len_mullen

This is a machine I have been looking at as well. The main reason I haven't purchased one is that there is no room for a second or third drive. I'd like to be able to put a pair of 2t disks in the case. I'm also open to a board/cpu/ram package as I have a case and power supply, but these tend not to be big BF deals.

Well, I'm in the market for a new desktop. I just want a quad core with a pci-e slot. I'm hoping staples offers something attractive as I have $200 in rewards and $160 in gift cards to spend.

Funny thing is that I still woke up before the stores opened. After coffee, I decided to drive by the malls to see what was going on. I stuck my nose into a pretty deserted Staples and grabbed some usb drives and free batteries. On the way to Walmart, I cut through Home Depot because it was raining. On the way through, I bought a generator and a switch. Crazy, no?

I disagree. Most DVD players upconvert very nicely. I suspect the ones that come as part of an HDTV package do. Keep in mond, too, that many people already own a lot of DVDs.

Best Buy's deal of the day is a 42" plasma for $290. The panel is supposed to be Samsung. It looks and sounds great and has as many inputs as I have seen on a TV. Shipping is free for those with smaller cars. Four year protection plan is $100. Return/price adjust is 30 days, so you should know what BF deals will look like in time to return this if something better comes up.

I slept in once...

these have had poor reviews with regard to reliability. i bought one from best buy with an extended warranty for that reason. have been very happy with it. no problems despite daily use.

Last year, Walmart sold Kindle at retail price but included a $50 gift card. Not likely to be repeated since Walmart is no longer selling Kindles. If you have a Discover card, and have been accumulating cashback, you can get a $25 staples gift card for $20 in cash back -- so 20% off sale for you! If you have a Dicsover card, but have not accumulated much cashback, you can use ShopDiscover.com to get 5% cash back from Best Buy or Staples. Generally, this amount doubles for November and December, so you can get 10% cash back. That is probably the best you are going to do before Christmas. Of course, all bets are off is Apple and Google start competing on price. ROTFLMAO!

You're correct, Fireball. I had a chance to play with a Fire HD and it's quite a bit different. Here are my impressions... 1. The screen is much nicer. I didn't think it could be, but it is. 2. The speakers are amazing. No other tab compares at this time. 3. The cpu is fast. If you go from a iPad to a Fire, the Fire is sluggish. The Fire HD is iPadish. 4. There is a lot of memory. That's a fact, not an impression. 5. The Fire HD is shaped differently. It doesn't fit as well in my back pocket, but feels better in my hands. It's a lot of tab for $200. PS I didn't mention the camera because I didn't use it, but that is a difference for people who want to video chat. The original Fire had 8g of RAM which allowed me to carry two to three movies for a flight. My kid has had to manage apps since he plays a lot of HD games. Not really a problem for either of us, but the Fire HD comes with 16g or 32g which would hold a lot of movies and probably never have an issue with games. Battery life of eleven hours is very good, though I never had problems with the Fire.

#1: Is this the express line? #2 (guy with the ski pole in the front): I cut everyone! #3 (kid): Are we there yet?

Sounds like you have already decided and are just looking for validation. It's your decision. I wouldn't let my oldest go with me until he was sixteen. By then, he was big enough to hold his own in a crowd and smart enough to find me if we got separated. We both had cell phones. I think a crowded black friday store is a great place to snatch a kid. You probably would not notice your daughter was missing for some time then would likely spend too much time looking for her before contacting authorities who would probably not take thing seriously. For the abductor, who would look twice at some idiot dealing with a bratty kid who should have been home in bed? Leave your kid home.

Half Price Books 10/10/2012

I think they may be trying to help you decide...

read the posts on the previous page.

We got the kids phones (not smart phones) when they started middle school. We did this because the school was out of town and the kids had to take a late bus that dropped them half a mile from home. I got my oldest a smart phone when he started college. He's really the caretaker of a phone I use a couple weeks a year when we camp. In retrospect, we should have passed on the smart phone.

That's another dimension of the decision. One of the benefits of buying Fires for all members of a Prime family is that the movies, books, and music are available to all tabs. This is even more attractive with the HDMI out feature -- at the end of a day, you can plug your fire into a tv to watch a movie.

The Nabi 2 looks interesting and fun, but, contrary to their advertising, it is not particularly powerful... http://www.nabitablet.com/specs/nabi2 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OZNZG0/ref=sv_kinh_0#kindle-compare And it's kind of big (especially in thickness) and heavy for a child. I like the bumper, but those are available for the Fire HD starting at $5. Worst spec on the device would be its battery life -- up to five hours is less than half of the FHD and others. I would speculate this would be less if your kid was watching movies (on a long car ride). The best part about the longer battery life is that you are not always charging -- or waiting for a charge. I do like that there is an sd slot. You can buy a bunch of cards and fill them with videos for those long car rides. My Fire holds 2-3 movies. FHD should be hold ten or more. (just speculating). I don't think a kid would be disappointed.

I think some of the children's computers and tablets are interesting, but, in my experience, these tend to have a short useful life. The Fires have a special mode for children and Amazon has lots of content for kids. In the end, this will prove to be less expensive since most of Amazon's offerings are inexpensive or free. I have collected a lot of 'free app of the day' games and interactive books. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=kids My nephew was not quite two when he started poking and prodding a Fire.

