Dell Purchase (XPS M1330)

[Chingyul]

So, I'm really looking to pick up the Dell XPS M1330, but trying to find the best deal possible.
There's the EPP I can try to get from work. There's the basic haggling at the mall kiosks and the phone (which is better?). There's looking for coupons. The last thing that might be interesting is to go though delluniversity in the states.

The main question is about the last option. I have a friend going to the states for university, and can get the dell university discounts. I spec'ed out a configuration, and it was quite a bit cheaper, and had the full package 3 year warranty. The question is...how would warranty work since I'm in Canada. Do they have any kind of cross border support? Would I have to send it back to the states (would I even be allowed to?)?

Anyways, what's the best way to pick this thing up (at the lowest cost, like any good RFD user).

Thanks

[flamenko]

You cannot buy a system through Dell USA and have it exported. If you try and list a Cdn address, they will not ship it. Further, the warranty is voided as they will not ship you the documentation for warranty returns across the border nor will they ship the system back.

There are purchase guidelines when you purchase from canada or the US where you must confirm that it wont be exported.

There is a possibility to get a student or EPP discount but understand, as of about two days ago they are into the second week of September for delivery.

My delivery date is Aug 23 and I ordered last week.

If you need any other advice pls advise. Pm'd you as well.

[GVRtrader]

So, I'm really looking to pick up the Dell XPS M1330, but trying to find the best deal possible.
There's the EPP I can try to get from work. There's the basic haggling at the mall kiosks and the phone (which is better?). There's looking for coupons. The last thing that might be interesting is to go though delluniversity in the states.

The main question is about the last option. I have a friend going to the states for university, and can get the dell university discounts. I spec'ed out a configuration, and it was quite a bit cheaper, and had the full package 3 year warranty. The question is...how would warranty work since I'm in Canada. Do they have any kind of cross border support? Would I have to send it back to the states (would I even be allowed to?)?

Anyways, what's the best way to pick this thing up (at the lowest cost, like any good RFD user).

Thanks

You could phone in/goto a mall with your US config and if you get lucky, they will offer you a similar deal in CND funds. With either phoning in/goto mall, its really YMMV because it depends on the rep you get and how they are feeling that day as well as how badly they need a sale.

Phone/mall will without a doubt give you the best deal and just use EPP to lower the price by another couple of %. Online coupons (for Canada) does not work for every system and it only works for catalog numbers that are marked up by an amount similar to the coupon (in addition to regular markups) so you really don't save much with those coupons. There are exceptions for this but rare (and if its not posted here, there probably isn't one at the moment).

[greg123]

i got my 15% off so basically no tax, everyone at Dell get 15% coupon every 4month

[Chingyul]

Thanks for the help guys.
Just a quick question on EPP. I'm at my company for another few weeks. Do they check to see if you actually work for the company, or can you just pop in the EPP code and you're good to go?

How often do they email out EPP coupon codes. I signed up for the newsletter, so should I bother waiting for something to come in?

Any tips on bargaining with the mall/phone reps? What sort of things can I ask for?

Thanks

[flamenko]

I left you a msg.

[JK_85]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone know or have experience getting the dell reps to customize a laptop with options that arent on the website's configuration options?

How easy is this? And do they offer decent price reductions? thanks

[GTA_best]

Have anyone actually got this laptop on hand yet?
Otherwise, what is the expected shipping date you have?

[InvisibleSoul]

Have anyone actually got this laptop on hand yet?
Otherwise, what is the expected shipping date you have?
Now I do!

We ordered two of them here at the office... the first one arrived this morning! It's not mine though... but I am setting it up and playing with it first.

[picturethismister]

Now I do!

We ordered two of them here at the office... the first one arrived this morning! It's not mine though... but I am setting it up and playing with it first.

First impressions?:twisted: ....Would be great if you post a couple of pics if posisble.

[Starkicker]

Now I do!

We ordered two of them here at the office... the first one arrived this morning! It's not mine though... but I am setting it up and playing with it first.

How do you like it?

