Señor Cheap Bastard's "Black Friday" thread.

[cody]

I just bought a GPS with lane guidance and text to speech for under $100 shipped (after 10% Discover Cashback).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/TomTom+-...kage&cp=1&lp=1

Could have picked it up instead, but I was just at BB this weekend checking out the TV I'm hoping to get if Dell can get their shit together.

[Dean]

I probably won't be buying anything this year except maybe a 2TB 7200RPM HD under $140 shipped+tax. I can shut down 10-20 250Gb drives and a server or two with one of those babies. Power saving alone should pay for it.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Dean, is that an external drive? Where did you find that?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice

Dean, is that an external drive? Where did you find that?

Haven't yet. Newegg has seagate 5900RPMs for $139.99 shipped. I'd consider a 1.5Tb 7200RPM for under $90 or a few 1.0TB for under $50. Again, newegg has a 5900RPm for that.

I'd love a USB/eSata for those prices, but will settle for internal. Might pay an extra $10 for an external.

Non-seagate by the way would be my preference. They ahve had some real bad batches of 1.5 & 2TB drives lately.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Dean

I probably won't be buying anything this year except maybe a 2TB 7200RPM HD under $140 shipped+tax. I can shut down 10-20 250Gb drives and a server or two with one of those babies. Power saving alone should pay for it.

That's a lot of porn!

[Dean]

Fixed...

Originally Posted by MikeK

That's a lot of porn

, track video from 2 cameras, DVR storage, MP3s, etc... And now that I have an HD PVR tuner card, the storage needs are creeping up.

[Dean]

Here is one option. $169-$30 rebate 2tb 7200 RPM Hitachi.

[Kevin M]

If any of you guys spot a nice desktop + monitor bundle (21" or larger) let me know. So far everybody is throwing laptop deals around like they're going out of style, but the 3 or 4 desktops I've sen are not real great. I'm looking for something that is currently in the $500-700 range, or is brought down that far by the sale.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

If any of you guys spot a nice desktop + monitor bundle (21" or larger) let me know. So far everybody is throwing laptop deals around like they're going out of style, but the 3 or 4 desktops I've sen are not real great. I'm looking for something that is currently in the $500-700 range, or is brought down that far by the sale.

It doesn't include a monitor but this guy is going on sale for $240 at Office Max. I'm probably going to pick one up. I bought a 24" monitor from NewEgg for $180 in a random sale so you will still be well under $500.

http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sku...0t0f0fp0c0s158

[Dean]

Go to slickdeals.net and search or look through the BF ads. Monitor separate from PC might be easier to find.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by JC

It doesn't include a monitor but this guy is going on sale for $240 at Office Max. I'm probably going to pick one up. I bought a 24" monitor from NewEgg for $180 in a random sale so you will still be well under $500.

http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sku...0t0f0fp0c0s158

Or I've got a really nice 19" Samsung 900p CRT you can make me an offer on. I should be just giving it away, but it's a friggen nice screen and I paid like $800 for it back in '99. So buy me a dinner at the meet for it or something. (It's the monitor in this video: http://www.youtube.com/sperry04#p/u/33/SfzgQQyrmoM)

Old review: http://www.dansdata.com/sams.htm

(I've also got a matching 15" Sammy CRT that I used on my old linux server back in the day too if anyone wants it for free.)

[Kevin M]

Does Compaq still suck as bad as they did last time I looked into a desktop? That was only a year and a half ago, and I ended up getting Acers for my old office, which worked flawlessly as CAD machines, plus the one we used as a server.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by JC

It doesn't include a monitor but this guy is going on sale for $240 at Office Max. I'm probably going to pick one up. I bought a 24" monitor from NewEgg for $180 in a random sale so you will still be well under $500.

http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sku...0t0f0fp0c0s158

It's coming at $389 now.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

Does Compaq still suck as bad as they did last time I looked into a desktop? That was only a year and a half ago, and I ended up getting Acers for my old office, which worked flawlessly as CAD machines, plus the one we used as a server.

It's been well reviewed. It's a computer it's not like you can't fix anything that might go wrong.

Originally Posted by Kevin M

It's coming at $389 now.

It was leaked as one of the Black Friday deals for the AM. Though when I went to look for a pdf of the ad it looks like it might have been a fake so YMMV.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1684933

[ScottyS]

After years of tinkering with computers (and worse, getting problems dumped on me by everyone that knows I mess with the damn things), I've come to the conclusion that HP/Compaq/etc have most of their problems because of basic design and hardware integration issues. It's like for some models they push the final specs of which MB or video card to use out too fast, and conflicts result. I think it's a matter of QC at the engineering level, and to a lesser extent at the hardware level.

[Dean]

All budget PC components are built by the lowest bidder.

And most failures are because they are built with the cheapest crappiest capacitors they can and when they fail in the power supply, they take motherboard or drive components with them. When cheap caps on the MB fail, they take out individual subsystems like USB, HD controller, etc.

