AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$

just call the epp line to get US reps and roll the dice.
1-800-695-8133

 

Anyone still need 25% off coupon? I still have one left and want to sell it. PM me if interested. 5 days left.

 

Hey, I'm interested in the coupon. I can't seem to be able to PM, though. Do you have an SlickDeals account or something?

Thanks.

 

I have just ordered M18x and I don't know it is good deal or not...

Alienware M18x - Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum
Intel Core i7 2960XM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 2DIMMS
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled
750GB 7,200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled
Intel Advanced-N 6200 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology
Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
Estimated Delivery Date: 02/10/2012

Subtotal: $3,031.45
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Sales Tax: $269.05
Total: $3,300.50

 

If anyone has an extra 25% off coupon it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

did you have a coupon? aside from the tax you look like you did well.

 

it's saveology dude... send me an email to [my username here] at yahoo dot com

 

How is this one???...

Alienware M18x - Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum
Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 2DIMMS
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled
750GB 7,200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
Intel Advanced-N 6200 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology
Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter

$2786.31(Tax Include)
----
I didn't get this deal..

 

Looks great to me! Hey guys, I could use your help. There is a contest going on, where one of my threads was nominated. Please vote for it. The voting link is below! Help a brother out. I think my ordering thread should have been nominated, but such is life . Please vote for my NBR Folding@home thread!

 

looking to make a purchase does anyone have a good sales rep they would be willing to recommend? PM me the info and thanks in advance.

 

Dell Alienware m17x R3 2GB 6990M Intel Quad Core i7-2670qm 17.3" 1080p Laptop | eBay

 

question: is it possible to haggle in something that is not a standard option? for example, could I get a blu-ray drive in an m14x? I wouldn't mind paying a little extra as long as I still get a good deal.

 

very unlikely.

 

Just an update for our military members:

Since new r2's and r4's are coming out soon, ive realized AAFES prices are cheapest when the new things come out. for example, when the m18x first came out, aafes droped the starting price to 1600.00, and on top of that, the 2820qm was only 20$ more for the upgrade. so with the 6990's, the total came out to like 2,050.00.

So my point is keep your eyes peeled, and dont hesitate to call them about the prices. Since thats how i also got an Aurora with a GTX 590 + i72600k + titanium sound card + 2 year basic warranty, all for 1500.00$, and THAT was a steal. (and they dont have the gtx 590 as an option anymore!)

edit: right now though, the prices on aafes are useless IMO. if you haggle a dell rep, you can get a lower price.

 

yeah! its OFFICIAL! got a FREE M17X orion backpack in addition to my purchase. that's $99 bucks basically.

not really keen on keeping it as i have both a messenger and a backpack already.

MOD EDIT: TRANSACTIONS SHOULD BE KEPT IN THE MARKETPLACE.

 

What is R2 and R4? desktop or laptop? is there any new system coming out soon? I just bought M14X T_T

 

the updated versions of laptops, and we dont know when they will be, but probably around april/may area

 

0PXL?WHJQ42FSV
Just got the coupon in an email.

Looks like it's stackable with other discount such as EPP

* Coupon Offer Details: 10% additional discount is valid on all Alienware systems. Single-use coupon. Discount does not apply to shipping. Coupon code is required and cannot be combined with other offers, discounts or coupons. Discount valid for online purchases only. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Max. 5 units per customer. Valid until .

 

If anyone could hook me up with a PM for a solid Sales Rep, I would be extremely thankful.
If I can get 20% off, I will happily order right this second.
(I'll work on my post-count asap)

 

What can I expect to haggle a $2,900 M17x to? I really really wouldn't mind having a really nice machine, one that actually has a good cooling system for a laptop and this haggling thing everyone talks about seems appealing, however I don't know what's considered "pushing it" when I'm going about things...

Anyone care to shed a little light for me?

