AND THE WINNER IS......

Me when it comes to making a decision..  (Image)

A Dell XPS 17.  Its a refurb, but it will still be new to me, kinda like buying a used car.  Cheaper, but still new enough.


I'm pretty excited by the decision.  Mostly the MAKING the decision, finally.  I'm pretty sure I sat at the submit order screen for 14 of the 15 minutes I get for inactivity.  










The inner monologue went something like this:
Am I getting what I wanted?  Am I getting too much?  What is the difference between BD-RW and DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM?  Should I just get the better BD-RW?  When the hell would I ever burn a blue-ray disc?  Did I get the processor I wanted?  Should I just kick it back down to the minimal version, save $100?  Should I just go with the 1gb video card instead of the 3gb?  Should I just go with 6gb of RAM instead of 8?  You know you are being ridiculous, right?  But its a blue-ray player, Teh Bear has been buying blue-rays and if I want to watch Toy Story on my computer, I'll need the blue-ray player, because Lord knows operating that PS3 will make my brain explode.  You know you've looked at computer for DAYS now, and you have seen what's out there, and you've asked for help, and no one has really made any concrete suggestions, so you're on your own?  Be a big girl and just click the damn button.  But what if I'm not getting what I want?  How is this computer NOT what you want, you just picked it out, dumbass.  (Yes, I call myself dirty names in my inner monologue.)  Yeah, but there's so many options?  Should I just go spec out a new one and see if there's any good coupons?  Oooo, should I wait until June 1st and see if any Dell Outlet deals come about?  *shift body, screen falls all the way back with a pop*  Ok, no, I won't wait.  But what if when I check out they charge me tax and shipping and then that extra $100 that I just spent is doubled cause of tax?  Oooo mmmm geeeeee.


Finally, I unfroze (which is a sign of me panicking), and open a new tab to the dell outlet one last time to make sure that I was getting the right one.  I mean, I know people preached APPLE to me, and some people threw some other brands at me, that I couldn't really find/didn't meet my standards, but what's a girl to do!?!?!?!


So I looked again at the submit order button.  Realized there was NO tax AND Dell is shipping the computer to the APO.  


SUBMIT ORDER.  
check.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
36 hours passed without an email from Dell confirming my order.. oh and yes I had written the beginning of this blog in the excitement and blissful glow of being soon-to-be-new-computer-owner...  I had a purchase ID, but not an order #... 2 VERY different things.


The last 12 hours of those 36 included several calls to Dell.  I tried calling so many times at work that I'm sure I can recite the "this call isn't toll free from your location" message... in Arabic...  ok, maybe not, but potentially parts of it.  I think the guys says poop at some point.  I couldn't get a working number, so those annoying pop up boxes when you are trying to configure a new computer that ask if you want to chat with a rep?  I actually had to use THAT to talk to someone this afternoon about the lack of order confirmation.  Sushi Sheesha Seeshi T gave me a number to call that ACTUALLY worked, and I finally spoke to a Dell rep.  I told both the chat person and the phone rep that I wanted to make sure the order was cancelled.  The phone rep assured me that the order wasn't going to go through anyways due to shipping it to a PO box.  No, lady, an APO isn't a freakin PO box.  GOSH.


So, with that order cancelled, I sorted through all the options again, this time finding one slightly better because it has facial recognition!!!!  Which is one of those stupid cool things that I was pleased with.


This time I shipped it to Teh Bear (who has recently become my personal postal worker, and for that he is awesomest) and put in the correct billing address (oops, my bad).  I got a purchase confirmation email AND an order confirmation email in the SAME MINUTE, which completely negated Teh Bear's argument about how I was being impatient about the first order, thank you, Dell (you assholes).


What I ended up:
-- XPS L702X Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
   Unit Price: $1,049.00
   Quantity: 1
-- XPS L702X
-- Documentation
-- Service Software
-- Label
-- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus-- Service Software
-- 9 Cell Primary Battery-- Certified Refurbished
-- DataSafe Online Backup Software
-- Service Software
-- Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)
-- 17.3 inch HD+ (900p) WLED Display-- Dell Support Center 64 Bit 2.0
-- Elemental Silver Aluminum
-- Power DVD Software
-- 64BIT Operating System
-- Operating System DVD
-- Shipping Material
-- Wave Systems Software
-- Internal Backlit Keyboard - English
-- Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
-- AC Adapter
-- Software
-- No Media Selected
-- Microsoft Office Starter
-- Processor: Intel Core i7-2720QM processor (2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz)
-- 500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)-- Sound Blaster X-Fi MB Panzer software version 1.2
-- 125V Power Cord
-- Facial Recognition Software-- Information
-- Processor Label
-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
-- 500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 2nd Drive-- Label
-- 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)-- Software
-- Dell WebCam Central
-- Image Restore Software
-- Bracket
-- Roxio Software CD
-- XPS 17-L702X: 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis (Included In Price)
   Unit Price: $0.00
   Quantity: 1
   Total Price: $0.00
Subtotal: $1,049.00
Shipping and Handling: $19.99
Shipping Discount: -$19.99
Sales Tax: $68.19
Total Amount: $1,117.19

I feel like out of all the systems I looked at and for, I got the best deal for the best specs with this system.  No, it didn't have a fingerprint reader, but that was one of the surprise cool things about the Stupido 17, along with the lid design.  It will most likely come with a silver lid (which are great for Peace Frog stickers).  But it won't have the insides of the computer showing, and the lid will close properly...  I won't have to worry about coming home one day and my computer not having a display anymore (yay peace of mind, peace frogs, peace of mind.. hehe get it?).

Retro Peace Frog is the bestest, which is why I have the towel and used to have this sticker on the very first laptop and on my car, and I have the outline peace frog on my Camelbak bottle.  I'm kind of a Peace Frog fiend. (Peace Frog Store)