Honesty is the best policy.

From The Register:

Computer giant Dell stunned a Reg reader seeking a processor upgrade when it told him he might want to consider a "Mac".

The El Reg reader had emailed the firm's hardware technical support team asking whether it was possible to upgrade his one year old Dimension 9150's processor to a Core2 CPU without having to also replace other components.

Here's how Dell hardware frontline responded:

Thank you for your response to Dell hardware tech support. It's true that if you want to upgrade the processor to a high end, you need to upgrade motherboard and consequently other devices like PSU, proc fan etc. I would suggest that purchasing a new PC is a better option than to upgrade it on this system as replacing the motherboard and processor is going to be expensive.

It's better you get a new system with duo or quad core processor. Mac is a good option. You may also look at XPS systems of Dell [XPS One is the best in XPS performance line], you may google on this system to get more information.

[Emphasis added.]

Well, sending customers to your competitors when your own offerings are inadequate was a strategy which worked well for the fictionalized Macy's in the classic Miracle on 34th Street. I suppose we can now safely infer what Michael Dell's holiday viewing included.