>>> Official Black Friday DESKTOP Discussion Thread <<<

[Reisch]

Same here, just that I'll be custom building my own. Lookin' for those Core 2 Duo processors.

Ditto...Hopefully some will be on sale for BF!

 

I want the Media Server to be Vista ready just in case the new OS is worth the upgrade.

[cherry33778]

If you're not in a rush I would wait til BF. Since some computers on BF offer an upgrade package.

[mugs]

I'd watch the Sunday sale flyers. Black Friday desktop PC deals aren't all that spectacular, especially when you figure in the time you spend waiting.

 

CompUSA has had a Compaq for $200 at least twice this year, I think 3 or more times.

CircuitCity has had an Acer for <$300 3 or more times this year. (I got one for $270 with a CRT monitor and all-in-one printer). They usually have a 17" LCD as a $50 upgrade, but it's not widescreen.

[stationchief]

Ditto...Hopefully some will be on sale for BF!

 

I want the Media Server to be Vista ready just in case the new OS is worth the upgrade.

Those smileys pretty much says it all when it comes to Vista. and I've heard both good and bad things about it. We'll just have to see if it's worth it. Gonna get a new laptop that's Vista compatable, get the coupon for a free upgrade to Vista OS, and see if it's worth puttin' Vista on my desktop or just keepin' Media Center Ed 2005.

[stationchief]

If it's a Dell you're lookin' for, and something a lil' more powerful, then go for one of Dell's sales now. The BF desktops are most likely gonna be the older models and won't come with wide screen monitors.

[Reisch]

Gonna get a new laptop that's Vista compatable, get the coupon for a free upgrade to Vista OS, and see if it's worth puttin' Vista on my desktop or just keepin' Media Center Ed 2005.

 

Yep...those are exactly my thoughts

 

Hopefully the info will be available soon so you can create the comparison charts again.

[pcsoon]

The Vista upgrade coupon may be the only thing that will get me to buy a new PC this BF. I heard systems with XP pro will be a free upgrade and XP home will get a discount. MCE may fall under the XP pro catagory but not for sure.

 

Those smileys pretty much says it all when it comes to Vista. and I've heard both good and bad things about it. We'll just have to see if it's worth it. Gonna get a new laptop that's Vista compatable, get the coupon for a free upgrade to Vista OS, and see if it's worth puttin' Vista on my desktop or just keepin' Media Center Ed 2005.

[kristablu28]

What do you think the chances are that we'll be able to order the BF specials on line from Best Buy or Circuit City?

[stationchief]

What do you think the chances are that we'll be able to order the BF specials on line from Best Buy or Circuit City?

Most of the specials in the general ad, perhaps. The BF doorbusters, like the limited supply of cheap desktops and such, fat chance.

[RossMAN]

Or wait till BF. I want a good computer ( mostly another dell) I want a wide screen monitor A bunch of ram nand hard drive .. should I wait or start building my dell now

That depends on your budget and how soon you need the new desktop?

 

Like mugs said keep an eye on the Sunday newspaper ads.

 

Are you sitting down?

 

In early 2006 CompUSA offered the Compaq Presario sr1710nx for only $125 after rebates.

 

Unfortunately we bought ours prior to the $125 sale but $199 AR isn't that bad either. My wife loves her new desktop and it's whisper quiet.

[stationchief]

Was thinkin' last night (a bad pasttime, I know!) long and hard about my new 'puter, so I thought I'd share what I'm hoping for this BF. Gonna be buildin' this very bad boy with the parts I find on BF. So, without further ado, I introduce:

 

My BF computer!

Starring Fry's Electronics and Best Buy! With guest appearances by McD's Monopoly Best Buy Bucks, and possible special guest the AOL/MSN sign-up rebate!

 

Pentium Core 2 Duo E6600 (Been doin' some homework on these Conroe-based puppies. Wooooooo baby!)1-2GB DDR2 memory (One gigabyte as a bare minimum)74GB Raptor hard drive (Fry's just started puttin' these on sale. 10,000 RPM drive for my OS. This might come later on.)Windows MCE 2005 (Gonna see if I can get a genuine version of this, remote and all!)>=500GB hard drive (Believe it, this is a bare minimum for me as far as storage space!)DVD+-R/RW & DVD-ROM w/wo LightScribe (For burnin' DVDs, of course!) Internal multi-function media card reader (Gotta have one for the digital camera and camcorder)Audio & Graphics (Dunno about these, but I'd settle for par standard so I can spend more time on the rest for now. Maybe play 'HalfLife 2' with Dolby 7.1 surround on 500-watt speaker system later on.)17-19" wide screen TFT monitor (Gotta see what'cha doin', ya know!)

