This used to be the Dell difference -
We cut out the middle-man so you don't have to cut corners.
Nowadays, Dell units are sold at retail centers and so it can no longer claim to sell direct only.
What could Dell do to differentiate itself ?
More importantly, what can Dell differentiate in ways that are meaningful to customers like me, now that Acer is surpassing Dell in notebook sales ?
Personally, I choose Dell and have been using Dell since 1999 because :
1. Dell offers next business day on-site service
This means I don't have to lose time in taking my notebook to a service center. I wait for the service man to come to my door in the comfort of my office or home or even vacation location. This kind of service, I find is the best in the industry. And I have friends who use other brands' on-site service who would agree with me.
2. Dell has the widest range of customization choices
When I bought my last notebook, I could decide on my hard disk size, operating system version, monitor type and resolution, warranty duration, color, commonly used software to install, speaker. It's almost certain I can find the notebook with the exact specs that I want.
And the greatest deal of all, no matter how high I customize it, the warranty cost for the laptop stays the same. That is to say, the warranty does not increase even though I piled on a lot more features on the basic offering. Dell will stand by its warranty at the same price !! I only pay more for warranty if I want a longer duration or want some extra service. It is not dependent on whether I customize it or not. The warranty even covers the free gift !! I once received a USB pen drive as a free gift. When that gave trouble, Dell kindly sent a technician to send me a new one (a better one in fact, my free gift was a USB 1.0 drive, they gave me a USB 2.0 drive as a replacement).