1)Who makes the 60GB,80GB;and 120GB harddrives that Dell installs in
their desktops 2) also who makes the 48/24/48 CDRW that Dell installs
in their desktops. I plan to make a purchase soon and would like the
info to determine my best option choices for price and reliability.
thanks

Hello mysterion,

Go to http://www.dell.com
Click on Software and Peripherals near the bottom.
Next click on Home & Home Office
Click on Parts for your Dell
Select the Dell system you want this information about (example:
Dimension)
Select the product you want this information about (example: 8200
Series)
Click Search

You can see various hard drives here that will be sold with this
product line. The first item on the page is an 80GB hard drive that
manufactered by Dell (all the products shown here are in fact
manufactured by Dell). If another manufacterer is used, then you will
be able to find out who under the Narrow your Results, there will be
another Manufacterer listed.

For a list of all the hard disks in all of their product lines here is
an excellent link:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.asp?category_id=3025

Click on EIDE 61GB and Above.

You can see that the manufacturers they use are Dell, Seagate and
Western Digital. This is where you can look them all up.

As for the CD-RW's they use, visit this link: 
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.asp?category_id=4004&customer_id=19

Click on Internal CD-RW Drives/Burners and you can see several
manufacturers listed.
It appears they use 2 Plextor models and 1 Sony Model for 48x/24x/48x.

Just to let you know that I phoned up Dell Sales and they confirmed
everything that I had written here. Also they were eager to mention
that all of their components are tested for reliability and offered at
great prices and that if you want to know more information about a
particular model, you should feel free to call them at: 1-800-449-3355

I hope this is the information you were looking for for. If you need
any clarifications, please let me know and I will be happy to further
assist you.

tisme-ga


Search Strategy: 

Utilized Dell.com and their Sales Phone Number

dell supplier
://www.google.ca/search?q=dell+supplier&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=

In reference to the answer above, Dell does not manufacture hard
drives. It is not uncommon for a computer assembler such as Dell to
use whichever drives are available at the best price from a major
manufacturer. (And in the hard drive industry, there aren't any
"minor" manufacturers.) Sometimes a large client will ask a major hard
drive manufacturer to make a "special" version of a drive with custom
firmware or configuration, however.

I will also say that if you are looking to evaluate component
reliability, "what Dell uses" is not a good criteria. Frequently,
assemblers only want the cheapest component price, with sufficient
reliability to protect themselves from abnormal failure rates. Today's
hard drive technology is advanced enough that all drives are
reasonably reliable on average, and any that are found to have an
abnormal fail rate in the field are quickly discontinued and replaced
with a revised model.

Hello alexander,

I have to respectfully disagree with your comment. Everyone has their
own opinion on what "quality" hardware is, but Dell does not go for
the cheapest hardware. They have a department that determines the
quality (and compatibility with software and hardware with their
existing products) of a product before they will consider adding it to
their product line. Since most of Dell's customers select 2 or 3 year
warrently plans, this is certainly in their best interest.

Also, while they might not manufacture the hard disks themselves, they
often have companies contracted to make specific products for them,
and those are the ones that are branded with the "Dell" label, because
you simply cannot get them anywhere else (or from the company
directly). If they decide to use an existing product, they will retain
the manufacter's label, as you will see if you visit the website
above.

From personal experience, I have found that my Dell computers and
parts last much longer than any OEM computer, or any Retail computer
parts I have ever purchased, simply because of the standards products
have to meet before they will sell them. I stand by my answer, and if
you have any links to support your comments, I look forward to reading
them.

tisme-ga

I had an older Dell, and it used a Maxtor 3.2 gb hard disk.  I think
it had a different brand originally (still not Dell brand, though) but
it crashed and Dell replaced it with the Maxtor.

It's typically much less trouble for a system manufacturer to simply
negotiate bulk rates on OEM (no retail packaging, sometimes different
warranty) hard drives.  Dell (at least a few years ago) didn't even
assemble their own laptops; they branded laptops created by an
overseas company.

Also, very few companies make their own computer cases.  You can often
make a HP or Dell or Compaq look-alike with an off-the-shelf case.