Basis of Presentation (Notes)	3 Months Ended
Basis of Presentation (Notes)	Apr. 29, 2011
General Policies [Abstract]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block]	NOTE 1 — BASIS OF PRESENTATION Basis of Presentation The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of Dell Inc. (individually and together with its consolidated subsidiaries, "Dell") should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in Dell's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2011 ("Fiscal 2011"). The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). In the opinion of management, the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements reflect all adjustments of a normal recurring nature considered necessary to fairly state the financial position of Dell and its consolidated subsidiaries at April 29, 2011, the results of its operations, and its cash flows for the three months ended April 29, 2011, and April 30, 2010. The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in Dell's Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates. The results of operations for the three months ended April 29, 2011, and April 30, 2010, and the cash flows for the three months ended April 29, 2011, and April 30, 2010, are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full fiscal year or for any other fiscal period. Dell's fiscal year is the 52 or 53 week period ending on the Friday nearest January 31. The fiscal year ending February 3, 2012 ("Fiscal 2012") will be a 53 week period. Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncements Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses — In July 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued a new pronouncement that requires enhanced disclosures regarding the nature of credit risk inherent in an entity's portfolio of financing receivables, how that risk is analyzed, and the changes and reasons for those changes in the allowance for credit losses. The new disclosures require information for both the financing receivables and the related allowance for credit losses at more disaggregated levels. Disclosures related to information as of the end of a reporting period became effective for Dell in Fiscal 2011. Specific disclosures regarding activities that occur during a reporting period are now required for Dell beginning in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending February 3, 2012. As these changes relate only to disclosures, they did not have an impact on Dell's consolidated financial results. See Note 5 of Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for more information on Dell's disclosures relating to the credit quality of its financing receivables.

Description containing the entire organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.

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