 

While we're waitin' for the desktops to start showin' up in the ads, why not share and explain what type of desktop you're plannin' on getting/building this BF. Or you can discuss my BF desktop I'm buildin'. I don't mind.

[rsan33]

I plan on building my own PC too. I currently have Intel but I am switching to AMD. I'll be building it mostly for gaming purpose. These are the specs:

 

Case: Raidmax Sirius (Silver) or Nzxt Lexa or XG Viper 2 ( I can never make up my mind )

 

CPU : (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 FX 62 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology or (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 X2 5200+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology. Ofcourse, I'll overclock the hell out of the 5200+

 

Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition

 

OS: Windows XP Pro for now. Will upgrade to Vista and AMD Live when they are available.

 

Power Supply: OCZ / GameXStream / 700-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / EPS / Active PFC / Power Supply

 

Memory: Atleast 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory - Corsair or Major Brand. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Video Card - 2 x (NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express Video Card) (SLI mode)

 

TV Tuner: Single Tv tuner with remote control. I like to record stuff.

 

Hard Drive: 2 x 150GB Gaming Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache or 2 x (atleast)400GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD with RAID 0 settings. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Optical Drives: 16x double layer DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW w/Lightscribe. (I can live with 1 Drive for now) (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Speakers: 5.1 surround sound speakers. (Although my PC would support HD 7.1, I am not sure which ones to get right now)

 

Monitor: 20 - 21" Widescreen LCD TV Monitor. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

 

Well, thats my dream system. I think thats about it for now. I have clearly stated what I want for sale price but I can afford to pay regular price for the rest.

[stationchief]

Impressive christmas list, rsan33. That wish list makes me wish I had you're budget. Dunno about yourself, but I wouldn't sleep very well knowing that XG Viper 2 was in the room with me. Yikes.

 

BF will have a decent selection of goodies of just about everything for everyone. But as they say, pickers can't be choosers, especially when it comes to BF sales. That's why I'm not too picky about specifically what type or brand of parts I want. Just as long as it's in my needs ballpark and it's mostly at BB, that's for several reasons. My processor/mobo will most likely be a combo sale from FE. THe rest comes from my Best Buy Bucks and possibly a sign-up rebate for whatever store has one this year.

[rsan33]

Thats what I am afraid of. Most of things I want are the latest models. So I highly doubt they will have the exact same parts I want for sale on BF. I know what they put for sale on BF. They are definetly older models. I'll be lucky enough to get one of them for sale price. I think they'll have a good monitor and drives for sale. I may have to sacrifice the quality but if I have to replace most of my items with older models, I may as well get a Dell. I'll defintely wait till BF or even Christmas to build this PC. I am really hoping to reduce the cost of this PC by atleast $500.

[shay_n_sc]

I am also looking for a computer. I noticed that since August - Best Buy had computers (after in-store rebates) for $325, then $350 and last week for $379. I am hoping I can just buy one if they drop back down to $325.

 

Do you think they will be cheaper than that on BF?

 

Another thing - after waiting outside for 2 hours (on BF), when I finally do get inside, they are always sold out of the electronics advertised. Do they really get those things in or are the employees buying them while people shiver in the cold and dark?

[mrn8]

I am also looking for a computer. I noticed that since August - Best Buy had computers (after in-store rebates) for $325, then $350 and last week for $379. I am hoping I can just buy one if they drop back down to $325.

 

Do you think they will be cheaper than that on BF?

 

Another thing - after waiting outside for 2 hours (on BF), when I finally do get inside, they are always sold out of the electronics advertised. Do they really get those things in or are the employees buying them while people shiver in the cold and dark?

Depending on what you want and how long you are willing to wait outside of Best Buy, you may find a great deal this year. Last year they had a basic eMachines computer for $150 on BF. You'll need to be one of the first 5-10 people in line to get one, though. They'll hand out tickets to people in line and the first ones to claim those premium items will get them.

