Help with a bit of a pickle.. - US laptop purchase

JokerCandy on 02/12/2017 - 11:53
Last edited 02/12/2017 - 12:00

Hello my OzB friends!

I had a great original plan to travel to the US and pick up a new Dell XPS 13 along the way. I had negotiated a Dell USA ourlet refurb XPS 13 8th gen i7, 512gb SSD, 16gb ram, all the bells and whistles for $1350 USD (Oregon, no state taxes) + 1 year premium onsite care (transferrable to Aus), however when it came time to pay, they wouldn't accept my 28 degrees card. I've been talking to some American friends to get some help, but of course I wanted to pay with the 28DC more than anything due to the merchandise protection it offers. I've currently gone with the back up plan of asking Amazing/eBay refurb resellers if they slightly reduce their price (unlikely), but now I'm looking at potentially just purchasing another laptop altogether.

Here are some options I've come across, but I'm just so unsure after I was so set on the Dell. My only real "needs" are thin/lightweight/long battery life/8th gen/256gb SSD and 8gb RAM, but any extras ontop of that I'm happy to pay for if it's good value :). My current list of potentials is as follows:

Acer Swift 3
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746P25QX

Acer Aspire 5
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1683431…

Asus Zenbook UX430
https://www.amazon.com/UX430UA-DH74-Ultra-Slim-wideview-Proc…
https://www.costco.com/ASUS-ZenBook-UX430UN-Laptop---Intel-C…

Asus Vivobook
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/goto/346290

Lenovo Yoga 720
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-720-2-in-1-13-3-tou…

This XPS13
https://www.rakuten.com/shop/dell/product/dncwtr744h/

Thanks for any advice everyone. Really appreciate it!
JC

PS - gutted to have missed out on this: https://www.reddit.com/r/LaptopDeals/comments/7fiy74/deal_hp…

Computing

Comments

  • Fobsessive on 02/12/2017 - 13:08
    +2

    The Yoga 720 seems great. Portable form factor, SSD, i5

    • JokerCandy on 02/12/2017 - 13:44

      Thanks @Fobsessive! Not bad at all is it, just that I can't find any reviews online for it :( (except for customers on Best Buy seeming pretty happy)

      • Fobsessive on 02/12/2017 - 13:58
        +1

        I wouldn't get the Asus Vivobook because it doesn't have a SSD.
        The $1000USD laptops are expensive and have a similar processor to the Lenovo 720.
        I had a terrible warranty experience with Acer so I would not touch them.

        • JokerCandy on 02/12/2017 - 14:08

          Absolute legend thank you!

          Will hold for another day before pulling the trigger just incase any late 11th hour bargians/tips come through.

        • Slippery Fish on 03/12/2017 - 13:07

          @JokerCandy: ask em if you can do it by PayPal, pay with 28deg card using its exchange rate.

        • JokerCandy on 03/12/2017 - 14:51

          @Slippery Fish:

          Yeah I've sent a nicely worded email and haven't heard back, I think I'm going to give 2 in 1 another chance with the Lenovo and wait for the 2018 XPS 13 as it's getting a chassis upgrade!

  • swapsey on 02/12/2017 - 14:36
    +1

    For what it's worth, I am a newfound fan of Dell products. I bought a Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming Laptop for my son recently - it is awesome! Very impressed with build quality and software updates. I haven't used Dell in years so it was a gamble, but bought on recommendations on OB. Happy to recommend Dell now to friends. I know you are shopping more portable notebooks so maybe it's not as valuable a recommendation as what others are saying. I just thought I would chime in with my recent success story. (I personally use Mac)

    • Fobsessive on 02/12/2017 - 15:12
      +1

      Dell XPS laptops have solid build quality, but they are more expensive for that

  • sabracad on 03/12/2017 - 00:01
    +1

    This video from Dave2d is 6 months old but a good starting point.

    Youtube

    Too bad there don't see to be any local suppliers offering the stealth!!

    • jpl on 22/01/2018 - 20:05

      MSY is selling stealth now!!

  • Tgb on 03/12/2017 - 09:06
    +1

    That yoga 720 for 699USD is an awesome deal. $1699 AUD here. I wish best buy shipped to Australia, even says they dont send to known freight forwarders…..

    Anyone have any ideas?

    • JokerCandy on 03/12/2017 - 11:24

      @Tgb I could try to bring you one back hahaha

      Check this out, XPS13 for $850 USD, 8th gen i7 - extremely tempted not sure to go for Lenovo or this now!!

      https://techreport.com/news/32901/thursday-deals-a-dell-xps-…

      EDIT - was for Thursday only.. oops

      • Tgb on 03/12/2017 - 13:00

        I think I'll have to settle for this: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/340313

        Same price as the Best Buy Yoga 720 which pains me… but this still seems the best deal can get shipped to Aus. This vs retail here is $1299 at JB (with only a 128gb SSD).

        • Tgb on 06/12/2017 - 20:24

          @jokercandy got the 8th gen i5 for $970 with 7.5% off gift card locally. Only 128gb ssd compared to 256gb but worth the trade off for same price as US and no wait.

          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/347508

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