Am I crazy, or did I get a good deal? :-)

Finally ordered my new laptop, after much debate and several experiments. The hard part was the compromises, but I think I did pretty good:

Dell Latitude e6420:
Highlights:
Intel Core i7-2720QM, 2.20GHz, 6MB Cache, Dell Latitude E6X20
4.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMM, Dell Latitude
Internal Backlit Dual Pointing English Keyboard, Dell Latitude E
nVidia NVS 4200M 512MB DDR3 Discrete Graphics, Dell Latitude E6420
500GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM, Dell Latitude E
3yr Pro Support + Complete Care

All for: $1,677.27 including tax and free next day shipping

Also, it was a "Ships fast" model, so it is scheduled to arrive on the 7th (so excited!).

Only things I compromised on:

• Weight/Size - a touch bulky (I was originally looking for thin/light)
• Rather unimpressive screen (though pleasingly bright compared to the competition)
• Rather limited ports - but eventually I intend to get the USB 3.0 module to replace the ODD
• Trackpoint - I hate these with a passion, but I'll just disable it and take the cap off and it should stay out of the way
• 4Gb in this config, but upgrading to 8Gb is fairly inexpensive these days

What sold me on it was:

• 1600x900 screen
• Quad Core
• nVidia Discreet Graphics - I hate AMD
• ExpressCard for DIY ViDock
• Good looking design (IMO) and I've always rather liked Dell's powder coating

This model was originally quite a bit more expensive, so I pulled the trigger when I saw the nice discounts running right now.


Any thoughts? I had tried the Samsung Series 9 and it was waay too anemic for my needs. I used to have a Vaio SR, but it died thanks to a fragile screen.

 

Do you plan on playing games? If not I guess it a good deal, I'm not sure though.

 

Games? What are these games of which you speak? ;-) The key here was that it had to be <14" for me, and while I might do some small gaming every now and again (hence eGPU options) it will mostly be programming, MATLAB, and compiling... I have a PS3 for everything really intensive gaming wise - just so long as I can get my Starcraft II fix in every once in a while and maybe Counterstrike when my friends are really bored.

The competition: MSI x460 (was waiting for quad core upgrade to the dx version), Elitebook, or Lenovo Y470.

You seem hesitant though... feel free to lay your concerns on me, because I'm all ears.

 

Why don't you get a Sager NP8130 instead? 1080p screen, 560m GPU, and I can run SC II very good.

 

Because that's a 15.6" notebook! Indeed, the options shoot up exponentially once one decides that >15" is ok For some reason, right now the market isn't really demanding anything smaller, so options are more limited. I was originally wanting 13.3" and wouldn't even consider 14", but again, it was even further limited.

Gaming is only a small deal for me, and I most definitely will never be playing away from the desk, so eGPU seemed optimal anyways.

With that said, that is an attractive looking laptop!

 

I would help you but I don't want to give you false information, I really haven't really research anything notebook less than 15.6 inches. However my friend has a Macbook pro ($1000 w student discount) and it handle SC II on medium high and look really good.

 

Of course it is always possible that you got a good deal AND that you are also crazy. The two choices are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Just saying.

 

Indeed, they're not mutually exclusive - it had already been confirmed that I was crazy I am sorta just seeing what the consensus is - it seemed like a sweet sale, because they are normally crazy expensive (even compared to Elitebooks). The warranty will come in handy for me, since I really hate sending off my laptops for repair, and for some odd reason electronics which I own just seem to have problems. Perhaps if I wasn't able to fix the problems myself they wouldn't occur so often?

 

Sorry to be a downer, but that is an average to high price for that model.

Don't be fooled by Dell's inflated list prices which they never sell a single machine for. They are there just so they can say look you saved crazy money in your shopping cart when in fact you got about the same price as everyone else. When I try to configure an enhanced model with those specs, its $1509. There is a similar ships fast deal up today for $1469. Perhaps there some other specs like you have omitted out to push the price that high?

Either way I never recommend any tech savvy person to buy individual Latitudes new from Dell. The Dell outlet has machine matching the specs you posted for $879. The only difference is the 3 year warranty on new which IMO is a waste of time few parts fail after 6 months and before three years. The prices in the outlet are 50% less than the new list prices which shows how much they are marking these up just to make ppl think OMG!1!! I got a deal!!!1!

But don't let that stop you form enjoying the new laptop. Do not be intimidated by the it "doesnt' have the shiny!" and other mis-guided complaints, these are well made machines.

 

You make some valid points which I had considered in my mental cost/benefit analysis:

I'm perfectly alright paying an average price for the laptop since I needed it now, but it still feels like with all the options on it and the free next-day shipping made it a little better than average. Basically everything but the RAM and HDD were fully upgraded, but I already had an SSD to throw in and RAM is so cheap it's negligible. When I looked at similar models, this was about what I'd be paying to upgrade them (either through the factory or aftermarket) to similar specs. Also, I very much valued the nVidia discreet over AMD.

I had spent a significant amount of time looking around the Dell Outlet, but finding the fully specced out config I wanted was a rarity - most of them had 1366x768 panels, or were not quad core configs. Beggar's can't be choosers I suppose, so I get the privilege of paying the "have it your way" markup. HP does the same scam lol - they have absolutely insane prices, but CTO always has about at least 20% off coupon running all the time. Last I checked though, the config I wanted would run about $1k before taxes, and I would still be adding a couple hundred for warranty - about the same as what I paid new (at this price a difference of ~$100 is quite reasonable to get new instead of used).

The key difference in cost is that you seem to not value the warranty - I'm *more* than capable of fixing most problems that will arise with the laptop, but after my experience with my last laptop I refuse to take that risk again. I had my Sony's screen swapped 3 times under warranty, and when the warranty went out it was a $600 fix (couldn't buy the panel anywhere else it was a rare one). My laptop is my primary machine, so having next day on-site service for the life of the machine is well worth the cost to me.

I'm really rather looking forward to this machine, and very happy that it will be here tomorrow already