XPS 17 Confusion!

Hi all

I'm looking to upgrade my laptop, the Dell XPS 17 looks like a nice machine.

Looking through the UK Dell Website however i'm left with some confusion, because there are two routes through their site to look at the XPS 17 and the result is what *appears* to be an identical laptop but at a £400 price difference.

Option 1

Click For Home, Laptops.
17" + Screens.

First row on the right hand side, XPS 17 Laptops.

So far i'm here:

Dell XPS 17 Laptop Details | Dell UK

Click select.

There are two that show up, click the right hand one "customise" button.

On this path the notebook configuration is done kinda like a wizard, clicking next etc. Now, I'll skip the detailed steps and summarise the result:

The final component list and price are:

Included in your system:
English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
OS Media MUI Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD
2Yr Next Day Hardware Support
No Accidental Damage Protection
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB - 1 year licence
Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
McAfee® SecurityCenter 15 Month Subscription
17.3"(44 cm) FHD 3D WLED TL (1920x1080) 1080p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 3D Capable
8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096]
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
1TB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Dual HDD - (2x500GB)
Mobile Broadband Not Included
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 (EUR)
TvTuner Not Included
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover
Also Includes
N05X7M02
XPS L702x Order - UK
English Documentation
Datasafe Local 2.3 Basic
XPS L702x Resource DVD
130W AC Adaptor
No Carrying Case
UK 250V Power Cord
Standard Service - 1 year of Collect & Return 10 day coverage included with your PC

Price: £1974.99


Option 2

For Small Business, Laptops and Netbooks.
Inspiron and XPS Laptops.
Dell XPS 17 Laptop (press SELECT).

That takes me here:

Dell XPS 17 Laptop Details | Dell UK

The right hand one comes up with prices from £716.33 - click Customise.

The configuration here is done via a list that you scroll down, different to the other route. Also note that while you can select 3D card and screen, there's no option to buy the glasses.

Here's the final spec via this route:

Components
English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
OS Media MUI Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD
Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
2Yr Next Day Hardware Support
No Accidental Damage Protection
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB - 1 year licence
McAfee® SecurityCenter 15 Month Subscription
17.3"(44 cm) FHD 3D WLED TL (1920x1080) 1080p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096]
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
1TB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Dual HDD - (2x500GB)
Mobile Broadband Not Included
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 3D Capable
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
TvTuner Not Included
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover
Also Includes
N05X7M06
XPS L702x Order - UK
English Documentation
Datasafe Local 2.3 Basic
XPS L702x Resource DVD
150W AC Adaptor
No Carrying Case
UK 250V Power Cord
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Standard Service - 1 year of Collect & Return 10 day coverage included with your PC

Cost: £1429.67


So just to summarise:

Option 1: £1974.99
Option 2: £1429.67

Yet, as far as I can tell, they are basically the same laptop.

The *only* thing i've been able to discern as different is on the cheaper price you have "N05X7M06" in the component list, and on the more expensive price you have "N05X7M02"... which is obviously subtly different but I can't find out why and a conversation with the Dell "chat" people was a complete waste of time.

My concern is that maybe the cheaper laptop has not got quite as good mainboard or something on it and maybe I would be better off getting a lower spec on the more expensive system... alternatively, why throw money away when apparently there's a much cheaper "apparently identical" machine on another page?

Confused. Any help and advice greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers
Matt Peddlesden

 

I think you'll find the For Small Business section excludes VAT,whereas the home use section includes it.The gedis code(I'm 99% sure) is reference to specifications build for the particular machine that you have chosen.The two prices you quoted are still for the exact same PC.

 

Aha yes you're right, I missed that. When I add the approx £230 in extra discounts, plus then add VAT, the prices are *almost* identical so that's great.

Many thanks indeed.

Matt.

 

Keep an eye on the Dell outlet as I got just about the same laptop as you for £830 ish delivered inc one year NBD warranty. You may get a few issues but the NBD warranty should sort that.

/edit: Use DMXDimension to find you decent money saving links

 

Don't know if they do the same thing in the UK, but in the U.S., Dell will offer different coupons for Home and Small Biz, and different discounts day to day at the two sites. Configuration options may be different as well, and one site or the other will sometimes offer a "Free" memory upgrade, BluRay upgrade, warranty upgrade, etc.

If you have the time, the best way to buy a Dell is to check the net price of the configuration you want at both sites daily. Also the EPP employee purchase plan site, if that applies to you.

Each day, figure out the net with all the coupons and site discounts available for the day and put it in a spreadsheet. It can be difficult to get an apples/apples comparison sometimes due to the free upgrades that you may not want, but you'll get the general drift.

You will notice the price go up and down at each site over time, once you have a feel for what the bottom price is, you can buy the next time the net price dips to that level.

Also, if you are interested in an XPS-17, find the "Dell XPS-17 (L702x) Thread" thread at this forum, and read it. It's nearly 400 pages now, so maybe you'll want to start at the most recent and work backward.

You'll learn a lot about this machine; the issues that customers have had, and the solutions. You'll also hear about web deals and coupons.

 

Nah in the UK there are far less vouchers and coupons, there are some but certainly not as many / frequency wise. I'd definitely do an outlet purchase again so long as you don't need it immediately (in case of any technical issues).