sracer

That is a pretty odd view. By that definition, standing in line to buy an item for yourself is being greedy. (after all the Christmas season is supposed to be about giving, right? ) And what if one hides an object that they want to buy because they're going to give it as a gift? Does that suddenly NOT make it greedy? This whole relative goodness or badness of obtaining merchandise at this time of year is just misplaced. It boils down to it conforming to laws and store policies period.

What rule is being broken? I'll camp out like crazy for something but won't hide stuff, but I'm curious as to where this notion of hiding items is wrong or breaking a rule.

Again, an arbitrary distinction. Why is it "wrong" to hide an item? It's still in the store and there's no guarantee that it won't be put back in its place. And when you consider one reason why one would need to hide the item in the first-place (limited quantity items with no civilized process for distributing) it is probably a GOOD thing to do.

In addition to what TazErase said, it matters because it doesn't improve the system for anybody. It doesn't give more a people in line a chance to buy a door-buster item and it doesn't make it easier on the employees. It just sounds like more work and frustration all the way around.

It doesn't seem like they thought this change through. How will they manage the line when "you go to the person handling all the laptops"? They certainly don't expect you to leave the line, or do they? So rather than shouting out "who is looking for the 'x' laptop for $y?" We're going to have to know what is available and tell them? And we're supposed to be mind readers as to which items require a ticket? That is going to slow the process way down as each person in line tells the laptop guy which laptop they're interested in and asking if a ticket is required (instead of only those who are interested in ticketed laptops). The usual campers at our local Best Buy are a great bunch with the current system, I think that the added stress of the economy and new system are going to test people's patience and civility. Looks like I'll be picking up a slightly more expensive laptop tomorrow (for my wife's birthday gift) and camp out at BB for the "secret" DB laptop.

Actually the reason why the Zune 30 was a BF sale item was because they DIDN'T sell well. Microsoft had warehouses filled to the brim with them. Funny though, AFTER BF the Zune 30 became the hottest sought after electronic device after the Wii. I had quite a task of helping friends and family find 30s. Ummm, no. Depending upon what is important to you, the Zune might be far superior. Especially with the new Zune Pass subscription service. $15 a month gets you access to over 4 million tracks which you can download as much as you like. Up to 3 Zunes on 3 different computers can share a single account. Add to that, you get 10 free tracks each month to download and keep in DRM-free MP3 format. At $0.99 a track, that is like paying only $5 a month. So not only do you get to explore different music, but you get to select tracks to keep each month thereby growing your own personal collection.

I suspect that those Dell notebooks will be fine for what you want to do. Virtually all notebooks today are well equipped and capable of doing basic stuff like image manipulation and web surfing. The limiting factor is usually the amount of RAM installed. Max out the RAM 2GB for a 32-bit machine (4GB for a 64-bit, not really maxed out but very sufficient) and you'll be fine as long as the other specs (drive space, card reader, etc.) all suit your needs. Generally speaking, the only time you have to worry about process type, speed, etc. is if you will be doing high-end gaming.

It isn't difficult, but it is stupid. You ask which one and the person in line describes the one they one. Unless they are going to whisper it in your ear and you swear them to secrecy, others in line will know it too... so when you ask again "who wants a tv" they'll have an answer too (even if they didn't have one before). Restricting door-busters to 1 total per person seems like it would be more effective and give more people an opportunity to feel like they got a deal.

That is precisely why BF deals AREN'T as good this year as years past. These stores need to earn profit... not just get warm bodies in the store. Do you think they offer door-buster deals as a charitable act? They do it knowing that the typical person who buys a door-buster will buy other items there as well. If a person has less disposable income, it is quite likely that they will only have enough money to spend on the door-buster or similarly low-to-no profit item. That doesn't help the store one bit. Tell that to the 10,000's of people standing in lines nationwide for the new Blackberry ($200 AFTER all rebates applied). Retail IS hurting as bad as they claim. Do you have actual numbers to support that claim of retailers having such high markups and aren't hurting as bad as they claim?

