Whats going on with dell? Don't let them fool you...

Alright i know people complian about dell for numerous reasons, including customer support, quality, and numerous other reasons. This is fine because im not planning on shelling out $4000 for a notebook when i can get the same performance and quality from sager at $2300. Their is XPS trained support, but i doubt its worth it. Possibly the xps has better cooling and better build quality then the sager, but not enough to make it that much more expensive. What really troubles me, however, is the price comparison to identical systems on dell.com... Here are some interesting price comparisons:

This is from dell.com and i was browsing the XPS M170:
Price 1: 4,260
Price 2: 4,021
Same exact configurations and same model for both laptops:

2.26 ghz pentium m
media center
tv tuner
17 inch ultrasharp uxga
2 gig ram
100 gb 7200 rpm hd
8x cd/dvd burner
pro 2915 and dell 350 bluetooth
nvidia gefore go 7800 gtx
9-cell lithium ion primary battery
no extra battery

So theirs an extra price of $239 for what??
I know this is a bit nit-picky, but how incompetent can these people be?
So i would like to warn people about dell, because i don't trust them based on this concern... It just seems mean! lol.

 

They've done this for years. Want a real eye opener? Price out identical machines, but one in the Home section and one in the Small business section. When I need to place an order, I always do this and sometimes home is 20% less and sometimes small business is. I don't really have an explanation, except that I think they've done this since day one; at least for the past 5 years I've been buying from them...

 

Dell's do not carry a retailer overhead either. I don't know about Sager.

 

wow.. i just did home vs small buisness... thats a shock.
Im lucky i found out about powernotebooks.com so i didn't buy from sager directly. I can sometimes repair notebooks by myself, but i honestly don't have any problems usually. The worst thing that happened was i got like 6 dead pixels and replaced the unit.

 

i'm posting this without checking the facts so it'll probably come back to bite me in the butt; but i believe dell business has longer/better warranties by default and you also get specialized support.

as for the pricing differences, dell consistently plays with their pricing strategies as a function of their business model ("just in time inventory").

 

hmm thats possible i guess... but it doesn't say anything about different service. The service when you pay for it might be different however. I think its just a way to make more money... What about other companies doing the same thing? then maybe i don't feel so bad about dell, but just don't trust big companies

 

well, the service between dell home and business is different. the facts i was unsure of was the base warranty between the two departments.

 

Dell always has a bunch of coupons. Maybe the XPS doesn't but you can get really good deals on Inspirons if you wait for it and browse fatwallet.

 

Heh - I was actually doing this yesterday and comparing coupon premotions and such. I was actually able to get 2 prices for the same machine in the same cart since I was looking at a model that had two names.

On a broader scale, everyone does this. It may be that it's worth it for some peopel to pay for the "Organic" reassurance on certain foods but that doesn't always mean that a grower finds it economically sensible to grow or handle in two different ways. It is often easier just to follow whatever is required for all items and sell them as different products.

I am kindof an obsessive consumer, so I find myself doing things like comparing Tylenol Migrane to regular Tylenol in the ingredients to find they're identical in the ingredients label but one is being sold for nearly twice what the other is.

Likewise, I'm sure you've discovered the numerous ODM machines the people in here talk about... and have sometimes seen their equivalents selling for much higher with a different badge attached. Usually these are different companies but not always. Remember, in Japan a Lexus is still a Toyota.

 

Also you have to remember that the different places small business and home are different software and also when you go through and chose a level base or high end come with different software and that changes the price

 

no i made sure the software was identical. Remember i configured two identical models at the same home/home office webpage at dell.com

 

yea i want to live in japan.... Possibly tokyo. Man i can get cheap computers and black cod for about a 20th of the price i can get it for in london!

:noisyfan: :noisyfan: :noisyfan: verheat: verheat:

 

Home - Someone you probably can't understand in India
SB - Pretty good tech support actually

XPS support wouldn't be normal home support so that wouldn't apply here.

 

Just another pointer - most of the "boutique" notbook shops, Sager, Powernotebooks, XoticPc, etc. etc. do not deliver/warranty outside USA, whereas Dell is pretty-much planet-wide ... even here is South Africa.

thise bceomes even more important if, over the next few years, you are likely to be moving around (like I am).

Just my 2c

 

Just configured IDENTICAL 9400 T2500 based systems on the Australian dell site:

Home office price: A$3444.10
Small Business Center price: A$2848.90

Thanks Coolvanilla, you just saved me $594

 

Wow... saved nearly $600. Not bad. Dell home and Small business offer separate promotions, and there prices are very rarely the same. Dell small business often includes a 2-3 year warranty in there laptop packages. (Although sometimes only 1 year warranty). Dell Home usually just offers the base 1 year warranty but for cheaper laptops they only come with a 90 day warranty, but you can upgrade for $20-30 to a full year warranty. Dell small business generally has better service, and sometimes there laptops come with better software bundles.

 

I should also point out another "major" difference between home and small business is that the dell business machines are always designed to use the exact same components for every model which are supposedly more reliable, whereas one inspiron 9200 components may actually differ from another though they have the same specs.

"So what?", you may say? For businesses/edumacational institutions who have to image a lot of computers at once it make s a big difference. If you have different motherboards in two machines which are supposedly the same, trying to image the other computer from the one you created the image on may not work. So for businesses/etc that have a lot of computers they need to manage, its important to have all of your computers exactly the same.

edit: and yes, the dell business tech support is some of the best you can get. The dell home tech support is horrid, and the reason why I will never buy a dell for home use again.