First time Buying from Dell

mtt_swny

I am about to make a significant enough purchase of a new laptop and am looking for some advice to help me get the best deal.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was all set to go with a MBP 13 retina - perfect for photo editing Adobe apps - but considering I am also pursuing an education/career in coding and will need a device that will run Windows-based apps very well (I've all but decided against the Boot Camp route), the prospect of going all-out Mac just has a few too many cons for me personally. That sweet hardware though...

In steps the Dell xps 13" 2016. This is a machine I haven't been able to resist researching of late and although there are some well documented niggles with this compared to the bulletproof MBP hardware (notably the key travel and trackpad), I feel that these would be minor "issues", and that this is the laptop for me.

So now that the backstory waffle is out of the way, I am looking for some advice on buying from Dell. From time to time whilst browsing these boards, I've read reports of people getting their computers from Dell at a considerably cheaper price than the one advertised on Dell's site. Whether this is through a discount code or not, I don't know, but I am basically looking for advice on getting the best possible price on my purchase. Any advice welcome.

fletch

I had a Dell XPS 13 (9343) and now have a newer XPS 13 (9350) and the issues with the trackpad and keyboard travel of the older 9343 have been totally remedied with the 9350 so worry not about that.

I got 10% off mine through the VIP club. The site has been down for months now, but if you ring up and ask for the discount you will get it (at least I did anyway)

Dair76

fletch wrote: »

I got 10% off mine through the VIP club. The site has been down for months now, but if you ring up and ask for the discount you will get it (at least I did anyway)

Did you ring any particular department in Dell, fletch? I'm about to buy a 9350 as well, and 10% off would be sweet!

fletch

Dair76 wrote: »

fletch wrote: »

I got 10% off mine through the VIP club. The site has been down for months now, but if you ring up and ask for the discount you will get it (at least I did anyway)

Did you ring any particular department in Dell, fletch? I'm about to buy a 9350 as well, and 10% off would be sweet!

Yes I rang the number on that link above :-)

bren2002

Dells come with a lot of bloatware that needs to be killed off. Did you consider using a vm for coding work? Virtual box is your friend here.

mtt_swny

fletch wrote: »

I had a Dell XPS 13 (9343) and now have a newer XPS 13 (9350) and the issues with the trackpad and keyboard travel of the older 9343 have been totally remedied with the 9350 so worry not about that.

I got 10% off mine through the VIP club. The site has been down for months now, but if you ring up and ask for the discount you will get it (at least I did anyway)

Great stuff Fletch, that's just the thing I was on about! Cheers

bren2002 wrote: »

Dells come with a lot of bloatware that needs to be killed off. Did you consider using a vm for coding work? Virtual box is your friend here.

Funny you should say that, I actually am considering this. Again. What originally threw me off using VMs was strong advice from a friend not to based on their own experience, but that was just one opinion; the more I read into it, the more I see that being challenged by many programmers who get on just fine with them.

Ive got 6 weeks until the end of term at which point I'll be making my purchase, so still considering it, especially with PC World's price on the same spec MBP. Need to take the plunge on one or the other, burned out with research at this point!

bren2002

One of the advantages of vms is that you can use a specific and controlled setup. So versions of java or .net framework can be controlled without risk to the host. Especially when you start messing with dlls etc.

I should say I work in IT but I'm not a dev.