BLACK FRIDAY at Aldi Foods, 2.66GHz computer! $899

[Gilby]

Gee, fleshconsumed, seems you're nothing but a worthless crapper.

You're pretty stupid too. Or maybe just ignorant. But take a good look at the specs on that Microcenter machine you posted and compare to the Aldi machine you posted. Heck, even take a quick look. You'll see that the Microcenter machine is a far worse deal. That is, if you have enough knowledge to figure that out...or can, say, read. With you, I'm not so sure.

 

[bonk102]

quick question, does that $899 price include one of the two monitors that was shown in the ad too or no?? someone please let me know

 

[m0ssie]

don't think so. In the past they have sold the monitor separate.

 

[bonk102]

damn, i was really hoping it'd be a package deal, oh well, i'm still debating pulling the trigger on a dell 8250 anyway, i dont need any more options at this point, just more $$ to spend

 

[Slikkster]

What's the deal with their website? Been down for awhile now.

 

[rbb]

The flyer is up at the website. Go to Aldifoods

The computer is $899. 19" flatscreen $179. 17" LCD $399.

RBB

 

[rbb]

RTFS! A "quick" comparison.
Medion - 2.66GHz 810 - 2.53 GHz - Advantage: Medion
Medion - 120 gig HD - 810 - 60 gig - Advantage: Medion
Medion - 256 megs RAM 810 - 512 megs PC 2100 - Advantage: 810 - but, somebody step in here - isn't the memory in the medion faster - 333 MHZ
Video - Medion GeForce4 8X AGP TI4200 w/ 128megs 810 - Onboard AGP w/SIS chipset, 32 megs of shared memory - Advantage: Medion (this was a no brainer...)
CDRW - Medion 40X12X48 Medion 48X12X48 - Advantage 810
Sound - Medion 5.1 Surround 810 - Soundblaster compatible Advantage: Medion
Mouse - Medion: MS Intellimouse 810: Generic - Advantage: Medion
Firewire: Medion: Yes 810: No Advantage: Medion
TV out - Medion: Yes 810: No - Advantage: Medion
Software: Medion: Cyberlink extras, MS Works Suite 810: PowerDVd and not a whole lot more.

So, to recap: Is it worth the $90 to get an extra .13 GHz of processor speed, double the hard drive capacity, a video card that is so much better, and better sound - Yup.

RBB

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Uhmmm, didn't bother to read all 4 pages - would take too long...

IMO this is not a hot deal, Microcenter offers PC with similar specs for 810 - add $100 for a 17Inch monitor and you'll get the same price as ALDI's...

Now, what was hot, was that laptop equipped with 2.0Ghz P4, 512Mb ram, and 15" screen for only $1500 six months ago... that was truly hot...

Also, did anyone notice that MEDION advertises its PC being equipped with 120Gb Seagate drive? Well, the problem is that Seagate does not make 120Gb IDE drives yet... And frankly nobody knows when they will become available... smells fishy...

 

[Busie23]

I took a drive by a local Aldi and found that they had a huge poster up showing the computer, monitor, speakers, camera, etc. Is anyone else seeing this? I wonder if they all put up the poster and then only a few select stores actually get the pc? Anyone have any ideas.

 

[unclebud]

"A mini-cdrw, with a thin-flexible plastic case, fits in my pocket and hold a lot more."
yes it does. costs a lot more also.
thanks to the poster of this deal. i'm going to send one of my friends' mother this flyer. she's been wanting a new computer, but he wanted me to recommend something he could play games on

 

[MontyBurns]

I still think this is a great deal at $899. Those are all quality components. That should be one fast computer.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

I just don't want to have to get up at an ungodly hour and wait in line while I freeze or wet myself.....

 

[straubs]

This is a good deal. Don't have any money though...

