For anyone buying a vostro in the UK, some advice

This might be obvious to some, but when you go to pick a vostro, and it gives you the two choices for 1700 or three for 1500, configure all of them exactly the same, they will sometimes come out different prices.

This is extremely apparent with the vostro 1700's, there are two to select from, these are labelled as follows:

N0817001 = VostroTM 1700
17" widescreen & powerful graphics - starts at £449

N0817002 = VostroTM 1700
Widescreen multi-tasking with more storage capacity - starts at £479

Now configuring both of these the exact same way i didn't think there would be a difference, luckily i got N0817002 because theres a massive difference. Configured like so:

Core2duo T7300 2.0ghz
base 1 year warrenty
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1900x1200) TFT Display
2.0MP camera
8600GT
2GB ram
160GB 5400rpm HDD
Wireless N card
9 cell battery
vista business

For N0817001 the price excluding vat and shipping is - £854.00
For N0817002 the price excluding vat and shipping is - £679.00

Thats balls! For the exact same laptop, configured the same way theres a £175 difference!? Also the 17.5% VAT will be even greater for the more expensive one! In addition to that N0817001 dosent even seem to have the £50 off or free shipping deal. Morale of the story - Click the second vostro 1700, not the first one. Is there a reason for this difference??

EDIT: I tried configuring vostro 1500's the exact same as above, they came out as £784/£709/£609, it seems the cheaper they start off at, the more expensive they get when you add things. Interesting.

 

What you have seen is Dell's standard pricing arrangement - it's nothing new.

One way to play the system is to choose something for which the top spec version is the nearest but includes something which you don't want. Then phone up and get the sales version to customise it to downgrade that component but demand that they value the component at the upgrade cost.

John