e6400 backlit keyboard

Yeah, well, Dell agents have given free upgrades before. Haven't they? You guys are making it sound like I am asking for something very unreasonable. All I am hoping (not demanding) for is a (relatively minor) free upgrade (of which there are several precedents).

 

Sure, they have, and I really appreciate that, by the way. But! That is BEFORE you actually make the deal, which is a common thing. You would not ask a local retailer to give you a keyboard for free, just because he gave you some free cables and some other goodies when you bought a desktop from him some weeks ago, would you? You can of course try it, I think that Dell is one of the companies where this actually works sometimes. Just don't be disappointed if it doesn't work.

 

Your laptop is equipped with a keyboard. Why would they give you another one? A new keyboard costs $50 or more, and it costs money to ship it out. And if you break something while you play with the keyboard, Dell has to fix it. Dell is not in the business to satisfy your every idle fancy.

Would you ask Dell to give an extra hard drive for free? Well, that's basically the same as asking for a keyboard for free.

 

I don't think that's a true, a harddrive should cost them more than a keyboard, even if it's backlit...

 

You compare the selling price of a Dell laptop keyboard, and that of a hard drive. They are about the same. What it costs them is not the issue; the market price of a keyboard is much higher than than what it costs Dell. Put it another way, you can sell a Dell keyboard on eBay for about the same price that you can sell a hard drive for.

But there is a fairness issue here. Why should Dell give you an extra keyboard free for you to try out, when it already has put a keyboard in the laptop? What is your justification for making such a request?

 

I would like to also refer to that. I guess that the production of HDDs is much more expensive than that of Dell's keyboards (keep in mind, you also need pretty specialized equipment for producing HDDs). Also, Dell has to buy the HDDs from WD/Samsung/wherever, whereas it looks like they developed the keyboard themselves, and at least some keyboards for Dell Desktops are being produced (or have been, I don't know if that's still true) in a cheap factory in China. (It's a very, very, very evil story, the workers even live within that factory!)

He will likely become a loyal customer.
If you could buy a loyal customer for a small fraction of 50 dollars, would you do it?

 

Not going there.

Does anyone really believe that you can buy loyalty by giving in to unreasonable requests?

 

Yes, I haven't made the deal yet. Since I haven't been able to see an E6400 in person, I am not sure which keyboard I'd prefer. I have worked on Dell D630 and I like the touch/feel of it's keyboard. But I really want backlit, but I am not sure if it'd be as good to type on. So, I am thinking I'd order backlit and request a non-backlit as an extra (I was just asking for tips on how to get the agent to throw one in for free. I know agents often throw in free upgrades, I am just not sure how to ask).

Some people make requests and agents grant them. I think whether or not the request is reasonable is something that should be determined by agents. You never know what kind of margin they have and what they'd be willing to give you as an add-on to make that sale. Maybe he won't throw in the keyboard for free; but he might give me some discount on that extra keyboard.

and of course, if agent is nice to me and gives me a break (free add on, or discount), I am going to tell my friends about the great experience I had; and I am more likely to purchase the laptop (than say, hangup the phone and look for another deal and then later I may or may not come back to Dell, I might find a deal at Lenovo, for example). Generally, sales agent will give you small breaks to make the deal right at that time, then wait for you to come back later on (because it's a risk, you may or may not come back).

 

Yes, you can. Even better, there are three potential new customers behind every single customer:

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Oh! I though you had already bought your laptop, and wanted Dell to send you an additional keyboard now! If you haven't purchased the laptop yet, it shouldn't be a problem to get an additional free non-backlit keyboard (even though you won't need it ) if you ask your agent for one. Dell often puts in free upgrades, for example I know of someone who even got a free RGBLED screen upgrade.
I personally got a rebate from my agent even though I haven't asked for it. So I can't tell you what's the best way to ask, but I think you could simply ask if they could put in an additional free non-backlit keyboard for you when you tell your agent that you'd like the BL keyboard. Just say that you're not sure about the keyboard, because it's important for you, and that it'd be a pity if you got the wrong one. You can argue that the backlight is not the only difference, as the surface of the keys is also very different (I don't know about the hub though).

I'm serious if I say that the backlit keyboard is THE upgrade that I would absolutely pick again if I bought another M4400, it's even better than the availability of the RGBLED screen. But you just realize that when you have to use a standard laptop without backlight after you've gotten used to it. Even in daylight.

 

Okay, so if I don't get free non backlit keyboard, I guess backlit would do just fine as well.

I also plan on getting an SSD. Are Dell Mobility SSDs good? Or should I upgrade on my own to Intel X-25M (160 GB) later? I am thinking I should get whatever I can get from Dell outlet and then upgrade to a better SSD sometime in September (when back-to-school sale starts).

I do a lot of downloading/uploading, I also do computer programming work and graphic designing work. So, I'd most likely have lot of small disk-writes (frequent file save, frequent compiling etc.) Plus, lots and lots of music and movies. Ideally, I'd want to get a 250GB+SSD but that'd be just too expensive.