Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Am I Missing Something?

I don't have any plans to buy it, but Dell has come out with this cool new convertible netbook/tablet thing, so I was checking it on on their Employee Purchase Program site, where I can buy things using the discount I get through work.
The page gives you two different options to choose from, one showing the price without the discount, and one showing the discounted version.
Except...well, see for yourself:
Option one:

Inspiron duo
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium , 32bit
320GB 7200RPM SATA HDD Drive
2GB DDR3 SDRAM
No Productivity Software
Starting Price $549.99

Option two:
Inspiron duo
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium , 32bit
320GB 7200RPM SATA HDD Drive
2GB DDR3 SDRAM
No Productivity Software
Dell EPP members save $39 on Inspiron Duo laptops!
Starting Price $638.99
EPP Discount $39.00
Subtotal $599.99
Dell EPP members save $39 on Inspiron Duo laptops!

Unless I'm missing something, the two systems are exactly the same. Same amount of RAM, same OS, same hard drive.
And yet, in order to get the $39 discount I'd actually have to start with a base price that's $89 higher.
So my "discount" would involve paying $50 more for the exact same system? How does that work?

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