Dell CEO unveils new 'Dude, you’re getting a Dell (AI server rack)' video — PC maker recycles famous PC ad campaign to tout its new AI data center products

Dell AI server
(Image credit: Dell)

Dell has created a humorous 2026 update to its iconic early-2000s “Dude, you’re getting a Dell” series of commercials. Company CEO Michael Dell shared a brief new 10-second commercial this weekend, which shows the Dell Dude (basically a Ben Curtis-alike), gleefully opening the garage door, ready for his shiny new Dell AI rack to be delivered, which is then dropped in his yard from a crane.

The revamped AI era ‘Dude, you’re getting a Dell’ commercial can be seen by expanding the tweet above.

In the commercials of old, dating back 26 years to 2020, the Ben Curtis character would insert himself into situations where folks were discussing acquiring a new PC. After highlighting all the thrilling features of one of the latest Dell PCs of the era, he could then deliver his catchphrase to the delighted on-screen shopper: “Dude, you’re getting a Dell.”

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Pentium III era ‘Dude, you’re getting a Dell’ commercial

Perhaps now PCs aren’t that important to Dell, and a lot of other once-major PC companies. Nodding knowingly at this fact, and likely cheered on by investors, Michael Dell acknowledges 2026 is instead all about AI servers.

While the original ads hyped up getting a prebuilt PC, now the communicated excitement is getting a fresh hulking dual-door AI compute cabinet packed with hardware so cool it emits frosty mist. In the video, we see what could be Dell PowerRack or PowerCool systems. These might be packed with multiple Xeon or Epyc CPUs, tens of the latest Nvidia GPUs, dozens of DIMMs, and oodles of fast storage. All potentially sucking kilowatts of power.

Of course, Dell’s post is basically a parody/joke, as few if any home users would want to buy such powerful and expensive hardware for a corner of the garage. The most obvious use for this hardware would be for local LLM and generative AI work at scale – working on very large models without cloud latency, usage fees, rate limits and so on. But very few independent researchers or hobbyists (well, none) will be getting this Dell delivery to their home.

Instead, Michael Dell’s ‘2026’ commercial break may be signaling to IT business watchers that Dell is now far more invested in, and making far more income from, its AI-industry-facing businesses – like these extremely powerful rack systems.

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Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • S58_is_the_goat
    That video reeks of ai slop.
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    S58_is_the_goat said:
    That video reeks of ai slop.
    Because it is.
    Reply
  • usertests
    They might come to regret this campaign, or they might not care. I will still buy their office computers off of Dell Refurbished, ebay, or fish them out of the post-apocalyptic rubble.
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    usertests said:
    ...or fish them out of the post-apocalyptic rubble.
    Many knock Dell for a variety of reasons, but longevity or durability is usually not one of those reasons. The AI robot revolution will run on Dell.
    🤖
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    usertests said:
    I will still buy their office computers off of Dell Refurbished, ebay, or fish them out of the post-apocalyptic rubble.
    cheapest way to get a home nas/server
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    hotaru251 said:
    cheapest way to get a home nas/server
    Very true, indeed. I once plucked one from a "large item pickup" pile. Cleaned and upgraded a bit (was only a year or two old) and gave to my neighbors kids who needed for school work. Got both of them through high school. Another was plucked, cleaned, and upgraded and given to a family member who used for years.

    Both were still fully operational when replaced with newer systems.
    Reply
  • Bigshrimp
    They literally took an original commercial made by humans from 2001 for consumers and slopified it with AI for businesses. Who can afford a whole server rack other than businesses? What a joke and self-own on so many levels.

    This is just another example of why you should boycott all of these companies, because they are the pigs at the trough, getting their fill at the expense of everything and everyone else. Anti-consumer fluff because their greed is showing in everything they do without shame.
    Reply
  • usertests
    COLGeek said:
    Very true, indeed. I once plucked one from a "large item pickup" pile. Cleaned and upgraded a bit (was only a year or two old) and gave to my neighbors kids who needed for school work. Got both of them through high school. Another was plucked, cleaned, and upgraded and given to a family member who used for years.

    Both were still fully operational when replaced with newer systems.
    Free is great, obviously, and I'm sure some people will score as the transition away from Windows 10 continues. But right now I'm looking at Dell OptiPlex MFFs at an i5-11500T/i5-12500T baseline since those get 6c/12t, UHD 750 (Xe-LP, full 32 EUs instead of 24 EUs in i5-11400/i5-12400, with AV1 decode), and higher IPC than the Skylake era. While being some of the last to support DDR4.

    They are still a little too expensive on ebay for my taste, but I think that could be the sweet spot for a few years.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    Bigshrimp said:
    Who can afford a server other than businesses?
    That is who that commercial is aimed at.
    Not thee and me.
    Reply
  • Bigshrimp
    USAFRet said:
    That is who that commercial is aimed at.
    Not thee and me.
    That's my point. Seems redundant to point that out again after I already did, lol. :P
    Reply