$399 laptop Compaq

[JMJ85044]

I called my Staples and they wont accept a computer printed coupon from OM. I decided to pick up the computer today and go back in tomorrow to get a price match but did one better. I bought it on the Staples web site and stacked coupons to get an additional $49 off. Great deal! Thanks OP.

 

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: JMJ85044
I called my Staples and they wont accept a computer printed coupon from OM. I decided to pick up the computer today and go back in tomorrow to get a price match but did one better. I bought it on the Staples web site and stacked coupons to get an additional $49 off. Great deal! Thanks OP.

That makes no sense, why would you stack coupons if you're just going to go back to the store and get a price match to $400 anyways?

Online, it is $600 because it hasn't gone on sale yet, stacking $49 worth of coupons would bring the price you paid for it to $551 online. Tomorrow, when you go in and get a price match, they will just credit you for $151, which brings the price to $400.

What would be awesome is if you're able to use a coupon once it hits $400 tomorrow to make it even cheaper. I printed out the Office Max $100 off coupon, the slickdeals link somebody posted earlier had reports of numerous people using the coupon at Staples. Yes, they are not suppose to accept printed coupon codes from competitors, but if they don't know you printed it, they will take it.

I doubt Staples will take this OM $100 coupon tomorrow since the laptop will be on sale for $400 tomorrow anyways. Getting it for $300 would be a steal, but I doubt that will happen.

I'm going to go down to Staples later and buy one, then get it price matched tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will go back and try to get another one, but at $300 using the $100 OM coupon and see what happens. There is no point using the $100 OM coupon now, I would only pay $500 instead of $600 today, then tomorrow when I walk in to get a price match, they would only credit me with $100.

 

[beat mania]

Yeah, you're just wasting a coupon using it today.
Whether to take OM coupon is up to the manager on duty I think. I've both used OM coupons and was denied at the same store before.

 

[JMJ85044]

Staples told me they price match the REGULAR price to the SALE price - NOT the final price. Coupons don't play any part of their price matching. They will price match the $599 vs $399. They will hand me the $200 difference yet I only paid $350 for it. ($399 less $49 in coupons)

 

[Jawadali]

Thanks for the reply, VinDSL.

I've heard that there are only a few major laptop OEMs, and that Compal is one of them. It's good to know that models of this particular design are durable. I figured we could download motherboard/graphics drivers from the nVidia, but sometimes it's hard to find specialized drivers for things like hot keys.

 

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: JMJ85044
Staples told me they price match the REGULAR price to the SALE price - NOT the final price. Coupons don't play any part of their price matching. They will price match the $599 vs $399. They will hand me the $200 difference yet I only paid $350 for it. ($399 less $49 in coupons)

Hmm, I wonder. I read this at their website....but it's about price matching to another company's price.

How do Staples coupons and rebates contribute to the Staples price?
When calculating a price match, we?ll deduct any available Staples coupons, Staples Rebates (instant, easy or mail?in) and manufacturer rebates from the Staples price to arrive at a net price. For example, if you buy an item from us for $100 and we offer a $20 instant rebate, the net price is $80. If another company?s price is $80 or more, we will not match the price. Another example: if you buy an item from us for $159 and you have a $30 coupon, the net price is $129. If another company?s price is $125, your price match would be $4.
http://www.staples.com/sbd/con...ing/general_match.html

I'm on the new laptop right now, paid $636 after taxes, tomorrow I'll go back and get the price match which will be $424 after taxes....so I guess they'll credit me $212.

I found an online coupon code that takes $50 off the price of anything $500 or more on the Staples website, I applied it and it worked, but there is no way to buy it online and pick it up from the store, at least from what I could see. I guess you would need to buy it online, then once you receive it, take it to the store and get the price match, would that even work though?


JMJ85044, what were the coupon codes you used and were you able to buy it on the Staples website and tell it you wanted to pick it up from your local store? Or did you just buy it online, and once you receive it in the mail you'll go to the store and get a price match? I don't see any option to do a local store pick-up. Thanks.

 

[JMJ85044]

This isnt a "price match" but more of a "price guarantee." The price of the lap top at other stores have nothing to do with the price at Staples.

I bought the coupon codes off ebay. I purchased the lap tops on the Staples site to have delivered to my home on Tuesday. My local stores had them in stock but I wanted to be able to use the coupon codes which were only good on line. There was no option to order on line and pick up at my local store.

 

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: JMJ85044
This isnt a "price match" but more of a "price guarantee." The price of the lap top at other stores have nothing to do with the price at Staples.

I bought the coupon codes off ebay. I purchased the lap tops on the Staples site to have delivered to my home on Tuesday. My local stores had them in stock but I wanted to be able to use the coupon codes which were only good on line. There was no option to order on line and pick up at my local store.

Yeah, I saw the coupon codes listed on e-bay. The best one I found was "$50 off anything more than $500."

