I usually just order from Dell, but I may need to replace my wife's piece-of-crap laptop with a new slightly-less-of-a-piece-of-crap laptop within the next few days. Where's a good place to purchase a laptop in person?
Sure, and I can also see a Circuit City from my office window, but I'm not sure I want to buy a computer from either place.
I know they have a stigma, but it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that either of those places could be the best place to purchase. Especially if you are just looking for a run of the mill word processor/net surfing/movie watching machine. Both stores tend to run sales on selected machines every few weeks. If the above describes what you're looking for, just buy a brand name in the $500 range and be done with it.
Lenovo has a factory re-sale site on the web. You should CYA by emailing them, post order, from what the rumor mill recommends. Ina hurry, Pm me, I'll find the link.
Mr. Notebook in Austin and San Antonio often times has really good deals on solid laptops. I got my discontinued but still new Thinkpad from them for an awesome price.
I bought my last 3 laptops from Circuit City. But, as stated, with their uncertain future, I don't know if I would recommend that. Hook'em!!!
Liquidation sales ain't what they use to be. Companies now come in and buy the merchandise at pennies on the dollar in one fail swoop, mark everything up, then place 50 - 80% off banners all over the place. It's a sham.
Yeah, I was pretty unimpressed with the sales Circuit City had when they started closing stores last year. I had been watching prices on Blu-Ray players,and when they announced that they were closing a bunch of stores, prices went up at least 10%. Still, it may not be a bad place to look. I'll probably skip the service contract, though. Thanks for the suggestions.
I picked up an Acer Aspire One Netbook for my wife through NewEgg.com. Throw in a $20 USB DVD burner for $20 and the whole package was <$400 and I received it in less than 5 days. My wife loves that its only 2.2lbs and has 6hrs of battery life (6 Cell battery). Heck, I like it so much I might pick one up for myself. As long as you're not gaming or doing any graphics work the machine is gold.
When my laptop crapped out, I bought a netbook off eBay (new, in box) -- the eeepc 1000HA. This was around Christmas time and my purchase qualified for $140 back from MSN Live Search. That model is described by a macworld author thusly:
