Playing the Dell waiting game

I've been meaning to pick up a Vostro 1500 laptop (technically its a present from the parents) but Dell switches up its components so irregularly that i've been put off for the moment. Before thanksgiving I had a Vostro configured with pretty much everything I wanted for about just under 1100, but now I see Dell has removed all the 7200rpm harddrives, this after removing half of them and changing the 200gb 7200rpm drive from a $45 bump to a $160 bump. I don't get how they can just ridiculously markup things to bottleneck consumers (or force them to bite the bullet). Going from a T7250 to a T7500 has gone from a $100 upgrade, to a $130 upgrade, and today is sitting pretty at $170.

Anyway, does anyone who's checked their website regularly in the past know about how long Dell usually takes before they bring back some of the options? At this point i'm willing to settle for the T7250 and a 120Gb 7200rpm HD, its just annoying that i was set to buy it, got the purchase information only to go online and find the system in cart "no longer valid" and the pricing suddenly switched with options removed.

 

Well, that's unfortunately what happens when you play the waiting game for computers. Check back every week and cross your fingers. That's all you can do.

 

Since you seem to be on a tight budget, if you're only going to be gaming, you don't need to upgrade your processor. A 1.4ghz or 1.6ghz processor will be sufficient, as indicated by the following benchmarks, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=141502&highlight=1520+benchmarks

In addition, a higher RPM hard drive also has no effect on actual gaming performance other than slightly faster load times and faster boot up.

 

I've been playing the "dell waiting game as well". My parents told me they were going to buy my old inspiron 9300 for what it was going for on ebay and with that money and some extra cash i'd buy a new dell. I configure a vostro with 120 gb 5400 rpm, 1.6 ghz, 8600 gt, for only $689. I was ready to pull the trigger, but my parents weren't. So, i'm probably going to buy this comming summer. The best times to buy laptops are during times not near: Christmas, Easter, and the beginning of school.