SmallBizResource Blog -- SmallBizResource

Do You Feel the Love, Small Business Owners?

Posted by Naomi Grossman Thursday, Aug 23, 2007, 01:17 PM ET

Hey very small business owners, nice going. You are starting to make some noise. Computer makers are sitting up and noticing that you guys, who don't have IT departments, or even IT people, or even IT consultants, need some attention, and you just might make it worth their while.

Well, at least Dell is looking your way. The PC maker has come out with a line of desktops and laptops and services for very small businesses called Vostro. (If you want to define very small businesses the Dell way it's up to 25 employees.)

The tagline for the campaign is "We believe" and some of the stuff is indeed faith-driven: like that they won't pre-install trialware, and that their technicians are indeed "specialty trained," and that they'll really give small businesses customized service.

We'll see about that.

WSJ's tech guru Walt Mossberg weighs in on the new Vostro line and, sorry guys, he's not that impressed. He tested a midrange Vostro laptop. His verdict?:

" It’s a bulky, plain machine with nothing built in that Dell doesn’t already offer on consumer models, and some omissions that could make for extra setup work for small businesses."

Ouch.

But he quickly adds that it's affordable, the lack of trialware is nice, and he is cautiously optimistic about the specially trained phone support staff. "Only time will tell if these folks can really provide better-than-usual service," he writes.

Meanwhile, PC Magazine liked the Vostro 200 desktop which reviewer Joel Santo Domingo said, "works quite well as a mainstream PC for your small business. It should have the power to remain useful for the next five years, which is probably about how long you'll want to hold onto it for."

Hey, very small business owners, do you believe?

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