When Should I Order My E1705?!

I been waiting to get a new laptop for some time now, the problem is, the price is still too high (in my parents opinion) and I want to hear from you guys when I should buy it.
The specs I want are (I don’t want anything lower than this):
Inspiron E1705
Intel Duo Processor T2500 2 GHz
17in UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with Truelife
1 GB shared duel channel ddr2 sdram at 667 MHz
256MB GeForce Go 7900 GS
100 GB 7200 RPM
8 x cd/dvd burner
Integrated Sound Blaster Advanced HD Audio
Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

I signed up for the EPP program but found out it actually cost a little more than the regular $750 coupon off (and that includes the EPP $750 off with 12% discount). That is because the EPP program basically forces a person to use the 2-4 year warranty which I do not want so that 12% is useless. I know there’s also $100-200 off that can be stacked onto the EPP depending on the gold/platinum/silver package but that’s only for certain warranty like 3-4 years which also jacks up the price.

Some of the promotions on dell doesn’t do me any good for example this week is 1 gig upgrade ram (but that only applies to the 553 mhz). If I want the 667 mhz, I have to add $145 so that promotion goes to waste. Same with last week, free hard drive upgrade but only for 5400 RPM, if I want the 7200 RPM I still pay the full price and the promotion goes to waste.

Therefore these questions come to mind:
1.) What kind of promotion should I be looking for (other than free shipping) on the dell site that would actually help me with the specs above? (maybe a free graphics card upgrade?- but I doubt it would push to the 7900.)
2.) Is there a way to use the EPP but select 1 year warranty instead of 2-4 years so I can use the 12% off towards my rig?
3.) Do you think the 40% discount will come soon because that would take almost 1K off my rig leaving the price around $1600-1700.
4.) Where can I find the stackable $100 off to the $750.
5.) Other competing laptops like HP is pretty cheap but I doesn’t offer me the same specs above- however it is more or less around the same specs above and relatively cheaper. (Around 1600-1700 without coupons) Why is dell so expensive without the coupons?

Thank you for your time in reading and responding. I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

 

Well, for the most part, when you go into looking for a laptop with a set of certain specs for it, that is when you normally tend to pay more. The odds that most of your high end specs will go on sale or a deal for the will start is unlikely because they are all high end specs as of now. Unless you wait it out, you will have a hard time getting your price to drop because you are set on this specific configuration. Unless you are willing to settle for the 533mhz, or the T2400 processor, for example, I would not expect for your price to drop substantially anytime soon.

 

what's the price for this config?

 

From what I have seen from other threads, Intel is cutting prices on the Core Duo on May 28th. I don't know if that will reflect with the prices Dell is offering. It looks like the 100 off is no longer available. But you can check eBay for the $35 off coupon.

 

With the $750 coupon and for this week's promotion (free ram upgrade) <-- but it is useless since i picked the 667 mhz, the total price with tax and shipping is $2,102.64

I just don't understand why dell placed such a high price on their products while other companies could sell it at a much lower price without coupons. Plus, i like the fact that HP laptops like the dv8000t have a keypad on it. The E1705 is wide enough for a keypad so why not put it? the dv8000z also features athlon which i prefer but th graphics card is lacking compared to dell (that is the only reason that is holding me back from that purchase)

One way i see that dell could lower the price on the E1705 is by offering a fast solo processor instead of duo. (i am well aware they do have a solo processor but the only option is T1300 (1.66GHz) which is not fast enough to play my games since it is very cpu dependent as well as gpu. If i wasn't going off to college, i would buy a desktop in a heartbeat but looks like im forced into this position where i have to get a laptop.
For example: I'm playing around with the solo processor on the E1705, all specs are the same as above except the cpu at 1.66 ghz, the price comes out to be 1485.64 after the $750 coupon and the 300 mail in rebate. Total: $1485.64, that extra $200-300 could go towards upgrading the solo core processor to a higher one (if it had that option).

