The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Dell Inspiron M5030 touted as 'first' Spanish-language laptop in U.S.

By | March 28, 2011, 7:18am PDT

Summary: Dell has recently released the Inspiron M5030, which is being boasted as the “first” Spanish-language laptop to be sold in the United States.

Dell has recently released the Inspiron M5030, which is being boasted as the “first” Spanish-language laptop to be sold in the United States.

Given that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S., one might ask where has this laptop been all this time? Better late than never, right?

The M5030 itself has been around since last year. The big differences with this new Inspiron M5030 is that this notebook sports a Spanish language keyboard and Windows 7 comes pre-loaded in Spanish as well. Otherwise, the specs are quite similar with an AMD Athlon II P360 prcoessor, a 15.6-inch widescreen (1,366 x 768 resolution), 4GB of RAM, 802.11g/n Wi-Fi, a DVD burner, and a 3-in-1 media card reader.

Pricing for the Spanish edition of the M030 starts at $499. However, it will only be given a limited release for now at BrandsMart USA stores in Florida and Georgia.

For a closer look at the Inspiron M5030, check out the promo video below:

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Topics

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
47
Comments

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: Dell Inspiron M5030 touted as 'first' Spanish-language laptop in U.S.
BrewmanNH 29th Mar 2011
@rivardau
So is everyone of those aboriginal languages, they all came from Asia about 15000 years ago. Before that, this was an empty land, we're all strangers in a strange land in the US.

I couldn't care less if Dell wants to sell a laptop that's in any language they want. I vote for Klingon myself, lets see how many geeks can use the computer then. happy This is a company seeing a need and marketing to it, go Dell!! That's what the U.S. is all about after all, regardless of where the computers are actually made.
0 Votes
+ -
In this case: Better never than late
ye Updated - 28th Mar 2011
Given that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S., one might ask where has this laptop been all this time? Better late than never, right?

English is the official language of this country. I'm tired of having to push one (soon to be two) for english.
@ye I have to agree with you. Speak English or get the heck out. Send those laptops to Mexico.
@awright5335@... Tell that to your imigrant parents and grandparents. Funny how it was ok for your ancestors to get here, but now that you are here, keep the bastards out...
  • Flagged
@awright5335@... Maybe you should start learning Lakota or some other Native American language if you feel that you belong here...
  • Flagged
@tvjazzman
My immigrant parents learned English. That was part of the price you paid for coming here. They didn't have society catering to them and kissing their_ass.
What a bunch of bigoted nonsense, this is a consumer product, you give the consumer what they want, end of the story.

I could have used such a product at one point myself, not currently though.
@javier.andres.lopez@... he stroke a nerve here, didn't he? Yep, those laptops should go to Mexico...
What a bunch of bigoted nonsense, this is a consumer product, you give the consumer what they want, end of the story.

Then learn an English laptop like everyone else. Why should the rest of society kiss your_ass.
@ye Before going any further, read the Constitution: there is no official language in the US, so why not? And is nobody else's fault but yours that you only speak one language; besides the better everyone becomes in using technology, the better this country becomes and being English exclusive just puts a barrier on advancement! Viva el espa?ol! And other languages too, like Mandarin or German!
Well it's time we have one. And leave the foreign jabber in the foreign language schools.
I can't think of any other nation where they insist that there should only be 1 language. That said, I agree that people should learn the official language...

C'est la vie, dans la monde moderne.
I can't think of any other nation where they insist that there should only be 1 language. That said, I agree that people should learn the official language...

C'est la vie, dans la monde moderne.


Funny coming from you, since the official language in France is French. Codified into written law.

We need something like that here.
@ye Actually, there has never been an "official" language in the US. English has been the de-facto language used by the government, but they have never made language requirements as public policy.

This is mostly because in the early days of the United States, there was actually a sizable number of speakers of German, Spanish, etc... in the union, whether they were newly annexed areas, or were part of a minority, such as the Pennsylvania dutch.

mostly though, the framers may have done that because they thought forcing people to speak a certain language was un-American.
@ye
No, the USA does not have any official language - re-read your Constitution please, and quit spewing false statements.
as far as language choices, businesses are going to do whatever it takes to get the consumers' money (after all, that is why they are in business) and to get their money, they have to communicate with the consumer. If the consumer uses a foreign language, then businesses will accommodate them.

which should have no effect upon you, it should be irrelevant to you if my keyboard has french characters (or spanish, german, chinese, whatever). you do not have to buy it nor use it. but for those of us that need these other languages for keyboards and software, and have the money to purchase them, it is a business' right - in fact, a great idea - for them to accommodate so as to earn more profits.

If you are really tired of pushing a "1" for English, then move to England, a truly english-speaking country. America has always been a melting pot of multiple languages and cultures, and true "American" languages would be navajo, sioux, cree, or any other native language - remember that English is a foreign language on the North American continent!
@rivardau
So is everyone of those aboriginal languages, they all came from Asia about 15000 years ago. Before that, this was an empty land, we're all strangers in a strange land in the US.

I couldn't care less if Dell wants to sell a laptop that's in any language they want. I vote for Klingon myself, lets see how many geeks can use the computer then. happy This is a company seeing a need and marketing to it, go Dell!! That's what the U.S. is all about after all, regardless of where the computers are actually made.
People have to realize this is about marketing, not politics. Having said that, I recently had four choices of language... two of them were Chinese languages.

