order to delivery time, again.

I ordered my Inspiron 6400 on May 2nd. My estimated delivery time on the Dell website is may 28th which is WAY too long.
I spoke to Dell today and they said that production is complete and its already on a ship to the US and to expect delivery around May 18th. Does that estimate seem very conservative to anyone else? Is this yet another case of Dell hedging their bet in order to look good when it gets delivered before that? When can I realistically expect to receive it? (I'm leaving town on the 18th. weak!)
I'm ever so impatient as I'm borrowing a friends hunk of antiquated junk backup system until i get the new one. Thanks for any input.
I should also note that on the order tracking website my system is still in production... who to believe?

 

ordered my E1505 on May 1st (at like 11PM) and it also said to expect towards the end of the Month(28 or 29) which made me kind of upset because i didnt want to wait that long...on May 2nd it was "in production" and today May 4th it was "shipping", so i expect it to be here at the latest Wednesday (May 9)...check on the site and get your shipping number

 

Common business practice. All companies do it. I would say 2 weeks is a good estimate.

 

got mine (m1210) in 8 days from the time I ordered....and I live in Canada.

 

i ordered on may 1, still says estimated shipping may 28. I called in and *****ed about it and they throw bunch of freebees in my order but still it is may 28.