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    XPS 18: 18" <5lbs tablet

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by chx1975, Apr 16, 2013.

  1. DanielNTX

    DanielNTX Notebook Consultant

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    It's not the pogo pins that are magnetic. It's the area above the pogo pins that is magnetic... right above the oval hole.
     
  2. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yes, that is true! Thanks. The "plate" above the oval cord hole is somewhat magnetic. BUT, that doesn't explain why Dell specifically says "It makes easy to drop in and out XPS 18 from the charging stand with the help of magnetic pogo pin connector." It says the connector is magnetic, not the stand itself.

    Would you not agree that it implies the connector is magnetic just like the Apple MagSafe connector is magnetic? I suppose it if was, Apple might sue them for copyright infringement.
     
  3. DanielNTX

    DanielNTX Notebook Consultant

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    I stuck my new gen 2 Nexus 7 on the stand. It's really magnetic to that device.
     
  4. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    Well, received my i5 today. initial thoghts:

    - didn't come w/ powered stand, but dell agreed to send me one
    - older kb/mouse. not sure i like the newer one. popped in the usb rcvr. so far so good
    - the i5/mSATA combo is much slower than the i3/ssd combo. ran PCMark7 2901 i5/ 3631 i3. i do have 12GB in the i3 vs 8 in the i5 though.

    i'm gonna move the ssd to the i5 and take back the i3. either way 845 w/ powered stand is way better than the i3 for 1060
     
  5. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Got my replacement KM714 today (they shipped me the older keyboard with my outlet unit). If I pop off the back, there is a USB receiver for the unifying adapter thingy, right?

    Also, have bought 8GB of RAM, a 1TB drive, and am debating whether to get the mSATA drive, and if so, how big of a one to get. Based on mb2k's post above, does that mean that mSATA is slow? Would I get a benefit from going that route? I have the i7 version.

    Lastly, regarding the stand. A guy from Dell called me, checking in on my KM714 shipment, so I asked him about the stand. He's shipping me a JW2VY, which according to what I see, does not include an extra adapter. Anyone else get one of these and can comment (or I guess I could wait till tomorrow since they're actually shipping it overnight)?

    Pretty happy with my deal of the i7 with stand and 3 yr warranty for $1108. Loving it so far, though still working out Win8 annoyances (nothing is majorly a pain, but there are definite annoyances). Win8 is definitely a better experience with a touch screen though!
     
  6. stevebit56

    stevebit56 Newbie

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    Hi Daniel could you please help me out I want to change the 32g msata to a 120g msata and install windows 8 from the factory image and make t the boot drive then install a 480g ssd in place of the 500g hdd in my i-7 xps 18. can you give me step by step instructions I would be grateful to you thanks Steve
     
  7. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    Got my KM714 today also (after having to call and ask "what the heck...it's been a week", and they sent it out last night, got here today.
    I also was a bit confused by what mb2k said, but in his case, I don't think he was comparing apples to apples. I think when he said mSATA was slower, he meant using the 32GB mSATA cache module with a HDD. I don't think he had a full mSATA SSD with everything on it.

    When you pop in your 8GB RAM, be sure to go into the BIOS and check your memory speed. When I put in a 8GB DDR3-1600 and checked the BIOS, it said my memory was 1333. I took it out and put the 4GB back in, and it said 1600. Just curious because I tried two new DDR3-1600 modules.

    You can read my comments about the stand a few posts back. I'm not in love with it, but it's OK. I ordered some pigtails from Dell that allows me to use my normal Dell chargers with the mini plug on the XPS 18 (and stand). They should be here tomorrow (with any luck).

    I bought my stand at Best Buy. I'm going to call Dell and see if they'll send me a stand also. How did you ask for one?
     
  8. cityle

    cityle Notebook Enthusiast

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    You're able to run Bioshock and HalfLife2 on it? So running Kerbal Space Program at max quality and some video and 3D editing would not be an issue?

    I think to buy the XPS 18 when it will get Haswell and buy a 256gb msata and have a clean windows 8 pro install on it (would it be possible to get a Windows 8 Pro cd from Dell?) and remove the actual HDD. It would then be my laptop/tablet/AIO that I would bring at school and put on the stand at home. And maybe a 16gb ram ugrade later if it's possible.

    Or I am ready to buy it with Ivy if you have really sweet deal, like the 25% and 30% off that you post earlier here but who are now expired. But, with the Haswell upgrade, does the GPU would be better,because I find the Intel HD 4000 weak and if with Haswell they put the Iris 5100 or better than the 4000, then I will wait.

    And does there is a free PCIe slot in it for possibly put the Samsung PCIe SSD in it (XP941)?
     
