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Last Updated: Friday, 12 November, 2004, 06:13 GMT From the BBC


Laptops drive Dell profits boost

Portables are driving Dell's continued sales growth
Computer giant Dell has boosted its profits once more as lower component costs have helped its bottom line.
The firm, the biggest PC maker in the world, said its net profit for the three months to September was $846m (£457m), up 25% on the year before.

Sales rose 18% to $12.5bn, and Dell said it would now reach $60bn in annual sales by next year - a year ahead of the timetable it had set itself.

Market share grew too despite slowing growth in the PC market, Dell said.

The results were released after the close of business on the New York Stock Exchange, but after-hours trading saw its shares rise 1.9%.

Sector sales

The main driver for the firm's performance was the continuing popularity of laptop computers.

Unit sales were up 35% on the year before, with desktop machines up 18% and servers - designed to sit at the heart of networks - up 19%.

Consumer electronics was also doing well, up 37% in revenue - although the sector supplies less than a sixth of Dell's sales overall.

The rise in market share and sales meant new staff for Dell.

The firm said it took on an extra 3,000 workers during the third quarter.

Most, it said, were in call centres and were part of a push to bring customer service in-house.

Dell, like other computer manufacturers, has been hit by complaints that outsourcing has meant patchy technical support for customers.

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Jeffbx

Not surprising that laptop sales are soaring - they're finally to the point that they can hold their own performance wise versus a desktop, plus prices have been dropping like crazy.

4 years ago I was spending $5k each for machines that could just barely run 3D apps very slowly. Today I'm buying machines for half that that will run circles around many desktops.

bachviet

Thanks to the $750.00 off $1000 deal.

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Dell Dimension 9200 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz) | 4x1GB DDR2 | 256MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT

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kcrilly

750 off 1499. The would be showing a loss at 750 off 1000.

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bachviet

My bad...