Luke warm Compaq900Z Mobile athlon thoroughbred 1500 notebook for 724 + taxUpdate:link to AMD notebook discussion forum

[Torghn]

bump for a nice laptop

 

[DanJ]

So tempting....so what we have now is:

1199 - 75 (try to get shipping waived by ordering in B&M) - 300(online coupon for BTO) - 150 Staples rebate (coming out Monday) - $50 (printable coupon) - $30 (coupon used at kiosk, your mileage may vary) + tax (varies, we'll say 6%) = $629.64

That look right?

 

[Tot]

Edited for content

 

[BlackCatt]

It looks right to me...

 

[Bfavre444]

What is Tot talking about?

 

[BlackCatt]

He is talking about...

Edited for content

Whatever that means... I have no idea what he was talking about before... he was referring to something about using your computer responsibly or something... Friends don't let friends Drink and Type...

 

[Tot]

Have anyone tried using the phone to order and succesfully apply the 50, 30 coupon and also maybe gotten the shipping waived?


I have one concern, I have dealt with Staple for so many eons and I know that they are good for rebates up to 80bucks. But I am a little troubled by the fact that this Sunday they are going to have a 150 rebate for laptops? If they decide to invoke their "offer not valid with coupons ect" then my 150 would be screwed big time.

I am thinking that I would take the staples coupon and then the compaq rebate, which would sound alot safer then the 150 staples rebate.

 

[BlackCatt]

Is phone ordering an option with the laptop? I suppose it would be, since they don't want to lose business if someone didn't have a Staples in their town, or internet access... Maybe this is how I could order the 802.11b multiport adapter.

Tot, I am with you. I don't know about waiting for that $150. It is $50 more than the compaq rebate, and there is always that chance that you could possibly get both the $150 (staples) and $100 (compaq), could you imagine . Oh the decisions...

 

[Tot]

Bfavre444
Senior Member


I was leaning toward this NVR23 before I saw that amazing deal for compaqs at staples. So I'm looking at the compaq 900Z at staples. It has the IGP 320M chipset and it's supposed to have USB 2.0 on the southbridge as per a review by anandtech of the 900Z, but the specs at hp.com says only USB 1.1.

Also, I need firewire too on a laptop. The 900Z specs say no firewire, but the anandtech review shows clearly there's a 4-pin firewire port. But a 4-pin port is useless since the 6-pin end of the cable is used to plug into a computer!! And a 4-pin to 4-pin cable costs a lot more. So now I need to get a 3-port firewire + USB 2.0 PCMCIA combo card. Jeez, the trouble I need to go through for peripheral connectivity.

Hey Bfavre,

Maybe you should look at the 2800T or 1500T, those two should have what you are looking for, firewire and usb2.0. Whats more you also get a better graphic card and a lower price then the sony I believe(after the 300coupons and 100rebates that is). But in anycase if you are an AMD only supporter then maybe the sony is a good choice. In terms of weight, 2800T is lighter.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Bfavre444]

I did look at the 1500T with the P4. Though I like AMDs better, I don't mind getting P4s. But in this case where the cpus are mobile, the P4 has 2 speed modes with SpeedStep. The 2.2Ghz on the P4 only runs at 2.2GHz on AC power, and switches to 1.2GHz on battery power. So I'm gonna have to go with the 900Z with the Athlon 2000 since AMD PowerNow adjusts clock speed smoothly and has many more steps than just 2 steps of the P4.

So instead of running at 1.2GHz on battery for the P4, the Athlon 2000 will be able to run at for example 1200, 1400, 1500, 1800, 2000 on battery power depending on the application.

However, firewire and USB 2.0 on the 1500T do look tempting. (if only it used the Athlon!!)

 

[smmorrison]

quick question, are the cpus in the 900z desktop cpus or are they mobiles with stepping? I couldnt tell from the listing.
thanks

 

[Bfavre444]

Of course they're mobile cpus. Compaq is a big company so they use real mobile cpus. Only no-name companies use desktop cpus in their notebooks.

 

[BlackCatt]

I found this in their circular this week... Online its in their weekly specials on their website...

