About to pull the trigger on this M1530 deal. Opinions?

I have not called Dell to haggle yet, I doubt I'll get them to come down a whole lot but I will report back what happens.

What lines can I use to get some discounts over the $400 off and 12% EPP?

I'll be adding a 320gb external WD USB drive for non-essential storage (IT geek that travels a lot) and 4gb of RAM.

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Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
System Color Tuxedo Black
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
High Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1680x1050)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
64GB Solid State Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
3Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
Accidental Damage and LoJack Theft Protection to 3Yr Warr.
Additional Power Supplies 90 Watt Spare AC Adaptor
Additional Power Supplies Auto/Air AC Adapter
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Bluetooth Options Dell Bluetooth Travel mouse

Save $400 off this XPS system! -$400.00
12% off systems priced $1600 and up with 3/4 yr At-Home service. - $323.04
Free 3-5 Day Delivery

Total $2,564.40

 

This is just my opinion. Please don't take it the wrong way. If I were you, I would take SSD out. The technolgy isn't there, and I would not pay premium for it. I just try to save some money. If you got some money to blow, go for it.

 

The technology is there, is just doesn't justify the price yet.

 

Agreed... It's just too expensive now. But if you need high tech and don't mind the price, go for it. Otherwise, I'd buy the same config.

 

Actually, I agree that the technology is not there. I've read some faster boot times and SOME faster application load times, but in general no faster computing and in some cases actually slower like in copying large files. I'm not sure I would get a current SSD even if it was priced similarly to other HDDs, especially with the size limitations. In the not too far future, these limitations will not be there, and then we'll really have something.

Buuuuut, that system looks great no matter what route you go with hdd. Is the $594 discount already gone?

Edit: No, it's still there.

 

I would question on reliabilty of SSD too if I might add. From what I know, the write cycles for the drive are 300,000-500,000 cycles. If you run heavy application that relies on hard drive caching, I would worry about the drive.

I wish we have WD Raptor for laptop

 

Thanks for the input folks. Lots of attention in that area! I spent the evening reading a lot of SSD reviews and it seems in the 4th Q of 2007 the benchmarks really climbed up to beat mechanical drives across the board. Obviously not counting the price.

Reliability in the long run seems impossible to know, so that could be a good point.

Recently the 64gb SSD has been $1030 IIRC (with the configs I have looked at) but in the last day or two it has dropped to $900. I thought I would go for it. You've got me thinking about it more I guess. I'm buying this with pre-tax dollars so $900 is only like $550 out of my pocket.

The $594-off deal isn't a good one for me. Just based on the 3gb of RAM in the $594 deal, you lose $$$ in comparison to the $400 deal IMHO. I prefer the 1gb that I will upgrade myself to 4gb for $61. I priced both options and this one works better for me ... I don't have the numbers in front of me but the $400 off came in lower even after adding the $61 for RAM.

I'm sort of answering my own question, but flamenko wrote a good "how to save money" thread which seems very helpful. I will go this route when I make a decision.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=153497

 

Utilize my how to thread and follow it carefully. Configure the system with the person over the phone and then, after all is done, explain that you would really like to move up to an SSD. They are encouraged to try and get the SSD sales and upgrades so then, state how you really want it but just cant squeeze it into your budget. Talk nicely and ask what the lowest they could get this included would be.

Make sure you have done this after all the other bargaining and dealing is done. They will prob throw you a few hundred discount on the SSD for the sale if you approach it properly.

As for the life of the SSD, it will last much much longer than a HD but Im sure you have read the reviews. If not, see below for just about any question on the SSD, to include that one specifically.

 

Thanks flamenko - I actually found your how to thread between my original post and now. Looks great, can't wait to try it.

Any advice on when to call? Will I always get a foreign sales rep?

 

You can find numbers in the US and Canada and you will get someone in the country, usually, during business hours.

In Canada, the number is 8008474096 or 8663988977; they will get you to a local sales rep.

 

i ordered mine the other day and threw in the thing about being able to save 3% by ordering through fatwallet.com and the rep threw in a $150 dell card. if your order is over $1600 im pretty sure its a $200 dell card