The dream of walking into a single store to purchase a messenger style diaper bag, an easy listening Piano Tribute to Coldplay CD, an engagement ring and a Dell computer for under $1,000 has become a reality.

Dell peered into consumer hearts and materialized this secret fancy with mega chain, Wal-Mart. The PC vendor, which has until now relied solely on direct sales is offering its wares at 3,500 Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Canada as of June 10.

Wal-Mart will sell two Dimension desktop bundles currently available through Dell direct for under $700. Dell will offer Dimension E521 desktops without a monitor and E521s with a 19-inch flat panel on store shelves.

Dell has been promising (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/17/dell_indirect_biz/) to "ramp up" retailer and reseller partnerships worldwide to combat lost sales to computer makers such as HP and Lenovo who offer their products in stores. Last year, Hewlett-Packard overtook Dell as the No. 1 computer seller worldwide.

The company makes a point on its blog that retail offerings will not replace its core direct business model, even though more retail announcements are coming.

Dell Ubuntu systems unveiled

Rumor-hounds have had a rough idea (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/01/dell_linux_lives/) of the systems Dell would vend loaded with Ubuntu — but now they're officially official.

Two desktop models and a laptop will be sold, factory installed with the open-source operating system. The XPS 410n (starting price: $849), Dimension E520n desktop and Inspiron E1505n notebook (both starting at $599) will be available today from Dell with the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux distribution.

A XPS 410 with Windows currently starts at $899 at Dell. A $50 markdown is a small, but welcome sight to Linux fans who were actually paying paying more (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/02/dell_ubuntu_analysis/) for the free operating system over Windows during Dell's original short-lived Linux offering in 2000.

Dell said the Linux systems will be available on their website to US customers beginning today. ®

Related stories

Dell tells customer 'Mac is good option' (16 January 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/16/dell_mac_good_option/
Dell moves 40,000 Ubuntu PCs (30 November 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/30/ubuntu_dell_sales/
Public school IT supplier goes titsup (29 November 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/school_laptops_administrators/
Dell to pump out Ubuntu servers (16 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/16/dell_ubuntu_servers/
Dell PCs added to Staples diet (22 October 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/10/22/dell_to_vend_pcs_at_staples/
Oracle's got a giant Red Hat fork coming, says spaceman (27 July 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/27/shuttleworth_oscon_ubuntu/
Dell chats up Asian retail stores (5 July 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/07/05/dell_in_talks_with_asian_retailers/
Dell trips over printer cable (5 July 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/07/05/dell_asa_printer_cable/
Ubuntu chief mua muas Microsoft (19 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/19/shuttleworth_microsoft_thanks/
Dell audit probe almost over (18 June 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/18/dell_sec_audit/
Dell begs gamers for forgiveness with free boards (1 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/01/dell_xps700_free/
Dell's channel shake-up ripples across to Europe (31 May 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/31/dells_channel_shakeup_may_expand/
Dell sees the channel light while Microsoft is cast as open source redeemer (24 May 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/24/channel_weekly/
Dell deploys overclocked, liquid-cooled gaming PC (23 May 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/23/dell_deploys_xps_720/
Dell plans channel shake-up (17 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/17/dell_indirect_biz/
Dell reinvents the cardboard box (8 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/08/dell_box_multipack/
Dell's dance with Ubuntu: True love or farce? (2 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/02/dell_ubuntu_analysis/
Dell Linux is go (1 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/01/dell_linux_lives/