The parts contract between Samsung/Dell was about a billion dollars over 10 years. It included CD/DVD drives, RAM, screen etc. A billion dollar in tech industry today doesn't sound like much but for late 1990s, that was a big deal. But not reported much in US if I recall correctly.

Also I distinctively remember reading a piece by a reporter who was quoting a Dell representative talking about a small/light Samsung Laptop that Michael Dell was using as his everyday laptop. They really liked its small form factor. I think it may have been Samsung Q20 which was rebadged as Latitude X300 around year 2000 or so.

Also, I heard Tim Cook first caught the attention of Steve Jobs around this time. He joined Apple to help smooth out supply of parts for Apple computers and he was instrumental in working with Samsung to accomplish it. I just checked and he joined Apple in 1998 so the timing does make sense to me.

Btw, as I was trying to look up old computers of Dell, I realized there is no complete list of them anywhere. Not like one available for Apple computers. Sad how the latest thing at a point in time like in 2002 is no where to be found on the internet...