A Really Good Deal

When folks ask me about a really good deal on a computer, I invariably tell them that the time to buy is August. This is the time of the year that retailers will do anything to get you into their store, and the great deals abound. I've waited too long in years past, and thought things would "drop a little more" and couldn't believe how the prices climbed come September. Anyway, this year I was ready.

I had seen some good deals. I had decided in advance that my notebook budget would be around $500 to $600 dollars which put me a little above bottom end. I wanted a 15" screen, and a greater than 200 gig hard drive. It had to be a dual core processor so anything Celeron was out, and I preferred Intel this time around. Oh, and it couldn't be a Dell for so many reasons.

I had found this notebook which seemed to fulfill my requirements. I had waited though as I didn't like the rebate that I invariably wouldn't get. I also didn't like that the chip was an Intel Pentium Dual Core, which sounds like a Pentium D. While I had a Pentium D processor in a work computer that performed quite well, it just didn't sound current. It really is a Core 2 Duo with half the cache, but the TechNudge faithful will understand that I didn't want a disabled chip.

I was pleasantly surprised to find an even better deal at OfficeMax. While it's not my favorite store, with no rebate, for only a little more I could have it all. Yes, even the Core 2 Duo that I think is the current state of the art in notebooks, or at least for what the mortals can afford. I also liked that the 5750 chip runs at an honest 2 GHz clock speed which sounds much better than 1.73 GHz for whatever reason. The 250 GB hard drive with a 5400 rpm spindle speed was also a deal clincher, not to mention the 3 gigs of RAM which is even more than my desktop currently. While the "no returns" policy was quite onerous, I still took the plunge and brought it home.

At any rate, it's up and running, and I'm pleased with the purchase. This is the first Vista product, and aside from the networking issues, it's a pleasant operating system that has been quite stable so far. I'll have more to say about all of this, but I wanted to mention this while the sale was still on. It is available in OfficeMax stores, and also online at the same price. While it may not be for everybody, for a general purpose notebook, it's a lot of hardware for not too much dough. In other words, a really good deal.

Jonas