RECOMMENDED COMPAQ BUILD YOUR OWN NOTEBOOK INCLUDES: AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ? 256MB RAM ? 20.0GB Hard Drive ? DVD Drive ? 14.1" XGA TFT Screen ? 56K Modem/10/100 LAN ? 8-Cell Lithium-ion Battery ? $1199 - $100 mail-in rebate - $200 instant savings = $899 Compaq 900Z, Shipping included Shipped directly to you from the manufacturer within 7-14 days. #494276

What do you think, is the $200 ontop of the $300?

 

[Triggerhappy007]

BTW, when does the $300 off coupon expire? Hopefully they don't replace the $300 coupon with the $150 rebate.

 

[Tot]

Originally posted by: BlackCatt
I found this in their circular this week... Online its in their weekly specials on their website...

RECOMMENDED COMPAQ BUILD YOUR OWN NOTEBOOK INCLUDES: AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ? 256MB RAM ? 20.0GB Hard Drive ? DVD Drive ? 14.1" XGA TFT Screen ? 56K Modem/10/100 LAN ? 8-Cell Lithium-ion Battery ? $1199 - $100 mail-in rebate - $200 instant savings = $899 Compaq 900Z, Shipping included Shipped directly to you from the manufacturer within 7-14 days. #494276

What do you think, is the $200 ontop of the $300?

A link please. Arg.... I cant find the circular ya talking about.

Thanks.

 

[BlackCatt]

Linky...

 

[Tot]

Nice, try ordering in store and then also use ur coupon and you will have like a super hot deal!!!!! Of course you got to upgrade some stuff to use the coupon. In anycase if you can apply the coupon together with the instant discount plus the 100 rebate(presumably from compaq) then you got urself another 200 bucks off.
XXXXXX I highly doubt that it will work. XXXXX

Stick with the current deal. Unless you have a receipt in ur hand that does show your success all that we can do is guess. And if you do make it then you are probably one of the Greatest Ferengi master ever to walk the Hot deal forum.

YMMV

Chill out.

 

[Bfavre444]

But how do you apply the $200 at the store? There's no printable $200 or anything or coupon code. Is the the $200 supposed to be combinable with $300, seems too stupid on staples' part to do $500 off.

Also, can I pay cash for BTO laptops at the store? (even though it's deliver later)

 

[BlackCatt]

Originally posted by: Bfavre444
But how do you apply the $200 at the store? There's no printable $200 or anything or coupon code.

Don't know. But thats not my problem, they are the ones who advertised it as a "Instant Savings".

Of course I don't think they really care what I think.

 

[TJ22]

I bet the $300 coupon is invalid by sunday.

 

[Tot]

Bump.

By Rossman.

Here's a few reviews for both laptops to help make your decision a little easier. I must admit that I prefer Dell's 30 day money back guarantee and tech support over Compaq but the Compaq might be the better machine ... oh these touch life changing decisions we Ferengi's have to make!



compaq presario 900


What is the opinion of other users of 2650 inspiron, the review rated it as a worst then P3 performer.



2650 SE threadDell inspiron 2650 review

 

[BlackCatt]

Is the $163 worth the 512MB ram (2 dimms) upgrade?

 

[Krazi]

Originally posted by: Triggerhappy007
BTW, when does the $300 off coupon expire? Hopefully they don't replace the $300 coupon with the $150 rebate.

The $300 coupon expires on 11/2 according to the website.

Can someone PM me the $50 coupon code and a link to the printable coupon(s). I can't get to the needed sites at work :|

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Bfavre444
But how do you apply the $200 at the store? There's no printable $200 or anything or coupon code. Is the the $200 supposed to be combinable with $300, seems too stupid on staples' part to do $500 off.

Also, can I pay cash for BTO laptops at the store? (even though it's deliver later)

Yes, as long as you order the BTO laptop at the Staples B&M store using their kiosk ... if you order online at Staples.com you obviously have to pay with a cc online but if you order at the store you pay at the register, not at the kiosk ... so they'll accept checks, cash and cc.

I would recommend paying with cc since most cc's offer a 1 year extended warranty protection plan.

 

[Bfavre444]

Thanks once again Rossman. Are these kiosks basically computer terminal that show staples.com? Could I enter the $30 code directly at the terminal?