Let me make sure I understand this, so you buy the laptop at $550 ($600-$50 coupon code) off the Staples website, after you receive the laptop in the mail - go to the Staples physical store location, and show them your e-mail receipt, they will see that you paid $550 for the laptop - but will credit you $200 and not $150 because the difference between the orginal price and sale price is $200? Thus making the total price paid for the laptop $350 before taxes.

How sure are you this will work? Have you done this before? I would think they would just credit you $150 after seeing that you paid $550 online. I wish somebody else here could collaborate this. If this works, I'll have to return the laptop since I already bought it, buy it online, and then get a price match from the store.

JMJ85044, somehow I just doubt they will "price match the REGULAR price to the SALE price." I bet the Staples guy you talked to didn't know what he was talking about. Did you ask them how coupon codes factor in?

 

[cyberkost]

Originally posted by: deptrai
Anyone know if this can be upgrade to 2GB of ram? If so, which should be compatible with this?

The description says "Memory Expandable to 3GB", so it may even have 3 SODIMM slots. Vista is gonna crawl on it though with 1GB, portion of which is given away to video ...

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: gigahertz20

What do you mean, I've got a snail mail $ 100 off any clearance, on sale or regular price laptop/desktop at OM that expires 5/24/08. It's an amazing opportunity if you can find anything. That's the big one alot of people are talking about. Actually it appears to be the same one. Look at teh post a few up from ours.....

There is no reason why they would take the Office Max $100 coupon for the laptop, what incentive do they have to accept it, it's not like they won't be able to sell these laptops.


Are you guys going to show up first thing tomorrow morning to try and get one of these? Or can we go today and buy it, then tomorrow when they go on sale, get a price match for the lower price?

Anybody?

I bought this lappy today at Staples for $599. I will return tomorrow and receive a credit for $200. It sure beats showing up early.

I always buy HOT items the day before the sale. Any large store will refund the difference after the sale actually starts.

 

[gigahertz20]

Alright guys, I have an update, what JMJ85044 was talking about is actually true.

I ordered it through the Staples website for $600, applied a $50 coupon I found online (you can buy them through e-bay or search for one like I did), tax was $33 for me, the online total came to $583.


I called up Staples customer service and talked to a woman and asked her what would happen if I bought a laptop online that is $600, used a $50 coupon code to make it $550 before taxes, and the laptop went on sale the next day for $400. She told me they would subtract $200 from the price I paid online since that is the difference between the original price ($600) and the sale price ($400). She stated, "It's basically like if you went to the store and bought it for $400 and applied a $50 dollar discount."

She told me to just call back tomorrow, and they will give me the $200 discount over the phone as long as my Staples store has them in stock. If they don't have them in stock, then you won't get the discount I guess.

So before taxes, the laptop will be $350.

 

[ghost recon88]

Originally posted by: gigahertz20
Alright guys, I have an update, what JMJ85044 was talking about is actually true.

I ordered it through the Staples website for $600, applied a $50 coupon I found online (you can buy them through e-bay or search for one like I did), tax was $33 for me, the online total came to $583.


I called up Staples customer service and talked to a woman and asked her what would happen if I bought a laptop online that is $600, used a $50 coupon code to make it $550 before taxes, and the laptop went on sale the next day for $400. She told me they would subtract $200 from the price I paid online since that is the difference between the original price ($600) and the sale price ($400). She stated, "It's basically like if you went to the store and bought it for $400 and applied a $50 dollar discount."

She told me to just call back tomorrow, and they will give me the $200 discount over the phone as long as my Staples store has them in stock. If they don't have them in stock, then you won't get the discount I guess.

So before taxes, the laptop will be $350.

Dang, I might have to do that.

 

[JMJ85044]

Originally posted by: gigahertz20
Alright guys, I have an update, what JMJ85044 was talking about is actually true.

And here all you guys thought i was just a dumb blonde. : )

 

[JMJ85044]

Originally posted by: gigahertz20

She told me to just call back tomorrow, and they will give me the $200 discount over the phone as long as my Staples store has them in stock. If they don't have them in stock, then you won't get the discount I guess.

This is good info but weather they have them or stock shouldn't make a difference. Remember, this isn't a "price match" to another store chain, its basically a "price guarantee" and if they give me a problem, I will argue that. They guarantee if the price goes down within 14 days, they will refund the difference. I will call Staples.com first thing in the morning. Thanks giga for the info.

 

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: JMJ85044

Originally posted by: gigahertz20

She told me to just call back tomorrow, and they will give me the $200 discount over the phone as long as my Staples store has them in stock. If they don't have them in stock, then you won't get the discount I guess.

This is good info but weather they have them or stock shouldn't make a difference. Remember, this isn't a "price match" to another store chain, its basically a "price guarantee" and if they give me a problem, I will argue that. They guarantee if the price goes down within 14 days, they will refund the difference. I will call Staples.com first thing in the morning. Thanks giga for the info.

