Dell discontinued Ge Force 7900 GS. Help please.

My son and I am have been trying for several days to build a laptop at Dell. He is an architecture major and the architecture department had several specifics to be met (including a preference for Windows XP). I have an account at Dell and that's really the only place I can afford to purchase right now.

Two days ago we built both an e1705 in the home account and a 9400 in the small business account. They were identical, except the 9400 was about $350.00 less. I started the purchase process on the 9400. Can't purchase it with Dell preferred account and Dell won't let me open a small business account. Yesterday, when I opened the carts, the items we had built and saved were marked "This offer is no longer valid." Then the items just - disappeared.

Now, when I try to rebuild the same e1705, there is no GeForce 7900 GS option. Only ATI Radeon x1400. (There is no longer the GeForce option on the 9400 either.) All the reviews on the ATI x1400 are not good. Can anyone out there tell me what happened and how to deal with Dell? I have the confirmation of the order for the 9400 if that will help.

Should I just purchase the e1705 without any graphics card and buy the graphics card separately from BestBuy or something? I was just really afraid to do that because I was afraid that would void the Dell warranty, not interface, or something like that.

Advice would be appreciated. As I said, Dell is the only place I have the option to purchase right now (unfortunately).

 

Its not possible to buy the notebook with nor graphics card. BestBuy only sell desktop graphics cards, and not notebook ones. The Go 7900 GS has been missing on other Dell websites for a long time know, and its unlikely it will be coming back. They've probably done it so they don't have to order new graphics cards, which could be a waste of money as their new notebook range is being prepared for full production.

 

Dell are getting ready for releasing the nvidia 8-series for their lappy's, that's why..
think they will present new models 26th june or something

 

If you plan to game (which I assume you are going to) then the Go7900GS is a must; the X1400 is not a bad card but it's not going to give you great performance for the latest games.

Try the Dell Outlet, there should be some Go7900GS-equipped machines for sale in there.

As roobarb mentioned, Dell is coming out with new laptops. You could consider waiting for the upcoming 1720.

 

They always remove/add components on the web sites. Right now, for instance, you cannot choose T7400 C2D on Inspiron 9400 in Canada. You could 2 weeks ago. It does not, however, necessarily mean that they are out of stock or anything.

If you call their sales people, they will be able to add a certain component to your order.

 

Don't forget about the $500 coupons if money is an issue.

What you could do is fill out a FAQ and maybe some people here can help you pick out a different laptop for your budget.

 

They are still offering the 7900GS on Dell Switzerland.

PS. But howeve they did discontinue the GeForce 7400 on the XPS M1210.

PS 2. The 7900GS only seems to be offered on the XPS M1710 and not on the Inspiron 9400. My bet is that if in the US they still offer the 7900 GS on the M1710 then if you call them up they'll probably give you a 9400 with a 7900 GS.

 

I think the reason is because Dell is acting to "force" users to purchase their XPS systems, which they earn more profit on over their Inspiron range.

A few months back you could get a 9400 with 7900GS and a WSXGA+ screen for near enough the same price as you can now get the 9400 with an Geforce 7400 and lower res screen. And now the 7400 is the default card. No options to change it.

Now you can only find that card on the XPS which costs a lot more. Dell are really shooting themselves in the foot. They seem to price their machines not at particular markets or demographics, but in-between them. Kind of like snipers with really bad scopes.

I base this on the UK dell. But it seems the effect is a major wide policy decision.

 

Same problem here. I was planning on getting the e1705 with the 7900 GS and right when I'm ready to buy it the 7900 GS disappears. Not available with the Windows XP option or anywhere. I'm certainly not buying it without that card, and the XPS is way too expensive! The e1705 being the best deal was why I planned to buy it. Now, Dell's not competitive at all. Tomorrow I'll check out the local Dell mall kiosks and see if I can get lucky with a pre-built one there. As for the Dell Outlet - what type of warranty do you get on those? Basic one-year? That'd be quite a bit worse than what I was getting. And the systems that do come in there with good specs (7900) are going within hours.

The only other comparable option I've found is the Gateway NX860XL. It's still about $350 more after Dell's student deals, though. My guess is the Inspiron e1720 will cost about the same as this Gateway. Anyone know if Gateway has student discounts?

Depends on how the e1720 compares with the e1705. If it's close, it won't hurt them much; if it's not it might.

 

If you don't mind you can buy 7900GS from ebay...
I'm sure you can find some (I prolly will sell mine 7900GS too)

 

Seriously, this is just them running out of stock. Rumors have it the new models will be here by this time next week, so naturally Dell is trying to avoid stocking more of a soon-to-be-discontinued notebook.

 

Just order it by phone. That's what I did.

The 7900GS option was missing from the UK website a week ago or so, but I called them up and they said it would be no problem. I got it a week later and I am happily fragging at high resolutions now.

 

Seems like deja-vu to me.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=36841

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I tried several of your ideas but without success. I went to the Dell kiosk in San Antonio last night and the sales guy said he'd seen the new e1720s and "was going to Houston to play with them next week." He said they'd be released "very soon," possibly next week. Classes don't start until August 27th. So ... we're going to wait and see the new e1520s and e1720s before buying anything. Thank you again. If I hadn't asked I wouldn't have had a clue that these new products were coming out. I really appreciate your help.

 

Do realise the 8600GT is slower than the 7900GS. And once you O/C the 7900GS, those things are monsters.

 

WHOA!!! I love my X1400, its not a bad card at all. Its just getting old. I have no problems running modern games (see sig for games and screenshots) and it is cheap. Sure, its not the best there is, but it will still get the job done.

 

Dell has discontinued the 1505, so it´s discontinuing this old stuff... probably due to suplies... so i think if you wait a little bit more you can get a better notebook.

 

I just sent my e1705 in for repair beacuse i was having trouble with the 7900 gs. And they just contacted me and said the 7900 gs card is on a backorder list currently. Maybe this is why they dont allow the 7900 gs order any longer.

 

well the sad part is, i bet the e1720 comes with the 8600 GT which is slower it seems than the 7900gs hah, (although it is a dx10 part, whoopdidoo)

 

Don't be so quick to count out the usefullness of a dx10 card. I remember when I bought a 9600, back when dx9 wasn't the main. If I had gotten the higher the dx8 I woulda been screwed in a few months time.

ANd me personally, I plan on keeping this next laptop I'm getting for at least 3 years if not longer.

 

It's a shame Dell doesn't have a gaming 15.4. I would have more likely considered them. Any one know if there are plans for the future?