  9. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    They called me to follow up on the keyboard, and I just mentioned that the retail version of the i7 comes with a stand, and I wanted to know if the outlet version was supposed to as well. Not sure he totally understood me but checked and whatever he saw made him think I was owed one so he sent one.

    I saw what you wrote up on the stand, but since mine won't get a ton of use and it's free, I'm happy to take it!
     
  10. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    re: the i3/i5 comparisons, yes i was using the 32gb msata/500gb setup that the i5 came with. i haven't tried benchmarking a msata/ssd option just yet. honestly, i'm not sure if there's a benefit to using the msata as the boot device. i keep most stuff - music, bd rips, photos, etc - on a server so i don't need much storage space. still, i'm trying to understand a few things:

    - can i setup the 32gb msata as a cache drive to my 256 ssd? any benefit?
    - looks like 256 msata cards are running about $200. is there any speed difference over using an ssd as my boot drive?
    - can i setup the 32gb msata as just another drive? i know it's small, but no since wasting it if i don't put in another msata

    my stand arrives today so i'm still happy with the deal i got. even if i toss the msata, 4gb stick, and original hdd, i still make out better than the bb deal. only real complaints are the power button, onboard 4gb (vs 2 slots), and crappy battery life. gonna be interesting to see if haswell improves battery life
     
  11. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    There is NO benefit to using a SSD to cache a SSD. Usually, the main SSD drives have bigger built-in cache's than 32GB, and faster.
    Regarding mSATA vs 2.5" SSD, there shouldn't be any difference. I don't think twice about using mSATA. I then use the HDD space for a bigger HDD.
    And, YES, you can use the 32GB mSATA as a drive. Just set your BIOS to AHCI and format the drive in windows and use it as a 32GB data drive.

    Good luck!
     
  12. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    thanks for the info lancorp.

    one last thing, did you get the mem speed issue resolved? have you run cpu-z to check?
     
  13. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    I did not get it resolved. I wound up putting the 4GB module back in. When I had the 8GB module in, I did run HWINFO64, and confirmed the mem speed was 1333 even though the 8GB module clearly showed a 1600 setting in it SPD. I'm a bit confused about that.
     
  14. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Okay, so it looks like I probably will try to get an mSATA and set that up as my boot drive then. Now, gotta figure out whether I want to spend the extra money for 256GB or if 128GB would be enough.
     
  15. davidcjordan

    davidcjordan Notebook Enthusiast

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    MY opinion...... I am going with 64GB msata (already have a spare one). Otherwise, 128GB seeing we have 500GB for storage on the HD.

    If you REALLY want to spend the money - how about 128GB and take the money you save and upgrade to 1 TB INTERNAL storage drive and put the 500GB in EXTERNAL usb enclosure.

    Just my 2 cents :)
     
  16. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    is it safe to assume that using an SSD as the data drive would be better on battery life than a standard HDD as the data drive?

    Just wondering.
     
  17. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    If you're going to put in a HDD for data, then 128GB is plenty for a SSD (if you're on a budget). You can redirect your documents, music, movies and pictures to the HDD seamlessly.
     
  18. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    Generally, yes. But, it really depends on the HDD and SDD in question. If you look at power draw of SSD drives, they vary quite a bit. Some use numbers in the WATTS, and other are in milliWatts.
    Same with HDD's. Low RPM drives draw less power and run cooler. Smaller drives (less platters) draw less than larger drives (more platters).

    In reality, while all the factors above have some affect on battery life, none of them make a huge difference. I wouldn't spend too much time searching out the perfect combination of drives.
     
  19. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have already purchased the 1TB Seagate drive referenced back on page 9, I think, (got a decent price at my local TigerDirect store). I am tempted by the 120GB/128GB drives for mSATA, but I keep thinking that for less than double that price, I can grab up a 240GB/256GB. I'm looking at the Crucial M500 mSATA as my primary candidate currently. Guess I just need to suck it up and decide... :)
     
  20. stevebit56

    stevebit56 Newbie

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    HI mb2k are you saying there is a second drive bay in the tablet or are you talking about the msata slot? thanks Stevebit 56
     
  21. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    Where did you find that post from mb2k? I can't see where he posted it (I did only look about 5 pages back).

    But I'm confused too, as the original HDD comes with the mounting bracket, and no cable is needed...it slides right into the SATA connector. And, of course, mSATA only requires a small screw.
     
  22. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    The post from mb2k is post #58. In your message, if you click on the double-arrows to the right of stevebit56's name in your quote, that will take you to his post. Then you can click to the right of mb2k's quoted post there and go to mb2k's original post.
     
  23. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    I learn something new everyday. :) Thanks.
     
  24. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    FYI, I bought a couple of the Dell PC Power Dongle converters P/N D5G6M.

    They came, I can confirm they work fine with the XPS 18 and allow you to use the dozens of different standard Dell power adapters that you may already have.