[stationchief]

Another thing - after waiting outside for 2 hours (on BF), when I finally do get inside, they are always sold out of the electronics advertised. Do they really get those things in or are the employees buying them while people shiver in the cold and dark?

Wish that were true. My wife could snag all the laptops we needed from WM before anyone knew what happened.

 

The sad fact is, if you want those popular 'puters and electronics and such, they only go to the first people in that huge line who ask for 'em. It's not really how long you've waited but where 'ya are in the waiting line. At our WM last year, some people got there as early as 10pm the night before. I came in about midnite and was about #20 in line. We just lucked out gettin' one of the last laptops.

 

If 'ya want one of those 'doorbusters', as they're called, 'ya gotta work for it.

[pottsie66]

Or wait till BF. I want a good computer ( mostly another dell) I want a wide screen monitor A bunch of ram nand hard drive .. should I wait or start building my dell now

This is my dilemma, also. Any words of advice from anyone? I am wondering if Dell will offer better deals closer to the holidays.

[lovebears65]

This is my dilemma, also. Any words of advice from anyone? I am wondering if Dell will offer better deals closer to the holidays.

 

Im not really in a hurry for a desk top, just want to upgrade on the one I have now. Its over 4 yrs old but we have upgraded it.. It still works really well though. I am waiting for the BEST deal of course as soon as I buy that I better deal will come out

[stationchief]

This is my dilemma, also. Any words of advice from anyone? I am wondering if Dell will offer better deals closer to the holidays.

Dell doesn't offer any BF deals. They pretty much have sales goin' on all year 'round. Dunno if there's gonna be any bette deals closer to christmas, but the ones they got goin' on now with the 'Core 2 Duo' processors aren't too bad. It's up to you if 'ya wanna get a Dell now.

[jenna8110]

Ok I seriously NEED a new computer this year!

My Mom got the laptop from Walmart last year

for $378, I was going to get one too but literely

didn't have the money. This year I'm looking for

a desktop, her laptop is already running slow.

I need:

 

Pentium 4 (Hopefully have alot of these!)

 

17" flat panel monitor (they had 15" last year so this shouldn't be a stretch!)

 

CD & DVD burner (just CD burners last year)

 

1g would be nice but less would be fine too (I think mines only a 128)

 

I think thats it! Does this sound like something that

would be on sale BF this year? If it is how much do

you think it would cost?

[bigdogofftheporch]

I Wonder If Walmart Is Going To Use The Same Ad Company As Last Year Because They Lost The Lawsuit Against The Ad Company Because They Gave The Ads To Them And Someone At The Warehouse A Fired Empolyee Took Some Off The Ads With Him If This Is True. When Does The Ad's Go To Print For Black Friday?

[stationchief]

Ok I seriously NEED a new computer this year!

My Mom got the laptop from Walmart last year

for $378, I was going to get one too but literely

didn't have the money. This year I'm looking for

a desktop, her laptop is already running slow.

I got the same WM Pavillion last year. I upgraded the memory from 256MB to 512MB and installed XP Pro instead of the Home version provided. I haven't had too many problems with it. The slowness of your mom's laptop is probably due to the low amount of memory. Just some free 'puter tekkie advice.

 

On to your desktop ...

 

I need:

 

Pentium 4 (Hopefully have alot of these!)

Bottom line ones, like the cheap doorbusters, are probably gonna be AMD brand Semprons or Intel Celerons. If it's the Intel Pentium 4s specifically 'ya want, perhaps even the dual-core ones, there should be plenty of those as well.

 

17" flat panel monitor (they had 15" last year so this shouldn't be a stretch!)

Some will come with it, some will make you buy it separately. Should be some good TFT flat panel monitors on sale.

 

CD & DVD burner (just CD burners last year)

Last year had some desktops with DVD burners. Just not on the dirt cheap ones. This year there should be more.

 

1g would be nice but less would be fine too (I think mines only a 128)

I assume that's memory. If so, your 128MB is in need of a seriously major upgrade. Usually, 512MB is enough for most tasks. 1GB would be for serious gamers or audio/video dubbers.

 

I think thats it! Does this sound like something that

would be on sale BF this year? If it is how much do

you think it would cost?

BF will have lots of different kinds of 'puters for different budgets. Most souldn't cost more than $1000. Probably less. Keep an eye out for the WalMart, Best Buy, CompUsa, and Curcuit City ads.

