searching for the cheapest arrandale laptop

[taltamir]

I have been searching for the cheapest arrandale laptop. Most are ridiculously priced right now.
The best I could find was this: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DNDOVN2&s=dhs

A prebuilt from dell @ 590$ + free shipping.
I can get a 14 inch one for the same price, or a 17 incher at 650$.
Going with a customized "build to order" approach gets you the same system for 700$ from dell, that is obviously not an option.

And that is the best price I found...

second best was from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...el%20Core%20i3

630$ + 14.3$ shipping.

If anyone has found a better price on a arrandale laptop of any size, please let me know. 590$ still seems too high to me...

As an additional problem with the dell prebuilt, they are estimating at least 2 weeks before it will ship, and thats "tentative" date... aka, they haven't built them yet I think. Probably waiting for more arrandale to arrive... I am sure the prices will continue to drop and I don't want to order something a long time before getting it.

 

[taltamir]

Still looking. Managed to find these two at costco:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...56670&topnav=#

and:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...t56670&topnav=

The 15 inch one is 9$ more than the dell, but comes with twice the ram, twice the HDD, gigabit ethernet, N wireless, and a bunch of other perks.

The 17 inch one has an LED backlit display, and again much more computer for your money compared to the dell...
I am seriously tempted by that acer... anyone has experience with acer? how good are they in general? (I will be doing a clean format, so I don't care about the crap they put on the laptop, I mean how good is their build quality)

ack, I just noticed they have their touchpad on the left... who came up with that moronic idea? its uncomfortable enough having it in the middle... Sometimes I don't have a mouse with me and I don't think I can use something like that.

 

[taltamir]

so, I went ahead and got myself this:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1832293

gateway NV5927u...
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668413.php

for 540$ out the door at best buy.

weirdest thing though, windows and cpuz both claim that the CPU is an i5 430M not an i3 330M.
the BD-rom drive has issues reading burned disks. even ones it burned itself! this thing is also a fingerprint magnet. But very nice price, nice weight, and getting an i5 is an unexpected bonus.