    20_331-9319.JPG
     
  25. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    Sorry for the confusion, as i noted here post121 I was mistakenly referring to an HP touchsmart i returned for the xps.

    "re: the 2nd bay..

    sorry, I was thinking about the HP touchsmart I tried before going with the Dell"
    .
     
  26. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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  27. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    guys anyone has any more coupon discounts for the xps 18? im really interested in getting one but my budget is only around 800. Im even considering the i3 version only.
     
  28. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    The best thing to do is to sign up for their email deals (specifically the outlet one). Another option would be to call into the sales number and ask for a discount. It worked for me, ordered mine and told the guy that I had seen a coupon. He applied a 25% off coupon even though it had expired earlier that day. Not saying it would work for you but might be worth a try.
     
  29. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    maybe i'll try it.. just wanted to be sure.. when you say sales number, the Dell Hotline themselves right?
    The email deals for the outlet, do you have a link or something? or can i find it in the dell website?
     
  30. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    The number I called was the one that displays on the Outlet pages (1-888-518-3355). Regarding the email subscription, there's a link at the bottom of the pages of the outlet site where you can subscribe to their emails. I believe when you go there, one of the options is to subscribe to the outlet emails. Good luck, hope you are able to get what you want!
     
  31. BigTymer

    BigTymer Notebook Geek

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    Does anyone else have the issue with the touch screen randomly causing the "unplug/Plug" noise? I now have the exact same issues on both of my XPS. I am starting to think it is a softwar bug with chrome. Anone else using chrome and having this happen?
     
  32. davidcjordan

    davidcjordan Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just got my i3 xps 18. I upgraded to 8gb of aftermarket ram.
    Thinking of returning it. Interested in buying it for the outlet price - the 25% discount code I used?
    So, it was $629 plus shipping to you....

    Let me know if interested. I fly PA to FL every weekend. This is just too big to fly with!
     
  33. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    Hi I am interested, how will the deal go? do you have a number i can call to arrange the details?
     
  34. davidcjordan

    davidcjordan Notebook Enthusiast

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    Left visitor message in your profile with my cell #.

    Best I could do, my cell won't render thus website correctly.....
     
  35. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    i can't seem to find the visitor's message anywhere.. lol. can you send me an email instead with your number


    Thanks
     
  36. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have an mSATA question. A couple of people here have mentioned about changing a BIOS setting to enable the system to boot from the mSATA drive. How do you get to those settings as you are booting? You don't get any sort of screen telling you what key(s) to press to get into the BIOS settings.

    Thanks for any help you can provide.
     
  37. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Answering my own question (guess I should have searched initially with better terms)... :)

    From a Dell Support Page...
     
  38. AdamMallinson

    AdamMallinson Notebook Enthusiast

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    Which Dell adapters have you been using these with as these are available on the UK site too so it may be my only option at the moment to get a second charger for my XPS 18?
     
  39. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    They'll work with any Dell Adapter 65W or higher (not the 300W Alienware power bricks, though!). I have tested the converter with a 90W and an older 135W adapter no problem, and have no reason to think that any other Dell adapter with the same size tip wouldn't work.

    I have a bunch of Kensington Universal adapters with Dell tips, and the converter works with it, also.
     
  40. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Success! I've got my 8GB of extra memory installed for a total of 12GB. Also, have a 1TB drive in there now instead of the stock 500GB drive. And lastly, installed my Plextor M5M 256GB mSATA card and managed to get Windows 8 installed there and it's booting (not an easy task honestly).

    Here are some configurations I had to do and things I learned:

    1. In the BIOS, change the Intel SmartStart option on the advanced page to be AHCI.
    2. Change the boot order so that the mSATA comes first (my system identified that drive as "Second HDD" on that screen). This did not help with Win 8 install though, it still wouldn't install there if both drives were installed.
    3. Install only the SSD drive. I could not figure out any way in the BIOS to get it configured so that Windows 8 would consider the mSATA drive to be "drive 0" so it would allow installing to it, so the only option I could come up with was to remove the HDD and make sure that AHCI was enabled, then it worked to install.
    4. To do the Windows 8 install, you need to ensure you have the Intel SATA drivers on a USB key or something so that the install program can see the drive. You can get the correct driver from Dell's site.
    5. Get Windows 8 installed and running on the SSD, then shut down the system and install your HDD. Note that I don't know what, if any, problems you would encounter by putting the 500GB drive back in since it has a boot partition. Hopefully, if you have the boot order set correctly, that wouldn't cause a problem, or you'd get a prompt asking which one to boot from. I just don't know since my HDD was brand new.
    6. To get at the memory card comfortably, I disconnected the two ribbon cables from the card they were attached to. I think it's possible to do it without removing those (in hindsight), but it would be a challenge. If you do decide to disconnect those cables, be sure you know how to do it. Made me nervous. Interesting to me that the memory card replacement is clearly the most difficult thing to do in this process, but Dell considers that to be the only "user-replaceable" part. They recommend using a tech if you want to replace the hard drive or mSATA (which other than the configuration problems above, were much easier to actually do).
    7. The memory I got was "Kingston KVR16S11/8 8GB Laptop Memory Module - DDR3, 1600MHz, SODIMM, CL11" from TigerDirect (bought in-store). My BIOS shows the memory speed of the 12GB I now have at 1600, so I did not experience the same problem a previous poster encountered.
    8. Another thing to do is to make sure you go and get all of the drivers and downloads for your system and get them put on a USB drive. You'll thank me when you go to boot up and need to reinstall those.

