
Official Black Friday LAPTOP Discussion Thread
#1
OFFLINE
Posted Aug 20, 2012 - 8:58 am
#2
OFFLINE
Posted Aug 20, 2012 - 10:19 am
#3
OFFLINE
Posted Aug 20, 2012 - 12:15 pm
GO BRUINS!
#4
OFFLINE
Posted Aug 8, 2012 - 8:09 am
#5
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 22, 2012 - 7:14 pm

#6
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 24, 2012 - 2:31 am
#7
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 29, 2012 - 11:18 am
#8
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 30, 2012 - 5:39 am
#9
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 30, 2012 - 6:05 am
#10
OFFLINE
Posted Sep 30, 2012 - 6:37 am
#11
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 6:07 am
Also is there anyone who already has one? What are your thoughts on it?
#12
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 7:02 am
For what you get with this laptop I think $249 is a great price point for my DD10. I'm just wondering if anyone has any info or thoughts on if there will be any deals on these around BF. They are already selling out fast so I'm kind of nervous to hold out, but I'm wondering if they will offer some specials like lifetime cloud storage or specials on bundles. The accessories and apps I'm not to concerned about because I can get them at any time. They offer 100gb's of free cloud storage for 2 years with purchase but I'm not sure of the pricing afterwards. If they offered a lifetime plan with purchase that would be a big deal.
Also is there anyone who already has one? What are your thoughts on it?
I had one of the older Samsung Chromebooks. For what I needed it for, it wasn't the right choice - a little too restricting. But if she only does basic stuff, it might be a decent low-cost choice.
#13
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 8:13 am
Thanks. I just ordered one through Tiger Direct. I'll test it a little to see if it will work for her needs. I'm sure it should be fine as her biggest need for school is Word and Power Point and it looks like Google has their versions installed.I had one of the older Samsung Chromebooks. For what I needed it for, it wasn't the right choice - a little too restricting. But if she only does basic stuff, it might be a decent low-cost choice.
#14
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 2:46 pm
#15
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 3:37 pm
#16
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 3:41 pm
~Quickly Robin!! To the Batmobile... for savings!


'It's not a lie, if you believe it':tongue1:
#17
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 4:14 pm
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." - Dr. Emmett L. Brown
#18
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 6:25 pm
#19
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 1, 2012 - 7:23 pm

#20
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 12:54 am
For what you get with this laptop I think $249 is a great price point for my DD10. I'm just wondering if anyone has any info or thoughts on if there will be any deals on these around BF. They are already selling out fast so I'm kind of nervous to hold out, but I'm wondering if they will offer some specials like lifetime cloud storage or specials on bundles. The accessories and apps I'm not to concerned about because I can get them at any time. They offer 100gb's of free cloud storage for 2 years with purchase but I'm not sure of the pricing afterwards. If they offered a lifetime plan with purchase that would be a big deal.
Also is there anyone who already has one? What are your thoughts on it?
No experience with this, but it could be limiting based on what is able to run on it (I didn't look that closely). You would be better (IMO) to just get a cheap laptop for $249 or so at BestBuy. In fact HERE is one for $274 that would do fine (again IMO, but may want to upgrade the RAM). There will be similar ones around BF, but BB has had some similar to this already for $249. Buy now and avoid the rush, lol.
~Quickly Robin!! To the Batmobile... for savings!


'It's not a lie, if you believe it':tongue1:
#21
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 12:55 am
Think I can get a new Mac Book Pro with windows 8 and all the bells and whistles for under $200?
Well I can dream lol !
That's all you can do, lol.
~Quickly Robin!! To the Batmobile... for savings!


'It's not a lie, if you believe it':tongue1:
#22
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 2:29 am
That's all you can do, lol.
Well, I wasn't looking for anything with bells and whistles.... Just trying to afford something for my 3 college students to be able to do their homework on.
#23
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 3:53 am
Think I can get a new Mac Book Pro with windows 8 and all the bells and whistles for under $200?
Well I can dream lol !
lol! If you do find that, you must post it! I get socket shock every time I go to the Apple store
#24
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 6:04 am
No experience with this, but it could be limiting based on what is able to run on it (I didn't look that closely). You would be better (IMO) to just get a cheap laptop for $249 or so at BestBuy. In fact HERE is one for $274 that would do fine (again IMO, but may want to upgrade the RAM). There will be similar ones around BF, but BB has had some similar to this already for $249. Buy now and avoid the rush, lol.
Thanks. I actually got the email from Best Buy this morning and purchased the laptop you just posted $274. I went back and checked on the Chromebook and even though it said it was shipping same day it was back ordered in my account. Plus I just realized that she couldn't add iTunes to it which is kind of a big deal because I would like to get my iTunes library back. We were sharing and I'm tired of listening to Kids Bop!
#25
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 2, 2012 - 6:32 am
Well, I wasn't looking for anything with bells and whistles.... Just trying to afford something for my 3 college students to be able to do their homework on.
I think there will be plenty of sub-$300 laptops in the next few weeks. As I posted, Best Buy as been having one in the $249 range for the last couple of weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to see more $179 Doorbusters like last year. I recall two; one was at BB but I can't remember where the other was. Also, if they are doing college work (as mine is), you can invest in MS Office through Microsoft's website. College students can get the full version MS Office 2010 University for about $99. I got mine for less two years ago but it's a lot better than $120 for the Home & Student Edition but you can get it for $149 for 3 users but it only has 4 programs with it. Plus, if you buy MS Office University 2010 now you get to upgrade to MS Office 2013 for FREE (next spring).