 

This thread should sort you out :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html

 

further to that thread, if you don't want to haggle or find it a pain to beg for a discount, you will get 10+% off if you go through a reseller. AW resellers have a 20% margin so for them to give you 10% is not a big deal. Personally, i went through a reseller and got 13% off. I probably could have gotten more, but i paid with creditcard and there was a 3% fee on that so the reseller only made 4% off me. That's before i found out about haggling which i will try on my next Alienware

I've seen up to 15% off from haggling (this is realistic since you can say you can get that from a reseller). More than that, and i'd have to ask you who you were sleeping with at dell

 

I managed to get the 25% Saveology coupon, and I had a mildly interesting experience that I'm going to share with everyone here.

Since I was unable to apply the coupon on Dell's site (it only worked on certain configurations), I decided to call the regular sales line.

Call 1: India Sales Team
Unable to apply the 25% off coupon. Their best offer was a 5% off.

Call 2: Spanish-Speaking Sales Team
Unable to apply the 25% off coupon. Their best offer was a 10% off.

Call 3: EPP Sales Team
It was a huge mess trying to apply this particular coupon (or at least the rep claimed he had a ton of trouble doing so), but I came away with a net 29% off the market value for an m17x.

So yeah, stay away from Dell's regular Sales line. They are pretty much powerless. They admitted the coupon was valid and that it indeed applied to the Alienware line, but were unable to manually apply a discount of more than 5% even after speaking to the supervisor (10% for the Spanish line).

Also, keep in mind that every item has a different margin that the EPP Rep sees in his screen. So for example, in my case, the rep pushed hard for me to have the 8GB of RAM upgrade, instead of the 2860 CPU upgrade. He claimed the system wouldn't allow him to make the switch. The call got dropped and when I called again I got a different rep that continued right where the other one left off and he was able to successfully upgrade the CPU and downgrade the RAM (my logic being that I can easily upgrade the RAM for a fraction of what Dell charges, even with the 29% off).

According to my unofficial observations, the two things that have the biggest margins and that reps will try to push the most is the extra warranty and the RAM (I mean seriously, $200 for 4 GB of extra RAM ).

Perhaps somoene else will confirm/deny that last statement.

Hopefully this will help someone trying to score a cheap Alienware.

 

This is great advice, I will study this thread and take notes. I am planning on making my purchase in about 2 weeks, I will haggle like no one has ever haggled before. Thank you very much for the tips!

Also, if anyone has a sales rep that is very lenient that would be appreciated if I could get the contact info. And, any coupon codes would also be a great help. (Paying for college out of pocket) Thank you guys for all your help!

Is haggling still effective today? or has Dell's policies changed?

 

I have an approx. $4100 m18x in my cart and if anyone who has a rep that has been lenient around the 25% mark I'd appreciate the info in a PM.

I'm considering waiting for the new tech later this year but for the right deal would pull the trigger.

 

i would say yes. got my $1800 M14x DOWN to $1476 plus and ORION backpack and an AC ADAPTER.

 

Thats awesome man good deal. Any tips for me that worked for you would be appreciated

 

i haggled? basically followed the tips outlined here. but of course got a $ 250 discount from a coupon code off the bat.

in summary:

- create at least 2 configurations. put one on your wish list and one on your cart.
- call for a sales rep and start your story of wanting to buy 2 computers but you only have cash for one at the moment, hence, one configured laptop on wishlist and one on your cart.

-when they ask you what you can afford tell them a value that you think they'd be able to give. dont say " i can only afford $500" FOR $1500 configuration! then you will go nowhere. throw something with in reason. now, what they will do is try to redo what you have configured maybe take out upgrades you made. if you are fine with this, then well and good BUT for me i was INDIGNANT on my configuration telling them that this was the SPECS i wanted and no less. you can also tell them you are comparing their alienware to other brands with COMPARABLE IF NOT BETTER SPECS yet at a lower price and they might PRICE MATCH IT. i compared mine with an ASUS listed on bestbuy.

- after all this, you may get lucky and at most get a PRICE MATCHED DEAL.


once you get your alienware, and you THINK or would like to THINK you are not happy with it, call a sales rep and tell them you are thinking of returning your laptop because you are not happy with it. when they ask in what way you are not happy with it, you can tell them SUPPOSEDLY issues that you have read and SUPPOSEDLY you are also experiencing like LAPTOP gets too HOT. and then, maybe they'll throw in an accessory. i just chose the M17X backpack because it was the more expensive of the accessories. lol

hope this helps.

