something odd

I was on the sony canada web site and I spec'd out a cs290 14.1 " screen with 4 gb of ram, 320 gb hd, P8700 cpu and a dvd +- drive for a price of $1020.00 cad.

I spec out a second choice with a 13.3 inch screen, P8600 processor, 4gb ram, 320 gb hd 7200 rpm, ati 3470 hd graphics and a dvd +- drive for a price of just under $1300 cad ( don't have actual printout).

I called the local sony store and asked about the computers. The salesman said they don't have any in stock - small town- but to send her a copy of the specs and he would order in my choice. I logged onto the sony site and used send to a friend to send the salesperson a copy of the specs. She goes over the specs with me on the phone and tells me she will contact sony and let me know how quick they would have the laptop. This was on february 5th.

The next day I check the sony site and the copy of the email that I had sent to my self and the price on the cs290 jumped $700 overnight and the Sr290 jumped about $500 cad. Has anybody seen this happen before. If I had of placed the order online that day I would have had it but I tried to save shipping and looks like I lost out on the deal. Prices were not listed as sales prices either.

 

i'm not completely certain, but looking at the "estimated shipping date" for the SR, it says that it is "unknown", i have a feeling that they're about to receive a refresh of the SR and there is probably a price jump with that (just like how the Z refresh went up in price in canada).. sucks we live in canada.. no student discount.. no bundles.. no coupons.. no rebates.. no nothing

edit: yeah, it seems that this is the case, because the SR290 is no longer in stock in the US, so there's going to be a refresh soon

just like with the Z, the refresh will drop in price with respect to the US price, but the base price will still be around the same as the older model because they give you upgraded components (cpu/hdd/etc). however, the actual price in CAD will rise because of the high USD. originally, the CAD price was around 1.1x the US price + each component upgrade being 1:1 with the US price, but now it seems that both the CAD price and each component upgrade is 1.3x the US price

so in the end, in canada, the Z refresh and the older Z model are basically the same price when configured with the same components, but the base price of the refresh went up due to the upgraded components.. i think this will happen to the SR in canada as well

 

I bought the first one in Canada online last week. Pretty much loaded up except for the max size of hard drive and the total cost with Windows 2007 Professional and a 3 year plan and expedited shipping was around $2,650 Canadian including GST. It was built in San Diego and is in the process of getting here via FedEx. It is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday this week.

I checked back to the website and built the same computer for about $3,700.

Wow, perhaps they made a mistake with the first pricing or it was the US exchange rate differential that caused them to change the price.

 

probably the exchange rate, and there might be changes to the price, i think they're just messing around with that page right now

and i just CTOed an SR, are you sure it's 3700? try building the same computer again because i maxed everything out and it's at 2700 + gst (and if you add 2 year extended warranty it is at ~3000)

 

As I indicated in my post (please read), I ordered almost all the options available.
If you go to the Sony Style Canada website and click on the customize VGN CS 290 (which is where I think this thread started), the starting price shown is $1,704 Cdn.
The T9800 adds $550.00 to $2,254. Windows Vista Ultimate adds $300 to $2,554. 4 GB of RAM adds $125 to $2,679. A 320 GB SATA drive adds $75 to $2,729. Blu-Ray RW adds $150 to $2,879. Extended Battery adds $130 to $3,009. Windows 2007 Professional adds $540 to $3,549. The extended 2 year adds $329.99 to $3,879.99. Expedited shipping is another $40 to around $3,900 (I was out a couple of hundred dollars from my last post).
Add GST of 5% (no PST in Alberta) and you get to $4,095.
Last week I talked to Sony Style Canada and ordered the above computer for about $2,600. It arrives Tuesday.
Can't explain the difference.

 

Been following the CS series - noticed the same thing - "overnight" huge price jump. Bought mine at Christmas for hundreds less than current price.