The only thing I wanted from Staples was the LCD. *I* was under the impression that the LCD in-question was the Envision as well. Made sense considering that Staples is usually the king of Envision sales. Well, we got there, and I made my way back to the center of the store, where all the good sh*t seemed to be (this is the store in Tyson's Corner, VA). I talked to one CSR, and he said they thought they only had TWO in-stock. Sure enough, they had TWO in stock of the Envision. So I thought I was lucky and I'd get one of the only two. THEN another CSR points out that the LCD with the rebate is the NEC 1545V. So after about two different confirmations, I got handed one of about 20 or so that they had. (Lesson: Tyson's Corner Staples is STOCKED)
I had come armed with a few copies of the Black Friday-only coupons I had seen on FW. Still under the impression that this was 299.99 -100MIR = 199.99, I had the 50 off 300 codes specifically. BOY, what a surprise *I* got when I figured out it was 249.99 stock! Anyway, I made two peoples' Christmas' even merrier, since I gave both coupons out to people I saw had a LOT of stuff or very little but EXPENSIVE things. Why keep them? They wouldn't do ME any good. Plus I'm pretty sure I've got a few hundred years in Purgatory, so might as well build up some credit towards the afterlife by being generous and helping out my fellow man.
Anyway, I did come prepared, though. I had a 5 dollar Staples Bus. Rewards check and a 15 off 75 "Savings Card" in addition to the 50 off the NEC LCD Business Rewards coupon. The CSR passed all of them through, and some of the extra 20 dollars' savings was negated by my mother needing dry erase board supplies. So all told, for the display at least:
249.99
- 50 Coupon
- 50 MIR
- 20 Coupon/Check
- tax exemption (hey, it's legit since it's going into a classroom! )
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~110 bucks for a 15" LCD display AR.
I was kinda psyched about the LCD being NEC because I thought the display might sport DVI, but it doesn't. But who cares - it's a perfectly decent display for less than most 17" CRTs! What's sad is that by this time next year, 15" LCDs will sport DVI connections as a matter of course, and probably be 150 WITHOUT rebates. Of course, in retrospect, I should have run back to the middle of the store and picked up the Memorex scanner to go over 300. THEN the LCD would have been ~60 bucks AR. Something tells me Staples Corporate would have kicked that, though.