 

Okay this is great, As soon as I order in 2 weeks or so I will provide you with an update on how it went. Thank you so much!

Also, how did you manage to find a 250 off coupon? I have looked everywhere and the most I have found is 50 dollars off plus free shipping

 

i just GOOGLED it and just tried all the HITS that came up.

 

Hey guys! Got a favor to ask of all of you. http://forum.notebookreview.com/roundup/641438-nbr-amazing-content-contest.html ends Feb 17th. I have a Thread I created that is in the competition. Please Rally your support and vote for the NBR Folding@home thread! The NBR Folding team has grown to 50 members strong and have folded over 11,000 work units. We have surpassed 10 million points. We've made it into the top 4% of teams worldwide since starting approximately Dec19th. Please take a min and vote for the F@h team.

You lurkers who have accounts, VOTE! You know who you are!
If you don't have an account, please register!

The contest is linked above and linked in my signature as well.

Thanks for your time.

Dan

 

I will def. vote for you my man!

@all

I have a config setup up through the epp website, and there is a promotion going on that with my purchase a 100 Alienware promotional giftcard is included.
Do you think it would be possible to have a rep chenge that to 100 off of this order? If so, how should I word it? Thanks for all of your help and huge props goes to DR650SE. Your are a god my man, a god.

 

Thanks! +1. One thing you can do, when you get your system, call them that week and tell them you had second thoughts, and it doesn't meet your needs. They will give you $100 back on your credit card to convince you to keep it.

But I would just ask them to give you the $100 off. If not tell them no gift card, and they take $50 off. Then call and say it just doesn't suit your needs quite right

 

Haha you're a genius I plan on ordering before the end of February I will post here my results.





By the way, when you say call and say it doesn't suit my needs, is that before production starts on it? Because I know in the OP you say call when you receive it to return it. I've been studying

Nevermind scratch that I just reread you post and you say when I get my system haha

 

How do you guys think I did?

I have to admit, it was a challenge getting any kind of deal with Dell (a bit of an understatement), but I think I managed to come away with something quite good.

Code:

225-0536
1	Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video	 $2,387.93	 $2,387.93	
317-8448
1	Intel Core i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)			
317-8464
1	4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS)			
331-1347
1	Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter			
320-1932
1	17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle			
320-1940
1	2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M			
342-2221
1	256GB Solid State Drive			
342-2476
1	750GB 7,200RPM HDD			
313-8792
1	AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue			
421-4655
1	Alienware Command Center Software, M17X			
420-9691
1	DataSafe Local BackUp			
420-9956
1	PC Restore			
421-0092
1	DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG			
421-5789
1	Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media			
410-1883
1	Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language			
318-0396
1	Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)			
421-4541
1	Roxio Creator Starter,No Media			
421-4550
1	Power DVD 9.6, 3D			
318-0424
1	Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio			
430-4330
1	Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology			
461-8389
1	NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED			
939-0320
1	Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year			
939-0340
1	Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year			
950-3337
1	1 Year Limited Warranty			
950-9797
1	No Warranty, Year 2 and 3			
421-1721
1	Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware			
994-3730
1	Warranty Support, Initial Year			
469-2075	1	$100 Alienware Promo Gift Card - Arrives in 6-8 wks, carries a 90 Day Exp. Alienware.com/giftcard
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video			
421-1360	1	Steam and Portal Factory Installed			
331-1349	1	Standard Nameplate			
463-0742	1	Special Pricing Applied			
*		-DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL			
Subtotal:	 $2,387.93
Shipping & Handling:	 $0.00
Tax:	 $193.41
Environmental Disposal Fee:	 $0.00
Total Price w/Discounts:	 $2,581.34

This was with the 15% discount promo + an epp 2% discount and extra $100 off.

I would've liked to score a better warranty plan, but I needed to save as much money as I could... maybe I can use the gift card to upgrade my warranty later on. And yes I went with the 256gb ssd upgrade because the difference in cost for an aftermarket part actually came out less than what other retailers offered.

thanks for this thread it really helped!

 

I've been lurking on this forum for the past couple of months while I was shopping for a new laptop. Eventually, I went with an Alienware M17x R3.

