len_mullen

@Brad, it would be cool to have a sticky about employee discounts.

I'd be curious to learn more about the employee benefits/discounts. When I was a youngster, I worked at Zayre Department Store. Everyone got 10% off the sale price if they had to take a rain check. Layaway was free. Employees always got 10% off everyday and 20% off one or two weeks before Christmas. I accumulated a lot of stuff via rainchecks during the year that sat on layaway until 20% off. I looked like santa leaving the store. I remember two Atari 1050 disk drives which were normally $229.99 going on sale for $179.99 which were $162 after raincheck and $130 after 20% off. Everyone got a HUGE 25" tv for Christmas!

You missed one... November 7 - Staples

Love HF for consumables and buying a tool you need for one or a few jobs. If you need a trailer or alkaline batteries, no better deals -- any time of year. And those free flashlights? Awesome. First time I was in the store was to pick up one of these... Had been watching them for local pickup because they never seemed to have them on hand. I finally found one and went to pick it up around noon on a Wednesday, I think. The place was packed. When I got to the register, the cashier gave me a flyer so I could get a free flashlight. But their parking lot sales are perpetual and the prices are very consistent.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/magnolia/magnolia-sale-event/pcmcat342500050004.c

I happened to be looking at this weeks HF ad when I opened the BF ad. What a joke! That 4000 watt generator is $10 less this week. The solar panel kit is $10 less. No free light. No 20% off coupon. I guess everyday is BF at HF.

Can you recommend something for home users? Free maybe?

Missed the Door Buster by THIS much... I am NOT a door buster! No Soup for you!

I think you need to start by determining what you want. Start by compiling a list of programs you like to watch. Do you want a DVR? For time-shifting or archiving?

Be still my heart...

^^^=== Hobbyist! xoxo! ===^^^

I like Pluto, but mostly watch broadcast television. In fact, I probably have my television tuned to Heroes & Icons or LAFF about 2/3 of the time it is powered on. I own five TiVo Roamios and they are my primary way to watch television. Very limited streaming. I added a Recast so I could watch television on my seven Echo Shows and have put a FTV 4K stick on each set just because. XUMO and Stirr are both available on the Fire TV sticks. I'll check them out. There are a lot of free tv/movie apps out there. The Amazon ecosystem appeals to me becuse the Recast EPG integrates OTA, streaming services, and premium streaming services plus Prime Channels for short money. No one ever uses Apple and Short Money in the same sentence.

Not an Apple fan, though I own a couple ATVs (hate the remote, prefer a grid guide). Having read the program descriptions and watched the trailers, I don't thing I would sample ATV+ for free... https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-tv-launches-november-1-featuring-originals-from-the-worlds-greatest-storytellers/ Right now, I am enjoying OTA and Pluto via the Recast. Complete free, the 4k FTV sticks are $25, and everything is delivered in a grid style guide. No Apple plans this holiday season. We are in the second year with our iPhones and my iBoy just bought himself a new Apple laptop.

I got the bags today. I like the 'stiffener' on the bottom. I wonder how many people at Aldis will ask about or comment on GottaDeal.com...

There is also this ritual where you buy a cart off someone in the parking lot. Always makes people smile when you offer them a quarter for their cart.

I don't know what it says about me, but I just read the fist post in this thread for the first time. I am VERY excited about the prize. One of my favorite stores is Aldis which does not provide bags. You also have to leave a $0.25 deposit when yoo take a carriage. You never see a cart blowing around the parking lot.

But where did you put the TV and Xbox?

GE doesn't make appliances anymore. A couple years ago, GE sold the business to Haier. Haier bought the entire business including manufacturing, R&D, and the employees. GE invested $1m in the Louisville facility as part of the deal. As part of the deal, GE employees get a discount on these appliances. Over the last three years, I have replaced my washer and dryer, stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher. I am very happy with all of the appliances -- so is Consumer Reports and a number of other reviewers. I recommend anyone pondering an appliance purchase start their research at consumersearch.com. I would hold off on a dishwasher purchase as the president is going to rollback regulations that have made dishwashers less effective, more expensive, and less reliable: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/climate/trump-dishwasher-regulatory-rollback.html The biggest determinant of failure on a refrigerator is design. The ones that include ice makers and water dispensers are least reliable. The most reliable refrigerators are the freezer over refrigerator style. They are also cheapest. I have a 30 year old GE top freezer refrigerator in my basement which still runs great. Unfortunately, it is rusting through. It has survived the frig that replaced it. As for washing machines, the problem is with the energystar objectives. Hopefully, these regulations are being scrutinized. No appliance wastes enough energy to offset the cost of manufacturing a replacement and the value of the landfill space consumed by the efficient appliance. When I was shopping for a washer, I bought one of these... https://premierappliancestore.com/ge-gtw680bsj5ws-46-cu-ft-high-efficiency-white-top-load-washing-machine-energy-star.html It's a top loader which means it cost less and will last longer. Best feature? Deep fill! Deep fill adds water to the tub when you actually need clean clothes. I bought a smooth top electric range with convection oven. Love it! Easy to clean and consistent to cook on. Extra counter space when I am not cooking. I replaced my microwave as well. No magic in microwaves -- just common sense: Big Enough, Easy to Clean, Turntable. I mounted mine over the range which gave me some additional counter space and put the over at eyeball height which really helps with cleaning. JC Penny is a great place to shop for appliances. Watch for sales and cash back from them and others. Happy shopping!

At work, I have had SSDs fail in my last two laptops. Otherwise, I really like the Latitudes. Right now I have a 5480. https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-5480 It's a $1k laptop and Square Trade tells us price is a better indicator than brand, right?

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3267699/should-you-buy-a-core-i9-laptop.html http://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html The cheapest i9 for a laptop costs about $600 (just the CPU). Also, you can pay 2x for the performance of an i5 in an i7, so use the CPU benchmarks to get good value.

Touch my screen, I break your finger. That's what I used to tell my kids. I spend a lot of time cleaning my phone. I totally get that. Paying with the right credit card can DOUBLE your warranty. The $600 Dell I linked in the first post would be great to take to school. The Lenovo in the second post is pretty awesome for $350.

Reliability requires data. Price, features, etc. can be harvested from online reviews. Unless, of course, you are in the warranty service business. That's why I like the Square Trade report. Synopsis: SquareTrade analyzed failure rates for over 30,000 new laptop computers covered by SquareTrade Laptop Warranty plans and found that one-third of all laptops will fail within 3 years. Highlights of the study include: Looking at the first 3 years of ownership, 31% of laptop owners reported a failure to SquareTrade. Two-thirds of this failure (20.4%) came from hardware malfunctions, and one-third (10.6%) was reported as accidental damage. Netbooks are projected to have a 20% higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers. ASUS and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16% having a hardware malfunction over 3 years.I once inquired about three year leases of computers where I work. At the time, rollovers were becoming a PITA as there was no perceivable performance improvement, but apps, data, and settings had to be migrated. I was told that the mean time between catastrophic failure was 2.65 years. Rolling over at three years statistically eliminated failures for most. Makes sense at the enterprise level, but the we want our home computers to last longer.

< $1k!

Worth considering for Gamers...

Worth considering for General Use... $469 after BIZLT469 code: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/vostro-15-5581-laptop/cav155w10pc23021 (10/04/2019) ProSupport Plus (Includes Accidental Damage) for the same price as ProSupport $350 after 14408 code: https://www.staples.com/lenovo-ideapad-l340-81lg0004uus-15-6-notebook-intel-core-i5-8265u-8gb-memory/product_24393612 (10/01/2019)