Ready to Purchase I Think - Any Tips? Should I Wait?

I just finished the return on my DV6, sending it in tomorrow or Thursday for a full refund.

I played with the Vaio Z at Best Buy and quickly fell in love, first and foremost with the high quality screen and incredible size. Though it is a small dip, the downgrade in performance is minimally worrying, but not enough to scare me away.

I love the idea of the bigger resolution screen that they are offering online for free, that being said, not only is Sony.com more expensive, but they are going to charge me tax. Are they one of those places I can call up and that if it were just a little cheaper, if they just got a little closer to Amazon, they would?

Also, since I felt naughty spending $1,200, and am now jumping up a significant amount beyond that, the idea of waiting for the discounts due to new models is tempting... I understand we can expect these in January/February. I move on January 9th so need to buy soon, I suspect the answer is "no," but does anyone expect some of these discounts to happen by then?

Last but not least, maybe someone here knows before I place a phone call, do MS employees get discounts at MS store? I had not even thought of that until now!

 

well you can always call them up , the bellevue stores open and see if the blue badge gets a discount. but hardware isnt as good as software.

are you going to use it to play games?

and actually anything that costs over a grand its a more feasible option to drive to portland and buy it there . 1700 z = 170 in tax 45 bucks in gas so you save 130 in cash

 

Yea I was just in the store the other day, it was awesome!

Sony has an amazing deal right now, $500 off a higher model (128gb x 2 and higher CPU) for like $1749 no tax/shipping so unless my MS buddy can get me a smoking deal I will be ordering that.

Games, yes, but minimal. If I have any time to do serious gaming I will buy an Xbox. Not sure how much time I will have when I move in January. Starcraft II, CSS, light stuff.

I work 6 days a week so the Portland option is not too viable, though to be fair I could use an excuse to visit a buddy there. That being said, several sites online are not going to charge me tax so that should not be a problem.

 

If you call SonyStyle and indicate that you want the Z but it is out of your price range, you can usually win yourself an offer for a discount. The general experience in the US has been that 15% off the computer price is possible with the purchase of two accessories and a warranty. The accessories can be small and cheap, and the warranty can actually be returned later, though I would keep it. Some have gotten 20% off, but that is a significant uphill battle. If you get terrible service (a distinct possibility when working with Sony by the way--consider yourself warned), sometimes you can convince them to go even higher on the discount, but at the risk of giving yourself a stroke or a heart attack (long story ).

 

^ I dont think that's possible any more JP. That was an actual discount on a "cheat sheet" for the sales reps back when the Z first came out. I think it was to get some early adopters to get the Z then spread the word, but now that the Z is selling so well, i'm not sure if you can get that anymore.

but back to the OP's question, You actually missed a 20% Sony outlet coupon that ended yesterday, there were apparantly some very good deals on the Z, but then again you would've had to have been camping on the site.

There's always student discount if you know a student (I think sony offers a pitiful 5%, but better than nothing... although CA tax kills any deal < 20% off...)

 

There is a sweet coupon that brings the 256gb model with better CPU down to $1,749 or so. I doubt I am going to find anything better than that, no matter how hard I beg and whine on the phone .

I saw the outlet deal, wanted to stay away from refurbs for the most part.

 

the 20% coupon is still good for today on the outlet. OUTLETVAIO20

 

Buddy was able to get a decent deal from Sony (i5-580m and 6gb of ram) but over $2,000 which I did not really want to spend (particularly for those two things, which I could, if push came to shove, upgrade [particularly ram]).

Will be purchasing tomorrow. Now to decide on the accidental warranty .

I am really excited, love this laptop to death after playing with it at Best Buy!

 

you should have used that coupon. i got a z11, i7, 6gb, 256, blu-ray for $1900 total. it would have been $1700 but i was only able to recover a 10% discount because i bought it last week before the coupon.

 

Is the VPCZ124GX/B any good?

I am looking on their main Z page and it only lists models like the VPCZ1390X and VPCZ12BGX/SI. Nowhere does it list the one above, the one that comes down to $1749.99 with the coupon. Is there a reason for this? Huge spec differences?

 

The problem with the outlet is that there seems to be no apparent way in which sony prices the models. usually when a good deal comes out, it's snatched up almost instantly so you've just got to keep checking back, deals can be had at the outlet, it just takes some time

 

Is this one an outlet:

VPCZ124GX/B | VAIO® Z Series Laptop | Sony | Sony Style USA

I thought it was a regular model? There is a $500 off coupon..

 

Dropped the HP off at FedEx tonight, just purchased!

I bought over the phone, hoping he would try to match the SquareTrade warranty ($280 for 3 years with accidental) but he said particularly with $500 off he could not get close to it.

Ordered the VPCZ124GX/B with "VAIOSAVE500Z" code. I was bummed because SonyStyle.com listed tax as "$0.00" until the very last step, and tax over the phone as well. Oh well, not a huge amount of money but thought I was skipping out on that.

Now just to play the waiting game! Cannot wait! Oh and I did go for the SquareTrade warranty. $280 to protect $2000 is not asking a lot. Just going to have to neglect telling my parents I spent so much, they thought the $1,200 HP was excessive .