len_mullen

BL, you should be shopping ALL THE TIME. Make a list of stuff you want. Research the items and update your list to include brand/model information. Watch sales for 'best prices' and promotions. When a good price pops, grab it. Continue to watch prices until price match/return period expires. During the summer of 2008, we decided to get the kids a PS3. In August, chase started running a promotion where you got $150 off a qualifying purchase when you opened an account. The wife and I each opened one and we got the console for $250 plus $310 in games for $160. Nothing better than that through Christmas and even during the after sales. I got the console around labor day and it looked like crap on my Sony 36" SDTV, so we started looking for a high def set. I had done a lot of research by the end of September when this ($977.98 - $48.00 Discover CashBack bonus - $20 BestBuy Rewards certificate = $909.98.) popped up. I ordered immediately and scheduled an October delivery 1) so I could cancel if I didn't like the set once I saw it in a store, and 2) to extend my return period until after the BF ads were out. That same year, I got two 26" LCDs on sale at BestBuy and pricematched twice to better deals before Christmas. Last year, we decided to get 32" LCDs for the kids. I decided on the Vizio VO320e (consumer reports et al) and jumped on a pair from Sears at $325. Shortly after, Best Buy offered the DX-32L130A10 for $299.99. Minus 10% Shop Discover discount and 2% in rewards from Best Buy and 1% from Discover card, I decided to get a pair to compare. Side-by-side, my wife (unaware of cost) picked the Dynex, so I returned the Vizios and bought two more Dynex sets. Later, BB ran a sale for $279.99 and cheerfully refunded $80 to my card. My final out of pocket was ~$244 -- which is still tough to beat. It's great to shop BF and clearance, but there is a lot of competition and limited selection. Start shopping and researching now so you are prepared to take advantage of great deals that just pop up. Also, know the return/rebuy, pricematch, and restocking policies of your retailers -- these are part of the deal. Happy shopping!

Home Depot. I didn't plan on going out at all, but I woke up early and decided to swing by Staples for the 1t disks. I figured I'd stick my head in Walmart at the same time and cut through Home Depot since it was raining. They had 5500 watt generators for $499 and transfer switches for $299 and accepted my Lowes mover. For just over $700, I have heat and hot showers plus cold food and a full kitchen with we lost our power. This was my best stop last year.

My favorite scenario goes like this... 1) spend turkey day at the inlaws (so we don't have to go there for xmas) 2) early exit because of BF 3) pack for a weekend while putting finishing touches on my list 4) in line at the best local store by 4:00am 5) return home flush with savings around 11:00am 6) on the road to Jefferson, NH by 1:00pm 7) checked in and sitting poolside by 4:00pm 8) dinner then a couple hours at Santa's Village 9) early breakfast and Saturday morning swim 10) a day of fun at Santas's Village 11) leisurely checkout after swim and breakfast 12) Sunday afternoon of football and looking over my BF loot If that doesn't put you in the mood for Christmas, nothing will!

Last two years I have had most of my Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving. Research-shop-buy-pricematch-return-save. It's the most wonderful time of the year and I have been waiting for the forums to re-open. Thank you! Last year, I decided to sleep in, but woke up and changed my mind. Grabbed some stuff and Staples and cut through Home Depot on the way to Walmart (it was raining) where I discovered an unadvertised deal on a generator and transfer switch. Ended up hitting all the locals and spending more than expected. I have no idea what to get the kids this year, so I will be looking for good ideas from the community. Son, 17, goes to college in 13 months and son, 13, is a boy scout. S17 has been cleaning and repairing a spare bedroom over the summer and I was thinking I could help him 'dorm' it up. S13 would be thrilled with some high end gear now that he is spending more time in the woods. I think tablets/pads will be THE BF2010 toy. Other than that, wii/ps3 accessories/games and clothes. I'm also looking for universal remotes for four rooms. We added insignia netflix enabled BD players to the LCDs we bought last year and remote clutter is becoming an issue. Recommendations are welcome.

Kohls is definately one of my shopping destinations. Their stores are clean and organized. You do not have to carry their card to use it. They have great sales and promotions. They have perfectly synergized their online and B&M operations to provide me with B&M convenience plus online discounts.

this morning found me in Home Depot (Plaistow, NH) and Walmart (also Plaistow). Home Depot was business as usual. Walmart was a disaster. They were stocking, moving, and re-organizing. They still had a lot of Magnavox BD players (at a much higher price), but I couldn't find an Emerson TV.

