Count those fingers before you buy Dell – Gartner

Primer inter pares

CNET's John Spooner got his mitts last week on a Gartner research note, which warns companies to read the small print carefully when buying from Dell.

Headline low-prices quoted by Dell in negotiations may be misleading, the analyst firm notes. Stray from the standard configurations, and the prices zoom up. This is not simply a question of sharp practice, but reflects the differences in the way that Dell does business, compared with the likes of HP, Compaq and IBM, Gartner says.

Dell is comfortable with Gartner's comments, "even viewing it as a sort of primer for new customers", a company spokesman told Spooner.

You can read his article here. ®