Yes, I believe that BLACK FRIDAY is becoming meaningless. The dynamics of consumerism have changed dramatically over the last 10 years. I can buy electronics at Black Friday discounts virtually any day of the year (online). Most everything else can be bought within a reasonable price difference. One clear indication is the overuse and misuse of the term "Black Friday" to describe any sale that takes place in November. There will always be a hardcore group of people who will venture out on Black Friday, more out of tradition and habit than anything else.

No. They're not the same, nor are they compatible.

It was still on their site about 1/2 hour ago. The question that I have about that model has to do with the keyboard. I have a Toshiba Satellite a305.... great notebook all the way around except... the keyboard. It has flat-faced glossy keys. And the keys are pretty loud, making a distinct clicking sound as the key travels. Luckily I rarely use the built-in keyboard, but use an external usb keyboard, so it is not so bad for me... but I want to get the L305 for my wife who WILL be using the built-in keyboard. Does the L305 have the same keyboard?

I have 3 Vizio LCD TVs of sizes that vary from 22" to 42" and have purchased them at various times over the last year. Excellent quality and reliability. (examine the floor models for yourself for picture quality) The last one I purchased was a few weeks ago, Vizio 22" for $299 regular price at Costco.

I disagree. Those people ARE being treated fairly given the rules established by Best Buy. It is all pretty much a grey area. The differences are artificial. Giving tickets away to people in the back of the line is ultimately no different than selling tickets and no different than buying items to sell them for a profit. What these all do is accelerate the length of time needed to camp out to get a door-buster. If "normally" a person would need to line up 30 minutes earlier each year to get the same spot in line, these type of actions create more incentive to line up even earlier than that each year. I supposed that if the situation gets bad enough then Best Buy will make a change to limit the number of door-buster tickets total per person.

Nope. T-60p. If you are happy with Lenovo-produced ThinkPads that's fine. I don't want to convince anyone to change their opinion of them.

Please don't equate IBM with Lenovo. When IBM produced ThinkPads (including the underlying engineering) ThinkPads were tops. You paid a premium, but you received a solid quality device. Unfortunately things have gone downhill once Lenovo took over.... not just the manufacturing but the design and engineering.

Just refer to the google and search for: Sony vaio recall I have yet to personally see any Sony Vaio notebook in person that functions as intended.

I agree with you with regard to the quality of Toshiba notebooks. But I disagree with Sony. Sony has a long history of poor quality notebooks. It is compounded by the fact that Sony charges a premium for them. I've found that inexpensive Compaqs are surprisingly reliable... more so than the more expensive Compaqs or any HP. I have the same attitude as yours about BF. It's a lot of fun and a once-a-year thing that is so outside my normal routine.

< obi_wan_kenobi> This isn't the laptop you are looking for. Move along, move along.< /obi_wan_kenobi >

There's reason to be hopeful though. They say MINIMUM of 15. That is just to cover their butts. It is possible that they will have more. My local BB typically has 20-25 if the ad says min. 15. Plus, I'm sure that there will be many who will think that it is 15 each and will believe that they can show up later and get one.

Is this the one you are looking for? http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/black-friday-14382-WesternDigital750GBUSB20ExternalHardDrive.html

Examining the ad carefully, it appears that there are a minimum of 15 of those laptops period. There are a minimum of 15 laptop packages (the upgrade).

If there will be one it will probably be in the print ad released the Sunday before, or a last minute ad (print or email). What I don't understand is how does releasing a last-minute door-buster help draw people to their store? By the time the news hits, there are already 30-40 people camped out in line at the stores.

I'm expecting to see a doorbuster netbook for under $200 (possibly as low as $100). Simply so that they can advertise a "$100 laptop". I have an EeePC 701 4G running WinXP. It is a great little system. I'll be all over another netbook at those possible prices.

Does anyone actually prefer to go to walmart on black friday? The whole dash-n-grab scene is uncivilized, undignified, and disrespectful.