Dell Vostro deal in Canada--any good?

Sorry if something similar has already been posted and answered already, but I'm in quite a rush as I have to get running to work and have just over a week before school starts.

Dell Canada has a promotion on the Vostro right now. This is what I configured:

Vostro 1400 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB), English
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Business, English
LCD Panel 14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm
Video Cards 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
Hard Drive 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Integrated NIC and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Optical Drive 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
Batteries 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Services 1 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support


Total cost is $1,249.00 with a $210 discount, making it $1,039.00 before tax. Good deal?

I'm not really familiar with the Vostro, but from a quick glance on this forum, I assume people are happy with their Vostro's. Is this is a safe assumption?
Also, is it worth it to spend an extra $40 for WXGA+, and/or an extra $60 for wireless N?

Finally, the laptop I was planning to get right before I saw this deal was the Asus F3SC-A1. The only differences are that it has the Core2Duo 7100 processor (Dell only has an upgrade to 7300, which is $200 more), has a crappy 6 cell battery, comes with a carry bag, has wireless N, and has a 2 year warranty (which is one of the major reasons I was about to get it). But it's $1280. Of course, I can extend my Dell warranty to 3 years for $160, which will still end up being cheaper than the Asus (minus the slower CPU and carry bag and 1.3mp webcam).
Do you think I need a longer warranty? Also, given that the T5470 and T7100 both have a 2meg cache, can I assume there isn't much of a performance difference?

Thanks. Feel free to fill this up with replies as I need all the info I can since if I get this I may need to order it real soon for it to arrive before school.

 

Dell Canada has the T7100 on the 1500 so I might be tempted to phone Dell to order and see if you can get one on the 1400, because that jump will be worth it or even the T7300 is a good upgrade if you can afford it.

I might suggest an upgrade to an Intel wireless card, just in case you ever want to install linux on it, it seems better supported. Get the WXGA+ if you want the extra screen space, that is just a personal choice. Otherwise your configuration looks good.

I would order very soon, its iffy if you could get it before school even now.

 

well, the deal is not bad but its not the best either. if you really have to have it, order it NOW, you might still have a chance of getting it on time though that chance is very low. I ordered mine on the 14th of aug and the est date is 10th of sept

 

I was told it would take 7 days if I did not order the intel wireless card, bluetooth, or a truelife screen (which is odd, because both screen options are truelife). Otherwise it would take 7-10 days.
I'll probably end up ordering this in the next 24 hours. Should I get the 3 year upgrade? Or can I wait 30 days and order it--I recall some people mentioning that.
Also, does anyone have some extra coupon codes or tips I can use when dealing on the phone to get some additional offers?

 

take a look at this, this is for the 15.4 vostro
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=CAqD7bLWUPI&offerid=130350.598919825&type=10&subid=

 

Turns out to be slightly cheaper with the same specs. Only problem is that it doesn't come with Vista. Only allows me to pic between Xp home and pro. Know how I can get that option? (preferably at the same price)

 

My 1700 was supposed to take one week, then of course they tell me there is now a 17 day delay because of the network card....

 

You can call Dell to get options that are unavailable online, such as Vista in your case. I personally ordered a cheap ($699) Vostro 1400 last week:

Vostro 1400
Intel® Celeron M540 (1.86GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Basic, English
14.1 inch WXGA+ Display with TrueLife™
1.5GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm
Intel X3100 Graphics
80G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
24x CD Writer/Combo Drive
Intel Wireless 4965 802.11a/g/n
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery

 

Pretty bad deal compare to the one in US. I got almost the same config for almost half of that but i added the second 1GB RAM myself. I got the Vista HB though, but even with Vista Biz should not that much. Currently US and CAD $ are about the same in exchange.

 

My vostro is as follows:

Core 2 Duo 5470 (1.6 ghz)
1.5 gigs RAM 667 mhz
80 gb hd 5400 rpm
Dell wireless g card
8x dvd-rw/cd burner
8600m GT

I got it for 1,024.89 after taxes. I cut the ram and hd down so I could get the video card and stay within reasonable range of my parents $1k limit. I think I got a good deal.

 

wow

thanks for pointing out the fact that we get crappy comp deals in canada

i really didn't know



maybe you should tell brits they get crappy deals too

in case they didn't know too

 

the only good thing about the Canadian dollar right now is that we can go to the bank and change it for more US dollars... that's it. I have yet to see any reduction in prices, unfortunately. But what I'll probably do is call them and ask for a price reduction since it's so much cheaper in the US.

 

It sure seems the US Dell.com $599 deal on the Vostro 1500 looks pretty good to me:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
Dell Exclusive MediaDirect™ Instant Play Software Application
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera
High Definition Audio 2.0


Same price, XP or Vista. Free shipping.

 

After chatting on the phone for sometime, i was able to get this configuration:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB), English
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Premium, English
LCD DISPLAY 14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA+ LCD Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm
HARD DRIVE 80G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
GRAPHICS CARD 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated High Definition Audio


total cost was ~$1100, so a total of $1250 after taxes. This price also includes the basic 3 year warranty.

I couldn't negotiate further (as he already slashed off about $150 from the price) and I don't have the time to try another agent to negotiate a better deal as I need this laptop soon (he said a max of 12 business days for it to arrive...). So if anything, I'll probably call them within the 30 days if their own price decreases or if the US price drops even further and see if there's anything they can do.
Regardless, this price for what I am getting is probably the best I've seen in Canada... we don't get great deals like in the US

 

That's not a very good deal, even for Canada. Take a look at the link below. That's basically the price that the Vostro is on for on sale right now. Configure it for what you got and it's the same price with a 120GB drive.

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cabsdt1&l=en&OC=N14002V_F_1E

 

Umm.. what are you talking about?
From that link, the same config but with a 120gb hard drive and just Vista basic edition is $1,178 before taxes. Mine is a few dollars under $1100. Of course, i probably forgot to mention mine has a 9 cell upgrade.
As for the 120gb hard drive, it was a $30 price reduction for the 80gb, which was fine with me as i never really keep more than 40gigs at a time on my computer, but rather on my external.

 

I got the same configuration, minus the dedicated video card, for $879 before tax.

 

Is that with the 9 cell battery and 3 year warranty? If it is, at least I know I can negotiate a better deal within their 30 day policy.