 

i would say if you can wait a month or so you would be able to get a better price. as the turion X2 notebooks are coming out, the duo core prices would get down, i think.

 

I am in the same quandry you are in. Well, sort of.

Why don't you try this:

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory FREE!1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 60GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)

Original Price: 2102

New Price (config listed above)

2260-750=1510

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820221044

667mhz 512mb memory 51.50 per stick=103.00+4.81 shipping=107.81

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145100

100gb 7200rpm hdd 174.99+4.99 shipping=179.98

Grand Total:

1510.00
0107.81
0179.88
----------
1787.69

Sell the HDD and Ram for 50-100 total (conservative estimate) or just keep it. Either way, you are ahead more than 300.00. I am doing the exact same thing, except I'd rather have the 100gb hard drive ($15 usb drive cage would turn it into a nice backup drive for your laptop). I have no use for the memory. I already have 2gb in my SZ that will go into this and 1gb to go into my SZ when I give it to my wife. So memory literally has no purpose for me. 1gb is just more stuff sitting around (though I can probably sell the sticks for 20 bucks here or somewhere).

I'm going to wait and see what the special is next week, if I don't like it I'm going to wait until chip prices come down (following week).

 

Vcdechagn makes a very valid point, i like the way you think. Just 2 things come to mind: 1.) compatibility issues in case i buy the wrong one (but i could always do my homework and get it right). 2.) You said sell the 2 old hardware when i buy the new ones from newegg which is a very interesting idea but the fact that we have to go through that trouble of buying, then buying again, and selling is a hassle. If the price was that low on newegg, how come its not the same on the dell laptop. Greedy aren't they?

 

I know the memory is compatible.

You actually need an SATA HDD. I gave you the wrong number. Here is the right one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146053

Same price.

 

In my opinion:
Get the lowest RAM and HD

Do you plan to upgrade to Merom? (Intel's next huge chipset, that is going to make a huge impact to notebooks)
If that is the case (Merom will be out in August) then i would get the lower CPU as well. Even if you wont, a T2400 and T2500 arent a huge different in my opinion. A T2400 is still remarkably fast, for what you are going to use the notebook for.


Other than that, I'd wait till the beginning of June

 

Doesn't dell charge like an extra $200 for the T2500 over the T2400, and theres barely a performance difference at all.

 

For "college" use, lol but like hell I'm going to waste all this power to open a word document. I been waiting for this comp for 3 years so i can finally play my flight sims (and that takes a lot of cpu, ram, and gpu power). That was why i prefered single core since most games right now doesnt utilize the duel core to its advantage. I could save the money to upgrade it to a more powerful cpu but dell doesn't have that option.

 

Id still go with the T2400 if i was you

No doubt about it, keep in mind about Merom...

T2400 and a T2500 isn't a noticable difference at all

Heck, i have used a friends machine, my P-M 760 (2GHz) was slower than his T2300 (1.66GHz)

This Sims are nothing, my Inspiron 8600 runs it fine (1.4GHz, GeForce Fx 5200, 40Gb HD, 768MB RAM)

Like i said, dont worry...

 

Btw...does any other laptops besides dell and alienware that offers the 7800 or 7900 graphics card?

 

Lots of them. the Toshiba P105 has the7900 (not GTX) and is about 2grand. It has a numpad too. (dell, c'mon here...throw me a bone w/the numpad thing).

Lots of custom built laptops have them. Sager, Asus (probably...haven't looked at any Asus 17"), other botique laptops.

They do get pricey though. Ithink Dell has the best value in the 1705 at that power range.

 

Does anyone have any idea if Dell UK are bringing out the 7900 GS as an option any time soon for this?

 

I'm playing flight sims which requires a lot more horsepower, especially the game called lock on, i believe that is THE most demanding game on the market.

Thanks Vcdechagn, I'll take a look at the other laptops you mentioned, any more suggestions would be great.

 

Not even close...games like Oblivion are