 

[dakels]

RTFS! A "quick" comparison.
Medion - 2.66GHz 810 - 2.53 GHz - Advantage: Medion
Medion - 120 gig HD - 810 - 60 gig - Advantage: Medion
Medion - 256 megs RAM 810 - 512 megs PC 2100 - Advantage: 810 - but, somebody step in here - isn't the memory in the medion faster - 333 MHZ
Video - Medion GeForce4 8X AGP TI4200 w/ 128megs 810 - Onboard AGP w/SIS chipset, 32 megs of shared memory - Advantage: Medion (this was a no brainer...)
CDRW - Medion 40X12X48 Medion 48X12X48 - Advantage 810
Sound - Medion 5.1 Surround 810 - Soundblaster compatible Advantage: Medion
Mouse - Medion: MS Intellimouse 810: Generic - Advantage: Medion
Firewire: Medion: Yes 810: No Advantage: Medion
TV out - Medion: Yes 810: No - Advantage: Medion
Software: Medion: Cyberlink extras, MS Works Suite 810: PowerDVd and not a whole lot more.
So, to recap: Is it worth the $90 to get an extra .13 GHz of processor speed, double the hard drive capacity, a video card that is so much better, and better sound - Yup.
RBB

-The Medions RAM is 333 which even at 256mb as compared to the 512, I'd rather have the 256mb at 333mhz. Most of the DDR RAM is about the same price range for different speeds but the higher speed DDR makes HUGE performance differences on super fast CPU's like the 2.66ghz. I'd just buy another 256mb chip.
-The 2.66ghz CPU is a bit better but also much more expensive.
-The CDRW speeds are really of no matter. I'd actually probably take the 40x cuz its most likely a better made brand.
-Heres the real kicker tho. The Ti4200 128mb 8x AGP vid card over the SiS built in crap. We all know the Built in video is absolute garbage and will handicap the machine as much as 40% of the CPU clock cycles. The amazing thing to me is that Medion decides to not only put in an actual AGP video card, but a brand new top of the line video card that most of us would want to purchase anyways. This video card sells for about $185 - even on pricewatch. Its probably a $250 retail. Very cool. I was looking to buy this card seperately but since I am in the market for a comp, I may check this one out. I wonder if the MB is an 8x AGP? That would just be the cherry on this sweet deal.

O yea and as much as I wanted to put together a system of my own. If this is selling for $900, it will be very hard to create a comparable machine for that price. The P4 2.66 and MB would cost me over $400-450 alone. If its AGP 8x + Firewire which is seems, then the P4 + MB would be like $500. Then a case and decent PSU for $100, RAM $90, Vid card $185, 120gig drive $120-140, burner $50, DVD $35, Win XP $100, kb+mouse $40, NIC and modem $40 total, the audio and software, etc etc etc

We're talking over $1300 to build this myself. And thats the lowest prices from cheapo sites like priceline. The fact that this is warranted and complete also makes a big difference. The components seem very nice. Its not one of those systems you buy and gut it out replaceing everything, especially the video. Wonder how many units are going to the stores? Like how many per store.

 

[KDaver]

The Site has been updated.. $899 is confirmed on the web page..

http://www.aldifoods.com/special_purchases.htm

Along with a lot of other items..

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

How many is each store supposed to have?

 

[AgentDib]

This is a pretty good deal on a system with a lot of extras. That being said my roommate got a 2.66 system for $399 from a dell deal in september. While it doesn't have TV-Out and a few of the other smaller things (and he bought a 512 MB stick of ram for it) I'd be inclined to recommend that route.. $500 buys a lot of extras. You may also get a little better customer service from dell than medion just based on location.

The downside to the dell deals is that they usually involved $100 to $200 worth of MIR so if you don't like them that may make this Medion system a little hotter in comparison.

O yea and as much as I wanted to put together a system of my own. If this is selling for $900, it will be very hard to create a comparable machine for that price. The P4 2.66 and MB would cost me over $400-450 alone. If its AGP 8x + Firewire which is seems, then the P4 + MB would be like $500. Then a case and decent PSU for $100, RAM $90, Vid card $185, 120gig drive $120-140, burner $50, DVD $35, Win XP $100, kb+mouse $40, NIC and modem $40 total, the audio and software, etc etc etc

I have to disagree with this. If you were to use the exact parts and buy them retail it may be true but part of the advantage to building your own system is getting parts that are the best deals. I build an AMD system that will hold it's ground against this one in FPS framerate for about $600 including the p910 monitor i picked up for it.

AGP 8x shows very little difference in framerate so far and it probably won't be for quite a while that it starts to make much of a difference. The Kt-333 chipset is still outperforming most of the Kt-400 ones oddly enough. Of course not everybody wants to put their own computer together and that is what dell deals and this deal would be for. Not crapping on this deal in any way but I do not think that this deal is the cheapest way to go if you have the knowledge / time available to piece your own system together.