    That's all that comes to mind regarding my upgrades. VERY happy with the configuration so far. Boot times are lightning fast, and loving the SSD/mSATA experience.

    There are probably a few more configurational things I need to do, like I have a PCI-E device still showing up with an error (missing drivers) in my device manager. I suspect it's the SD Card reader, but haven't gotten to test that theory yet.
     
    mike-of-earth likes this.
  41. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    I figured out what the missing driver was. It turns out it was the "ST Free Fall Motion Sensor Driver" that I needed to install. So all seems good now.
     
  42. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    [​IMG]

    can someone please point out where the msata port is in this photo?
    thank you
     
  43. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    did you buy a fresh copy of windows 8 to do this?
    anyone know how to create a recovery disk that can be used on the new ssd?
     
  44. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Your computer should have shipped with a copy of Windows 8 on CD. If you have an external drive, you can install Windows 8 using that. Keep in mind that you'll also need to have those SATA drivers that I mentioned as they are not on the Dell disk (or if they are, I didn't see them).
     
  45. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    The mSATA port is to the right of the hard drive under that black rubber/plastic cover. Just to the left of the bend in the ribbon cable on the left. You have to peel back the black stuff to get to it. Note that you'll want to unscrew the screw at the bottom holding in that piece of rubber/plastic. Otherwise it will tear.
     
  46. mb2k

    mb2k Notebook Guru

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    Congrats on the install Croq. I'm assuming your boot up time is in the <10s range.

    You're right on about the ribbon cable issue being tricky. I managed to install the memory without removing the ribbon cable. I've had issues in the past and am not at all comfortable trying to reseat them. While simply replacing the USB transmitter I couldn't get unit to even POST. Found out that I somehow knocked loose a cable right next to it. Not ribbon cable but rather a connector that folds and took me a few minutes to figure out the cause.

    The free fall sensor got me too, but I found that you can pull up properties of a device and do a google search on the ID to find out what exactly it is. Why Windows can't just tell you in plain language is beyond me.

    Enjoy your XPS.

    Tony
     
  47. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yep, that's exactly how I figured out what the heck it was. I am enjoying the new speed a lot. I got the 256gb mSATA, so even after installing stuff on there, I still have plenty of room for other things. My 1tb drive is empty at this point, but I don't expect that to last long... ;)
     
  48. cons_fy

    cons_fy Newbie

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    Mine is still on the way, i hope it did ship with a windows 8 cd. anyway, what windows version is it? pro or home? thanks in advance.
     
  49. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    It should come with a disk. Mine was in a plastic bag in the box I got from the Dell Outlet purchase I made along with some warranty booklets.

    I think that technically, the CD/DVD supports whatever version you have licensed, not sure about that though. When I re-installed using a Pro DVD I had, it never prompted me for a product code. The install picked up my product key from somewhere in my system (I think it's stored in the BIOS). When it was done, it installed the "home" version, and the product key shows that it's a "pre-installed" key (I used a little program that's supposed to give you your product key).

    To get to Pro, I went into "Add features to Windows 8" in the control panel and put my Pro product key in. It churned for a long time (probably downloading a bunch of stuff and installing it), and then restarted and I was running Pro. Then I had to do the same thing for a Media Center key I got back when Microsoft was giving away free licenses last year for Media Center getting added to Pro. Media Center is no longer included for free so you have to pay for it separately, but was free through this promo (unfortunately, the promo expired over 6 months ago).
     
  50. Croq

    Croq Notebook Enthusiast

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    For anyone interested, Dell Outlet currently shows they have the i7 available. Based on past history, this may in fact be just one unit. The price on it is $1149 which is interesting since the i5 is $1139. Ten bucks to go from an i5 to an i7 seems like a no-brainer to me.

    Dell Outlet XPS 18 Page

    Not sure if there are any current coupons that would apply, but if not, it certainly couldn't hurt to call their sales department and see if they can work a discount for you. If you could get 25% off, that would drop the price to $861.75, which is $37.25 less than the Pentium version would run you if purchasing it new! :eek:
     
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