PCs are really commodities at this point. Pick the specs you want and find the cheapest one you can that meets them. A $299 Compaq/HP is not going to be significantly different than a $299 Dell, Acer, etc.

The only alternative to the lowest common denominator is to have one custom built or buy Alienware or something and pay accordingly.

[cody]

Originally Posted by cody

I just bought a GPS with lane guidance and text to speech for under $100 shipped (after 10% Discover Cashback).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/TomTom+-...kage&cp=1&lp=1

Could have picked it up instead, but I was just at BB this weekend checking out the TV I'm hoping to get if Dell can get their shit together.

Changed my mind and got this one instead. It's $120 shipped but no tax and 8% Bing CB so it's a better GPS for nearly the same money.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...ww9Ykc4kaiBLRg

The TomTom doesn't have Lane Guidance despite what BestBuy's product page says. They're gonna give me a $20 gift card for the inconvenience.

[cody]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

If any of you guys spot a nice desktop + monitor bundle (21" or larger) let me know. So far everybody is throwing laptop deals around like they're going out of style, but the 3 or 4 desktops I've sen are not real great. I'm looking for something that is currently in the $500-700 range, or is brought down that far by the sale.

I'll keep an eye out for ya.

[cody]

Originally Posted by Dean

Haven't yet. Newegg has seagate 5900RPMs for $139.99 shipped. I'd consider a 1.5Tb 7200RPM for under $90 or a few 1.0TB for under $50. Again, newegg has a 5900RPm for that.

I'd love a USB/eSata for those prices, but will settle for internal. Might pay an extra $10 for an external.

Non-seagate by the way would be my preference. They ahve had some real bad batches of 1.5 & 2TB drives lately.

Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ST320005EXA101-RK - Retail
Pre-Black Friday deal, limited offer(limit 1 per customer) $149.99 Free Shipping

Edit: And according to this, tomorrow, Bing CB goes up to 10% for Newegg.

[JC]

Originally Posted by cody

Changed my mind and got this one instead. It's $120 shipped but no tax and 8% Bing CB so it's a better GPS for nearly the same money.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...ww9Ykc4kaiBLRg

The TomTom doesn't have Lane Guidance despite what BestBuy's product page says. They're gonna give me a $20 gift card for the inconvenience.

Why not just put a nav HU in your car? It looks cooler too.

[cody]

Originally Posted by cody

I'll keep an eye out for ya.

It's a little bit expensive at $859 but you can get 10% cashback if you use Discover and log on to Discover.com to get to Dell's site.

Dell Studio XPS 8000 Desktop: Core i5 750 2.66 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, 750GB HD, DVDRW, DVD-ROM, ATI HD4350, Win 7 Premium 64-bit, McAfee

[cody]

Originally Posted by JC

Why not just put a nav HU in your car? It looks cooler too.

Because that requires a larger initial investment and can't be easily moved to my GF's new Mazda 3.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by cody

It's a little bit expensive at $859 but you can get 10% cashback if you use Discover and log on to Discover.com to get to Dell's site.

Dell Studio XPS 8000 Desktop: Core i5 750 2.66 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, 750GB HD, DVDRW, DVD-ROM, ATI HD4350, Win 7 Premium 64-bit, McAfee

Not a bad price, but still more than I need. I just want a decent net browsing/homework doing machine that I can slap some hard drives in for storage and use as a basic file server.

[cody]

Gotcha. If you want to look for something on Lenovo's site, here's a discount code:

Save with coupon code: USP15SVEBIG [Valid from 11/24/2009 to 11/30/2009]
EXTRA 15% off All IdeaPad and G Series Laptops
EXTRA 15% off All IdeaCentre desktops and home storage, All C Series desktops

http://www.deals2buy.com/

[cody]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

Not a bad price, but still more than I need. I just want a decent net browsing/homework doing machine that I can slap some hard drives in for storage and use as a basic file server.

HP Pavilion Slimline s5250t, Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual-Core processor E5300 [2.6GHz], 4GB RAM, 640GB, LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive, Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 [VGA], 6-in-1 memory card reader, Integrated 7.1 channel sound, HP keyboard and HP optical mouse, Windows 7 Home Premium » for $449.99 at HPShopping.com

Dell Vostro 220 Slim Tower, Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500, 2.93GHz, 4GB RAM, 250GB, 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive, Dell 20 inch Widescreen E2010H Analog Flat Panel Display, Integrated Video, Intel® GMA X4500HD, Dell USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse, Windows Vista® Home Basic, 1yr Next Bus.day Onsite Warranty, Norton Internet Security™ 2009 15 Month » for $469 at Dell.com

The Dell comes with a monitor but neither are the best deal in the world IMHO.

This looks interesting:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1689107

This is a sweet build in a sweet thread.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?p=24980641

Just sucks if you have to buy Windows 7 and can't get in on the $30 student deal.

www.hardforum.com is also a good place to have a bunch of geeks offer build suggestions if you want to build your own.