Finally ordering my M11x tomorrow - advice?

So I've been waiting forever for the moment that I can afford this computer - but since I've had to wait this long to buy it, I've missed out on the $100 coupon deals and stuff that have happened (the last one expired June 30th) - and I'm trying to figure out as many ways as possible to save money on this so that I can afford it. Anyone know how often alienware promotions / coupons like the one I just missed out on come along? I have a free shipping coupon, but since I'm in hawaii it doesn't seem to work - so I'm thinking of calling up an agent and haggling to get them to give me free shipping anyway. I'm also thinking of seeing if I can get them to give me the $100 discount for the coupon that I have that's expired - I'm gunna explain that I'm poor and I can only really afford it if I get major discounts - and since I technically have the coupon codes to get said discounts, and since agents get bonuses for the sales they pull off, I'm hoping to convince someone to do that for me. So I guess my question is - is that likely to work? Am I better off just waiting for the next promotion? I already have the $50-off coupon for signing up for dell email (it doesn't work for some reason though, I'll have to mention that to the agent as well), and dell EPP discount of course. Idk... any thoughts on what I can do? The idea of waiting longer than I already have for my m11x is torture, but at the same time I very much need every dollar I can get.

 

Update - so I just called dell customer support, and the guy there seems to think that NONE of my coupons will work with alienware, because dell only offers the 10% off EPP discount since it's a "premium brand" - then he offered to maybe show me other laptops that were more within my price range. This is one thing I hate about alienware - everyone immediately connects "alienware" with "lots of money", so they assume that if you're going out of your way to buy an alienware that you have no head for saving money / getting good deals and you can afford pretty much anything. The idea of the m11x.. a relatively cheap / bang-for-your-buck alienware, isn't very well-known. But anyway, I can't afford this right now without getting at least some of these coupons to work (the free shipping, $50 off from signing up for dell email, the old $100 off coupon etc.) - and I've seen threads where people were getting my configuration for $659 shipped... I even asked the guy "ok well since i can't really afford this right now then, do you have any idea how often alienware promotions come along?" And he said he's never seen it, even though I've seen other people get all kinds of discounts on these things. So should I maybe just call again and hope I get a different employee? I tried their chat service but it doesn't work no matter what I do... arg, help D:

 

Try calling again, but personally I think you should just wait for another promotion, but it might take months.

 

This is a lie. I bought my m17x with 10% off + $100 off coupon:

-- Dell EPP Members save 10% off select Alieware systems!
- $252.40

-- Receive $100 off DellU systems $999 or more with coupon!
- $100.00

Subtotal: $2,171.60
IVA: $175.24
Shipping and Handling: $19.00

Import Fee: --

Total: $2,365.84


In fact, it's possible to get even better discounts if you have time to haggle with Dell reps. I signed up for both Dell and Dell University coupons and get all in the e-mail when they are available. I don't know if there are any coupons being e-mailed now, but your best bet is to subscribe to these e-mails and check them out from time to time.,

 

I signed up for Dell email and never got the $50 off coupon

 

Might I suggest waiting a few months until you CAN afford it for the full price?
Then haggling/checking coupons? If you can't afford something, don't buy it.

 

Well, this time I got an e-mail about "up to 15%" discounts on Alienware, with Back-to-school promotion. Check out for that one. 15% discount would be quite nice. That's only through EPP, so it should be in an e-mail from "Dell University" or something like that.

 

I believe this is only if you buy the most expensive m11x setup - they're doing a promotion like this for all their systems I believe, something along the lines of 5% off for the lowest config, 10% for the mid, 15% for the highest. The more you pay the more you save type of thing.

Update about my situation btw - I called dell back and got a different agent, some guy in india I think, and this experience was MUCH better. He immediately set about trying to save me as much as possible before I even said anything - in fact I didn't even have to tell him my free shipping code for he to give me free shipping on the system. He also gave me my $50 off despite the coupon not working on his computer either. I decided not to haggle for the final coupon, the $100 off one, just because I didn't really have an excuse as to why that one was telling him it was expired - with the $50 off one I mentioned to him that I had just barely signed up for the promotion and it didn't mention an expiration date, so he worked it out - the $100 off one on the other hand is something I found online that had a set expiration date of June 30th.. I just didn't see it worth the effort to haggle for that, given the low likelihood of it working. Although maybe I should have. But I was pretty happy with what he gave me - $732 subtotal with free shipping plus $32 for taxes, yielding a grand total of $766 for an R1 with 4gbs RAM and bluetooth, shipped to hawaii. Granted I didn't get next day shipping, but money is my main concern here so I'm a happy camper