Dell... and the new Studio 1555

[Andeh13]

Im in the market for a mid spec'd laptop for light gaming, films etc and I found the perfect one with Dell. It was an all round winner for a very reasonable price;

Dell Studio 1535; £499
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA WLED (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3450
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software

Now, there have been rumours that an updated version of the Studio was due for release, and had been released in India, US etc so i was a tad worried about a possible price increase. As a result iv been in contact with Dell every other day asking for details about it, as i didn't have money to buy a laptop now, but i would scrounge it together if the new laptop would come with a large price increase. Each time i called i was told i was thinking of the Inspiron 15, that the new studio 15 was only for Inida & the US and that it wouldn't be coming to the UK. Only one of the people i spoke to (out of 4) simply said it isnt on our systems, as a result i felt fairly confident in a week or sos time when i got the money id be able to order it happily.

You can imagine my disappointment then, when i log onto Dell's website and find that the Studio 15 has been updated, and now carries a £150+ premium for the same specs as the old Studio 15. This is after iv called Dell twice & used their online system twice in the last 8 days asking them if a new Studio was going to be realised anytime soon/if they had any infomation on it.

Needless to say the price increase has pushed it waaay out of my budget and im back to square one, looking at Acer's & other sub-standard laptops to the old Dell I had my heart set on.

New Dell studio 1555;

Dell Studio 1555; £664
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)
15.6" Wide Screen WXGA WLED (1366 x 768) Display with TrueLife™
256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
250GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software


I know that a new product is always gunna have a premium but....£150 for a slightly better graphics card and 0.4inch of screens space(not to mention less RAM & smaller HDD)?


Hugely hugely gutted!

[staffsMike]

Ouch, tried dell outlet?

[Andeh13]

Yep, nothing there for the specs i want (listed above). Same with ebay & google shops etc

[staffsMike]

http://www.mcscom.co.uk/section.php?xSec=74

Need to add vat.

[arthurleung]

With the pound crashed like 9 months ago and bite deeply into Dell's stock, the price got to go up. I still have yet to find a laptop that beat my 1525 in terms of price and spec that I bought 12 months ago.

Consider it still got a 4570 and a LED screen, it wasn't too bad. Though the CPU is quite terrible.

Perhaps wait for a 10% or 20% coupon from Dell?

[Andeh13]

Big thank you staffsmike, a very nice middle ground! Still dismayed that i could have got it cheaper through dell (could have used a 10% off on £499 price) had i known how much they were gunna raise the prices by.

Just checked history and it was Tuesday evening that I last asked them and was told they didn't have any information on it & i was thinking of the Inspiron model!

[Andeh13]

http://www.mcscom.co.uk/section.php?xSec=74

Need to add vat.

Just wanted to say another big thank you for linking me there. I went over my budget by a gd £75 but i got a laptop from them that should last me for a few years.

Ended up settling on a Studio 1737, in Ruby Red;

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0GHz
3072mb
17" Wide XGA+ WLED Screen
320gb HDD
ATi Radeon HD 3650
Vista Home Prem

All for £500(inc VAT), and that comes with a 3 year Dell at home warranty! Couldn't spec it anywhere near that on the dell site for less then £600 (and that was minus colour, LED screen and warrenty), and i couldn't find any similar spec'd laptops for that price so i hope its a gd deal & i didnt just get mugged! Will have to wait & see on Wednesday when it arrives though!

[staffsMike]

Sounds good to me, stronger graphics in that one as well