Black Friday is the friday following Thanksgiving where stores open really early with limited quantities of great discounted products. Usually it's older models they want to get rid of, but sometimes you'll find some real gems that are too good to pass up. Even if it means waking up at 4:30am.
Here was our itinerary & shopping list:
BEST BUY 5am
$69.99 Insignia 7in Portable DVD (got it)
$287 Hisense 20" LCD TV (didn't bother since we were hoping to get the LCD TV at Staples)
$169.99 Mag 19in LCD 500:1, 16ms (got it)
$379.99 Toshiba Celeron M 370 Notebook 15in screen, 256MB/40GB, DVD/CDRW, 802.11g, NO rebates (would have been an awesome deal, but they sold out before we got in the store)
$3.99 Minority Report DVD (got it)
We arrived at 10 minutes to 5 and the line waiting to get in was already around the front and side of the building. We didn't have a chance on that laptop.
Circuit City also opened at 5, but we chose Best Buy knowing that any great deals at CC would be gone by the time we made it over there. Here's what we would have tried for:
CIRCUIT CITY 5am
$249.99 Sony 19" HS-Series LCD (nice, but didn't get)
$199.99 TOSHIBA Intel® Celeron® M Processor 370 notebook (w/AOL
subscription, $449 without AOL), 15" screen, 512MB, 60GB, WiFi (didn't get)
$249 Canon CamcorderZR200 (didn't get)
$9.99 Sandisk 512 SD card (didn't get)
$76.99 Nexxtech 7" Portable DVD (backup if we didn't get the one at Best Buy)
After Best Buy we ran across the street to Staples where a line was starting to form around 5:30am. BTW, we just LOVE living in Woodland Hills, CA where you can walk from one electronics store to another.
STAPLES 6am
$199.94 Samsung 19" LCD (didn't need it after we got the one at Best Buy)
$299.94 Olevia 20" LCD monitor/TV (ran out too soon)
$14.94 512MB SanDisk CF or SD (got it)
$59.94 Logitech® cordless Desktop Laser MX 3000 mouse/keyboard (got it)
$4.98 Logitech® Quickcam Chat (didn't bother)
Staples was a little unprepared for the crowds. I think they've never seen this amount of people before. They were understocked on available USB drives and memory cards, and were running back and forth to their inventory closet bringing out new boxes. Someone stole the vouchers for the premium items, so I have no idea if or when they were sold. Then a fight broke out between two shoppers. Yes, this was Staples. A fight in Staples. Hard to believe.
By the time we finished with Staples, we were pretty tired so we decided to skip any more shopping madness. We could have tried CompUSA (which actually opened at MIDNIGHT), Fry's Electronics (someone said it was like molasses there) or Office Depot (which did have a $29.99 1GB USB drive).
We made a quick stop at SportMart which happened to have some good deals (40-50% off on athletic and outdoor clothing) and no crowds.
I do Black Friday's for the experience as well as the deals. It's fun to research who's selling what and what time to go there. Unfortunately too many other people have the same idea, so unless you bring alot of friends and arrive 2 hours early, you're at a disadvantage. I'll rely on the Internet to find my best deals-- without being a ringside spectator.
November 26, 2005
Farewell Inspiron 8200
It's time to say goodbye to an old friend.
I ordered my Dell Inspiron 8200 in Jan 2003 (from Dell's Refurb Outlet) before a business trip to the UK and Netherlands. Since then, it's been a constant workhorse for graphics, video and my company's digital signage software where I worked on customer projects & taught training classes (sometimes both at the same time).
I've taken it on countless trips including cross country to Exton,PA, Japan, New Zealand and Chile. It's taken it's fair share of beatings, and has a few missing plastic bits to show for it.
Recently it started behaving strange. First there were sudden crashes and lockups. After checking every wiring connection inside and double-checking the CPU heat sink, I took out one of the RAM chips which seemed to settle things down. Then about 2 weeks later it showed it was running on battery even when plugged in. A day later... dead. No POST. Nothing.
I read a bunch of user forums and found similar issues, but no consistent causes. Some claim theirs was defective out of the box, some said a few weeks. I think after almost 3 years of constant use my reason is just wear and tear.
I'll still keep trying to figure it out, but not at the expense of mobile computing. I've already placed an order for a new (not refurbished) Inspiron 9300. I'll post an update on that after it arrives in the next couple weeks.
R.I.P. Inspiron 8200
I ordered my Dell Inspiron 8200 in Jan 2003 (from Dell's Refurb Outlet) before a business trip to the UK and Netherlands. Since then, it's been a constant workhorse for graphics, video and my company's digital signage software where I worked on customer projects & taught training classes (sometimes both at the same time).
I've taken it on countless trips including cross country to Exton,PA, Japan, New Zealand and Chile. It's taken it's fair share of beatings, and has a few missing plastic bits to show for it.
Recently it started behaving strange. First there were sudden crashes and lockups. After checking every wiring connection inside and double-checking the CPU heat sink, I took out one of the RAM chips which seemed to settle things down. Then about 2 weeks later it showed it was running on battery even when plugged in. A day later... dead. No POST. Nothing.
I read a bunch of user forums and found similar issues, but no consistent causes. Some claim theirs was defective out of the box, some said a few weeks. I think after almost 3 years of constant use my reason is just wear and tear.
I'll still keep trying to figure it out, but not at the expense of mobile computing. I've already placed an order for a new (not refurbished) Inspiron 9300. I'll post an update on that after it arrives in the next couple weeks.
R.I.P. Inspiron 8200
September 17, 2005
Nokia 6820
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The email client is not as good as the one I downloaded to my 6610. That was by a company called Reqwireless. Unfortunately they are no longer selling it and I can't move it to my new phone. Too bad.
I bought the phone directly from Nokia to get a $150 rebate, and to take advantage of number portability. I would have purchased from Amazon, but they don't have a portability arrangement for Cingular.
The downside of buying from Nokia was that the phone came with factory default settings, not set up for any particular provider. I had to go to a web page to install the Cingular settings for email, browsing, messaging, etc. It took a few tries, but I think I got everthing going.
The phone gets reception just about everywhere, just not good reception. I always seem to have just one or two bars.
 Overall I really like the phone. It works well and functions perfectly. Recently I was checking email with the phone keyboard open and call came in. I was able to answer it with speaker phone, talk, then hang up and continue reading email. That kind of smooth functionality I have only seen in few products, like Nokia's. |
The camera is not high quality, but fine for taking quick snaps when you don't have your real camera handy.
I was seriously considering the Treo, but it's still expensive even with discounts or rebates. Also, I already have a Palm Zire 72. If I didn't have that, I would have been more likely to go for the Treo.
I have both my laptop and Palm able to dial up to the Internet via the phone. That was useful recently when moving offices and our internet was not set up for several days. It's not terribly fast, but it works.
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