4 ms·

Well, in this case, they both get to install the RAM themselves and to pay for an even more overpriced markup.

gruez 5y ago
1. Better to pay a $200 markup than a $400 markup right? 2. the markup is often warranted. There's a vast difference between "business" laptops and "consumer" laptops. I can't speak for dell's precision line, but lenovo's thinkpads are leagues better (build quality, support, etc) than the consumer crap you get at best buy.
- seanp2k2 5y ago
  The thing that bothers me so badly is that if they just took all the resources they put into RGB-everything development and “gamer” branding and put that into tactile improvements, better trackpads, more solid hinges, less chassis flex…I bet there’s a big market for gamers who want the function over the form. It doesn’t have to be a beige box either, I just want something like a Dell XPS with TotL GPU + CPU. For some reason, that also necessarily comes with ugly chintzy obnoxious hardware design. I feel like PC HW mfgs are so out of touch with what people actually want. Look at the NVidia RTX 3080/90 FE cards and how they’re actually classy and solid, without a giant fan shroud and 6 additional cheap loud LED fans. It’s not like they had any problem selling every single one they made, just sad that it lives inside the case. Razer is one kinda-exception that I can think of, where they have fairly solid laptops that can be more minimal, but the build quality is still not quite up to mobile workstation standards. TL;DR I wish I could get a MBP with TOTL hardware instead of having even the highest-end config still shoot for thin-and-light.
  - ivegotnoaccount 5y ago
    Lenovo kind of does this with their Legion laptop brand. Those are sold for the "gamer"/"enthusiast" markets, so they don't have the premium support you get with pro ones (Though you can get an upgradee where they dispatch someone to your house for repairs. I think it costs something like 80€ (~100$) in France ?), nor the premium features (Not sure you could track the laptop if stolen, no ECC support...) But on the other hand, they are clearly thought more as "hybrids" than other gamer laptops: - The UEFI lets you decide if you want to enable/disable the intel chipset (Useful when you want to be sure everything goes to the GPU/want to use things that don't work well with NVidia's Optimus) - Lightweight and easy to put in a bag. Not one of those 5 inches thick laptops that weight 5 kilograms - The look is made not to scream "gamer laptop !". - Wide configuration range for a single chassis. Also not that expensive, even for consumer-grade standard. Got one with i7-9750h/RTX2060/16GB/512GB NVMe for 1100€/1350$ one year ago.
- ivegotnoaccount 5y ago
  I completely agree. Did not see it was their prosumer brand. Makes more sense when one takes it into account.
- teclordphrack2 5y ago
  lenova thinkpads are shite. They always run buggy and slow.
adrian_b 5y ago
The Dell Precision mobile workstations have a good price when compared with other mobile workstations. All mobile workstations, regardless of vendor, are overpriced in comparison with gaming laptops, because those who buy mobile workstations are forced to buy them for a few features that are missing in gaming laptops. As another poster has already written, a common strategy when buying a Dell Precision mobile workstation is to buy them with the minimum RAM of 4 GB and with the minimum SSD of 128 GB, with the intention to dump the original RAM and SSD and buy something like 64 GB of ECC RAM and a fast 2 TB SSD, at much lower prices than from Dell. The only reason for the 4 GB RAM configuration is because Dell will not sell a laptop without RAM or without a SSD or HDD. The economy from buying yourself the RAM can easily be up to one thousand USD or even more, even after paying for the mandatory 4 GB.
- seanp2k2 5y ago
  Never understood why they don’t just offer RAM at closer-to-market prices instead of giving you a 4GB stick that will get tossed or sit in a drawer unused. Surely they’d rather make $20 on RAM instead of $0? It’s not like they refuse warranty service for unrelated parts because you’ve installed aftermarket RAM. I’d bet they could even get preferential pricing on qty purchases, so in theory it should be cheaper to get RAM / SSD upgrades through the mfg vs aftermarket…
  - gruez 5y ago
    Not everyone's tech savvy enough to order and install their own RAM. For every person buying 4GB of RAM to upgrade later there's probably 10 buying 16GB RAM at 100+% markup.
    - bzzzt 5y ago
      I'd guess most people buying mobile workstations would be savvy enough. But if your company requires the laptop is bought from and gets service from Dell why wouldn't they just pay the premium price? Having worked in a start-up where everyone 'got their way' with respect to hardware (company culture thing) it was impossible to centrally organise things like repairs - nobody but the dev knew where stuff was ordered so technical defects took up lots of dev time which costs more than just paying a few $100 extra for peace of mind.

1. Better to pay a $200 markup than a $400 markup right? 2. the markup is often warranted. There's a vast difference between "business" laptops and "consumer" laptops. I can't speak for dell's precision line, but lenovo's thinkpads are leagues better (build quality, support, etc) than the consumer crap you get at best buy.

seanp2k2 5y ago
The thing that bothers me so badly is that if they just took all the resources they put into RGB-everything development and “gamer” branding and put that into tactile improvements, better trackpads, more solid hinges, less chassis flex…I bet there’s a big market for gamers who want the function over the form. It doesn’t have to be a beige box either, I just want something like a Dell XPS with TotL GPU + CPU. For some reason, that also necessarily comes with ugly chintzy obnoxious hardware design. I feel like PC HW mfgs are so out of touch with what people actually want. Look at the NVidia RTX 3080/90 FE cards and how they’re actually classy and solid, without a giant fan shroud and 6 additional cheap loud LED fans. It’s not like they had any problem selling every single one they made, just sad that it lives inside the case. Razer is one kinda-exception that I can think of, where they have fairly solid laptops that can be more minimal, but the build quality is still not quite up to mobile workstation standards. TL;DR I wish I could get a MBP with TOTL hardware instead of having even the highest-end config still shoot for thin-and-light.
- ivegotnoaccount 5y ago
  Lenovo kind of does this with their Legion laptop brand. Those are sold for the "gamer"/"enthusiast" markets, so they don't have the premium support you get with pro ones (Though you can get an upgradee where they dispatch someone to your house for repairs. I think it costs something like 80€ (~100$) in France ?), nor the premium features (Not sure you could track the laptop if stolen, no ECC support...) But on the other hand, they are clearly thought more as "hybrids" than other gamer laptops: - The UEFI lets you decide if you want to enable/disable the intel chipset (Useful when you want to be sure everything goes to the GPU/want to use things that don't work well with NVidia's Optimus) - Lightweight and easy to put in a bag. Not one of those 5 inches thick laptops that weight 5 kilograms - The look is made not to scream "gamer laptop !". - Wide configuration range for a single chassis. Also not that expensive, even for consumer-grade standard. Got one with i7-9750h/RTX2060/16GB/512GB NVMe for 1100€/1350$ one year ago.
ivegotnoaccount 5y ago
I completely agree. Did not see it was their prosumer brand. Makes more sense when one takes it into account.
teclordphrack2 5y ago
lenova thinkpads are shite. They always run buggy and slow.

adrian_b 5y ago

The Dell Precision mobile workstations have a good price when compared with other mobile workstations. All mobile workstations, regardless of vendor, are overpriced in comparison with gaming laptops, because those who buy mobile workstations are forced to buy them for a few features that are missing in gaming laptops. As another poster has already written, a common strategy when buying a Dell Precision mobile workstation is to buy them with the minimum RAM of 4 GB and with the minimum SSD of 128 GB, with the intention to dump the original RAM and SSD and buy something like 64 GB of ECC RAM and a fast 2 TB SSD, at much lower prices than from Dell. The only reason for the 4 GB RAM configuration is because Dell will not sell a laptop without RAM or without a SSD or HDD. The economy from buying yourself the RAM can easily be up to one thousand USD or even more, even after paying for the mandatory 4 GB.

seanp2k2 5y ago
Never understood why they don’t just offer RAM at closer-to-market prices instead of giving you a 4GB stick that will get tossed or sit in a drawer unused. Surely they’d rather make $20 on RAM instead of $0? It’s not like they refuse warranty service for unrelated parts because you’ve installed aftermarket RAM. I’d bet they could even get preferential pricing on qty purchases, so in theory it should be cheaper to get RAM / SSD upgrades through the mfg vs aftermarket…
- gruez 5y ago
  Not everyone's tech savvy enough to order and install their own RAM. For every person buying 4GB of RAM to upgrade later there's probably 10 buying 16GB RAM at 100+% markup.
  - bzzzt 5y ago
    I'd guess most people buying mobile workstations would be savvy enough. But if your company requires the laptop is bought from and gets service from Dell why wouldn't they just pay the premium price? Having worked in a start-up where everyone 'got their way' with respect to hardware (company culture thing) it was impossible to centrally organise things like repairs - nobody but the dev knew where stuff was ordered so technical defects took up lots of dev time which costs more than just paying a few $100 extra for peace of mind.