5 Ways to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck When Buying a Dell Computer
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 Dell Inspiron 710m, a small lightweight laptop. The cost to upgrade from the base Intel Pentium M Processor 735 (1.70 GHz) to the 755 (2 GHz) was $100; however, the price of bumping up from the 755 to the 765 (2.10GHz) was an extra $300. This is a good illustration of how smaller increases in performance come at a higher cost. In this example, our choice would have been to select the 755 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.
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.
 By now, most web-savvy shoppers know that Dell makes various coupon codes available to its affiliates and that they are easy enough to find. However, there is one key point worth mentioning - not all Dell coupons 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 coupon offers for a while so you can recognize when an exceptional coupon comes around. (Dealhack lists Dell coupon code 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.
Also, experiment with pricing and different coupon code thresholds. For example, a popular Dell coupon approach is to offer a series of staggered discounts, such as:
- $300 off a purchase of $1299 or more.
- $450 off a purchase of $1499 or more.
- $650 off a purchase of $1999 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, max out the configuration and then apply a greater coupon code for the best overall value.
4. Buy and install additional memory yourself.
 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 Dimension 5150, a solid desktop performer. The base system included 256MB, while the highest upgrade available for this model was 4GB (configured as separate 1GB cards in each of the four available memory slots). The cost of upgrading directly through Dell was $530, while the cost of purchasing the same memory through Crucial was only $480.
Granted, you have to install it yourself, but adding 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.
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 the above example, the Dimension 5150 was equipped with four memory card slots. Installing third-party memory would have required pulling out and discarding the 256MB card included with the base system and then installing four new 1GB cards.
However, 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.
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 GX520, a business class desktop computer. When we checked, the base unit did not include any productivity software. However, there were a series of add-on options. The most expensive was Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 for an additional $425. While this is competitive pricing for these products (although Adobe has now released version 7.0 of Acrobat), 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 GX520 example, Dell offered upgrade options to purchase a 15-month subscription to either Norton Internet Security or McAfee Security Center for $69. At this cost, these options are too expensive; we have seen both offered for half that price or less.
Bottom line:
While it will involve some research 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.
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