC is, and as an industry, we might have over-indexed on a 'just an NPU' [Neural Processing Unit] standard."

To clarify, does that mean the 6 year old device featuring discrete Nvidia graphics counts? "Yeah, because even if we go back a little ways, the Nvidia GPU can run AI workloads. So really, it's any accelerator, and part of [Dell's strategy] is bringing clarity to that. For example, there was a period of time when part of our Precision product line didn't have an NPU, right? And that doesn't mean that's not an AI device."

Go for the best spec: Buy right, buy once

It's well known that the difference between a Core i3 processor and a Core i7 is nothing more than a lower yield from the silicone wafer: they are in all other respects identical, but the i7 has fewer dud transistors. Longevity is therefore the same, at a hardware level. But longevity doesn't just mean a functioning component, it also means a coping one. Serviceability will differ as workloads increase, software becomes 'heavier', and as entirely new workloads like AI become standard practice.

In plainspeak, what Terwilliger is saying is comforting. There's no need to hoof out nominally older laptops or desktops in the name of AI, so long as the devices are fulfilling the demands placed on them, and so long as their reliability isn't otherwise compromised. Crucially, too, don't skimp on the spec when replacing older equipment.

Which, of course, begs the perhaps hackneyed question about refresh cycles. Now, vendor incentives dictate that refresh cycles should be nice and predictable, in much the same way that nice and predictable subscription revenues are favoured. So, again, Terwilliger's reply came as a refreshing bit of common sense, aligning with his already practical offer on what constitutes an AI PC:

"Our recommendation is not to have a one-size-fits-all refresh or lifecycle approach. Instead, we advocate for a Digital Employee Experience tool [which Dell makes available]. The most efficient thing is to let that tool drive refresh timing. Once doing that, some parts of the fleet make more sense to refresh within two years - you know, power users, the AI developers, more of the workstation-class devices. In other places, the PC might not be fully utilised, so you delay that and use those dollars to maybe manage through the inflated costs that we have. That's our recommendation, it's not one lifecycle for all but a purpose-built approach."

More than that, Terwilliger said any investment should depend on a business case. "The last thing we want for customers is an early refresh because they didn't deploy the right configuration. And there's a lot of pressure right now, because of the inflated cost environment, to consider configuring down to a lower end processor, or memory configuration. My feeling is these customers are going to have to refresh [again] in two years. They're going to be way more frustrated than if they bought the right thing [in the first place]."

Simplification from component to device level

There's more good sense from Terwilliger and it relates to standardisation and simplification of the Dell PC range. This has obvious benefits; he's already noted that jumping on an AI bandwagon can lead to distraction from the other factors germane to PC spec and select, and component/product range simplification helps minimise that. It also helps a vendor reduce production cost, and eases support requirements, particularly as devices inexorably age.

For example, he explained, "We went to a common standard modular motherboard outline, focused our engineering on fewer motherboards, optimising and shrinking them down to a much more efficient layout. It helps our customers respond to the constrained supply environment, with flexibility to move between different architectures within the same system and subcomponents."

The product lines get similar treatment, boiled down into just three categories; Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.  "We got a lot of good responses from our customers being able to navigate the portfolio," Terwilliger said.

These may seem like insignificant developments, but they can have a substantial impact at the coal - or PC - face, as Terwilliger related. "The New South Wales Health organisation recently moved from over 50 standards, 50 different configurations, down to just four."

As is the case with any major upheaval in the technology space generally, and in the PC space specifically, there can be a rush towards dictated obsolescence. Terwilliger and Dell's approach is anything but: no need to throw out babies with bathwater, and no need to lose sight of basic principles.

Including the good sense that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.