 

[Busie23]

I passed by two other Aldis and both had the big poster in the window. Last year none of the stores I went to had teh posters and no stores in my state hadthe pcs at all. Does this mean that these are going to be in a lot more of the Aldis then last time around?

 

[MontyBurns]

All of the "build-it-yourselfers" are assuming that you can repeat various one-of-a-kind deals we all took advantage of over the years. That's ridiculous. If you can build this same system, TODAY, with the same components for less, by all means do so. I'm sure you can get a lot of people here to pay you to build them one.

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: AgentDib
This is a pretty good deal on a system with a lot of extras. That being said my roommate got a 2.66 system for $399 from a dell deal in september. While it doesn't have TV-Out and a few of the other smaller things (and he bought a 512 MB stick of ram for it) I'd be inclined to recommend that route.. $500 buys a lot of extras. You may also get a little better customer service from dell than medion just based on location.

Was this posted here? If so, can you please direct me to this thread? I couldn't find it in a search.

I looked at current Dell deals posted on here and the closed I could find was:
Dimension 8250 desktop P4-2.4GHz/512MB DDR/120GB Hard Drive/64MB GF4 MX/Speakers $798 shipped

That computer isn't even as good as the Medion one, and of course you're dealing with $200+ in rebates through Dell. That said, I'm *very* interested in seeing how your friend got a 2.66 for $399 shipped from Dell. Maybe I didn't see that deal...

And does not having TV-Out and a "few of the other smaller things" include:
-smaller hard drive
-slower memory
-64mb video instead of 128mb 8x AGP
-is it even a non-MX geforce?
-no firewire
-no redundant ports on the front
-smaller hard drive

Those "smaller things" all add up to a big difference. Why does everyone keep posting how X deal is better, then not include any specs on why their deal is better? Hasn't that happened like 4 times now in this thread?

 

[MontyBurns]

Especially when you figure that the CPU [with heatsink/fan], Motherboard and WinXP alone are going to cost you $500 minimum. You're looking at $150 for the 4200 (*128 meg*), so now we're up to $650.

So let's start right there, on just those components. How are you getting that for $299 or $399?

 

[sbpd]

Each store gets about 20 units of each item.

 

[no0b]

Great deal going to try to get in on this deal. Wish me luck, I surely am not going to camp over night at the p-lot maybe at max get to the place 15min or at the opening time.

 

[1Cheap2Crazy]

Originally posted by: ttalkman


I purchased 2 great computers from Dell for $200 and $300 respectively.
That included shipping and tax. One came with a 3 year warranty.


Really!? If so, I too would like to know the specs fo the computers you bought and what year. Did you get some sort of Student/employee discount, etc...

I would love to be able to upgrade my computer, but when I figure in the costs: $100 for 120 HD, $75 for MB, $100 for CPU(at least a 2GHz), $75 for an Antec case, we're talking $300-$400 easily, and that's without a $75 graphics card. Also, I have the full version of XP Pro so I don't need to spend $200 on the OS, but if I can get a brand new Dell for $300, to hell with making my own box.

So please, do tell us how you did it, don't be a tease.

This computer seems like and excellent value, but still to much for me, so it might as well be $9,000.

 

[jeepers94]

First,the DELL 8250 uses RDRAM not ddr! Yes,I would rather have a Dell,but this machine is a very good buy.I paid about $1500 for a similar 8250,with a Ti4600 video card.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

I'm trying to evaluate the chances of getting one of these w/o camping out overnight.

Assuming this is a worthwhile deal, which it appears to be:

We have to consider other than us Anandtechers and members of other forums who are following this deal, do the people who shop regularly at Aldi and see the poster really understand what kind of deal this is? The elderly folks I saw in the one store I went to check out, didn't look like they would even be interested in a computer. After all cheap food doesn't cost as much as a $800 computer.

Secondly, do the Aldi stores in less technologically or financially challenged areas have customers who can afford $899 plus tax?
( I ask this cause it might be more worthwhile to stake out Aldis in these areas for a better chance of scoring one of the computers)

Thirdly, since I'm sure these computers are already in the storage area of the stores or will be tomorrow, what are the chances of a manager (incentive not withstanding) letting you purchase one prior to 11/29?


Any thoughts, ideas or clever comments appreciated...