Warranty and Deferred Extended Warranty Revenue (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Oct. 28, 2011

Extended Product Warranty Disclosure [Abstract]

Warranty And Deferred Extended Warranty Revenue [Table Text Block]

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	October 28, 2011			October 29, 2010			October 28, 2011			October 29, 2010
	(in millions)
Warranty liability:
Warranty liability at beginning of period	$	944		$	976		$	895		$	912
Costs accrued for new warranty contracts and changes in estimates for pre-existing warranties(a)(b)	223			260			779			868
Service obligations honored	(252		)	(286		)	(759		)	(830		)
Warranty liability at end of period	$	915		$	950		$	915		$	950
Current portion	$	588		$	627		$	588		$	627
Non-current portion	327			323			327			323
Warranty liability at end of period	$	915		$	950		$	915		$	950
	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	October 28, 2011			October 29, 2010			October 28, 2011			October 29, 2010
	(in millions)
Deferred extended warranty revenue:
Deferred extended warranty revenue at beginning of period	$	6,794		$	6,109		$	6,416		$	5,910
Revenue deferred for new extended warranties(b)	1,004			1,035			3,192			2,890
Revenue recognized	(936		)	(845		)	(2,746		)	(2,501		)
Deferred extended warranty revenue at end of period	$	6,862		$	6,299		$	6,862		$	6,299
Current portion	$	3,212		$	2,910		$	3,212		$	2,910
Non-current portion	3,650			3,389			3,650			3,389
Deferred extended warranty revenue at end of period	$	6,862		$	6,299		$	6,862		$	6,299

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(a) Changes in cost estimates related to pre-existing warranties are aggregated with accruals for new standard warranty contracts. Dell's warranty liability process does not differentiate between estimates made for pre-existing warranties and new warranty obligations.

(b) Includes the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.