[stationchief]

I Wonder If Walmart Is Going To Use The Same Ad Company As Last Year Because They Lost The Lawsuit Against The Ad Company Because They Gave The Ads To Them And Someone At The Warehouse A Fired Empolyee Took Some Off The Ads With Him If This Is True. When Does The Ad's Go To Print For Black Friday?

First off, that must've taken quite an effort to capitalize every word. Either that, or you're good at copy/pasting.

 

As for the WM ads, is that what really happened last year? Don't remember hearing about exactly how the leaked ad came about. Where/when did you hear/read about that?

[bigdogofftheporch]

yes the printer was been sued for letting the bf ads out to the public. but the truth was that the printer del. the ads to the wm warehouse and that a fired employee took some of the ads with him when he left and let them out to the public the truth came out in court about it they tryed to sue the employee but the judge said to go pound salt :)

[stationchief]

yes the printer was been sued for letting the bf ads out to the public. but the truth was that the printer del. the ads to the wm warehouse and that a fired employee took some of the ads with him when he left and let them out to the public the truth came out in court about it they tryed to sue the employee but the judge said to go pound salt :)

Ahhhhhhh ... so THAT's the guy who sent the GottaDeal mods all those pics of the WM laptop and desktop prices last year.

 

Seriously, leaking your company's ads to the public is a serious security breach. Kinda silly to sue the printing press, but I'm a lil' surprised the former employee got away with it scot free when they tried to sue him. Boy, what people will do for BF.

[Synergy]

I plan on building my own PC too. I currently have Intel but I am switching to AMD. I'll be building it mostly for gaming purpose. These are the specs:

 

Case: Raidmax Sirius (Silver) or Nzxt Lexa or XG Viper 2 ( I can never make up my mind )

 

CPU : (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 FX 62 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology or (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 X2 5200+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology. Ofcourse, I'll overclock the hell out of the 5200+

 

Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition

 

OS: Windows XP Pro for now. Will upgrade to Vista and AMD Live when they are available.

 

Power Supply: OCZ / GameXStream / 700-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / EPS / Active PFC / Power Supply

 

Memory: Atleast 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory - Corsair or Major Brand. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Video Card - 2 x (NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express Video Card) (SLI mode)

 

TV Tuner: Single Tv tuner with remote control. I like to record stuff.

 

Hard Drive: 2 x 150GB Gaming Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache or 2 x (atleast)400GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD with RAID 0 settings. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Optical Drives: 16x double layer DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW w/Lightscribe. (I can live with 1 Drive for now) (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

Speakers: 5.1 surround sound speakers. (Although my PC would support HD 7.1, I am not sure which ones to get right now)

 

Monitor: 20 - 21" Widescreen LCD TV Monitor. (This is one of the things I am hoping to be on sale on BF)

 

 

Well, thats my dream system. I think thats about it for now. I have clearly stated what I want for sale price but I can afford to pay regular price for the rest.

If you're going for latest and greatest, you might want to look at Intel's Core 2 Duo processors over AMD's current offerings.

[stationchief]

If you're going for latest and greatest, you might want to look at Intel's Core 2 Duo processors over AMD's current offerings.

All kinda depends on what Core 2 Duo you're lookin' at. The 'Athlon 64 FX's might outperform the e6300 'Core 2 Duo's, but the e6600 and up will run circles around 'em, including the 'Extreme e6800'. I've found tons of benchmark charts that break all this down.

[FatRocky]

You people think that Best Buy will have a computer with a 100-120gb harddrive and 512mb of ram for around $200 this year? My desktop just went out and I need something for World of Warcraft and some games from 2004ish.

[stationchief]

You people think that Best Buy will have a computer with a 100-120gb harddrive and 512mb of ram for around $200 this year? My desktop just went out and I need something for World of Warcraft and some games from 2004ish.

That $200 mark makes my Best Buy Bucks sense tingle. Do I smell a fellow user?

 

It's still hard to say just how much a 'puter with those specs is gonna be this year. My guess is BB wold have one that matches that for just about the $200-300 range and you might get lucky with a 64-bit processor. Non-dual core, of course. And you can always upgrade the memory to the 512MB mark. Should be good enough for WOW with a minor AGP graphics card upgrade.