Picking up Nickels

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Life in D-E-L-L: Trying to find a good deal on a desktop computer

I've spent a few weeks trying to find a good deal on a pretty loaded Dell desktop computer (Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 Cache, 2+ GB RAM, 250+ GB RAID 1) and haven't been able to find a deal that was attractive enough for me to jump on (like the loaded Dell E1505 laptop I bought in November). In an ideal world, I would like to find a 25% or 30% off deal on a Dimension 9200 or XPS 410 desktop.

Here are the web sites that I have been using as part of my Dell deal-finding strategy:

  • FatWallet.com - I have visited this site every day for a few years now. I found the laptop deal last month by searching for keyword Dell in the FatWallet forums.
  • got apex.com - Dell coupon and deal search.
  • Techbargains.com - desktop deals and forum deal search.
  • dealighted.com - aggregated deal site search.
  • DealCatcher.com - Dell coupon and deal search.
  • currentcodes.com - Dell coupon search.
  • Dell Outlet - Search for deals on refurbished and scratch and dent Dell equipment. I picked up a refurb Dell 3010cn color laser printer here for $199 a few weeks ago.

This computer would be a work-related expense, so I would prefer to purchase it by December 31st for tax purposes. I just need Dell to cooperate a bit and offer a great deal. COME ON DELL!

posted by Frugal Frugalson at 11:02 AM

6 Comments:

  • Hey Picking up Nickels,

    Giving you a tip. You don't have to search all those websites individually anymore.

    Just use Boddit.com.

    It's a monster all-in-one aggregator, over 20+ sites.

    Here, I formated a link just for Dell deals:
    http://www.boddit.com/searchboddit.php?q=dell

    By Blogger JavaChips, at 12/21/06, 1:54 PM  

  • I would've rather emailed you about this, but since I can't find it anywhere, I'll let you know here. I have a $35 coupon because Dell messed up a order of mine a while back, but it expires 12/31/06. I was planning on using it for something, just for the heck of it, but I don't really need anything, and it'd be a shame for it to go to waste, so you can have it if you plan on purchasing, just let me know.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/22/06, 1:35 AM  

  • javachips, thanks for the info on Boddit.com! That will be a big time saver.

    Stingy Student, thank you for your kind offer! I'm not confident that Dell will offer a decent discount before the 31st, but I could certainly use the coupon if I do.

    By Blogger Frugal Frugalson, at 12/22/06, 8:32 AM  

  • The outlet is definitely the way to go, especially when they have coupons floating around. I'm currently on my fully loaded XPS m1210 which I got for roughly $1300, equipped new it would be $2700! The key is to check off hours, and refresh frequently, the good stuff goes quick.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/24/06, 10:31 AM  

  • Agreed, outlet is definately the way to go. You can easily save There is a popular free scanner for Dell Outlet that automates the process of finding your system.

    Check out the OutletScanner

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1/2/07, 10:38 AM  

  • Thanks smitts, I will check out the OutletScanner.

    By Blogger Frugal Frugalson, at 1/4/07, 8:18 AM  

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