Dell USA vs Dell Australia, Big difference found

[AndrewACT]

Hi everyone, first time using this site so I'm not 100% in which section I should have posted this so any nudges in the right direction will be greatly appreciated.

I've been looking in to getting myself a gaming laptop, smaller the better for travelling and the best I can manage to find is the m11x from alienware.

I've tried to find out the cheapest place to source it from (alienware isn't exactly the budget option) and I've come across a huge difference in price between the Dell US site and Australian site. See below:

Australian site:
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

US site:
Error Encountered - The Dell Online Store


(sorry links arent working, if you customise the M11x R3 to have and i7, 4GB Ram, 500GB HDD, Nvidia 540m 2GB, the US sites quotes around $1200.00 USD where as the Australia site quotes about $1850 AUD, exchange pretty much on par at the moment)

Note that the US version has an extra 250GB for the HDD but still costs over $600 less.

Dell US won't ship to Australia so does anyone know how I can make this happen? I'm guessing the thigs I need to consider are:
Import Tax (10% right)
Shipping (with whom and how that works I've got no idea)
Tax invoice or other information required to salary sacrafice / claim on tax.
Power converter (can grab from any electrical store in Aus I guess)
Warranty, will I actually still have it (My guess, again, is that I would be able to use the Dell US international support.

If anyone can help that would be great. Also if this needs to be posted in another section that I couldn't find please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Andrew

[GNandGS]

You can play games with this if you like but purchase for "export" is a no-no. Not that you cant find a way to pull it off but I wouldn't bother or take the chance.

[DivineAura]

AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$
You can actually transfer the warranty from a country to another country.
Hope this link will help you a lot!

[Brabostaan]

HIDevolution can help you with that.

Tax an shipping on top of the M11x price. Dont need a power convertor.

[AndrewACT]

Thank Divine Aura, thats a great thread. The transfer of the warranty will save a lot of hassle and possibly some extra shipping cost if things go wrong.

Brabostaan I was looking for ages to find a site exactly like HIDevolution. Great site, the extra tax will hurt when I bring it in the Aus.

I actually managed to find an interesting site Price USA | Shop where you want. Did some research and it seems legitmate. More or less you pay for someone to collect your purchse in the States and they send it on to your address in Aus. They take a fee but with site like HIDevolution it doesn't seem worth it.

At the end of the day I'm thinking Ebay, refurbished model for about $300 less? Any advice on refurbished alienware?

Thanks dor the replies by the way

Andrew

[Brabostaan]

If you import it you still need to pay tax and shipping. Best thing is to find a coupon, let HID use that coupon to purchase your M11x and send it to you. HID can also help you to reduce taxes.

10% coupon: 0PXL?WHJQ42FSV.

Hurry for it expires or to many ppl used it.

[Chemware]

Originally Posted by AndrewACT

Dell US won't ship to Australia so does anyone know how I can make this happen?

Yes. Been there, done that, with 2 M11x R1s. The steps are:

1. Visit Dell USA, find the M11x webpage, and spec the cheapest R3 you can. Note that the 3G does not work in Oz, so don't get that.
2. Contact PriceUSA, give them the info and links, and get a quote. They will charge about $150 for shipping and handling.
3. You may want to get a screen anti glare/reflection protector from Photodon as well - get PriceUSA to get that and combine the order.
4. If you proceed, you have to pay PriceUSA, and they will order it, collect it, then ship it to you.
5. Effectively, PriceUSA buys the laptop and sells it you you 2nd hand.
6. If PriceUSA's 2nd hand price on the documents if greater than $1000 then you pay GST.
7. After you get it, ask PriceUSA nicely to arrange a warranty transfer to you.
8. After you get it, go to a local shop and get the RAM and HDD you really want. Use the old, slow HDD as a USB backup, or try to sell.
9. Enjoy !

Good luck !

[Rishwin]

Yea dude, it's ridiculous.

I was in the US last year with my fiance and ordered my M11x R3 directly from Dell, this system cost me $800 rather than over $2,200 back here in Australia.

Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish
Intel Core i5 2467M 2.3GHz
8GB DDR3 1600 MHz Kingston Hyper-X
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
128GB Crucial M4 6Gb/s
Intel Advanced-N WiFi Link 6205 a/g/n 2x2
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit
1 year Advanced Warranty

[kingjc]

Originally Posted by Rishwin

Yea dude, it's ridiculous.

I was in the US last year with my fiance and ordered my M11x R3 directly from Dell, this system cost me $800 rather than over $2,200 back here in Australia.

Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish
Intel Core i5 2467M 2.3GHz
8GB DDR3 1600 MHz Kingston Hyper-X
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
128GB Crucial M4 6Gb/s
Intel Advanced-N WiFi Link 6205 a/g/n 2x2
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit
1 year Advanced Warranty

What's ridiculous is your claim...how did you come up with the 2.2k figure?

Interestingly enough, I asked HIDevolution recently about the warranty - they said it wasn't valid in Australia and I had to send it back to them if I wanted service :/ This put me off my X51 purchase, seeing as people who have received theirs have reported faulty optical drives.

[Chemware]

Originally Posted by kingjc

What's ridiculous is your claim...how did you come up with the 2.2k figure?

What's ridiculous is Dell Australia's pricing.

I just configured the same machine (with a 256 GB SSD, since that was the smallest), and it came up with:

$2,488.99

Don't believe us ? Go to:

Alienware M11x Laptop ? Featuring 2nd generation Intel® Core? processors | Dell Australia

and configure it yourself.