On the other hand, a company I worked for in the past spent extra money making sure we had Spanish software on the new computers we bought and it backfired. Turns out Mexicans learn all their software in English, even if they don't speak English.
0 Votes
+ -
Given that POTUS was born in Kenya
davebarnes 28th Mar 2011
shouldn't all our computers be "British English"?
@davebarnes
Are you joking?
@davebarnes Yeah... This must be a joke or ignorance. Our president was born in Hawaii, even the top Republicans admit it.
@davebarnes
can you please provide President Obama's kenyan birth certificate then, since you seem to know this "fact". if you can't produce the document, then you don't know for sure, and you should just shut the $@#@#%? up!
pardonnez-moi mon francais...
0 Votes
+ -
Shoot the editor
Robert Hahn 28th Mar 2011
"is being boasted"
Is that phrase Spanish? I ask because it sure as heck isn't English.
1st Spanish laptop sold in the US? Why aren't they selling it in Mexico?

I guess this will be even more of an incentive for box stores to hire illegals- now they can sell the laptops in Spanish instead of telling me-- 1 second please no habla English as they run to get someone who does. You know Walmart and BestBuy will be out there adding shelves for this one.
@CoffeeMan6

Just a thought... It's only news if you're doing something NEW, and DIFFERENT... selling spanish stuff in a place that *officially* speaks spanish? Not a big deal. :P
No more Dells for me!!
As with many other U.S. citizens I agree completely. It is a shame that our country still has no national language; whereas most nations in the world do, and is simply driven by politics and politician's fear of losing one's job if they speak out against it. But what's worse it Dell's position. Offering a laptop in English or Spanish. Where do Italians, French, German, Greek, Finnish, etc turn. Oh, they have to learn English to function in this country. It is Dell who is being the ethic racists here.
0 Votes
+ -
@frvr@... It's all about demographics. There aren't that many people who speak any of the other languages, without speaking english. Meanwhile, there is that whole political issue of illegal immigrants, which is almost always accused of coming from Mexico......

Spanish is the 2nd most common language in the US, so, clearly it would be the first one to be catered to!
Spanish is the 2nd most common language in the US, so, clearly it would be the first one to be catered to!

This is an English speaking country. My grandparents weren't "catered to".

If I wanted to learn de espanol I'd move to Mek-ke-ko.
it is unbelievable tha amount of hate and ignorance that these comments show
@cjmunozsan@...

I agree
Too bad. Tough.
@cjmunozsan@... since you are so open minded, could you wire back to me the money I pay in taxes that go to supporting illegals in US?
I believe that even what drives this move is not altruist but an economic interest on trying to capture the Spanish-speaking market, is still the RIGHT MOVE! When people and companies in United States start to act like being PART OF America(as we are) and not being America (because we are not) that's when advancement and integration with our neighbors can begin! We were the last ones to colonize the continent and still some of us have imperial delusions of grandeur because of a keyboard and an OS language? That is to say the least, silly!
@javier.andres.lopez Hey, inclusion is good business!
0 Votes
+ -
A baby step in the direction of full i18n
scentoni@... 28th Mar 2011
It should be just as easy and cheap to order your computer with a keyboard and preinstalled OS in Chinese, Russian, Arabic, or Hindi. Certainly, they're sold (by Dell, for instance) in other places, they should be available here also.
@scentoni@... Well, the difference is that they're selling them locally. Otherwise, you'd have to import them.
I can't believe the numbers of people here that would fail my high school history class. Read your history, people. Immigrants made this country and continue to revitalize it.
And slowly turn it into a Third World pest hole full of gang bangers and rug merchants.
@ScorpioBlue Man, I hate brown people soooooo much! saggin' their pants and eatin' their takeetos.

If you read a history book, you'd see that this is the exact same argument used to down Irish and Italian immigrants in the late 19th to early 20th century. Then, their children and grandchildren learned English, climbed the social ladder, and proceeded to badmouth all the newer immigrants.
If you read a history book, you'd see that this is the exact same argument used to down Irish and Italian immigrants in the late 19th to early 20th century.

Yeah well those folks didn't need bi-lingual signs and native language laptops in order to get by. You learned English the best you could and gave back to society for being allowed to come here to begin with. Nobody rolled out the red carpet of kissing_ass for them.
@007hornet

And they learned English!
@007hornet ... it is true but when it come to "legal" immigrants. The illegals though have no respect for this country: last year on the day of Mexican independence, Mexican students in one local California school almost rioted because a few kids showed up with t-shirts with the American flag! Grow up and open you eyes!
I'll never buy a new Dell again...
Speak English or go home.
Spanish my ass!
@IT is for the birds!

Stupid white trash....this is a FREE COUNTRY...read the Constitution...nowhere it says that you should talk English...I TALK WHATEVER THE HELL THAT I WANT...and I speak English because I CAN and WANT...Y ADEMAS HABLO ESPA?OL PORQUE ME DA LA GANA...y tu sabes Espa?ol?? PENDEJO!
F'ck you, greaseball....
  • Flagged
I think it's sort of immature that people are complaining about how well we supposedly treat immigrants. It sort of reminds me of Warren Harding getting elected because people thought we were treating all those filthy Italian and Irish immigrants like kings.

Whatever happened to the marketplace of ideas? This is a free country, whatever language we all speak. If there's a commonly used language in a country, learning that language is your problem. It seems to me that some people who complain about not having a legally mandated language in the US may be more concerned with having brown grandchildren than anything else.
0 Votes
+ -
hurp durp
nickswift498 28th Mar 2011
@IT is for the birds! So are Mexicans. It's just that the ones who know English the most are the younger ones, who then get more skilled jobs with which they can buy their Spanish-only parents Spanish language laptops.

Am I the only one who sees the historical pattern here?

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix