Buying 8510w in Australia

So, I have finally decided after much deliberation that I am going to buy the HP Compaq 8510w once it comes out with Penryn.

My question is does anyone have any opinions on WHERE the best place to purchase it would be?

Looking on the HP website the notebooks seems rather overpriced, I've heard re-sellers are much cheaper, but not sure of any that sell Mobile Work Stations... its all pavillion this, vostro that.

Know of any re-sellers in the greater Sydney region that have good, solid reputations? Know of any who deal directly with small busninesses (purchasing the laptop through work may enable me to get it tax free)

Surely there are no downside to buying through a re-seller, correct?

What kind of prices would I be looking at if buying from a re-seller?

Yes, deciding was only the first step!

 

Overpriced laptops filled me with rage, so I'm likely getting a dell tomorrow

Havent heard anything bad about HP resellers

 

Yeah, they're insanely exxy, however every other comperable laptop I've looked at had a quirk that turned me off...

This ones quirk was the price, but I figured I'll get over that quicker than I get over an off centred screen! (Lenovo...)

Which Dell? XPS M1530? It seems to have practically everything the hp has, but it's so much cheaper. I fear I'm fickle and have chosen this one due to looks, it's so schmik and rectangular. Mmm my reasons are solid, although not as solid as this laptop. Ha.

 

I believe I gave you the relevant info on pricing in the other thread. I've also posted quite a bit about purchasing HP business notebooks in the past.

The HP is more expensive due to the ISV certification and being an enterprise-grade notebook (build, durability, stress-testing, enterprise level service agreements, etc. make up the bulk of the cost). If your company has contracts with HP, you should get access to EPP pricing, which reduces the prices substantially.

For individual customers, there are 3 ways to purchase HP business notebooks. They are:
i) HP Direct - HP operates a direct sales channel that sells preconfigured units to SMBs and consumers. http://www.hp.com.au/store

ii) Resellers Preconfig - Resellers sell similar units as HP direct, often with more options/models as they update their inventory daily. Most resellers ship directly from the distributor's warehouse, which is where HP direct ships too, so you're getting from the same channel, only different pricing. Check for best prices with http://www.staticice.com.au.

Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Myer are not HP enterprise resellers, so they only stock consumer level products, so don't bother looking there. If you want a big name enterprise reseller, Harris Tech is one.

HP is still primarily channel dependent, so they treat their resellers well and do not attempt to cannibalise on their sales. Afaik, Ingram Micro handles the bulk of all distribution of HP products.

iii) Resellers TopConfig - Some resellers get access to HP's Top Config utility which allows one to do specific builds. This usually cost a bit more as they are not readily stocked configurations.

 

Try www.shopblt.com