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 Vostro 1320, a small lightweight business laptop. The cost to upgrade from the base Intel® Core" 2 Duo T6670 2.1GHz processor to the P7570 2.26 GHz was $85; however, the price of bumping up from the P7570 to the 2.66GHz T9550 processor was an extra $280. 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 T6670 or the P7570 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 mau 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. 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.
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 4GB (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 $47-55 including shipping. Another example is Latitude E5500 laptop. You can choose a basic configuration with one 2.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM module. To add another 2GB module through Dell (for a total of 4GB) is $85. You can buy it for about $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 $74. 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.
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