Can someone help me cut $200-300 off this m17x?

Its current specs:
System Color Space Black – Anodized Aluminum
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit) + Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Coupon
Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Memory 6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
Mouse Pointer Mouse Pointers, Standard
LCD 17-inch WideXGA+ 1440x900 (900p)
Video Card Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled
Hard Drive 500GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection
AlienFX Color Quasar Blue
Avatar Alienhead 3D
Windows Style Windows Style, Default
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
CD ROM/DVD ROM Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n Wireless with MIMO Technology
Automatic Updates Automatic Updates ON
Power Plan Power Plan, High Performance
Time Zone (GMT - 6.00) Central Time (US & Canada)
Service 2 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care
AlienRespawn DVD AlienRespawn Image Recovery DVD

As the topic states, I need to cut $200 or $300 off of this thing to fit my budget. Any suggestions? Also, feel free to add any somewhat necessary components in your suggestion, as long as a reasonable amount of old components are removed. Thanks a lot!

 

The 6GB of RAM is useless unless you are a professional with photoshop or such applications dependent on RAM. If you are using your PC for gaming, 4GB of RAM is more than enough.

Here goes your $350 and I would definitely take the 1920x1200 screen. There is no reason to take the low res screen, it makes no sense on this PC.

 

To save a little more money, choose the base warranty and upgrade later on when it's about to expire.

 

Get the base warranty, get 6 gigs of the non 1333MHZ memory you wont notice a difference between the two, or if you're really crazy the 4 gigs since its all you need for gaming, oh, and everyone loves the higher res screen, so I figure upgrade that.

 

You should not skimp out on these two:

Dual SLI gpu's (260's or 280's)
Widescreen HD

 

l

ike they say 6gb ram is to much now if you have the money is ok but if not you can always upgrade later also the warranty get the base you never know what is going to happen in one year you may sell the laptop to get something better never know​

and the processor you pick is good for gaming you can also upgrade later

 

Hmmm... definitely take the hi-res screen. Also take only 4GB RAM at 1066. Then Complete Care for only a year.

That's about it on my side.

Before: $3,042
After: $2,762 (4GB 1066 RAM, 1200 resolution, CC 1 year)

Perhaps you can also use EPP discounts. That would be an extra $193 savings bringing you down even more to:

After + EPP = $2,569

Difference from your original configuration = $473

 

Lose the 6Gb of RAM upgrade the screen to 1920x1200 then call Dell to haggle the price down.

 

What would you have to say to get them to even consider dropping the price for you?

 

Well, telling them your budget and that you can't go over it might work. Some people have tried a more threatening approach telling them that they can buy a comparable system for cheaper (may backfire). But it really all comes down to who you get as a representative. Some would say "tough luck, go buy somewhere else" others might say "let see what we can do" and just chop the price off a few hundreds. It's a coin toss I would say.

 

If you have a bad attempt, you could always call back and get someone new right?

 

Nix the T9600 and 6GB 1333 RAM for the base P8600 and 4GB 1066, and choose the 1920 x 1200 screen. If you need to save more, nix the 500GB HDD for a smaller one, but still 7200 RPM.

 

I don't see why not. After all, you will still be a paying customer. And in this economy, businesses can't be too picky about customers, especially ones who are buying high-end laptops....

 

Couldn't agree more with that.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. One question I have, though: CAN you upgrade the warranty before your protection period is over? It seems like that would be highly unlikely...could someone tell me how to do this if it's possible? Thanks!

 

I bet you I can.

 

Yes. Warranty can be upgraded online at Dell.com.

Go here.

 

I am about to order my M17x over the phone tommorow, I could let you know how it goes if you like.

 

Like others have said, drop to the 4gb 1066, drop to the base CPU, drop to the 1yr war, and add the 1200 screen. You can buy and install your own RAM much cheaper as well as the CPU. You could also go with a smaller HDD and get another one elsewhere pretty cheap. Just make sure you get the second HDD sled from them. I think I've read many people getting this for free.

 

OK, I ordered it. The EPP discount was quite nice and let me stick with a higher-cost build.

I downgraded the RAM to 4GB 1333 and got the better screen. That's more or less all I had to change because of that discount which left me within my budget range.

The RAM on the m17x is upgradable, yes? If so, then I'm fully satisfied. Thank you so much everyone!

 

Yes the ram will be upgradable in the future. I'm itching to get one pretty soon. Depends if the m15x refresh got delayed or not...