XPS 16 Vs HDX 16 vs FW35X

I am now very confused. I always thought that Dell gave value for money, but I have been pricing up in the UK three laptops.

All three have the P8600 2.4Ghz Centrino chip,
All three have 1920 X 1080P screens
The differences are:
HP HDX16 100
320Gb hard drive and BD reader but Lightscribe burner for DVD/CD

Sony FW 35X
500Gb Hard drive and BD writer/reader

Dell XPS 16
500Gb Hard drive and BD reader

Prices
HP (without the 10% discount I MAY be able to get) £1,199
Sony FW 35X (No discount) £1,023.96
Dell (with EPP AND 10% special discount) £1,155.08!

Why is the Dell so expensive? I do not agree that because it is the newest is worth a premium in these cash strapped times, I hear all the time that sony are expensive, well not at these prices.

I know you are all Dell devotees, but why should I fork out more for a dell with its reputation for poor quality and hot laptops?
Its not a dig at Dell, just trying to reason why i should buy a dell over the other two? (Oh I do not use a Lappy for gaming, I have a desktop for that)

 

I think the main reason is because of the RAM and the HDD.
sony and hp have ddr2 memory in their system and they also have 5400rpm hdd. While the dell has ddr3 memory which is more expensive and hdd is 7200rpm.
I just ordered a xps 16 yesterday after reading many reviews and discussions about it as well as asking some of my friends who have bought dell before. I think dell built quality is somewhat higher than hp.
I've had a HP dv9000 (my first laptop) for almost 2 years now, and I have to say that the experience with it is not satisfying. It failed on me after the warranty expired, I got it fixed from hp but 3 months after the extended warranty, it still runs hot and unstable.
For the sony, I have friends who have them, they all think that sony installs to many bloatwares in their machine and making their systems unstable.
Just my 2 cents

 

When something comes out new I think it has to come out a bit higher, that's not abnormal, early adopters are always penalized with most products.

But the choice isn't in the broadstrokes, cpu speed and drive sizes, it's in the more subtle things.

In the broad strokes, which is what salesman wants you to focus on, they are nearly the same.

What kind of monitor at that resolution, how do they compare? What do you like better?
Does the Dell chipset make a difference along w/ higher bus spd?
Display port important?
Battery time?
How's the audio?
How's the keyboard or touchpad, I mean how important is a keyboard and touchpad you use all the time?
Warranty, how good is it really?

The list goes on and on...
Car salesmen like to sell cars by their color and look, for many people that's all it will come down to.
It all depends on what you want.

Where is this bad reputation for poor quality laptops? I think people are repeating that enough times to where others see it and then all of the sudden that's the reputation. It's not about brand loyalty, that doesn't work in the computer field at all. Each product stands on it's own, Dell as a brand has actually pretty high marks in my book, maybe you see more complaints because so many people buy Dell. I've never had a problem they wouldn't bend over backwards to fix.

wled, DD3, new chipset, display port, etc. all that kind of stuff costs more money, whether it's worth it to you, it costs more to MFR.
besides, newer equipment is more likely going to have better Windows 7 support IMO.

 

At least you get the EPP and and 10% off... most dont. Thats a great deal on that 1640 config. What are you complaining about?

 

I was asking a question as toi why is the Dell worth more than the other two laptops, why is that a complaint??

What I was saying is that this is a buyers market, not a sellers, and without the two discounts the Studio XPS 16 is very much more expensive.
Whilst I can see the HP and Sony laptops in stores and guage the screen, i cannot do that with the Dell, everything I read about battery time tells me they are all close and drive speeds and DDR2 or 3 does not really make a lot of difference in time, we are talking milliseconds.
Re Dells reputation, yes, they have one for hot laptops (XPS 1530/1330) and look in this forum about the Studio XPS 13! I do not read such things about Sony (yes, I do about HP being hot) for example.
I still think not having a Blu ray writer available is a poor desicion by Dell, I want to burn video and photos whilst abroad as backups and my Dell choice is the old hot XPS 1530 (which costs £1015.52 for T8300 2.4Ghz, 500Gb hd and a 1900 X 1200 screen) which is slightly too small a screen size for me.

 

If you dont think that paying for newness is worth a premium, then just stick with the Sony or HP. Thats what the new Dell is about, its a new design with new components not found on the other 2; eg. ddr3, esata, displayport, rgbled, etc... if this means nothing to you, then just skip it altogether.

The FW is a 6 month old design thats just been refreshed... its just past its midlife and so of course its going to be more value/cost. Based on your postings, it seems like its the best choice.

btw, the 1080p on the FW is dual lamp and quite good. It may be a better option until Windows 7 comes out with proper handling of wide gamut displays (ie. the RGBLED 1080p on the Dell).

 

There is one other that I have looked at as well, the studio 17
T9400 2.53ghz
640 Gb hard drive
1440 X 900 screen
BD reader only
free mouse
£976.25
A good price, but only £39 cheaper that the XPS 1530 with BD writer

 

according to what you have said. I'd assume that the ability to burn blu ray disc is more important to you. If that is indeed the case then you don't need to look for anything that doesn't have blu ray burner. I think the sony is the best choice for you now because it has what you need.

 

did you take into consideration the high quality glossy plastic and the leather? no, I don't think you did.

 

I just returned an FW-390 to Sony. I was not happy with the build quality. The DVD writing laser was out on the combo BD-RE/DVD drive. My diagnosis as a hardware person. When the lid was open there was a lot of flexing of plastic parts and the body of the unit. Plus the darker colors on the HD display seemed to fade off when not viewed head on. Just not a good build quality. Also, the Bios on the Sony was so dumbed down that virtually nothing was modifiable, including enabling Intel VT support for Virtual machine use Dell seems to make more solid units. Also, I thought Dell technical/customer service support was bad until I had to work with Sony. It was horrible.

 

whats EPP?

 

Education/Employee Purchase Program ("employee" being an employee of a Dell corporate customer, generally)

http://www.dell.com/epp

 

EPP stands for "Employee Purchase Program". Employees from certain companies can purchase from this "special store" (it usually has a different URL, for example) at discounted prices.
Sharing this information publicly is against forum rules (and possibly your company's too) as it is supposed to be for "employees only".
Hope it helps .

 

i understand, i just noticed this .
not too hard to get with google around....