Back to school time is a great time for low-end to mid-range desktop and laptop bargains. Although the ads try to entice students, I'm sure the stores and direct sales groups will take your money even if you don't have a current student ID.
If you live near a Fry's you may have seen an ad for their house brand "Great Quality" Laptop with a Via C3 1.2GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard disk, CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, 10/100 Ethernet port, and Microsoft XP Home for $349 (limit one per customer). No rebate mentioned, although they did tie a free Canon All-In-One (MP150) after rebate to any computer purchase.
Is the Fry's laptop a killer laptop? Nope, but it's $350 including a DVD player. That's a killer deal.
I also received a Circuit City e-mail about laptops as low as $399 (after rebates, unfortunately). Couldn't actually find the laptop in question at that price, but they had several in the $600 range.
Dell Computer bought the back page ad on Parade Magazine the last two weeks for their back to school specials. Last week was a laptop for $499 (after savings, not rebate, which is good) and a desktop with LCD monitor for $449. The desktop included a Pentium 4 processor at 3GHz, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, and a 17 inch LCD monitor. That particular deal seems to be replaced by the current ad, wihc is a less powerful desktop for $299, and a laptop for $799. Agan, no rebates are mentioned in the ads, so perhaps Dell now understands people hate rebates. Their Web site has other back to school deals for your perusal.
HP still uses rebates to get their prices down close to Dell's (shame on HP), but they also aggressively discount systems during this season. They cleverly advertise their Pavilion Slimline systems for dorm rooms. When we moved our son up to college three years ago, the students with laptops had much more desk space left than those with desktops and CRT monitors. Too bad about the rebates. Maybe HP will learn Dell's rebate lesson soon and stop that nonsense.
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