It's easy to understand that decision. Most people would probably rather do business with Amazon than Walmart. Absent a discount, why would anyone get in a car and deal with a Walmart when they could click a link at Amazon and have the product delivered to their home? For an impulse buy, most people would probable go to Best Buy or Staples where sales associates and presentation are a notch higher (technically anyway). No knock on Walmart -- I shop there regularly -- but there are things I just don't associate with Walmart. I have four Fires. I bought three at Staples and one at Walmart. The one I bought at Walmart was advertised with a $50 gift card. When I got to the store (the Sunday the sale started), the store did not have a current flyer, there were no Fires on display, and the sales associate did not know if 1) they had fires, and 2) there was a sale. I waited patiently for the associate to work things out, but only because I was going to get a $50 gift card for my troubles.

Lucky you! Target is not so lucky.

If you and one of your co-workers show up at the same customer's door, how does that work out for you? Unless you are somehow differentiating on something other than price, I'm guessing your harder working co-worker gets the sale.

My mattress and foundation arrived yesterday. I am very happy with the quality of each component and the price paid. It ended up being less expensive and nicer than expensive. If things change, I'll post a followup, but so far, so good. I decided to get a second set, but was shocked to see that the prices had increased dramatically... bed: $324 ==> $364 (shipped) foundation: $120 ==> $300 (shipped) mattress: $280 ==> $695 (shipped) total: $624 ==> $1359! Hopefully, the sales are cyclical.

Best Buy is giving $75 trade in for the Fires, so check cowboom.com and ebay for resale. Fire HD has a better screen, better speakers, more memory, a faster cpu, a camera, and a microphone.

2012 is going to be a great year to buy a tablet -- it's ALREADY been a great year. Nexus was a welcome open entry. Now, with Amazon taking on Apple with a bigger 4g tab, Apple allegedly challenging the Fire with a mini, and Microsoft entering the fray with Windows tabs, 2012 promises to be a competitive market place with great products at great prices. Of course there will be 'other' tablets and leftovers, but I think the value will be found in these products. Choosing the right tablet will be difficult, but making a mistake will be nearly impossible. Yea for us! We bought four Fires last year and, after a year, are totally delighted. I have learned a little about tablets and how four people use them, so I thought I'd post some tips... 1) If you are buying a tablet for a student, be sure to check in with your school system to see if they are using or are planning to use tablets or e-texts. Ask about how they are using the tablets and what support there will be for student owned tablets. If your kid is going to be carrying a tablet five days a week and using it for classwork and homework, that's probably the one to use for play as well. If the school is handing out iPads, get your kid a TV. There are some terrific academic apps -- flash cards, graphing calculators, foreign language tutors, and even a metronome. Our whole family uses Cozi to keep track of our schedule. I have my youngest put his homework assignments and projects in the To Do list. 2) If you are thinking of using a tablet for work or school, consider the new Windows 8 tablets. They come with Office and promise better integration with your personal computer. 3) Size DOES matter. My 7" Fire slips into my back pocket. So, if I want to use the bathroom or grab a bite to eat at the airport, I can slide the Fire into my pocket and use both hands. People say that magazines and comics work best on the larger screens. I don't look at magazines and comics much. 4) Apps matter. Just like with a PC, start with a list of things you want to do with the tablet, assemble a list of apps that will perform those tasks, then look for a tablet that will run those apps. Even though popular apps tend to find their way to popular tablets, there are exclusives (mostly to iPad) and some apps require specific hardware (camera, gps). A shopping app that uses a camera may not be very useful, if you do not have 3g or 4g service. If your 'killer app' requires flash, then you are going to want to wait for a Windows tab as neither Apple nor the little green monster will support flash going forward. 5) Ecosystem matters. If you already own iTunes or Amazon content, you do not want to have to buy that content again. If you are already a Prime member, Amazon devices can borrow books from the lending library or watch prime videos for no additional charge. Amazon also offers free books and apps everyday. You're going to be surprised at all the uses you find for your slate. We have Netflix and I enjoy watching a movie when I am working outside or in the basement. I think it would be very cool to plug a Fire HD into a hotel TV to watch Netflix. If you do not want to subscribe to a service, there's a Crackle app which has commercial supported TV and movies. My wife and I each have favorite radio apps. Living in New Hampshire, we have poor radio reception. Internet radio fills that void. I listen to sports and talk radio and she listens to music. My kids listen to Spotify and Pandora. My Fire does not have 3g, but I use Amazon's 'send to kindle' app to store shopping lists and product research. My wife has moved all of her recipes from notecards to a database app. When I travel, I send all my documents to the Fire as well as my itinerary and restaurant information. I put two or three movies on the Fire when I fly. And lots of books. Some I buy, some I download from free sources, and a lot that Amazon offers for free. I probably have a hundred free cookbooks and as many self help and finance books. I used to get stressed when I was stuck somewhere waiting for something. Now, I just read a book. I'm probably not going to buy a tablet this year. I'm hoping Amazon releases a 7" 4g model soon.

You may want to keep an eye on Best Buy's deal of the day. I got a 42" rca plasma for $300. It seems to go on sale once a month.