(Figuratively speaking) We've been hearing about retailers keeping inventories under control. I saw pictures of the 'Christmas Fleet' anchored off of China this summer. The media has been warning of lack of selection and merchandise this year. I didn't believe this...until last night. I returned two TVs to Sears and picked up two at Best Buy. At Sears, they took my merchandise and gave me a voucher to redeem for a refund inside the store. I went to the TV register which was well staffed and not too busy. I talked to a pair that was staring at a computer screen. They were checking national inventories for a reasonable substitute for a 42" Sony that a customer wanted. When they heard I had returned TVs, they wanted to know which model. Off to Best Buy. Very busy for a Monday in November, I thought. I was picking up a pair of the 32" Dynex sets that I ordered online. I was there over an hour while they looked for my set. That they had to look for my sets surprised me. When I was in the store before BF, these things were stacked on skids throughout the store. For people still shopping, what are you seeing in the stores? Are the stores busy? Are the shelves stocked? I was shopping in Salem New Hampshire.

same here, but every year I hear that this no name set is really a kuro or that it's defective parts from some brand. Many manufacturers send you to a funai site when you click their support link. Made me think that funai made these sets. If you select LCD-TV as product category, leave model as is, and click next, you will get a list of models and brands (including emerson, ilo, sylvania, and symphonic). Just curious.

where do you find this information? what do you know about the dynex sets. there are three different 32" models.

Well, maybe, but I see different things on the news. In our family, we place a high value on the health and safety of children. My oldest was only allowed to accompany me for the first time this year -- he's sixteen and has a black belt. Just because you have a right to do it doesn't make it the right thing to do. I don't expect to ever be part of a BF stampede, but I'll wager few people standing in line do. Just the same, I would never take the chance of losing a child in the rush to a cabbage patch kid. Remorse lingers.

I wasn't going to go out at all. Even when I woke up early, I didn't immediately move towards the frenzy. Around 6:00am, I decided to swing by Staples to see if I could grab a couple of the 1t disks. Got them, three wireless mice, and a couple packs of batteries. I used Staples $25 gift cards purchased with Discover cash back for $20 for all of this, so...well, I think $56 for a 1t disk is a good deal. From there I walked over to Walmart. Nothing on my list except the Emerson TV and those were long gone. I would have grabbed a Magnavoc DB player except I already got the LG on Amazon for $90. It was raining hard, so I ducked into Home Depot. It was pretty quiet in there. Nothing on my list, but they had a 5000w husky generator for $500. With my Lowes moving coupon, they sold it to me for $450. Probably my best score of the day. It wouldn't fit in my Focus so I went home to get my clunker (glad I kept it). Next stop Radio Shack where I got my $15 off coupon and the $40 usb tuner. The Block Buster next door was closing shop so I stuck my head in the door. I got three DVD wall fixtures for $100. The rest of my shopping was online. I wanted some 32" lcd tvs for the kids, my mom, and my bedroom. I had been planning on getting the VO320e and, in fact, grabbed a couple when they were on sale at Sears. With Discover cashback, they cost me $325. Then the Dynex DX-32L130A10 caught my eye and I bought a couple. Side by side, the wife and I preferred the Dynex, so I got a couple more and will return the Vizio TVs. I'm still shopping, price adjusting, and dealing, but so far, so good ;-)

from Report: Black Friday store spending up 0.5 percent... This is in stark contrast to previous dataless reporting and anecdotal enthusiasm -- and completely in line with more objective observations of those in the trenches. Bad news for the retailers, but good news for those still shopping, price adjusters, and return/rebuyers. The report gets a little speculative and optimistic after that nugget -- seeing 'green sprouts' in increased online and tv (QVC) sales. I think these are a drop in the bucket of retail sales. It turns out that, as many expected, unemployed, underemployed, and tentatively employed consumers spend less. I can't help but think that Cash for Clunkers made things worse. 690,000 consumers who were driving 'paid for' clunkers started making payments on their green cars in September and October. Many experienced a second sticker shock when registering and insuring their new toys. I was glad I kept my clunker when we loaded a 5000w generator in the back.

Best Buy has a PS3 bundle for $300 that includes ratchet anc clank and little big planet. Use your Discover card to bring it down 12%. $264 seems like a good deal for the console and games.

pick me!

log in to the discovercard.com page and look at the bottom for shop discover. click the link, select the merchant, and spend away. sign up for a best buy rewards card too -- you'll get three bucks for this purchase.

You should look at the DX-32L130A10 at best buy. It's $300, but, if you buy it via shopdiscover, it's only $270. I saw the Sylvania today and the Dynex looks better.

