Why does IBM take so long to build a laptop.

[VTboy]

I notice that if you order a dell it takes a few days for them to build it, but if you order an IBM it takes around a month for them to build it. What is up with that. Why is IBM taking so long to build their laptops.

 

[eelw]

Build it??? It's not as if once you place an order, that some technician receives the order and assembles the laptop for you. Laptops are manufactured long before they are sold. It's more a matter of available inventory. Currently the T4x and X4x are hot items and they are hard to come by. So either Dell laptops are not selling as many laptops as IBM or Dell carries a larger inventory than IBM.

 

[mrweirdo]

Dell seems to be faster with most of there stuff so they most likely do have a large inventory built up.
Also they could be assemble them faster and not doing an extinsive testing for quality wich is why dells seem to be POS and accounting for a larger inventory.

 

[asymal]

Originally posted by: eelw
Build it??? It's not as if once you place an order, that some technician receives the order and assembles the laptop for you. Laptops are manufactured long before they are sold. It's more a matter of available inventory. Currently the T4x and X4x are hot items and they are hard to come by. So either Dell laptops are not selling as many laptops as IBM or Dell carries a larger inventory than IBM.

Actually Dell does wait until you place the order before the tech builds it; not to mention that they also don't carry the CPU and memory in stock until the order comes in (you'd have to see their build operations to fully understand and apprecitate).

Otherwise, there are at few reasons for IBM's timeframe to build & ship their system:

- First off (and biggest IMHO)- IBM doesn't own their system build group anymore. They've outsourced it.
- IBM's out-sourced company that builds their systems also keeps large quantities of stock of all the components needed to build the systems. And with such a model, delays can occur due to constraints in supply, as well as dramatic pricing changes (which is happening on the memory chips).