Any good computer deals?

[nuzmom]

We've been thinking about getting a new computer. Any good deals out there?

We have a HP with a Celeron processer which really isn't too bad. The thing is, we only have Windows 98 on it. I also want to add excel (already have Word). I can buy the student edition of office, but would need to upgrade Windows. That started the "maybe we should just get a new one" conversation going. We have been having some "crashing" problems going on and it would be nice just to wipe this one out and start over (after saving all my "stuff", of course).

Also, if a good deal was out there, I would consider a "media center" computer. Something that I could transfer our VHS moves onto DVD with. But if it doesn't work well or is way too expensive, I'll just replace what I have.

Oh, my computer will go to my son (he's 8 1/2) for him to play games on. He'd be thrilled to get it.

So, does anyone out there know of some good deals?

 

[ibleedblue]

I don't see any good deals today, but I highly recommend you bookmark slickdeals.net and check out the hot deals forums. There's usually a deal or more a week in there. I love that website, but it's cost me a ton of money since I found it! I can't pass up a good deal, and there are frequently excellent deals there!

Greg

 

[momto4obkids]

Check www.dell.com A few days ago they were had a deal on a computer for $400 or $500? I didn`t take a clocse look because we aren`t looking for a new PC right now.



Amanda

 

[got2travel]

Also check out the Black Friday threads for a link to a site that shows you all the anticipated sales. I remember seeind Desktops for $298 and Laptops for $499 but I didn't pay too much attention to what was on the PCs.

 

[Minnie's Mate]

I've had a couple of computers with celeron processors and if you are having crashing problems, you are running out of computer. You should plan on replacing it before too much longer.

I would recommend sticking with a pentium processor even if you have to sacrifice speed or hard drive size to go with a pentium.

 

[p2oh]

On the Black Friday add they have a desktop for $198 after rebates which is a really good deal if it's legit.

 

[cdrn1]

I got a mail ad yesterday from Dell. They have the 2400 without monitor for $336.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

The only problem with Best Buy they probably only have 3 in the store and they will be gone in a heartbeat. I am looking for a new computer for my DD and don't want to spend a ton of money either.

I did see the deal on Dell.com for a desktop for 399.00. Which is not bad at all.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I like Walmart, they have good prices on computers. I agree with the poster who said pay for the Pentium processor. Just bought a nice notebook through www.walmart.com (HP Pavilion w/ Pentium, widescreen with DVD and CD burners - bought so we can take it on trips for digital photos and DVD capabilities for the kids and for home video conversion); they had the best price on what I was looking for and I knew their customer service is good (at least it has been for me). They are the biggest retailer of HP computers so if you like HP definitely check them out (but get the Pentium). Keep checking, they run specials a lot. Good Luck.

 

[poohj80]

We have tried buying computers on Black Friday in the past and it's not worth the effort to save a few more bucks. The lines start VERY early in the morning and, as someone posted above, most stores don't have a lot of computers at the deeply discounted price. However, we just purchased a new computer at Best Buy with flat screen monitor and color printer for only $350 after rebates which isn't bad at all. Add in 2 years no interest and we went ahead and bought instead of fighting the crowds next week.

 

[DianeV]

My opinion is to stay away from the store bought ones. We have always had either a Gateway or Dell. More Dell lately.

I had some work done on my Dell and the technician said the ones in regular stores are junk. I would highly recommend a Dell and the deals they have are pretty good

 

[poohj80]

My DH works on computers and has no problem with the store bought units. We now have 4 bought from Best Buy and haven't had a problem with any of them.

 

[TonyS20]

Originally posted by Pea-n-Me
I like Walmart, they have good prices on computers. I agree with the poster who said pay for the Pentium processor. Just bought a nice notebook through www.walmart.com (HP Pavilion w/ Pentium, widescreen with DVD and CD burners - bought so we can take it on trips for digital photos and DVD capabilities for the kids and for home video conversion); they had the best price on what I was looking for and I knew their customer service is good

Could you tell me about the computer that you purchased? This sounds like what I am looking for, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I want a laptop that we can watch movies and burn CDs for when we are on vacation. I'd love to know more about the one you bought!

 

[nuzmom]

thanks for all the great responses.

I think I would like to stay away from black Friday all together, so maybe Dell is the way to go. The deal at best buys seems good, too for $350.

I still am not sure, but I think I'll take a look at best buys and then compare to Dell.

Oh, I do like HP's, too.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Originally posted by TonyS20
Could you tell me about the computer that you purchased? This sounds like what I am looking for, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I want a laptop that we can watch movies and burn CDs for when we are on vacation. I'd love to know more about the one you bought!

Tony, the computer we bought can be seen on the Walmart site. It is an HP Pavilion 15.4'' Laptop PC with Travel Bag Model ZV5227WM, $1498.00.

We never thought we'd want a laptop but after traveling a lot with a digital camera the more we thought about it it made sense. We also have an HP camera so the software on the HP makes it easy to do all kinds of things easily with the photos.

The DVD writer (RW) jacks the price up on all the laptop models to the $1500 or more range. (Some have DVD/CD rom capabilities but unless it has DVD RW it can't write them which you want for your videos as did we; same can be said for CD writers (RW) some only read them (CD ROM) and those tend to be the cheaper models). Toshiba makes a model similar to our which I've seen at a similar price - I believe it was advertised as a closeout at Best Buy. You may have better luck now with holiday specials. Ours came in the mail within the week. We had originally bought the same model in the store (they're hard to find) but found out someone had returned it and it was missing software - had no problem bringing it back.

I really like ours. We have a wireless internet system in the house so we can use it anywhere in the house on battery power alone for about 2 hrs (another thing not many less expensive laptops can do). I've taken it outside with me to a show slide show of our trip to friends or do work while the kids are on the playground. Pretty handy! Can't wait to try it on vacation...

Any other quesions let me know. Good luck.

P.S. I know the Walmart stores do layaway too which is hard to come by these days - every one else wants you to "finance" it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

One other thought: our other HP desktop computer we bought two years ago (also at WM for $498). We loved it and it always worked great. Then it died. Luckily we had the extended warranty so they have to fix it. My theory: it has an Athlon processor and though we researched this type of processor before we bought it I think that is the problem. I notice HP isn't using them as much anymore.

So I would stick with the Pentium and make sure you get the extended warranty. When it is fixed this will be the kids' computer. DH also has a theory that kids CD games mess up the computer. Any thoughts on this??

 

[poohj80]

We have never purchased the extended warranty as by the time our computers have completely died, it's probably time to get a new computer. The extended warranty on the computer we just bought at Best Buy would have been $200. When the entire computer only cost $350, it wasn't worth it in our book.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Originally posted by poohj80
We have never purchased the extended warranty as by the time our computers have completely died, it's probably time to get a new computer. The extended warranty on the computer we just bought at Best Buy would have been $200. When the entire computer only cost $350, it wasn't worth it in our book.

Good point, but a) you've had good luck but you never know when of if your computer will die, b) to *replace* the computer could cost more than $350 and c) in our case we had important information and pictures that we hadn't backed up yet so in order to get those off we had to get the computer going again. The extended warranty only cost us $100 so in our case it's been money well spent.

 

[poohj80]

It's definitely a personal preference and am glad you bought the warranty. For us, we work on computers and have ways of recovering data if the computer dies so we realize we are not the typical family.

However, each time over the last 2-3 years we have bought a computer at Best Buy the price has been pretty consistent around $350 after rebates if you just watch the sales.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

pooh, a technical question: is it possible to recover data when the motherboard is dead without putting in a new one? We were told by a computer repair person it couldn't be done on ours. You are lucky you can do your own work.