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    M14x for 30% off, plus Dell paid me for a wireless inkjet

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by azizhp, Apr 23, 2011.

  1. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    Argh, NBR forum ate my post! am retyping from scratch :mad:

    I just pulled the trigger on my M14x- I started at the website and configured one with lowest price option for CPU, HDD, GPU and RAM, but added the extra soundcard, bluetooth, and the wimax card. Also went for 900p of course, and the full Vizio wireless HD kit. The total was $2071, including 4 year basic warranty.

    I called in to Dell and told the rep I was shopping around different models ( true, sorta) and that I was also going to buy another laptop for my wife later on (true). I gave him my EPP number for UW (hoping to get 2-3%), said I would use my DPA account (another 3%) and that also I wanted to use the Farmer's discount (didn't say one way or another if I was a customer).

    He put me on hold and went to crunch the numbers. Figured Id have to haggle to get 20% at best, but he came back with 30% off and free shipping! The only downside was that they were out of the Vizio kits, but he could still include the internal wireless transmitter. No big deal there - it's on Amazon for about the same price.

    At this point my total with tax was down to 1494.26. That's $400 off! (after accounting for the wireless kit). The total includes the Orion backpack, I do need to lug this thing around after all.

    This is when my rep blew my mind by saying he could add a wireless printer/scanner ... for -$6. Dell would pay me six dollars to take the printer in other words. :eek:

    (obviously, I agreed)

    Bottom line: just confirmed my M14x for $1486, which includes the 4 year warranty, backpack, wimax, and wireless HD. Ship date 5/13 arrives 5/18 (I'll call may 1st and see if I can get NBD).

    Some thoughts btw on the cpu, gpu, ram and hdd:

    If you look at Anandtech's review of SNB mobile chips, you see that the base option (2630QM) is an OEM part and the upgrades (2720QM, 2820QM)are retail chips with minor baseline frequency advantage (0.2 or 0.3 Ghz). Not a great value unless you're intent on overclocking. All are 4/8 core with HT and the same TDP.

    further, the upgraded chips support DDR3 1600 memory, whereas the baseline supports DDR3-1333. However, the only RAM available for the M14x is DDR3-1600, which will get downclocked to 1333 by the 2630 anyway. So if you choose teh 2630, there's no point in paying for more 1600 RAM - it's better to get the 4GB they give you, and then upgrade to 8 or 16 GB with 1333 modules for cheaper off of NewEgg.

    With respect to the GPU memory, paying for 3GB is a waste of money with the GT 555m. If it were a 460 GTX like on the M17 it would be a different matter. But the 3G ram upgrade is a pure profit play by Dell. Avoid. 1.5 GB is plenty.

    Finally, the base HD of 500GB is decent, but I do want to go SSD eventually. But the cost of $600 for the upgrade is nuts, especially since the M14x only supports SATA2 (3 GBps). Better to pay $200 for 128 GB SSD on Newegg; all I will put on the laptop is the OS, apps, and games - I'll use Dropbox to sync whatever data and or files I need for work from my desktop. Even if I wanted a 256GB SSD, by the end of the year these will be at $400 due to all the new SATA3/6GBps drives coming out.

    Bottom line: performance wise, the low-end configuration for the system core is perfectly defensible, and frees up budget for the bells and whistles (wirelessHD, wimax, bluetooth, and most importantly 900p screen).

    Not bad, eh?
     
    azizhp, Apr 23, 2011
    #1
  2. ted264

    ted264 Notebook Consultant

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    are you sure it only supports sata 3?..... its a p67.... so sata 6 should work?



    Also congrats (i paid for the 3gb card.... but i will be hooking it up to 2560x1600 display.... so...)

    anyways cant wait to get this beast. will be using it in school i got the 21% off and im happy with that!
     
    ted264, Apr 23, 2011
    #2
  3. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    It is possible, though these are usually customized motherboards so looking at P67's on newegg might not be accurate to get an idea of the featureset.

    at any rate, dell's SSD upgrade is only SATA2, so its kind of moot. its cheaper to roll your own upgrade.
     
    azizhp, Apr 23, 2011
    #3
  4. Gearsguy

    Gearsguy Notebook Deity

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    major.
    hax.
     
    Gearsguy, Apr 23, 2011
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  5. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    Seems less than 30, just did same specs on AAFES 22% discount total is 1436 for it, only difference is no back pack.
     
