Cheap computer deal through 8/15 - new deal!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

By the way, the 2400 (no monitor) is now at $299 after rebates, and theres a 3000 configuration for $350 with a monitor after rebates on a one-day sale (today only, 10/14).

[wabmester]

Damn, I hate it when I get into this shopaholic mood....

I decided to buy a refurb'd Dell desktop tonight. It was last year's top-of-the-line model (Dimension 8300's went for like $3000), and I got it for $300 after $600 worth of instant rebates! The video card alone sells for over $200.

But no more for me! I got my fix. In fact, I may cancel my laptop order since this machine actually has a bit more power, and that laptop probably runs too hot to actually sit on my lap.

[daystar]

I like this website for computer deals, although it's somewhat unorganized. Check the news section for the best deals:

http://www.techbargains.com/

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Wab - there are a raft of little 'laptop cooler's that plug into a USB port for power and blow a little cool air on the bottom of the laptop. Pretty effective and inexpensive - $10-20.

Now put down the glass of milk and i'll tell you what I did with my p4 laptop that had a little hotspot on it.

Velcro'd it to an aluminum cookie sheet that was roughly the same size.

Worked like a charm...50c at yard sale.

Your power desktop/old lappie combination may be what you need...you dont really need 3GHz to surf the web and read email from your portable and Doom3 is much better with a real mouse.

[wabmester]

Velcro'd it to an aluminum cookie sheet that was roughly the same size.

Probably not a bad idea. Might also protect you from all of the microwave radiation those things emit. Hey, here's something I've often wondered about that you might be able to answer.

Has anybody studied the possible health effects of having all of these low-power microwave emitters sitting a couple of inches from the family jewels? Not that it matters much to me -- I already wear lead underwear

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well I can state from personal experience that it doesnt do any harm at all.

Either that or the mailman is going to be very, very proud in a couple of months.
:P

Besides dispersing the heat, the cookie sheet prevents my pants from blocking the air intakes for the laptop, which are on the bottom..."hello? Its a laptop? People are going to put it on their laps? Please dont put air intakes in the middle on the bottom?"

Oh well, HP isnt what they used to be...

Good find on the refurb...Dell has quite a nice selection at times and I dont think they're picked over too quickly. Most of them are just returns from people who had some minor problem or didnt want to keep the machine rather than old repaired ones, and I know they go over them with a fine toothed comb before re-releasing them. The quality may be better than a new one as the repair/recert techs are a lot better informed about building and fixing machines than the manufacturing workers.

You can find some occasional great deals on monitors in the refurb section.

[wabmester]

I canceled the 9100 order after I bought the cheap desktop. * Today, Dell's got a deal on all Inspirons. *$750 off any config over $1500.

Use coupon ZD5$P0NS954P16.

I couldn't resist, so now I have a cheap Inspiron 8600 to go with the desktop *

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Sorry Wab, the 4GHz pentium 4's are rolling out. You're obsolete already and havent even received it yet

[wabmester]

Sorry Wab, the 4GHz pentium 4's are rolling out. *You're obsolete already and havent even received it yet

I often tell people to buy last year's model since you're always on the bleeding edge of obsolesence with any computer purchase.

But Dell's margins had to be cut to the bone on this latest deal. * Of the $750 I spent on this laptop, I'm sure their COGS had to eat way more than 50% of that, so even with their operating efficiencies, it had to be hard to make a buck off of my purchase.

And I know they lost money on my desktop purchase. There's no way my $300 even covered their COGS.

Oh well, I'm doing my part for the economy by helping Dell make their revenue number (with no margins), and helping Intel stuff their main channel....

[MJ]

Oh well, I'm doing my part for the economy by helping Dell make their revenue number (with no margins), and helping Intel stuff their main channel....

I have them both in my portfolio so we stock holders appreciate your '0' contribution (no pun indended).

MJ

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I often tell people to buy last year's model since you're always on the bleeding edge of obsolesence with any computer purchase.

Believe it or not! I ran a study that showed that this is a false economy, but moreso in business. It was a real study, not a fiddled with one. Trust me

By buying the top cpu system and its usual accoutrements (which is usually a better video card, more memory, larger hard drive, etc), you can add as much as a year to the useful lifespan of the machine. People who bought topcpu usually kept the machine in service for an average of four years without upgrades/replacement. Those that bought topcpu-1 or lower usually upgraded or replaced after slightly less than 3 years. The cost of the upgrades/replacements? More than the savings margin on the original system. And you get to enjoy the "better" system for the full four years rather than a lesser machine for 3. Customers also reported a very high rate of problems and dissatisfaction during upgrades/replacement which the four year system buyer avoided.

I dont recall exactly the numbers for home machines as I had most of my focus on the business product lines...but they yielded similar results and were a year or two higher on both topcpu and topcpu-1 analyses.

Of course, that was in the days where each new processor had a 10-20% step up in speed over the last one. If I was buying a machine today, except for someone wanting to play first person shooters I'd buy the least expensive thing I could get my hands on from a reputable vendor. Warranty, packaging, quietness, reliability, and features/ports/extras are about the most important things right now. Even a 2GHz northwood based celeron is more than good enough excluding twitch games, dvd editing and video conversion work. Most modern systems include enough disk, memory and a plenty good enough graphics card.

In this light I like recommending Dell...they often offer 3 year warranties, their systems are rated fairly high in reliability, their service is usually in the top 2 or 3, and their machines are very quiet compared to a lot of other top brands.

If you want to go cheap, and I mean UncleMick cheap, look on ebay for an HP vectra VL400 tower (not desktop) in the 1GHz+ range. One of the best machines ever made. You can use the case for a jackstand, you can work on it without any tools, strong quiet power supply, decent no-frills motherboard, and the tualatin pentium III's and Pentium IIIE's in most of these boxes are faster than a p4 up to 2GHz and a lot cooler running. Probably net a low mileage one for ~75-80.

[LRAO]

Speaking of computers and saving $$$, does anyone know when the BEST TIME to buy a computer is? I mean, taking newer models and all that into account.

I know the consumer rule of thumb when buying an automobilie (not that I would ever buy new) is to buy at the end of the month, especially in winter months (for quota purposes).

Any sort of rule/logic apply to PCs/laptops?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There IS a bit of a push during the hollidays but you're better off watching for specials and deals on sites like fatwallet and grabbing the one that works for you.

The original link in this thread takes you to the weekly dell deals, and except for certain special purchasers, those are as good a machine at as good a price as you're probably going to find.

[wabmester]

There's been speculation that Dell had a blow-out sale in October because their fiscal quarter ended 10/31 and they haven't been selling much this year. * *Check out this graph of their page views over the last 2 years for an indication of their sales trend and how the October blow-out impacted their numbers:

[BigMoneyJim]

Several years ago, PC components--especially memory--would predictably increase in price from September through Christmas, but I'm not aware of any modern patterns. The consumer and business workstation end is too commodity and somebody big got busted a couple of years ago for price fixing. At the moment retailers seem to be pretty desperate and as far as I can tell offer the best deals during holiday weekends and other peak shopping times to try to make their volume look better while sacrificing profit.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Some great notebook prices this week...

check out
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=04&l=en&s=bsd

You can get a heck of a good basic notebook for <$550. If you want to pay a bit more, check out the dell home (instead of business) site for the same lappie with a free wireless card and printer for <$600.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=i1000B1&s=dhs

Prices good until 11/28. These deals are fire sales to get rid of old mobile laptop sku's before changing everything over to centrino based laptops. Centrino's are good stuff, but these are really nice deals in the here and now.

Hope your turkey turns out...