Intel Core™ i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s with Secondary 750GB 7200RPM SATA
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
WIRELESS CARD Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video

$2529 before haggling

$1825 Including shipping.

I called every boutique laptop manufacturer. Xotic PC, Sager, Malibal, Falcon NW, Ibuypower and several others. I got a quote from all of them for the exact same build or something very similar. I said the exact same thing to all of them.

"I am buying a new laptop by 5pm today with these specs...I am doing competitive bidding, the person who offers me the lowest price on this laptop is the laptop I will buy. What is your best price?"

If they hang up on you. That means they can't beat their competitors price.

If they say they don't do competitive bidding. They don't have the lowest price. Call again.

If they say I can quote you a price but another vendor might just quote you a price for 25$ less and you'll buy their laptop. To which you explain that this is their opportunity to go 50$ less.

If they say what Dell told me at first "I can tell you right now we won't be able to match that price." Either hang up and get a different person or say "Well I know you can offer that price because your competitors do."

You may have to call several times to get the right person. Suggestibility is what you are looking for. This is also a great way to buy a car.

 

Great price...About 28% off. I'm like you, but I don't do the whole "I'm shopping with everyone and whoever offers me the lowest price, I'll buy..." bit. For a lot of business owners, I assume they'll just upfront not waste the time and past on your sale while if you offer a more non-in-your-face approach, they may work with you and still eventually get you a better price and probably better service to boot.

Being a biz owner and in retail as well, customers like you (and me actually) are simply not worth it. High maintenance, low profits (if any) and probably more hassle than it's worth. I suppose my prices are already pretty much lower than everyone else already so I don't worry about someone else under cutting me in my biz.

That said, good job on the low price from Dell and I just read about Samsung coming out with their gaming laptop. If it is metal, that'd be a good competitor to my future M18x.

 

Nice! Awesome to see this thread still managing to gather a few deals for some peeps. Hey guys, we could use your help, in our voting contest. Panasonic toughbook is beating our NBR F@h team! Vote for F@h! Link below

 

I tried calling in to Dell EPP and haggle. Dell EPP sales center is based in Texas, with American agents, which was nice.

However, the best I got for the X51's $949 configuration was $911.42 + tax, with $100 Alienware gift card, 5% eGift card, and free upgrade to Overnight shipping.

I am still not satisfied though. I am going to call again tonight to see if I can't at least score an Alienware mousepad or a printer or something!

Do you guys have any tips on what to ask for? When I asked for a mouse pad last night, the guy offered me a printer instead and said they really can't do mouse pads, or something like that.

 

Alienware

Hey! I was thinking of buying my alienware from reflexnotebook.ca as they can save up to 10%...(saving a couple of hundred bucks is relative to my interests!)

But I was wondering does anyone know how they deal with warranty coverage? I wanted the 2 year accidental plan. (Because you never know!) how does it work with them?

 

We also have the http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/639405-alienware-canadian-ordering-discussion.html thread.

 

All reflex does is they order the laptop on your behalf...and save you money in the process. For warranty, you are still dealing with Dell. Reflex is just a middleman, once you have the laptop in your hands, you call dell direct for any warranty issues

PS...i bought my m17x R3 through reflex so i can vouch for them. Good service.

 

Thanks!

 

SJTK4FKFZGTM33 heres a 10% off epp code, can be used alongside your epp allowance as a coupon

 

Been through the whole thread and most of the m17x owner's thread and am gearing up to start calling reps this weekend. I could use a little advice though, since I'm out of research time.
Anyone know of coupons that may not be easily searchable and have not been posted in the last few pages of this thread?

I plan to upgrade CPU myself in about a year or so. Am wondering if every m17x uses the same mobo, or if a specific CPU on offer is easier to upgrade later? I'm aware that I will not be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge, but I can't wait any more, and my current machine, while it has been a good laptop for a long time, barely deserves the name anymore.
edit: No idea how I missed the parts list thread, wow. Still trying to find out what chipset the 5VYM9 Motherboard supports, which seems to be the only one for any x17x. Am I right in thinking they are all HM67, across the board?
Any pointers to help speed my search would be appreciated, I'm not asking because I'm not still looking for the answers myself, I'm asking because I need to do this before my old dino dies on me, now that I have my full budget ready and can buy. Can't spend more money on this old girl to keep her going longer, it must go to a new machine.

