Last night the charging port on my Dell Studio 1735 went out, so I after getting a price on fixing it ($449 + installation) I decided it was time to get a new laptop.

I went and shopped for a Dell XPS 17 model. Because I knew exactly what I wanted, I started with the base model and then customized it to my needs. The cost was around $2,100. Next, I started with an upgraded model which had extras that I didn't really care for. I customized it to match my needs but it still had things I didn't want. The cost, however, was only $1700.

How can this be I thought? A laptop with more features that costs less? So I went back to the base model and I customized it to match EXACTLY what I had customized on the upgraded model. The cost difference: $508.

Here are the two quotes: base model quote & upgraded model quote.

You can clearly see that the market value on the items are the exact same, $2,207.99. But the upgraded model has $528 in discounts while the base model has only $20 in discounts. Even in my cart, this is what is shown:



Bottom line: Be careful how you shop on Dell.com.