Stop overcharging for upgrades (memory, hdd, etc. )

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Stop overcharging for upgrades (memory, hdd, etc. )

8025 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Sales Strategies, Laptops by uklathemock 02/17/07

Almost everyone I know buys the smallest harddrive and the lowest amount of memory for their Dell notebook, and then upgrades later. Why make your customers turn to other sources to buy memory and hard drives? I think quite a few e-tailers were created and have flourished because everyone (Dell, HP, Apple, etc.) overcharges for upgrades.

haveacoke 02/21/07	Most times I end up buying Memory, Larger HDDs, and Video cards from e-tailers at almost half the cost of what Dell is charging and usually for slower hardware. Dell get competitive.
haveacoke 02/21/07
ajm2007 02/23/07	I thought I was the only one who noticed you can save big by doing this. Besides it is fun to open the box!!!
reg 02/26/07	uklathemock - go shop at Apple's web site, you'll find them to be cheap and reasonable! (sarcasm!)
southmost 02/27/07	"I thought I was the only one who noticed you can save big by doing this. Besides it is fun to open the box!!!" LOL, it is fun to upgrade on your own!
haveacoke 02/28/07	Apple's markup is like 400% lol... but really Dell needs to watch pricegrabber.com or dealnews.com and see for themseleves how much more they are charging... its like retail vs. e-tail, and dell is charging retail in an e-tail market...
reg 03/03/07	Dell should charge just as much as Apple for Upgrades. That being said, the basic configuration should come with 1 GB of RAM and at least a 100 GB hard drive, and entry level GPU card for most common games. Then you can make those by the Truck Load because that is sufficient to crunch the Code Vomit named Windows Vista. When smarty-pants power users want X-tra RAM, Storage, or Super Duper Graphics GPUs, then charge them an arm and a leg - just like Apple. Real computer users can plug parts in by themselves. People in a hurry should pay more if they want you to do it for them. If they REALLY WANT IT (plugged in for them) then they can Pony up some CA$H. In this way - 1. Dell benefits from the MASS Production model, making 90% mostly the same model configurations. 2. Dell Lives up to the 'build it your way' reputation, for people who really want all the extra doo-dads you can pack into a box. 3. SWEET Fat Profits! What, is Dell doing this all for you? How about a little butter for our bread in Texas? APPLE was the worst at profit grabbing, originally configuring Mac Minis with 256MB of RAM - Barely enough to Boot up OS X and open maybe 1 application. After that it was churning swap files to the super slow hard drive... Zzzz. (Apple later recanted and bumped up the RAM to 512 MB - at least enough to actually Enjoy using your Mac Mini.)
haveacoke 03/10/07	Ok reg is on crack, no way am I paying an arm and a leg for a powerhouse dell. One reason why I'd never switch to Apple, their maxed out PC is Dell's lower end models at 2-3Xs the price.
lsc 03/13/07	Yeah; I'd like to single-source my servers but instead I end up buying the server w/ 1 CPU and the minimum ram, then I buy corsair from newegg or similar. I'd pay $100 extra for dell to do the assembly work, but not the upwards of $1000 you pay on a dual xeon w/ 8G of ram. I usually end up giving away the 2x256 sticks that come with the box; it's still cheaper. with Dell's volume, they should be able to crush newegg like a, well, egg.
silverwilson 03/20/07	One of the other things that is annoying is that their upgrade prices are not the same either. You can be in the configurator working with one setup and the processor upgrade costs 150 bucks then in another system the same processor upgrade costs 250 bucks.
jetsetlemming 03/26/07	Definitely. Making their hardware easily upgradable and competing with hardware sales sites like newegg with a wider selection and good prices on stuff that's guaranteed to work in Dell machines would be a license to print money for Dell, and the customers (us) would love it.
reg 04/02/07	My point is - 1. The base configuration should support everything you need. Mass Produce thousands of these: 2GB RAM, Core 2 Duo 2.66. 2nd place Video Card (not the latest top of the line, the second in command - always good, always cheaper.) 160 GB Hard Drive. 2. If you want to have DELL do the easy labor for you, you should pay through the nose, because you know darn well you could drop in the video cards, RAM, etc yourself. 3. Dell sells more PCs - producing PCs faster, and when 'the line' is slowed down by some odd ball request, well by golly - they are gonna pay for it, and good. HP can crush dell because they order SO much more all at once, they get each sub component for several dollars less than Dell. HP mass builds thousands of these machines in stacks, and then can sell them for better margins or lower costs than Dell. HP has 'Fixed Costs' management down to a science. Dell has more variable costs because you pick how they build it.
grondinm 04/10/07	I will say only one thing. When you buy from dell you get a guarantee that the pruchassed upgrade or add-on will work and fit in your system. For home users this is the best option because not everyone knows about DDR2533 or DDR2800 or a SATA drive or IDE drive plus you know that the hardware your are getting is brand new. Who knows if these e-tailers are selling you a used part or a part that is not what they say it is. And the upcharge i think is justified because of the garantee dell gives and the convinience of being able to find all that you need for your specific system in one place without having to wonder will this work.
reg 04/10/07	grondinm - ah, I gots some slightly used BATTERIES for ya, right here. I'll give'em to ya at a real cheap price! :D
robertobiggio 04/16/07	great idea, i always buy cheaper parts from ebay. dell can save me this trouble.
pepitoe 06/10/07	great example of upgrade rip-off on the UK m1710... 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive [Included in Price] 160GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive [add £129.25 or £3/month1] - same capacity, increased speed for extra £129! price of a 160gb (7200RPM) drive elsewhere £90! (which would leave you with a spare 160gb 5400rpm whioh you could probably sell for £50)
zanlok Feb 3	this is still totally going on.. it's like they think they can only make money by enticing you with a cheap price, but really charging us something ridiculous for even midlevel hardware

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