Precision M6400 price differences at Dell Outlet

Hi,
I've been browsing the Dell Outlet and noticed that some units are cheaper than their counterparts even though they seem to have similar or lower specs. Does anyone know why this is the case? are these units older and am I taking a greater risk buying the cheaper unit?

thanks.

 

The main difference you will get in the prices are the video cards, screen res and type and cpu/ram config. What are you looking for??

 

Could you post two links to the system pages where that happens? I've never seen that before.

 

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...emId=EED03P18&~lt=popup&c=us&l=en&s=dfb&cs=28

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...emId=DDA8PAZD&~lt=popup&c=us&l=en&s=dfb&cs=28

 

I'm trying to decide if it would be cheaper/best to get a basic system with 2GB RAM and other minimum specs from the dell outlet and upgrading it myself after. I know for a fact that in the end, I'd like my unit to have atleast 8GB of RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo, 160 GB of Hard Disk Space.... the rest like Screen type, video card etc, I can live with the basic as long as it wouldn't prevent me from getting things done..

The work I do is mainly 3D modelling, rendering, video editing, graphic related, lots of multi-tasking etc. I'd like the cheapest unit I can get but one that can handle all intensive work with relative ease .. Performance is something I can't sacrifice... What do you suggest?

My current unit takes 2 hours to render a 256x256 pixel (roughly 2"x2") image from a scene the size of a room and its not even set to a high quality.

 

Well, that's odd. The XP downgrade is worth ~$50 at Dell, but I can't imagine where the other $100 comes from. Maybe the cheaper one has been sitting at the outlet for a while, and they slashed the price in an effort to sell it.

I think that for what you do, those two systems would be adequate. You may want to consider looking for a higher, WUXGA res (1920x1200) screen so you can see larger pictures. The 2700M graphics is pretty good for almost anything. The P8700 is on the weak side, but then again, I'm all about processor speed. (note my X9100). If you go with something like a T9600, T9800, X9100, or QX9300, you'll see big speed boosts (especially with the quad core). It'll be a bigger investment though, so it's really up to you to decide.