barc

Not great, but better than the competition. They are the top of my list right now.

And MS doesn't make that as easy as it should be.

Better get Linens and Things while you can. Other places are already pulling it down.

With those specs, that laptop will choke on Vista (even home basic). That is an incredible price, but you're only saving less than $200 from what you can get on a good sale. That isn't worth 24 hours in line to get (at least not to me). But then again, I'm not looking for a laptop - I've got 4 of them already.

Sorry, I don't see the irony. But I do agree that, as in almost everything in life, it comes down to whose ox is being gored.

And this then becomes a self-feeding cycle. No great deals mean that people stay home on BF. Based on what I've seen so far, there is nothing that will get me out before 6:00 am. If BB and CC don't come through, I'll be enjoying a nice turkey dinner, watching the Cowboys spank some other team, and getting a good night's sleep this Thanksgiving instead of lining up in the cold. If I can't get a 22 - 24" monitor for a great price, or a 42" HDTV for $500, it isn't worth the hassle. BUt that's just me

I don't have a problem if someone resales their tickets any more than if someone gets paid to sit in line for someone else. I don't know how you could be arrested for scalping as there is no face value of the tickets unless you consider the price savings as the value, in which case that could be hundreds of dollars. No one is going to pay more than that for the ticket. This would seem to be a very easy rap to beat. If someone shows up at 7 am Thursday, they are paying their dues. What they do with their booty is up to them. Fair? No. Ethical? I don't see this is an ethical question. Legal? Yes. Right? I say yes. If you don't get that laptop because the guy in front of you took that last ticket and sold it, then either buy his ticket or get there earlier next year.

1. Like the idea of braclets. Different colors in groups of 20 - 25. Allow different colors in every 5 to 7 minutes. 2. Allow tents. Why make people uncomfortable? 3. Don't like the idea of a lottery to get first places in line. You show up first, you get first place in line. Show up last, get last place in line. Fair and square. 4. No need to do ID checks if braclets are used. If you don't have the green braclet when it's their turn to go in, you don't get in. Shuts down those who save a place for others. 5. Let people show up whenever they want. If someone wants to miss the Cowboys game to sit in the cold, why stop 'em? Bottom line, there are a lot of things that aren't that hard that would make the BF experience more enjoyable for those who make it an experience. But, for some reason, the store managers in a lot of stores won't make the effort.

Fairfax, Va. There are 5 BB within 15 miles of us. Perhaps we'll try a different one this year. Last year was the second year that they had police officers policing the lines. There were too many line jumpers who showed up 15 minutes before they opened the doors and fights were breaking out. GD should come up with a letter to give to store managers on how to manage the lines on BF. Give out coupons at 3:00 am instead of 5:00, have tags or wristbands of different colors and form lines with different colors and let them in the store in 5 minutes increments and send those with out the bands to the back of the line, send those who allow anyone to cut to the back of the line, etc. There are ways to combat this, but I suppose the profit is too great to turn off customers.

Has anyone had any luck working with their BB prior to BF to ensure that the typical BF chaos is, if not eliminated, at least minimized? The last few years, we had line jumper problems, but last year, the men in blue were out in force and that solved that problem. The problem ast year was the "friends" that showed up around 4:00 am, often in packs of 4 or more, who just walked up and started standing with their buddies/family members. This is not much better than the blatant line jumping that occured previously. Has anyone been successful in working with their BB managers or customer service folks to nip that off. The BB associates came out and handed out coupons last year about 4:30. We started off at about #20 in line when we first lined up Thursday afternoon. But by the time they handed out the coupons, we were at least 50 back and everyone was taking the computer coupons and they ran out a few people ahead of us. Also, the coupon "hander-outers" seemed to arbitarily skip folks and you'd have to chase after them to get one. Any suggestions, especially ones that you've used that work? Thanks