Is it OK to attribute stuff lifted from other sites? One of the staffers on FW compiled a list ordered by resolution and size. Here are the sets 50+... 50 Inch Samsung 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV (Model # PN50B530S2F) - $897.99 at Best Buy Samsung 50" Plasma HDTV (Model PN50B530) - $899.99 at Sears Panasonic Viera 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV (Model # TC-P50U1) w/Blu-ray Disc Player (Model # DMP-BD60K) - $999.98 at Best Buy 52 Inch Philips 52" 1080p LCD HDTV $1,198 (in-store only at Sam's Club) Samsung 52" LN52B530 LCD HDTV - $1299.99 at Sears Sony 52" LCD HDTV (Model KDL52V5100) - $1599.99 at Sears 54 Inch Panasonic 54" Plasma HDTV (Model #TC-P54G10) - $1499.99 at Sears 55 Inch LG 55" LCD HDTV (Model 55LH40) - $1499.99 at Sears Samsung 55" LED HDTV (Model UN55B6000) - $2469.99 at Sears 50 Inch Sanyo 50" DP50719 Plasma HDTV - $598.00 at WalMart Samsung 50" PN50B400 Plasma 720P HDTV (Saturday) - $698.00 at WalMart Samsung 50" 720p Plasma HDTV (Model # PN50B430P2D) - $697.99 at Best Buy Samsung 50" Class Plasma HDTV (Model PN50B430) - $699.99 * at Sears

As usual, CNN hits one out of the park ;-) Now we can all stay home! FINALLY we understand what limited quantities means. I thought EVERYONE got a doorbuster. The people sleeping in tents outside stores deserve to know that they might not get their Black Friday Door Buster. Between you and me, the derivative models are meant to thwart price matchers, return/rebuyers, and price adjusters -- not to screw the consumer out of a little bit of contrast ratio. The Walmart scan shows a LC320EMFX and their site shows a LC320EMX. Anyone think the F does not stand for Friday?

My first thought is that you'd have to stand in line a long time to get one. I guess it is this one, but I did not see any in the store. Emerson's product page is here. They do not advertise brightness or contrast -- which may mean they are not proud of the numbers. 5w/channel is not very powerful for the speakers. The warranty is 90days/1 yr, so that might be a concern/warning. On the other hand, this review is pretty positive. There's no vga in if that matters to you.

Yeah, you're wrong. Not only can you stream netflix, you can stream media off PCs in your house that run a free PS3 media server. You can also watch online programming like hulu using a $30 program called playon (SDTV only for now). If you're buying a console for your kids, find out what their friends are playing -- part of the fun is talking about the games you are enjoying and competing against your buds. If this is not an issue, look at the exclusive games. The WII has a lot of arcade games and get up and move games that appeal to youngsters whereas the other two appeal more to us couch potatoes who mostly want to shoot something. If the exclusives don't sway you, the PS3 excels as an entertainment hub -- blu-ray, streaming media. The x-box can stream netflix too, but you have to pay a monthly fee to microsoft in addition to the fee paid to netflix. The WII is SD only, so it's not as good in this regard. We've had a PS3 for more than a year and have no regrets.

I spent a little time yesterday looking at 32" lcd TVs. Reason I was looking was that I have already bought a pair of VO320Es ($325 at Sears after Discover cash back) and wanted to make sure I didn't make a mistake. I didn't. In fact, I thought all of the 32" sets at Walmart looked pretty great -- even the Element tv. The Emerson that will be offered on BF was not on display. I also bought a couple DYNEX DX-32L130A10 sets. Dynex is Best Buy brand supposed made by LG. This is one of three 32" Dynex sets, but is brighter and a little bigger than the other two. These are highly regarded by six people, but I could find no expert reviews. If they look good, this is a steal. The sets are $300. Using ShopDiscover, I get 12% back, so the final price will be $264. I will also get $3 back in Best Buy rewards. You can get a four year warranty for $50, so, if the sets are comparable, I can get the Dynex with four years protection for less than the cost of the Vizio. I'll get close to the Dynex Monday when I pick mine up and let you know what I think of the set. I've had a 26" Dynex set for a year and we have been very happy with that.

I think the easiest way to do this would be to get a wireless switch/router to connect your wireless laptop and your desktop and use remote desktop to remotely control your desktop from the laptop. Downside is that the desktop would not be available while you were using the laptop online. If your dialup does not require a proprietary dialer software (call AOL tech support to find out if this is supported), you could use a wireless switch/router with dialup backup to share a dialup connection with all your PCs. There are uncommon since wireless and dialup are not generally used in the same sentence, but here is one. Nice thing about this investment is that it will support a future broadband connection. Honestly, you should investigate your broadband options since you are probably paying almost as much for dialup.

Requirements for Photoshop CS4... •1.8GHz or faster processor •Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista) •512MB of RAM (1GB recommended) •1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices) •1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card •Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0 •DVD-ROM drive •QuickTime 7.2 software required for multimedia features •Broadband Internet connection required for online services* The web site says windows 7 is supported for the current version and that earlier versions should work with windows 7. I don't think any of the BF desktops fall short of these requirements.

I have been using the Acer branded version of this emachine since May, I think. It came with Vista, but I installed the Windows 7 rc on it. I like it a lot. It is fine for netflix, flash, DVDs and Sims 3. How can you go wrong for $200?

$130 for this panny plus you get a $30 amazon ondemand credit.