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Dell started In 1984, with Michael Dell, a student at the University of Texas at Austin when he founded the company PC's Limited with capital of $1000. Operating from his off-campus dorm-room the company aimed to sell IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components. His belief was that by selling personal computer-systems directly to customers, he could better understand customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. In a hort period of time Michael Dell dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, and managed to raise $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family.

In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design — the "Turbo PC", which sold for $795 at the time. It contained an Intel 8088-compatible processor running at a speed of 8 MHz.

He advertised the systems in national computer-magazines for sale directly to consumers, and custom-assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options. While not a new concept, this offered buyers prices lower than those of retail brands, but with greater convenience than assembling the components themselves. Dell was the first to make this model work well and the company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of trading.

Dell now has operations in many countries and has expanded to include other products including televisions, audio players and printers.