Looking at This promotion as a base, I'm a little confused at the nVidia 3D display package offered with non-nVidia graphics. Is this something I could possibly use to try and leverage a better price? I've never looked at 3D hardware options before so am a bit ignorant here, but with this promo to start with at base, am thinking why not...
edit: K, after more reading I see nVidia is definitely needed for 3D to work, so they're offering something pointless here. This should be a decent arguing point, and if I'm successful I'll post my result. I didn't see anything about this in the last 153 pages of this thread, but has AW offered a similar config in the past and has anyone had experience haggling around this point?

Of course, figures I wouldn't be able actually buy until the day after they raised their base prices $100. Oh well, more reason to really do my best at haggling.

 

I'm thinking of going through Reflex or Fortnax; did you get charged tax on it? And did it take a long time for it to come?

 

Well, ordered mine today. I probably could have done better if I stuck to it longer and strung him out for a day or so, I think I only got about 11 or 12% in the end and had to compromise on the gpu to get that.

Dell will state that the offer linked to is the base model price options and the listed graphics and display are options you can add for more money. Pointing out the base price options are actually $1,499, not $1,699, and adding those listed items to the real base model comes out to less than adding them to the "Special Offer" listing, netted me a "$100 off coupon" from the configuration I made from the base $1,499 model.

Dell refused to price match an identical system from Asus through Xoticpc no matter how I pressed that point.

BHW1L0MX0D?MCX - $50 off AW laptops $1,499 and up worked

SJTK4FKFZGTM33 - mentioned several posts ago, did not work for me. Still, may be worth someone else trying .

The other ~$50 off was a promotional discount they offered me if I got the dell credit card. I insisted on that discount without getting the credit card. Don't ask me how that worked.

I told them they should sweeten the deal, since they were still ~$60 above what I wanted to spend after I downgraded to a GTX560m GPU, and give me a cooling pad, which they did.

That was all after a few calls in, and only about 1.5 hours haggling. honestly, I'm not all that bothered since I think it's at least a more average price for my specs than the usual AW mark-up price. I ended spending $1,560, before tax.

edit - he invited me to refer people to him. Would be willing if someone pms me, but he wasn't the easiest salesman in the world, so may not be worth the referral. My own deal with him was not as good as some people have reported, though that could be due to technique and time investment.

 

How often do they have a 15-20% coupon?

 

after many failures with the outlet center, namely they close at 6pm central and I cannot get 15% off through online.

Dell came up with this for me as a special save my business effort. Is there ANYTHING that should most definately be changed on this system to maximize value. Is the centrino wireless that bad. I was told you have to upgrade to killer to get 3 antennas., 580m is back ordered, and is it true the 3d screen disables optimus tech for power consumption.

How did i do on this one, shipped was next day once built of course.....

Item Number Quantity Item Description Unit Price Extended Price


1 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 $1,583.94 $1,583.94
317-8448
1 Intel Core i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
317-8464
1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS)
331-1347
1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-1932
1 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
320-2797
1 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
342-2228
1 1TB Raid 0 (2x 500GB Hybrid Solid State Drives)
313-8792
1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-4655
1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
420-9691
1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956
1 PC Restore
421-0092
1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
421-5789
1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
410-1883
1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0396
1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-4541
1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
421-4550
1 Power DVD 9.6, 3D
318-0424
1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4382
1 Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 b/g/n 1x2 MIMO Technology
461-8389
1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
939-0320
1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-0340
1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337
1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1721
1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
466-7687 1 Thank you for choosing Dell
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
331-1349 1 Standard Nameplate
463-0742 1 Special Pricing Applied
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL




Subtotal: $1,583.94

 

I was additionally told that manager standing over rep in manilla was NOT HAPPY as it was a 27% discount, and -140 on margin. Should i collect 200 and pass go. I was told i can sub 350 by dropping CPU to base, 2.2 and drop 3D 120hz screen