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$500 of $1249 or higher @ Dell Vostro

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Originally posted by: Bleeding Jawa
I got in on a similar deal a month ago for a nicely specced 17" notebook. I've been waiting for it to come up again to get my wife a 14", and I went back and forth on the spec choices for a long time (she doesn't need anything that screams) and decided to spend a good chunk of the $1249 on "accessories." I called in to see if I could get items not listed in the online configuration, and apparently the CSR didn't understand (ie I speak english) my request because it was screwed up (and full price) when he transferred me to the checkout person. When I got back to him, he says he never told me it was ok...and refused to let me talk to a supervisor. When I called back and spoke to an operator, they put me through (so it seemed) to an American CSR who tried to help get what I wanted, but after asking for help found that she couldn't do it. Finally, I went back to the online configuration to see what I could work out there. Decided what "extras" to buy, and of course...no dice. All of this took hours of research and (re)configuring, so I've been bummed out about what is otherwise a great deal. If you are looking for a solid/fast machine, this is a fantastic deal that has been popping up every few weeks. For whatever it's worth, I am quite happy with my 1700, and the shipping and delivery were well ahead of their estimated dates.
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I had a similar experience trying to get accessories to work without luck. I ended up getting a nice $35 Swiss case and an extra 6 cell battery, though.

I went with the Vostro 1700 with the XGA+ screen and the 8600GT. Is this the same configuration you did? I went to Sam's Club Saturday (ordered the laptop on Friday) and saw a 17" Dell laptop there with the XGA+ screen and wasn't very impressed with it. Please tell me I didn't make a bad choice by not getting the UXGA! 🙂

Lithan, I think he meant the 8600M GT.
 
Thanks OP! After thinking about this for a day and trying to figure out the best bang for the buck, this is what I decided:

Vostro 1500 Intel® Core? 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
LCD Panel 15.4 in Wide Screen SXGA+LCD Display w/TrueLife?
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
Video Cards 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce? 8600M GT
Hard Drive 160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Optical Drive 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/ Roxio Creator
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Cards Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Internal Card
Camera Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Bluetooth Wireless Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate), Vista

This came out to:
$752.00 pre-tax (or 789.60 with tax).

I did some searching online and tried to come up with something that comes close to matching these specs and everything was $1000 plus.

One thing to note is Dell rips people off with their RAM prices. I'm gonna upgrade the RAM to 4GB getting RAM at newegg:

4GB for $71 shipped

Finally, There are people that like to run Ubuntu on these things. The newest Gutsy (7.10) is supposed to work with the Dell wireless module (something that hasn't worked well in the past). So you can save yourself a little bit of cash and go with the cheaper Dell card (based on a Broadcom chipset)
 
Kickass! Mine already shipped out today from Nashville and it should be on my doorstep tomorrow. I wasn't expecting it until next week.
 
Got a ship notification e-mail today! I should have mine next week.

I noticed a few things with the Vostro 1500, as Mflacy said, the "Deal Price" has raised to 1299. I also noticed that a system configured exactly as I listed above is now about $35 more expensive. The biggest increase in price I saw was the better battery, now costing a full $100 more than the standard battery.

Still a good deal.
 
I would love to get this deal but I do not live in the US nor do I have an US address......... darn, is there any other way to pay for this deal?

I have a PayPal account, will this work?


Thanks
 
I'm not sure, have you looked on Dell's site?

Edit: On second thought, the forums say you should look at Paypal's site.

Or call dell, perhaps.
 
What are the vostro laptops like? Are they solid machines or kinda cheap? If they're anything like the Inspiron laptops from last year I'll pass.
 
I got mine yesterday. It wouldn't even post until I replaced the RAM with the 4GB kit I ordered from Newegg. Once posted my screen (I got the Glossy SXGA+) had verticle rainbow colored lines every 1.5 inches or so. I don't understand how it passed any sort of quality assurance. Faulty RAM, Faulty screen. Dell is shipping a new replacement at their expense and paying shipping back at least.
 
dead, but wait a few weeks and the stuff that priced out to $1299 minus $500 will show up on the outlet for the same or less.
 
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