Engadget

Doing the math on that $99 Inspiron Mini deal

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/laptops/" rel="tag">Laptops</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/sale_laptops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/09/9-05-08minideal.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /></div> If you're anything like us, the idea of a <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/04/dells-inspiron-mini-9-pops-official/">$99 Inspiron Mini 9</a> was enough to make you seriously consider picking up a new full-featured Dell laptop, but since the math is a little confusing given Dell's <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/dells-xps-one-product-red-a-charitable-rip-off/">shady history</a> and the number of promotions on its site, we thought we'd break it down for you. Essentially, Dell's charging close to full price for the large machine in order to absorb the cost of the Mini -- so while a $1,259 Studio 15 with a 1.86GHz processor, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB drive, and a 3 year warranty goes for $699 on Dell's fall deals page, it's $1098 with a Mini. Hey, the difference is just about the Mini 9's $349 list price, isn't it? Same story with the other Studio 15 and XPS M1330 / M1530 configurations that apply for the $99 Mini deal -- you can find cheaper deals, but they're all about $300 - $400 less than the CTO price, so adding in a Mini 9 essentially washes out. So much for that hot two laptop $700 impulse buy -- we'd say it only makes sense to pull the trigger on this if you're actually in the market for a new full-featured machine. Let us know if you manage to work the numbers any differently -- our credit card hasn't gone too far.<br /><br />[Thanks, Matt]<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/sale_laptops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs">Read</a> - Dell $99 Mini 9 promo page<br /> <a href="http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/laptops_great_deals?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs">Read</a> - Dell fall deals page<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/05/doing-the-math-on-that-99-inspiron-mini-deal/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.engadget.com/forward/1305722/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/05/doing-the-math-on-that-99-inspiron-mini-deal/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a> <p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/weblogsinc/engadget?a=u4IWrg"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/weblogsinc/engadget?i=u4IWrg" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=XyrUl"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=XyrUl" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=dsjul"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=dsjul" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~4/384378374" height="1" width="1"/>

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