May 24, 2011
How to Save Money on Dell Computers |
Dealhack
Revised May 23, 2011. Copyright
© 2011 Dealhack.com. All Rights
Reserved.
Disclosure: Dealhack
is a blog
that helps consumers to find the best deals online. Dealhack has an
affiliate
relationship with some of the retailers
mentioned or referenced in this article.
 Dell
is a company that built its reputation in part by driving prices
down, so it would be easy to assume that when you buy a Dell you are
automatically getting the best deal. However, there is a fair amount of
variability built into their merchandising model. Nevertheless, by
applying a few basic strategies, you can ensure you are buying the best
computer for the lowest price.
1. Buy one step below top-of-the-line.
 You always pay an extra premium
for the top specs. Therefore, buy near, but a solid step below the top
of the line. This is true both when selecting a model and when
configuring any particular computer.
For example, we recently priced out options on the new "Enhanced" Dell Latitude E5420, a basic business
laptop. The cost to upgrade from the base Intel® Core i3-2310M
processor to the Intel® Core™ i5-2410M was only $30;
however, the price of
bumping up from the i5-2410M to the i5-2540M processor was an
extra
$80. This is a good illustration of how smaller increases in
performance come at a higher cost. The differences get even more
drastic as one moves to newer processors. In this example, our choice
would
have been to select the i5-2410M for maximum value.
2. Decide your needs before you configure.
It is very tempting to upgrade each choice to the highest available
option but in doing so, you might well spend a lot of money on features
you won't necessarily use.
Instead, before you sit down to configure your computer, spend some
time thinking about your needs. Do you work primarily with documents?
Then you probably don't need the biggest hard drive. However, if you
work with audio or video, it would be a good choice to maximize your
available storage.
Are you using your computer for basic business tasks? Then you will
probably do well with the base-level processor and memory or some
modest upgrades. However, if you are doing development work or
generating multi-media content, you would need to get the most powerful
system you can afford.
Are you planning to watch movies and/or play games on your laptop?
You'll need a large (at least 15.6" and preferably larger) screen with
high resolution (preferably 1920 X 1080, at least 1366 X 768). You may
want to opt for a Blu-ray drive as well. For gaming, you'll also want
good graphics capability with dedicated graphics memory.
Are you planning to travel with your laptop? Then weight is an
important consideration. While it's nice to watch movies on a 18.4"
screen, you'll have to carry an extra couple of pounds for that. You
may want to opt for a lightweight 13.3" or 14" machine instead.
The key thing is to decide which aspects of performance are most
important to you before you start pricing out options. It is easy to
get caught up in the excitement and spend too much money for features
you don't really need.
3. Make the best use of coupon codes and discounts.
 By now, most web-savvy shoppers
know that Dell makes various coupon codes and discounts available to
its affiliates and these deals are easy
enough to find. For example, this post summarizes a number of good coupons at
Dell Home. However, there is one key point worth mentioning -
not all Dell coupons and discounts are the same. Dell constantly
experiments with different offers. We've noticed that every once in a
while they run some very deep discounts. Therefore, if you have the
ability to time your computer purchase, it is worth paying attention to
the various offers for a while so you can recognize when an exceptional
coupon comes around. (Dealhack lists Dell offers on our site and we
always call out the better-than-usual deals when they occur.) When you
find one of these deep discount offers, be ready to act immediately.
Dell usually limits the total number of redemptions so the offers
usually end before the published expiration date.
One thing to watch for are stackable
coupons. They can be combined with other offers. Stackable
coupons don't come about frequently. If you see a stackable coupon on a
computer model you are interested in, look for other offers on that
model and combine them for larger savings. Again, we try to call out
such combinations on our site. At this time Dell is offering stackable coupons on select XPS 17 computers. You
can use these coupons to increase your
savings.
Also, experiment with pricing and different offer thresholds. For
example, a popular Dell approach is to offer a discount conditional on
a purchase amount, such as $300 off a purchase of $1299 or more. After
deciding on the specifications that are right for you, you might find
that it makes the most sense to choose a higher base model and max out
the configuration and then get a discount for the best overall value.
4. Buy and install additional memory yourself.
 Increasing the amount of memory
is probably the most cost effective way to improve your computer's
performance. It is often cheaper to buy memory and install it yourself
instead of upgrading at the time of purchase.
For example, we recently checked out memory options on the Optiplex
380, a solid desktop performer. The base system included 1GB, while the
highest upgrade available for this model was 8GB (configured as
separate 1GB or 2GB DDR3 modules in each of the two available memory
slots). The cost of upgrading to 3GB (by adding one 2GB DDR3 module)
directly through Dell was $100, while the cost of purchasing such
memory through one of the online retailers was only $30-40 including
shipping. Upgrading to the maximum 8GB will cost you $315 at Dell but
only about $150 to do yourself. Another example is Latitude E5420
laptop. You can choose a
basic configuration with one 2.0GB, DDR3-1333 SDRAM module. To add
another 2GB module through Dell (for a total of 4GB) is $105. You can
buy it for about $30-50.
Granted, you have to install it yourself, but adding desktop memory is
one of the easiest modifications you can make to your computer. Plus, a
reputable memory provider like Crucial has an easy-to-use wizard to
help you find compatible choices and detailed how-to-install
instructions on their website. Adding memory to laptops can be a bit
more difficult but certainly quite doable.
When you are considering using a third-party source to purchase memory,
it helps to also keep in mind the way memory is installed. Dell always
indicates in their specs the base memory configuration and details on
how memory is added for each increase. In some cases, you might get a
better price by selecting an option that maximizes the memory in one
card slot at the time of purchase and then purchasing additional cards
to insert in the remaining slots. The key thing to remember is to
research your options at the time of purchase and to make sure that you
are looking at the right memory modules for comparison.
5. Buy online, not over the phone.
There's no doubt that it can be comforting at times to have a sales rep
guide you through the myriad choices. However, it costs Dell money to
staff the call center and make that rep available to you. That's why
they save their most aggressive pricing for online offerings. In fact,
nearly all of the Dell promotions and coupon discounts that we see from
them indicate "online only."
If you have questions, by all means call; however, don't neglect to do
your homework on the web as well. Most times, your lowest cost option
will be purchasing directly through Dell.com.
Advanced Buyer tip:
 One thing that can really
inflate the price of your new computer is adding software at the time
of purchase.
We recently priced out options on an OptiPlex 380, a business class
desktop computer. When we checked, the base unit did not include any
productivity software except for the basic Microsoft® Office Starter
2010. However, there were a series of add-on options. The most
expensive was Microsoft® Office Professional 2010 for an additional
$349. While this is competitive pricing for this product (although you
can often find it cheaper from some of the online retailers), many
users will find that they do not need such advanced functionality. For
example, OpenOffice
is a popular alternative to Microsoft Office. It is an open source
project that is free to download, use, and distribute.
There are several great resources that you can use to locate low cost
and free alternatives to software functionality that you might
otherwise be inclined to pay for:
Also, continuing with the OptiPlex 380 example, Dell offered upgrade
options to purchase a 15-month subscription to Trend Micro Internet
Security for $59. We have seen security software offered for half that
price or less.
Bottom line:
While it will involve some research and work on your part, employing
the strategies outlined above could result in savings approaching
30-40% off Dell's already low prices - especially if you are looking to
buy a feature-rich computer. For that kind of money, it is definitely
worth poking around a bit and exploring your options.
All registered trademarks and product and trade names used in the above
article are the property of their respective owners.
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