Laptop Buying Advice

[Magic1]

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying a new laptop and have come across the Dell XPS 1710 2.16GHz with, quote: "Extreme gaming solution with larger hard drive and better visual display with 512mb graphics card"

Hee's the link - laptop on the left: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...hs1&l=en&s=dhs

It looks a great system - and if you reduce the warranty/support to one-year only it comes in at £1499 (including delivery).

But, I have a few question I hope you can advise on:

1. The system comes with a 5400rpm drive - for better performance (particularly with a laptop like this) it should be at least 7200rpm - yet there is no option to change it on their website - even though the model below allows this. Anyone experienced this, or have some advice without costing more?


2. The offers expire on the 13th of September (£100 off, & double memory) - what is the likelihood of a better offer after the 13th? - I would hate to pay 1500 quid today or tomorrow only to find out I could have got it cheaper next week!


3. A colleague of mine bought a Dell Dimension desktop a few months back. Rather than buying over the web he phoned them, and was given 3 different prices from the 3 people he spoke to! So, does anyone have any advice with dealing with Dell's Sales dept? Any tricks to a better deal etc.?

For example, delivery is free at the moment for most other laptops, except the XPS, and the hard-drive issue as explained above - would they be willing to switch from a 120GB 5400 drive to a 100GB 7200rpm one?

Thanks for any help & advice you can provide. It's been a few years since I bought a Dell (although my g/f bought a cheapy last year).

Cheers

Magic1

[Paul]

Hi Magic,

It does seem strange that Dell would see the 120GB (5400 rpm) hard drive as the best they can offer with this laptop and not give the option to change it to a 100GB (7200RPM) for this particular configuration. I would suggest calling them to get the hard drive you want. I can't see it being a problem, although you may have to pay a little more....

Regarding the special offers expiring on the 13th; Every week there are different offers, maybe free double memory one week, a free hard drive upgrade or a free printer the next....you never can tell what they are going to offer. I always advise people who are buying a system not to look at the Dell website for a month or so after their purchase, and then you can't feel bad about buying at the wrong time. :D

Sorry I can't offer any more advice than that, maybe someone else can. I guess the only sure way to get the answers for these particular questions is to call Dell and see what they say.

Best Regards