XPS15 Deal or not?

I tried to figure out if I got a decent deal offered to me or not for a laoptop for a highly mobile student. Meant to handle some gaming but not all and be on the higher end of a day to day laptop but not highest.

XPS 15 w/ Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.40 GHz ; 8GB,DDR3,2 DIMM; backlit keyboard
; NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 2GB graphics with Optimus; Monitor 15.6FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD (1920X1080); 1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive; Windows 7; Blu-ray Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs); BlueTooth Wireless Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0; 3 yr Premium Hardware/ Softwre and Accidental Damage (HIGHLY Mobile laptop would need service for student)

Price I got was 1792.99 out the door / approx. 1,647.75 base plus tax. shipping free.

Thoughts? Order? I have 24 hrs to decide.


Thanks!
Kelly

 

1TB hard drive?

BTW, whether it's a good deal or not very much depends upon what country you're in. Check Dell's own web site for your country to compare prices.

 

Yes, 1 Terabyte SATA hard drive

 

Country is US.. More curious about people who really track laptops. It seems that pricing is constantly in a state of flux depending on the existing offers that minute.. Always so frustrating as a consumer. Always makes a person feel like they are either the mouse avoiding a trap or already in one..

 

Did you configure that system using dell.com, or were you negotiating with a reller? I usually find good deals at dell.com though sales plus discount codes (that's why it helps to "track" over a period of time).

Back to your specific question, I recently helped a friend order an XPS 15 with configuration virtually identical to yours, except he decided to get a DVD/CD reader/writer and the one-year service plan upgrade. He paid a bit over $1500 OTD.

In any event, if you get what you want/need in that configuration (including peace of mind) and can afford that price, treat yourself to it. The XPS 15 is an awesome laptop.

 

1.7k is way overpriced for a XPS, for that money you can get a business class or a serious gaming laptop.

 

Part of that price was 3 yrs of software and hardware support since the user is not tech savy and it will be getting moved all the time and living in a backpack it seemed a decent way to ensure that aside from theft, they would be covered for 3 yrs. If I hadn't added the service and Hardware support, it would have been around $1200 or so.. Agree that the "what if" scenarios might never happen and never need the support...

Any other recommendations for similar?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/29271-what-should-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

Try post in this NBR sub forum. You should get some feedback quick. I mean unless you need all the upgrade in there like 1TB drive and high end i7 CPU, you can probably cut the price by 200-300 bucks iirc.

 

It's not a great deal; just par for the course.

If you think about it, you're paying about $200-250 extra for the processor, hard drive and optical drive upgrades, then you're paying another $200 for the "Total Support" and ADP service components.

If you think you can get full mileage from those very specific hardware components (i7-2670QM vs. i7-2760QM, 750 GB 7200 RPM vs 1 TB 5400 RPM, Blu-Ray Reader vs Blu-Ray Writer) and the software support (standard vs. Total Support / Premium) then it's a fair price.

You'd pay about $1,200 for an identical machine with an i7-2670QM, 750 GB 7200 RPM drive, and Blu-Ray Reader with standard 3-year service (it'd be $1,300ish with ADP), so that's your normal reference.

 

Sager NP8150 / Clevo P150HM - XOTIC PC OR Lotus P150HM - MALIBAL (Make sure you scroll down and select Windows)

 

By "upgrading" to a 1TB drive, you are downgrading your performance. The 1 TB is only 5400 RPM, while the 750 GB drive is 7200 RPM. That RPM difference will be noticeable. Unless you absolutely must have that extra storage internally, you'd be better off with the faster drive and save money.

 

Is the warranty even comparable? Seems like it is a major concern for the OP...

Also I don't know if it's just me, but that lotus laptop looks really expensive for nothing-too-special

 

True.

My friend picked the default optical drive because he wanted to replace it with a NewmodeUS caddy to house the large HDD for storage and install a small SSD for primary (OS + apps).

It was a Canadian transaction. People in the US should be able able to pay between $1300 and $1400 for the same config.

 

Higher-capacity drives with a given rotor speed tend to have better performance than lower-capacity drives of the same speed. Even if the speed is the same, the data is more densely packed, so more data can be read per revolution on higher-capacity drives. However, since the linear data density doesn't increase purely linearly for capacity increases, I don't know whether the performance-increase due to data density and the performance-decrease due to slower RPM would "balance out" or not, for the 750GB 7200RPM versus 1TB 5400RPM.

 

I started reading some of the reviews with wi-fi problems with the XPS15z and the XPS15 and I am now a little spooked. I live and die by my wi-fi connections at my house and would hate to do anything to mess that up.

To be honest? I Haven't heard about Malibal.com or Xoticpc.com does anyone have any feeback? Xoticpc has some MSI laptops - which I wouldn't get because customer service on the MSI Laptops was complete trashed on the web for the 2011 customer round up. However they also have the Sager and Asus lines. I have heard about Asus but not Sager.

Any recommendations from people on either the sites or the laptops they offer?

 

The price is fine especially for all of your additions, but IMO, the 1TB drive is overkill. If you need extra storage space, just get a portable external drive. I would have chosen a 250GB drive if there was an option that wasn't an overpriced SSD.

 

It depends on the specific hard drive specs, as the number of platters in a device may also vary (usually 1, 2 or 3 magnetic platters) , so you could end up having a larger hard drive with lower rotor speed, same data density but one more platter.

In either case Dell seems to always charge too much for RAM/HDD upgrades, with the price of the upgrades sometimes near to the price of the whole upgraded part: if you upgrade the part by yourself you could end up paying the same price for the upgrade getting as a bonus the original parts as spares to sell.