Not happy! m1530 price up again?

So I took one day off from looking at the dell page to check the price on the m1530. TOMORROW I was planning on making my purchase (pay day). I had it down to $2670 taxes and shipped, NOW $2,763.25 with taxes/shipped.

anyways, this is what i got configured. tell me what you think, this would be my first laptop. What is the "Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition"? its just software? is it worth it? i'll be listening to music and watching movies (via hdmi to hdtv i hope).

Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
LCD AND CAMERAHigh Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD/DVD/CD read/write)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
High Definition Audio 2.0
3Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
Accidental Damage and LoJack Theft Protection to 3Yr Warr.

This would be my first laptop. i was looking at the 1520, then got carried away and now im WAY over my budget. I am definitely calling dell and explaining my case. i purchased two desktops before christmas, was denied credit (24 years old, not much credit), and now they keep raising the price. i dont know if i can justify spending almost $2800.

tia

 

yeah its just software, i really think its a waste. There are also a bunch of coupons you can use to get the price lower, try searching on google

 

Yeah, a lot of us were waiting until later this month to buy, but now the price has gone up twice. I bought after the first bump.

They added Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements, but I don't want them since I already have the full versions.

 

how many coupons can you use at once?

 

Are you sure that you want to burn that much money on just one laptop? If I were you I would not, I won't spend anything over $1800 on the laptop. You got almost the same configuration like mine except the screen, OS, and the hard drive, but I have 4 years complete care, free printer, and $270 gift card. You pay more over $1000 more than mine.

I think Blue-ray drive really eats you up right there. You really have to have it? With the price you paid, I put use the money for a new car. This is just me. Don't take it as an offense.

 

I would just buy the minimum amount of RAM from Dell and upgrade it yourself. That will probably save you a couple hundred right there

 

heh...i got the new car already, and the 50 inch plasma...

with that deal, they don't allow you to choose 1gb.

 

About the bluray thing i would just buy an external drive or something; costs maybe 250. But if you are going to travel with it and want movies on the go i guess you can buy it.

 

some thoughts to cut down the price:

T7700 = waste of money for 99% of the population
3gb ram = overpriced, buy from a 3rd party and install yourself
Blu-ray = more or less pointless w/o a 1080-capable display
200GB hard drive = buy from a 3rd party and install yourself at a massive savings
wireless n = pointless unless the use of your laptop consists of transferirng massive amounts of data other n-equipped systems often
bluetooth = mostly pointless
vista ultimate = not really much better than premium unless you REALLY need the few other features it offers
1680x1050 = be prepared to squint

 

"deal" ????

 

T7700, im willing to consider changing this now.
blu-ray, i got a 50 inch plasma
200GB hd, its only $25 more
bluetooth, why not, its $25
vitsa ultimate, also considering the change
resolution, not changing

 

the coupon worth $594

 

about your configuration i would say get the minimum ram from dell and intall 3gb yur self. that will save u a couple of a hundred dollars. also u could bump down the proceesor a few steps as u wont see a differnece bettween a t7500 or a t7700 expect in benchmarks or video encoding which itself will be small

 

get visat premium.ultimate has worse support and isnt as good as premium imo

 

thanks for the replies. im looking at this configuration now. i only changed the processor and os, but that makes a huge difference. looking at $2,471 with tax. this is more reasonable...now i'll see what i can do over the phone tomorrow or friday.


Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
LCD AND CAMERAHigh Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD/DVD/CD read/write)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
High Definition Audio 2.0
3Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
Accidental Damage and LoJack Theft Protection to 3Yr Warr.

 

That's way too much money for a laptop IMO. The deal around Christamas was a solid machine for $1500 or so. Wait for some better offers.

 

better offers? all i've read about is the amazing deal already going on. other wise im gonna keep waiting for deals and or new technology.

im already planning on returning if the price is right with the new processor/led screen coming out (that is if it does come out). but i can't afford to just wait for that lol.

 

i'm not sure what' dell's pricing is on the blu-ray drive, but can you pick a up a standalone player cheaper?

 

I got exactly the same thing, except no blueray and I got an extra power supply for 1700 including tax and next day shipping a week ago.

 

the blu-ray option is like $500. yes that is a lot. but if i want blu-ray capability for my tv, i'll be spending $500+ anyways on a stand alone player. and why not make my laptop that much better. so you can say my bottom line price is 2471-500= $1971

 

I'm another that was waiting and saw the price go up twice now. I don't think the price went up this time. They just changed the configuration options so the more expensive options are default and you can't choose less expensive options. It's pretty much out of my price range now. I kind of wish I got it at the beginning of the year... but back then I didn't need a new laptop

I'm pretty sure the price will continue to go up until the offer is over. Then it will be really high with no discount, then a few months later there will be a new revision and maybe another deal...

 

yeah, i noticed how they control the price with the options. other wise i would have chose 1gb of mem, and the cheapest harddrive.

 

honestly do you really need blu ray?? id save the 500 bucks.. is it really gonna hurt you, to not have a blu ray

and i really dont see why people are getting blu ray now, standard dvds are perfectly fine for me, and im happy with the quality that the it put out, as long as im buying a good movie, thats the main care..


but i guess if you got the dough, then splurge away lol

 

If your going to just used the blueray on the plasma why not just get a PS3 for $399 and save $100?

 

I just purchased a M1530 through EPP program.