Yeah, same here, I plan on calling Staples first thing in the morning as well. I'm just going to return the other one I bought, no sense of having 2 laptops. I was thinking of buying several of them and selling them on e-bay, you could probably make a profit, but who knows....you could end up losing money on all of them as well. I've watched several laptop auctions and it seems like you could definitely make money selling these on e-bay, but I really don't want to hassle with that.

 

[Stoneburner]

the deal appears to be listed online and it says there's a $146 dollar instant coupon but it's not working. Is there a coupon code i need?

 

[jlee]

Code 34487 is good for $50 off $500, but the laptop is now listed online at $399.xx, so it won't work. I'm tempted to pick this up...don't have a laptop ATM.

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
the deal appears to be listed online and it says there's a $146 dollar instant coupon but it's not working. Is there a coupon code i need?

It should apply automatically once you've logged in.

 

[magomago]

in for 2....just got in and used the 50 of 500 coupon....

edit:

2 questions

a) can winXP actually be put on here? Some people were saying (at slickdeals) that with win vista and 2 gigs it is still slow; I'm thinking of putting a 2 gig stick to push it to three (got to have one open slot, right?) I read the comments, but someone only posted information for the touchpad, which isn't necessarily going to work for the laptop (he was just illustrating it is possible to use other manufacturers if it is a compal produced laptop)

b) what speed ddr2 ram to use? I see on AMD's website that this process runs at 1600Mhz but honestly I'm still on the old days where I can match up ram speed to the FSB of the processor. With Athlon64 it hasn't been that way in a long time so I never learned exactly how to match it. Which speed DDR2 should do it? Thanks =)

 

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
the deal appears to be listed online and it says there's a $146 dollar instant coupon but it's not working. Is there a coupon code i need?

Price is 547 with a 147 instance coupon ... making it 400. There's no special coupon for that.

 

[CalebRockeT]

in for one, my friend was also looking for a cheap laptop - thanks!

 

[gigahertz20]

I ordered the laptop online yesterday and applied the $50 online coupon code 34487, I called this morning and had them price match the laptop to the new sale price of $400.

The total for the laptop after taxes came to $379.80


I've been using the one I bought from the store yesterday before I knew about the online coupon code thing, and it works pretty good.

I stress tested it using Orthos Prime for 3 hours, no errors or anything. I did some memory and hard drive tests as well, going to torture test it later since you only have 14 days to return it.


The one thing I don't like is they don't include the original Vista Premium DVD, they do have a separate partion on the hard drive that includes a factory sent out image, so if you're computer was to completely crash you can just restore the computer to the factory default software and settings.

As usual, the laptop is also full of all kinds of AOL trialware bloatware and all kinds of other crap. I'm going to probably completely reformat this laptop and repartion it, they include the OEM Vista Premium Certification of Authenication sticker at the bottom of the laptop like most retail bought laptops and desktops, can I just install vista using this CD key? I'm not quite sure how it works, do I need an OEM version of Vista to install it using this CD key?

If any of you are like me, and want to do a clean install, I would suggest that you download Acronis True Image (I use Acronis) or Norton Ghost and create an image of the laptop before you screw with anything. If you completely format it, and it doesn't work right, then you can just install the image again to bring it back. The compaq website has all the specialized drivers for Windows Vista, and only 2 drivers for Windows XP, so I wouldn't suggest installing Windows XP on this.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...roduct=3694906&lang=en

 

[JMJ85044]

I called Staples this morning to get a price match on the one I bought yesterday. The scum wouldn't give me the addition $$ for the coupon. I argued with him and he said, "I've done 10 of these price matches this morning and that's the way it is. " He told me since there was a $149 instant coupon applied to this lap top, it would throw out any additional coupons. I just tried it using the $50 off $500 and sure enough, it wouldn't take it. Oh well....still not a bad deal.

 

[Rage187]

Got mine this morning. Thanks OP!

 

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: JMJ85044
I called Staples this morning to get a price match on the one I bought yesterday. The scum wouldn't give me the addition $$ for the coupon. I argued with him and he said, "I've done 10 of these price matches this morning and that's the way it is. " He told me since there was a $149 instant coupon applied to this lap top, it would throw out any additional coupons. I just tried it using the $50 off $500 and sure enough, it wouldn't take it. Oh well....still not a bad deal.

You can't give up after just talking with one person, you have to speak with multiple people. The number I called was 1-800-378-2753 and press 2 which is, help with my online order. Just tell them you ordered the laptop yesterday for $600 and applied a $50 coupon code, and now today the laptop went on sale for $400. They should do it.

 

[cyberkost]

Had exactly 1 person other than myself looking for this laptop here in Danbury, CT Staples. I think the local demand was underwhelming ... I ended up NOT getting one as the manager refused to honor OM $100 off $100 computer purchase coupon b/c it was an "internet coupon". It felt as if it'd work, has it been a Sunday newspaper coupon or something less "internet-like".