Tag: Intel

Categories
For the Geeks

Dell Swarm – The More People Buying It, The Most Discount You Get!

Dell Swarm Website

So I was at what appears as the world first preview of Dell Swarm.  Of all the countries in the world, Dell has decided to choose Singapore as the pilot for this new and innovative way of product sales.  Maybe that says something about how we Singaporeans love … discounts?  Or more so for group discounts.  To cut a long story short, Dell Singapore is selling some of their products at a promotional price.  But there is more to it.  The more people swarmed together and buy the same product, the more discount the entire group gets.

That makes perfect sense.  I bought my Nikon dSLR camera together with my buddy Darkspore; and then we bought the white balance card together at Amazon.com.  I bought my NAS together with my buddy TK; and then we bought the digital jukebox together at Amazon.com.  So if the air travel industry has the 2-to-go or 4-to-go concept all this while, why doesn’t the e-Commerce retail business follow suit?

Apparently, that is what Dell Swarm has in mind.  The idea is so new that the Dell and Intel folks at the blogger event are as excited as me on how this will turn out.  So what exactly is Dell Swarm?  Here is a quick run down.

  • A Swarm is a group that forms to buy selected Dell laptops powered by the latest Intel® processors for less, within Singapore.
  • Every Tuesday (at 00:00:01), two swarms will be opened for two selected products eligible for group discount.
  • Any product put on swarm will have a discount from the original price as advertised in Dell.com.sg regardless on how many buyers are in the swarm.  So I guess if you already want to buy that Dell product powered by Intel®, you already have a good deal when you join the swarm.
  • And now, here is the fun part.  The more people join the swarm (in Singapore) and buy, the lower the price will drop!
  • The swarm has a lifetime of 72 hours or it will close when a limit of 15 buyers is hit.
  • So how much do you pay?  Everyone in the swarm will pay one final price – the lowest one.

Since I am given an access to their yet-to-go-live website, here are some screenshots on how it works.  I was told that all prices shown are not official so don’t get too excited if it is too … low … ha ha ha.

Dell Swarm - Demo 1

In this example (above), the Inspiron Mini 12 at the original price of S$899 is selling at a discounted price of S$854 if you are the first buyer (I tried the new netbook by the way and it looks awesome!).  So what happens when more buyers are joining the swarm?

Dell Swarm - Demo 2

With just 3 buyers, the price has dropped from S$899 to S$820.  And with 8, the illustrated price has dropped to the lowest you can get, S$809.

If you are not sure about buying, you can choose the follow option and will be informed as and when the price changes.  Maybe you have a target price in mind?

What is interesting about this innovative sales model is that it encourages word-of-mouth through both traditional means as well as the social media network.  Simply put, the more people join your swarm, the deeper discount you will get.  And which products do Dell Singapore plan to promote via Dell Swarm?  Reliable source tells me the followings: Inspiron Mini 12, Dell Studio 14, Dell Studio XPS M1340, and Dell Studio 14.

Dellswarm.com will be launched on May 5, 2009.  Keep a look out if you plan to get a Dell.  I for one am shopping for a netbook for our upcoming Spanish trip (mainly for the back-up of my digital photos just in case you think I am a workaholic or blogaholic).  I know someone in office who is buying a netbook for her business trip to UK.  And another friend is buying a laptop for his daughter.  Happy swarming guys! 

PS. This is not a sponsored post and all details are subjected to change.

Categories
I See I Write

Intel Core i7 Launch Party at Equinox, Singapore – A History of Chips Part 2

Could it be that oh-so-confusing video blog I created a while back that earned me a ticket to the Intel Core i7 launch party at Equinox, Swissotel The Stamford?  I have no clue.  This afternoon, I met my good old friend Robert for lunch and he joked that I should write something revelation, something closer to my heart.

And indeed I should attempt to.

Computer processor, quite honestly, is the least sexiest thing on Earth.  It is so behind-the-scene that most of us simply take it for granted, or hardly take notice of its existence.  But yet, the pace of our civilization’s progress depends on not only how many brilliant scientists we have, but also how far we push the envelope of technology.  I am a computer science and engineering graduate.  And I have witnessed the evolution of computer processor since the Intel 80268 era.  Commercially viable processor architecture doesn’t change often like fashion does.  The new Intel Core i7 – or often referred as the Nehalem architecture for those of us who have kept track of its development – is one breathtaking milestone of our digital era.

I have recently upgraded my home PC to an Intel Core 2 Quad (note: try not to click onto that link as it is rather dry and boring for public consumption).  I love my Quad Core, I really do.  It is fast, trust me.  But the Extreme Edition of this new Core i7 scores 60% faster than mine (73.5 versus 117).

To be honest, I am still quite shocked that Intel releases the new Nehalem architecture especially when (1) their only competitor AMD is way behind and struggles so hard to survive and (2) their Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors have been selling well and met 99.99% of the mass public’s needs.  I really thought that Intel would take a back seat on this one.

Maybe Intel simply takes pleasure in putting a final nail to AMD’s coffin (how many of us have gone from AMD4Life to “AMD is Dead” overnight?). And mind you, Intel’s new chip with a feature size of 32nm is on its way to see the world in the year 2010.  For whatever the reason, it is clear to the world which company is out there pushing our limit on how fast we compute.  You can certainly own one of the fastest processors on the planet.  I bought my C2Q 9450 (with motherboard) at S$600 in May.  The new Intel Core i7 with the new Intel chipset X58 costs from S$900 to S$2,200.  For those who are willing to spend up to a grand for each top end graphic card, the future is within reach.  One could overclock the Extreme version up to 4GHz although the official figure given by Intel is 3.2GHz.  Now, that is sick.

Personal Notes:

  • Thank you Intel and Ogilvy for the invite.  Now I can tell my grandchildren that I was there when Core i7 was first launched.
  • It is lovely to see familiar faces at the party – my fellow Singaporean bloggers.
  • Seeing the MSI counter brought back memory.  I had MSI motherboard and graphic card once.  And thank you for those gifts!  Now I can decorate my office.