[InvisibleSoul]

First impressions?:twisted: ....Would be great if you post a couple of pics if posisble.

http://i17.tinypic.com/4xpzsbs.jpg

http://i19.tinypic.com/4qseuq1.jpg

http://i10.tinypic.com/6g2fx1k.jpg

Looks like a pretty nice looking unit, although not as small as I thought it might be. In terms of footprint, it's really only a marginally smaller than the HP dv2000 series. However, it is definitely thinner, even with the regular thicker LCD screen that we opted for. The brushed aluminum look for the palm rests looks good, and the keyboard feel is very pleasant as well.

Haven't really had much time to play with it, but one thing I really like is the Wi-Fi Catcher. While booted up, it will show in better detail each of the wi-fi connections available. I believe when the system is off, the Wi-Fi Catcher still functions as a wi-fi detector to let you know if there are available connections. There is a little LED light that flashes, but I haven't found out what the different flashes mean.

[LNahid2000]

You cannot buy a system through Dell USA and have it exported. If you try and list a Cdn address, they will not ship it. Further, the warranty is voided as they will not ship you the documentation for warranty returns across the border nor will they ship the system back.

There are purchase guidelines when you purchase from canada or the US where you must confirm that it wont be exported.

There is a possibility to get a student or EPP discount but understand, as of about two days ago they are into the second week of September for delivery.

My delivery date is Aug 23 and I ordered last week.

If you need any other advice pls advise. Pm'd you as well.
There is a workaround for this. What you would have to do is get your friend to buy it, and under his name. You then fill out an international tag transfer form which will transfer ownership from your friend to you and transfer the warranty from the US to Canada.

When you order, it does not ask you to confirm that it won't be exported. Rather, it asks you if you will be exporting or not and if you choose 'Yes', then it will ask for information about who you are exporting to. You can still choose 'No' and then decide to export later by filling out the international tag transfer form. This form is located at the link below.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/reftopic.aspx/pub/ccare/transfer_intl?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

[flamenko]

They will not change the warranty to Canada. It still remains a valid US warranty. If you have a warranty issue, they will tell you it has to be shipped from a valid 'registered with Dell' US address. On return they will only deliver it back there. They cannot under any circumstances deliver to Canada.

I learned this first hand....wasnt happy.

[LNahid2000]

They will not change the warranty to Canada. It still remains a valid US warranty. If you have a warranty issue, they will tell you it has to be shipped from a valid 'registered with Dell' US address. On return they will only deliver it back there. They cannot under any circumstances deliver to Canada.

I learned this first hand....wasnt happy.
What is the point of the international tag transfer form then? It clearly says that they will transfer the warranty, assuming it is a NBD warranty.

"There will be no additional cost for the transfer of NBD (next business day) service contracts to countries with whom Dell does direct business"

It looks like you had return to depot warranty since you're talking about shipping/delivering. Those are not transferable. I did a ton of research on this a couple weeks ago when helping a friend buy a laptop from the US.

"Return to Depot, Complete Care, Same Day, and Parts Only contracts are NOT AVAILABLE FOR TRANSFER outside of the region the coverage was purchased in."

[flamenko]

If it works then....

[Gigi]

Chingyul, I'm in a similar situation as you...interested in the M1330 and have access to EPP. In my past experience, all you have to do to get the discount is provide the EPP department your employer name and EPP number. I'm not sure if you have to do that right at the time of order (i.e., order from the EPP department), or if you can negotiate a good deal with a rep, then call the EPP department after to further reduce the price. Apparently, the discount you get varies by the order amount, which is then doubled if you get the 3 year onsite (or better) warranty.

Anyway, have you had any luck on finding a good rep?

InvisibleSoul, thanks for the photos. Any further feedback? Any regrets not getting the LED display?

[InvisibleSoul]

Well, I've passed the unit on to the end user now, and the one major complaint so far is that it seems to be unusually slow, more so than the usual HP dv2000 units that get. Even after a fresh reboot, it seems all 1GB of RAM is used up and is constantly swapping to disk. Haven't had a chance to look further into the problem, but we're going to upgrade it to 2GB RAM.

[Gigi]

Well, I've passed the unit on to the end user now, and the one major complaint so far is that it seems to be unusually slow, more so than the usual HP dv2000 units that get. Even after a fresh reboot, it seems all 1GB of RAM is used up and is constantly swapping to disk. Haven't had a chance to look further into the problem, but we're going to upgrade it to 2GB RAM.

I've often read Vista really requires 2GB so hopefully, that's all it is...