Cheap notebooks

[2soon2tell]

Greetings,

Has anyone seen any great deals on notebook computers? I've been checking the Dell outlet site for refurbished computers as well as their new notebooks. In many cases it seems like it's cheaper to buy new.

Thanks,

2soon

[NotSoonEnough]

With CompUSA going out of business there may be some deals after Christmas, when I checked my local store this past weekend they were only advertising a 20% "store wide" markdown.

CompUSA closes shop | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

[REWahoo]

Be very wary of the "bargains" you might find at CompUSA and be sure to compare the bottom line prices. In many cases a third party liquidation company is hired to manage the merchandise sell off. Marking up prices before discounting is a common tactic, so be cautious.

[Want2retire]

I got a pretty good deal on my new Toshiba notebook a few months ago at Office Depot. The deals in the store, and the deals they offer on their website, are different - - so you need to check both.

They also seem to change their sale items frequently. I just happened to walk in when they had what I wanted on sale for around $450-$500 (if my memory is correct) after rebates. They send their rebates quite promptly. They wouldn't give me an additional rebate offered on their website at the time, though.

[samclem]

I, too, found the best prices through the Sunday sale inserts. Check OD, Best Buy, Staples, etc. Be prepared for the PITA of filling out the rebate forms, but there are bargains to be had every week.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by samclem

Be prepared for the PITA of filling out the rebate forms, but there are bargains to be had every week.

I bought an HP laptop about 6 months ago that came with a "free" printer. I had to pay for the printer and fill out a rebate to get the money back. They screwed up the rebate (everyone's, not just mine) and I had to fax my rebate form and all supporting docs (there were quite a few) to HP's rebate center. I then got the original rebate check plus another one a few days later for the faxed rebate! I will refund their money as soon as they ask for it back (after 12 - 16 weeks for processing the request).

Mike D.

[Moemg]

I also bought a Toshiba notebook at Office Depot .I bought it online so I got both of the rebates plus they accidently sent me the wrong model and they gave me $50.00 for my trouble after much talking to customer service.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I will refund their money as soon as they ask for it back (after 12 - 16 weeks for processing the request).

Make sure you lose the first rebate return request, and ask them to fax you a filled out form (which is no longer available on your web site and requires a written request for you to send it out), the submitters UPC code (which they'll need to have tattooed on if they dont have one), and the original receipt you sent them.

Two of my last four laptops were staples/office depot sunday clearance specials but they were "last years model", not a current product. One of the other two was a dell "on sale special" and the last was a dell outlet machine.

You wont get anything good out of the outlet without setting up a proxy script.

You may not get one of those office supply store clearance specials without standing in front of the store 20 minutes before they open.

What was it that you were looking for size and capability wise, and what were you going to use it for, and how long were you expecting to own it.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If you go through fatwallet and register for a fatcash account, you can get a dell 15" machine well loaded for $549 and a 14" with a big battery for $599, plus 1.5-3% back in fatcash, plus 1-1.25% back on your credit card rebate.

I occasionally see a decent laptop for $499 or less, but not often, they're hard to get, and frequently they're a piece of crap.

Dell Small Business coupons and cash back

[2soon2tell]

Thanks for all of your repsonses.

CFB

I will use it mostly for web surfing around the house with occassional travel. I am looking for a 14" or 15" screen with decent resolution and relatively light weight and a price of not over $600.

Thanks,
2soon

[Martha]

2soon, both Wahoo and I recently bought Dell Vostros from Dell Small Business on bunny's recommendation. Cost was just under $600. Seems functional, speedy enough, and sturdy, but not super light weight and is a bit bulky as compared to my Thinkpad.

[RunningBum]

We're buying a desktop for our parents and Office Depot has some good specials (from the Sunday paper flyer) on those too. So Office Depot seems to be a good source these days.

[REWahoo]

What Martha said. I got my Vostro 1000 from the Dell Outlet website ('previously ordered new') and paid under $520 delivered. Works great for what you say you'll be doing with it.

[Khan]

Disclaimer: I have no experience with this, but it caught my eye:

Green doesn't have to make you Blue!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

This might do
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

14", about 5lbs, $599. Current processor and system board, plenty of memory and disk, good feature set. 9 cell battery should give you about 5-5.5 hours of run-time unplugged.

Still be a good machine 2 years from now and have a decent resale value 2-3 years from now. You'll be able to get 250-300 for it then if you want something new.

The 1400 is about 1.5lbs lighter than the 1000/1500 that martha/rewahoo have. Its still a bit heavy for what it is, but it does have a pretty stiff/strong chassis with no flex and will take some travel.

[donheff]

I sent $400 to Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child. I get one laptop and one goes to a third world kid. I will tell you how mine works when it arrives. With its green keyboard, if nothing else it will probably be a conversation starter at Starbucks.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Or how about the same machine with only 1GB of ram for $549?
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

Or how about the same machine with only 1GB of ram for $549?
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Be careful about the RAM req's if you are going to run Vista which apparently is much happier with 2 gigs.

OK - now is the time for all the MS bashers to chime in.

Mike D.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've run vista with both 1 and 2gb. I see that in the 2gb config it happily laps up about 1.5gb. I'm not seeing any visible performance benefits after the upgrade to be honest. Perhaps if I was using microsoft office or multitasking 5-6 apps at once, maybe when I get around to doing some video format conversions for some of the brazillion AVI movies of Gabe.

However, I dont recommend getting a machine with vista. I'd strongly recommend getting XP instead. There are some minor advantages to vista and in a year or two it might get a recommendation out of me. Suffice it to say that I curse at it daily and its come close to getting changed out for XP on several occasions. I see that in some benchmarks that XP with the new service pack 3 can be up to 30% faster than vista.

XP runs good in 1GB. Dell, IBM and a few other companies still offer XP as an option. Most of the retail units however come with vista basic or vista premium. If forced to a vista decision, get premium, not basic. Basic has nothing of interest in it.

[Want2retire]

I am happy with Vista, but then I'm odd like that. New software is such fun to explore! I love an adventure! It's neat to see what the developers added and all the little twists and quirks.

One thing I love about Vista is the thumbnail screenshots you get when passing the mouse pointer over minimized programs on the toolbar at the bottom. That way you know which one to click on (if you have 3 MSIE windows going, for example). How cool is that? VERY...

Caveat: I am the only person on the face of the universe that likes Vista. Bear that in mind! Some programs don't run with it but I have had no problems with commercial software not running under Vista, at all. Some freeware didn't run, but for me that was no biggie.

I have 1 Gb RAM and haven't had any problems, but I usually just surf the net with Excel open and maybe PaintShopPro, Word, or computer solitaire or something. Everything that I care to run seems to be quite reasonably fast when multitasking between these programs simultaneously. I like computer games, but not the real-time 3D graphic games that are so demanding on the system - - so they might be slowed down.

When I let Norton do a scan, it does slow things down. I don't remember if that was true in XP or not. Memory is cheap. Get 2 Gb.