If you want to save more money, you can download a FREE program called OpenOffice from HERE. It is a great alternative and fully compatible with MS Office. I've had both over the years.

Even though OpenOffice is free, I prefer MS Office. When I was on a budget, I was using OpenOffice. It works great and is not something someone through together; It is a top notch program IMO. Hope that helps.
Edited by bpr, Nov 2, 2012 - 7:32 am.
~Quickly Robin!! To the Batmobile... for savings!


'It's not a lie, if you believe it':tongue1:
#26
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 3, 2012 - 2:35 pm
I have ordered computers for BB 3 separate years and had them delivered (one I picked up in store on BF after 4pm) None of them were Doorbusters they were all mid range computers (2 laptops and a desktop)
I have also bought several from best buy the last couple years on BF I had them delivered and once I picked them up.
#27
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 3, 2012 - 4:24 pm
Thanks. I actually got the email from Best Buy this morning and purchased the laptop you just posted $274. I went back and checked on the Chromebook and even though it said it was shipping same day it was back ordered in my account. Plus I just realized that she couldn't add iTunes to it which is kind of a big deal because I would like to get my iTunes library back. We were sharing and I'm tired of listening to Kids Bop!
I would highly recommend not getting this $275 BestBuy laptop. It has an old and very slow processor. It has an AMD E-300. BestBuy's doorbuster laptop 12 months ago has this same E-300 and it sold for $179. Now this same processor is yet another year older. This is not a deal. I'm sorry. There will be much better deals.
Look at the frys.com deals every friday morning (4 AM or so). I just got a new ASUS X54C 15.6 inch laptop from them for $218 (no taxes either for me) with an Intel B820 processor, HDMI and USB-3. It's almost 3 times faster compared to this underpowered AMD E-300. The E-300 is similar to an Atom netbook processor. Unless you know how to turn off a lot of the Windows processes, turn off Areo, use an antivirus that has a small footprint, etc.: stay away from the AMD series with: E-300, E-350, E-450 and the newer E1-1200 and E2-1800. Too slow and will bog down quite quickly.
You can look them up at: http://www.cpubenchm...et/cpu_list.php
:-)
My 2 cents.
#28
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 3, 2012 - 4:30 pm
I think there will be plenty of sub-$300 laptops in the next few weeks. As I posted, Best Buy as been having one in the $249 range for the last couple of weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to see more $179 Doorbusters like last year. I recall two; one was at BB but I can't remember where the other was. Also, if they are doing college work (as mine is), you can invest in MS Office through Microsoft's website. College students can get the full version MS Office 2010 University for about $99. I got mine for less two years ago but it's a lot better than $120 for the Home & Student Edition but you can get it for $149 for 3 users but it only has 4 programs with it. Plus, if you buy MS Office University 2010 now you get to upgrade to MS Office 2013 for FREE (next spring).
If you want to save more money, you can download a FREE program called OpenOffice from HERE. It is a great alternative and fully compatible with MS Office. I've had both over the years.
Even though OpenOffice is free, I prefer MS Office. When I was on a budget, I was using OpenOffice. It works great and is not something someone through together; It is a top notch program IMO. Hope that helps.
Frys.com had a doorbuster dual core, 3 GB RAM, webcam Lenovo laptop for $178 last year. It was available online as well. I'm typing on it right now.

I imagine this year we will see a $160 (or so) 15.6 inch laptop.
#29
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 5, 2012 - 11:53 am
#30
OFFLINE
Posted Nov 5, 2012 - 6:13 pm
I got the Lenovo BF deal at BB last year. It was either 179 or 199 and it's a brick. Locks up constantly and even when it did work it was extremely slow. Just know that if you get a sub $200 laptop it's nowhere near top of the line and if you want it to do anything beyond basic computing it will not work for that. Invest more and buy a $300-$400 machine or you will be buying another one in less than 2 years.
I respectfully disagree on both.
The laptop was $178.00
Look for yourself: http://www.stlpcwiza...giving 2011.pdf
In addition, as I mentioned previously, you need to put some work into improving the speed like turning off unneeded services, uninstall junk software, etc. It's not a brick.
This can be achieved by free software (for example):
*CCleaner
*PC Decrapifier
*Autoruns
*Revo Uninstaller
and many others
Also follow some of these guides to improve the speed of your laptop even more:
* http://www.blackvipe...configurations/
* http://www.computing...e-guide-to.html
* http://www.askvg.com...-set-to-manual/
* http://www.techrepub...-windows-7/3332
No need to do all the items mentioned. Just try it out and see what you prefer or need.
Once you are finished with that this $178 Lenovo laptop is far from a brick. (I'm typing on it right now.)

This will work for most computers.
Now, this black friday, most (if not all) laptops will have the new Windows 8. I'm not familiar with that yet.
In conclusion, I agree that a laptop with an AMD E-300, E-350, E-450, and the newer E1-1200 and E2-1800 are not fast. These are not even close to an Intel Core i3. However, if you know what to do to speed it up, $178 is an amazing deal!
Happy hunting!

0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users