The trials and tribulations of a bargain

hunting budget notebook shopper!

Not looking for much great screen, decent battery life, up to date technology for under a an imaginary but realistic boundary of $600. Dell would seem to be the first place to look with a 6 mo. internet thrown in (dial up of course) but ugh warranty has dropped down from 90 days to nothing. Plus they are giving away their cheapo battery from Commodore 64 times that has to be replaced and a ten year old printer, no thanks.

Now things are getting interesting two sites have the new Acer 2303 widescreen for under $570 problem is they have been advertising it for over a month, call the 888 number and the voice says waiting for the dock strike in Tanganyka to be over, any day now.

Almost pulled the trigger today, but, Best Buy NYC had this gorgeous Gateway wxga 15'4 for $579 one of the clearest and brightest screens I have ever seen with no(instant $150) rebate, but alas only in stock in the Cleveland store. No rain checks but you can fly in and pick it up 6 units left. Salesperson said people were bothering him about it since the sale started on monday with nothing in this store's stock except for the show model.

On the net, what is it with this Asus, $534 for a Sonoma pentium 15'4 with all the goodies DVD+-, super power saver, TV Tuner, problem is it is a barebobones without the CPU or OS (in small misleading print) lying in about three boxes ready for shipment. Shock of shocks giving these crooks your CC number. Duh, a bag of screws.

Things are looking up at the lower end though prices keep dropping on the newer improved models with added goodies and larger HDs just a matter of waiting it out for the next shipments, I hope.

 

i don't get it. How could anyone be so optimistic about getting dial-up anymore. Broadband prices have dropped so low, some are even cheaper than dial-up. I've used broadband for so long if i have to go back to dial-up i'd break my computer because of hte frustration. Not sure about your area, but alot of place can obtain Verizon DSL. They just came out with a cheapo version. It's set as 712kb/s download or seomthing in that area. Granted it's no where near full cost Cable or full price DSL, but i'm pretty sure that beats the pant off dial up. Plus no loss of phoneline. The cost? it's 14.95. Sorry didn't mean to go off your topic on laptop. But seeing so many of my friend and relative get con into 21.95 deals for dial-up just drive me nuts. Uh yeah to make sure i'm still following the topic. I'd go for the asus. processor shouldn't be that expensive.