T7500 2.2 GHz
3GB DDR2
15.4 WXGA
256MB Geforce 8600GT
200GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Dell Wireless a/g Mini Card
355 Bluetooth Module
Extra AC Adapter
6-Cell Battery

4 Year Warranty
4 Year Lojack and Accidental Damage
Trend Micro 3-Year Subscription

$1530 Shipped

Plus $70 Giftcard makes net total $1460

Can still get some pretty good deals.

 

I was just going to suggest that you go through the Dell EPP/MPP website at www.dell.com/epp. For your configuration you could probably save anywhere between 8 and 12 percent. Also, if you are a AAA member, there is a 6% stackable coupon that you can use on top of these discounts.

Also, talk to a sales rep to see if they will cut you some slack. If you are located in the US, and are eligible for EPP, PM me and I can send you the contact info for a couple of good sales rep that I know (I would post it publicly, but I am not sure of the disclosure rules).

 

how do i know if im eligible? i asked the IT guy at work and he had no idea what i was talking about. we deal mostly with cdw.

 

why would you not spend $500 on an extemely high quality blu ray player? way easier to use and probably better features, and you can use your computer and tv at the same time. i don't know how it makes the laptop "better" the screen isn't even 1080, so what's the point?

 

you shoulda bought it 2 months ago for 300$ less and a 200$ gift card

 

2 months ago i started looking for my first laptop. and at that time i was looking at the 1520.

thanks for all the input btw.

..and, forget about changing my mind on the blu-ray. im using it with my tv anyways, so how is that not hd?

 

Ok so that same system was $1230 with a $300 gift card? Did they have the 0% financing for a year then also on DPA?

2.2 processor, 3gb ram, 200gb 7200, 3 yr antivirus, extra ac adapter, bluetooth, 4yr accidental, 4yr lojack and 4yr warranty?

Thats pretty sick, grats on that deal IMO!

 

You can get a Blu-Ray player with 10 free movies (5 instantly, 5 by mail) for $300-400. I would go that route -- or a PS3.

 

Get a PS-3 for Bluray !
I just configured a M1530 with the following specs without any coupons (other than the ongoing $594) or tax, it comes to $1723
T7500
Vista Home Premium
3GB RAM
320GB 5400 or 200GB 7200
1440x900 with camera
8600M GT
DVDRW
Wireless N
BT
3Yr Completecare

If you add a PS3 ($399) total would be $2123. With additional coupons or discounts you should be able to get it under $2000.

 

still dont see why u want a blu ray so bad...

 

Wow, do you really need all that stuff? I got a somewhat stripped down XPS1530 for under 600+200GC...

Dell XPS M1530 Black
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
Windows Vista Ultimate
Widescreen 15.4 inch (also ended up with LG screen somehow)
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
120GB 5400rpm SATA
Slot Load DVD+/-RW
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Upgrading the HD/Ram on your own is much cheaper, at least it was for me.

 

wow how did you get it that low? how long ago did you buy this? link?

 

I just checked my invoice and I actually I got it for $503.17.

 

What you need to do is call them up and ask them to match the price, otherwise you will take your business elsewhere. I had an awesome sales rep, who matched a price AND allowed me to use a coupon even with the wrong code. If you PM me I can hopefully get her to match the deal she gave me (22% off plus free shipping).

 

Care to let us know how you got such a deal ? either DELL made a mistake or you got some crazy EPP or some other special discount (unlikely). There is no way you can get that config for $500. T7500, Vista Ultimate and a 8600GT +200 gift card (meaning the actual price is like $300)?? NOWAY! maybe they forgot to print a 1 in front of 503

 

You dont save any money really by getting 1GB if you use the link elsewhere that gives you more configuration options and dont take any of this package deal they have on the main link from the site.

The prices look different again..i think they changed the defaults or something, but i dont think the price went up or did it?

...anyway i dont think im buying a dell anymore...but im quite indecisive

 

lol, I was thinking the same thing!

 

I think you forgot the 1,

 

can anyone enlighten me on the epp? i configured my laptop and it had a 12% discount. i take it i have to be approved? like i said, my company doesn't deal with dell.

 

I'm in the same boat. I ordered at about 12:30 am today and chose EPP. It shouldn't be a problem because I go to western michigan univeristy and 90 percent of the computers are Dells...thats like 1000 computers....if not more. So I'm crossing my fingers that it will go thru as I got what I think was a nice deal.

In your case...I have heard of other people getting it and never even been questioned about it. All you can do is pray.

Maybe someone who doesn't have any connection to Dell could verify maybe....

Good Luck!

 

when i went to dell.com/epp, it asks for a member code. i didn't enter any code, i just selected one of the options.

good luck to you too

 

BTW depending on what you will do with your laptop you might want to go with Vista Ultimate or Business. Home Premium doesn't have multicore support.

 

Nor will it allow you to authenticate to a domain.

 

I'm a bit annoyed too - I'd saved something in my wishlist which came up to a total of $1700 approx. I checked today and it had disappeared for some reason, so I reconfigured it and now the price is $1850! How often do they raise prices? And my coupon code has disappeared which was supposed to give me $500 off if I bought before the end of the month.

 

it looks like they just switch options around, and they also lowered the huge discount from 669 to 594. not really raising the price, but making you choose the more expensive options.

not only am i using this for multi-media, i'll be working with spreadsheets (access and excel), and maybe some gaming. (i guess i shoulda mentioned this form the beginning, but i was more focussed on the deals, and not changing my config drastically)

 

Nope, dell did not make a mistake. Ill upload parts of my invoice to show you guys later.