    Jetbo, Apr 23, 2011
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  6. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    are you sure you had same specs?

    baseline system cpu, gpu, ram, hdd + 4yr warranty, 900p, wimax, audio, bluetooth, integrated wirelesshd transmitter) = $1862

    backpack = $100

    30% off = 0.7 * ($100 + $1862) = $1373
    tax = 5% therefore total = $1373 * 1.05 = $1441.65

    my numbers are a little off but its the right ballpark

    maybe you forgot tax?
     
    azizhp, Apr 23, 2011
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  7. c1ro

    c1ro Notebook Consultant

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    It is genuinely 30% off for m11x/m14x in the UK til 10am 24 march with a voucher for 300 Pounds off :D
     
    c1ro, Apr 23, 2011
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  8. Serephucus

    Serephucus Notebook Deity

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    And what voucher is this?
     
    Serephucus, Apr 23, 2011
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  9. c1ro

    c1ro Notebook Consultant

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    c1ro, Apr 23, 2011
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  10. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    Military thats why I had no tax lol
     
    Jetbo, Apr 23, 2011
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  11. DJ3xclusive

    DJ3xclusive Notebook Enthusiast

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    Was this dell epp or home?
     
    DJ3xclusive, Apr 23, 2011
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  12. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    yeah jetbo i suppose you could look at it max discount 30% - sales tax to get effective discount, in my case 30% becomes 25% (though not exactly, since it is $x * 0.7 * 1.05 which is not the same as $x * 0.75

    example, $1000 purchase * 0.7 (30% discount) * 1.05 (5% sales tax) = $735

    whereas $1000 purchase * 0.75 (30% - 5%) = $750

    this is because sales tax is applied to the discounted total. so effectively I got a 26.5% discount

    btw - thank you for your service to our country! (assuming you're not a Brit - if so, um, no hard feelings about 1812 bro)
     
    azizhp, Apr 23, 2011
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  13. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    DJ3 - EPP was via University of Wisconsin academic discount

    gonna rock me some CUDA with MATLAB!
     
    azizhp, Apr 23, 2011
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  14. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    haha no not a brit i am american and i figured i saved over 400 too i payed 1146 for base with 2720 bluetooth and 2605 wifi card and 900p screen
     
    Jetbo, Apr 23, 2011
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  15. kingp1ng

    kingp1ng Notebook Evangelist

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    hack, aimbot, wallhack, reported! :D
     
    kingp1ng, Apr 23, 2011
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  16. Arklight

    Arklight Notebook Evangelist

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    So with all the the combined Epp, UW and farmers, they just cranked out 30% discount for you? Or was it because you said you said you're buying another laptop?
     
    Arklight, Apr 23, 2011
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  17. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    not sure - farmer is 21%, DPA is 3, so that would imply EPP was 6 which seems too high. probably just a few percent esp for AW.

    i think my rep just maxed out all the discounts he could find. I read somewhere here on NBR that 30% is the max possible discount in general.
     
    azizhp, Apr 24, 2011
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  18. jivemaster

    jivemaster Notebook Consultant

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    Lucky guys - we (Australia) can only get either EPP discount, or 1 coupon discount - not both.
     
    jivemaster, Apr 25, 2011
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  19. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    I say, sir, you're very damn lucky. That csr musta been having a good day, or maybe dell's been getting alot of complaint (from all of us R3 ppl) lolz, so they're handing out discounts hoping to gain new customers.
     
    ECKS, Apr 25, 2011
    #19
  20. WaffleBoy

    WaffleBoy Notebook Deity

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    OMG :S its only able at UK -.-
     
    WaffleBoy, Apr 25, 2011
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  21. revdiesel

    revdiesel Notebook Evangelist

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    What complaints with the M17x R3? That it is a joke in 1080p + 3D?

    Or that it became M11x build quality and lost SLI/Crossfire?

    Or mabye that it has too much battery life and that makes you feel weak?
     
    revdiesel, Apr 25, 2011
    #21
  22. Voodooi

    Voodooi AFK for a while...

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    The rep is listed at the end of the blog, however he hasn't returned my e-mails ever! Maybe all this publicity (since the blog is on the first page of google results when searching for M14X discounts - at least 2 days ago) got him terminated due to his generosity?
     
    Voodooi, Apr 26, 2011
    #22
  23. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    hey sorry guys - been busy IRL :p but am going through my PMs right now. I think its against forum rules to disclose a rep so thats why I linked my blog, its listed there, I will also reply to PMs if you've sent me them but please understand PMs on NBR are way down my stack of inboxes to monitor :)
     
    azizhp, Apr 26, 2011
    #23
  24. BatBoy

    BatBoy Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    BatBoy, Apr 26, 2011
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