Price: Dell vs Costco's Dell

if you purchase from costco you get to take it home with you rather than wait for it to be built and arrive in the mail. costco has extremely generous return policies; the last i checked they even offer their six month return policy on their computers, check what the deal is now to be sure, but whatever it is it is likely better than what dell offers. the costco dell is preconfigured with software and hardware of their choice. if it is what you want then it is a good deal, but if you don't want the software, speakers, monitor, or whatever is in the costco bundle then you are paying for things that you don't want or need making it a waste. you can price out a complete dell 4700 for well under $1,000 delivered at dell... the costco bundles i have seen have things like a three years warranty included (which alone can add $300 to the price) and software which i personally find useless and would not want to pay for. like everything at costco, it is only a bargain if it is what you want.