Buying Dell home/home office vs. business

I've been reading this forum and would like to buy a Dell notebook. I prefer a Vostro, but I'm confused about the difference between the whole home/home office vs. small business aspect of purchasing from Dell. After building several different Inspiron notebooks and Vostro notebooks, it appears that when purchasing from the business section (Vostro), I will be charged tax and shipping, and I will not be able to use my Dell Preferred Account. I purchased a Dell desktop last year and have payed it off, so I would like to use my Dell Preferred account. Can anyone clarify these issues?

I am purchasing the notebook with my own money although I will be using it for work as well. Is there a huge difference in quality between the Inspiron and Vostro? I just got a promotion that will involve travel and I know that I will be able to do a much better job having a laptop, even though the company I work for is not willing to purchase it for me at this time. I don't mind spending my own money since I will also be able to use it for personal use. Would I be able to get away with having it shipped to me at work and maybe using my employer's tax ID number to prevent having to pay tax?.....I would only do this with my employer's permission, but don't want to get myself or the company in any trouble.

 

Usually the business line of laptops are built better, have better warranties and can be configured with XP.

Those are the main differences between the inspiron and vostro lines. Besides that they are pretty much identical.

 

I think they're the same basic components, but having worked on both, my initial impression is that the Vostro is a bit more sturdy than the Inspiron. Unless looks are very important to you, I'd, personally, get a Vostro over a similarly configured Inspiron, and I'd expect to pay less for the Vostro, too.

 

You can get gold tech support on business side, and it's better than XPS support in my experience. Chatline wait is close to none. Oh yeah, and they are US personnel.