If, like me, you have been looking for a good deal on a new machine, whether for yourself or someone else, I thought it might be timely to pass along a few tips in the spirit of the season. If you like Dells, you may want to know about www.dell.com/outlet. This is a location where you can pick up scratch-n-dent and refurbished systems at considerable discounts, but with the usual warranty (typically a year). I have found that prices are similar to what you’ll find on eBay, but the warranty coverage is a valuable advantage. As to the cosmetic blemishes, you can filter your views so that you only see the “certified refurbished” systems and not the “scratch-and-dent” systems. For myself, I’m cheap, and I don’t need my PC’s to be pretty. The challenge of this website is that the really good deals tend to get snapped up quickly. Your browser’s refresh key is your friend. What I do is set the view filter to the model I’m interested in, click on the “Price” column, grab a refreshing beverage, and tap F5 periodically for the next 10 or 15 minutes until I see something that looks like a screaming deal. Then I’ll snag it, add it to my shopping cart, and study the specs for a couple of minutes. If it doesn’t meet my needs, I remove it from the cart so somebody else can have a shot. (The cart is emptied after 15 minutes of inactivity, so don’t dawdle.) Although the milk of human kindness does rush through my veins, I must admit that I waited to post this entry until I got my quad-core XPS system a few minutes ago… for just over half the cost of a new machine. The rest of you are welcome to compete with each other for the best deals that remain! And make sure you check out the “coupons” section on the Dell outlet home page. There was a 15% off coupon when I visited last. It didn’t work via the online ordering system, but when I phoned up a sales rep, he honored it. Ask for free shipping, too. Worst case, the sales rep says “no.” In my case, he said “sure.” Recent posts Setting up Federated Searching in MSSX Configuring Search Server 2008 Express: Opening Up the UI Configuring Search Server 2008 Express: Super Maximum Overdrive (not)
Happy Hollidells
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Dec 19, 20082 mins
