gbeenie

The specs on the page don't say, which is almost never a good sign. With the dinky amount of built-in memory it has, that's a major issue. And even for a 7" tablet, that resolution is pretty bleh. And the lack of ANY brand or model info in the specs means you can't even do more research about it.

Extra-swanky deals are always worth enduring the crush of people.

Although I'm in the market for an Android tablet, I can tell you, based on my experience owning an iPhone, why at least SOME people opt or the iPad. If your primary concern is the thing just working, then iOS products are generally a good idea; my iPhone, in the eleven months I've owned it, has not given given me a tenth of the trouble I had with my previous Android phone. Now, for me personally, such security is not as important for a tablet; and key features the iPad lacks are an issue: no expandable memory, and no video out without a lot of finagling. That said, if someone GAVE me an iPad, I sure as hell wouldn't kick it out of bed; it'll read comics and play games every bit as well as an Android. What I wouldn't do is pay extra to have one. Of course, YMMV. As for e-Readers, just remember: They're cheaper because they do less. Which reminds me of a line from last weeks' Weekend Update on SNL: "Meanwhile Barnes & Noble unveiled a new Nook that automatically throws itself in the garbage.” p.s. As far as the Kindle Fire you purchased goes, don't be so quick to write it off; if you look around at Amazon, there are actually quite a few apps for it these days.

Yeah, we're looking at tablets for me (and possibly my partner, although she really needs to replace her desktop first) on BF this year. I talked to our roommate Sean (The Cellphone Whisperer) about it, and he seems pretty inclined toward Samsung Galaxy, ASUS, or maybe Lenovo. Thing is, if you're looking for a 7-inch, there are tons of good deals pretty much all the time; however, when you want a 10-inch tablet (as I do), the sale prices tend to be a tad sparser. Of the limited BF ads out there now, it looks like GameStop is gonna have a decent deal on a Galaxy (about $60 cheaper than Amazon's current price).

Dang. I REALLY am not looking forward to the trip to Best Buy tonight.

It's not showing up for me.

So what's a reasonable time on the waitlist? I got put on it for Brave like three hours ago. If you miss your window to put it in your cart, will Amazon tell you?

dammit.

It says they'll notify me. Do they mean email, or... ?

Wow. It took LITERALLY less than a minute for Brave to sell out.

It just about figures: The 40" Toshiba TV (that I'm gonna have to lug back to Georgia with me) is showing as in-store only at bestbuy.com, while the Harmony remote (that I need to get while I'm here so I can set it up for my in-laws) is available at the sale price online, but is not available for store pickup. Grrr...

On Facebook, Fry's posted one of theirs from the early 80s. Holy frijole.

And if that DVD drive goes kerflooey, you have to make sure that the replacement can be mounted sideways (I know from personal experience that will cost more).

Thanksgiving night, about 9:00 PM - Get up from nap (I work until 6PM that day) Get dressed, and go to nearby Old Navy, to see if I can score that Dance Central deal when they open at midnight (I'm gonna buy the game regardless for our Black Friday night dinner party; but if I can save while doing it, why not?) Then, I'm gonna head to the SuperTarget near my home, and hang until they open at 4, so I can go for that Western Digital 2TB external hard drive for $69. I'll also look over the Blu-Ray and TV DVD selection, to see if any other purchases are warranted. Then, I'll stroll on over to Walmart, and see what $5 Blu-Rays are left. Then, home, a lil nap, and get ready for partyness. Oooh! Someone remind me to pick up that six-pack of 5-hour energy shots at the Walmart near my work tonight! :)

If I were gonna get a plasma set this year (I'm not; [insert sad face here]), I'd stick with Samsung or Panasonic, and MAYBE a Vizio if the price is right. Speaking of right prices, a good rule of thumb for 720p sets (and, honestly, unless you sit REALLY close to the TV, you don't need a 1080p set for anything under 32 inches) is: Normal, everyday pricing should be about $10/inch diagonal measurement. That's for name-brand sets. For 1080p, it gets a little more fluid. Personally, for plasma, I wouldn't go for more than about $15-18/inch. Keep in mind that, for Black Friday, you should look for prices lower than the above.

The Sansui is almost certainly someone else's set, rebranded. If you do a search for the model number, you should be able to find out what model it actually is, and research it from there.

Here's the desktop I bought about a month ago: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FK63D0/ref=oss_product Except for the fact that I had to open it to connect one of the sets of USB jacks, this computer has been practically perfect in every way. I've always bought my motherboards from Asus, so that part was a no-brainer. All I have to do is add a nice graphics card (and maybe up the power supply to go along with it), and this would actually be a very decent gaming rig.

Alas, it's back to $151 now. But considering it has analog 7.1 audio outputs (remember when I asked the OP about their audio setup?), and is only like thirteen bucks more than comparable players on "doorbuster" special, if you're looking to avoid the BF hassle, it may still be worth it.

I haven't looked at the specs for those particular two computers, but if they're both i5 machines, I'd always pick the HP as a general rule.

Honestly? For a system drive, 5400 is probably gonna be fine for most purposes, particularly if your processor is a Celeron 900mHz. I wouldn't get a drive that speed for media storage, and I wouldn't want it as the main drive in my i5 desktop, but 5400rpm drives do have their place.

This is a good deal. My partner bought almost this identical computer a couple months back for $349. It works fine (I wouldn't try gaming on it), and for $270, that would be hard to beat.

Maybe I'm scarred by my stepfather taking a live tree and nailing a tree stand into the bottom of a live tree every year (by the end of the holiday season, the damn thing was always a tinderbox; how our house didn't burn down is beyond me), but I really prefer a decent-quality artificial tree. There's no needles to clean up, and our cats are far less inclined to try and eat it. But "pre-lit" trees are lame. :)

The Acer part worries me, but damn is that a good price for a laptop with an i5 processor!

What kind of audio set-up do you have (or plan to have)?

Surviving The Holidays with Lewis Black is pretty great. The "Comfort And Joy" episode of Justice League has become one of my favorites in the last few years. Sample dialog: