Well - I spoke to a customer care agent (I will leave out the agents name as I know its prohibited) and this was the discussion (he was polite and helpful btw):
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AGENT: Welcome to Dell's Sales Chat! My
name is xxxxxxxx. Just in case we get disconnected, my e-mail address is xxxxxxxx. How may I assist you with your purchase today?
ME: actually i had a question regarding
an order i placed a week ago
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ME: can you assist with that?
AGENT: Possibly.
ME: my question is in regards to the
est. ship date. I know its a worst case, but the est. ship is 1/12/2009 which
seems a bit long
AGENT: The 730x is a brand new system.
We're doing some extra testing before we send out the first models.
ME: testing? is there a potential
issue(s)?
AGENT: if we shipped them out in December,
yes. But since we do the extra testing, no.
AGENT: That's what the testing is for. We
do it with any new product.
AGENT: :-)
ME: I see. Well I appreciate the info,
however it might be a good idea to indicate on the website that there may be
delays due to further testing that is required.
ME: As long as the delays are not due to
backordered parts
AGENT: We just want to be sure that when
you get it, you won't have problems.
AGENT: :-)
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AGENT: If you think of anything
else—questions or concerns—feel free to e-mail me at xxxxxxxxxx.
ME: i will. thank you
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So I guess the delay is for further testing. I'm OK with that, though I would have liked there to have been a message of some sort indicating that the systems are going through additional "testing" that would delay the order. When I ordered my 710 system 1-1/2 years back it shipped 2 days after I ordered it - I guess I got spoiled! :).