$250 laptop @ staples $299 -$50 coupon links working again

[Blackjack200]

To say the least I did not get one and will be calling Staples direct to find out what's going on.

Yeah, I didn't expect this level of gamesmanship from Staples and thought calling them to confirm stock was good enough. After what happened to me and hearing your story, next time I'm going to get the name of the salesperson, and make sure that they put one on hold for me.

 

[ZickZJ]

Currently working w/ an on-line chat associate who is trying to special order me one now.....

 

[ZickZJ]

Well I got one on order and it's getting shipped for free to me and should be here Wednesday.

So much for bonehead sale associates....

 

[Blackjack200]

Nicely done. I'll have to try that route next time.

 

[cholley]

they just need to unload them, so what if there margin killers, no worse that sitting on the until there clearance, take the revenue and get over it, the rest of the inventory at staples is very margin rich, fuck'em

 

[AMD K9]

Well I got one on order and it's getting shipped for free to me and should be here Wednesday.

So much for bonehead sale associates....

Were you able to get the $50 off coupon to be applied over the phone?

EDIT: Called and they don't accept gift cards for online/phone orders and I have about $240 and change on my cards. They checked the local store and there are 3 left so I will be there at 9am SHARP!

Ironic that I have run full circle and will basically be buying the same model I returned a year or so ago the CQ-210 only this has Windows 7 already whereas the one I returned I installed Win 7 beta at the time. It ran great, I just figured I'd get a better deal down the road. There really hasn't been a better deal in all that time except this may be $50 cheaper for about the same specs as that one IIRC was $339 after instant rebate and coupon.

 

[tracerbullet]

All stores out of stock in the Twin Cities, MN. Damn, I'd have gone out right now to get one.

 

[Blackjack200]

Posting from my $250 laptop. Works great once you clean all the shitware off it. I'm gonna try to get into some of the windows settings to speed it up even more (turn off aero, etc.)

Good looking screen, good keyboard and a nice finish. I'm really impressed, this is 10x better than a netbook.

 

[AMD K9]

Is it the same basic chassis and screen as the older Compaq CQ-60-210?

 

[BabyBear]

Shame don't have $250 burning a hole in my pocket. Have 3 stores near me "in stock" and 4 more "low stock". :'(

 

[Blackjack200]

Is it the same basic chassis and screen as the older Compaq CQ-60-210?

Not familiar, it has a textured chassis with a nice finish. It's no macbook or anything, but it's nicer than I expected for the price.

 

[AMD K9]

They had 4 in stock and on my way there I double checked, by calling the 800 number. They actually called the store as I was in transit to the store around 8:30AM before it opened. She talked to the store manager and he confirmed there were 4. I get there at 8:45am and wait till 9 when they opened the doors. He indeed had it and I asked if I could get 2 with the same $50 off coupon and he said no I need a separate coupon for each computer/laptop (even though the coupon doesn't specifically say 1 coupon per purchase). I asked him if he could just scan it twice and he said no. I should have asked him if I could make a copy of the coupon in store and just use that, but I am assuming he would have balked at that. I left telling him I wanted him to HOLD the other one as I would be back. He said no problem. I had to drive 10 miles back just to make a copy of the coupon again and return just because this tool of a store manager couldn't just make a copy in store.... He did sort of give me the hard sell on accessories and extended warranty to which I declined. He mentioned the 2 year warranty for $60 was refundable if it wasn't used but I didn't ask for specifics as in if you get cash back in those 2 years if you do not use the warranty or if you get store credit/gift cards, and what kind of hassle you go through as far as jumping through hoops to get refunded after the 2 year period. Ok enough of a rant now to return to get the second one...

 

[ZickZJ]

Were you able to get the $50 off coupon to be applied over the phone?

EDIT: Called and they don't accept gift cards for online/phone orders and I have about $240 and change on my cards. They checked the local store and there are 3 left so I will be there at 9am SHARP!

Ironic that I have run full circle and will basically be buying the same model I returned a year or so ago the CQ-210 only this has Windows 7 already whereas the one I returned I installed Win 7 beta at the time. It ran great, I just figured I'd get a better deal down the road. There really hasn't been a better deal in all that time except this may be $50 cheaper for about the same specs as that one IIRC was $339 after instant rebate and coupon.

Yes they did apply the $50 off coupon as well over the phone. Came out to about ~$260 w/ tax.

 

[AMD K9]

Went back to the store for the second one and no problem and I decided to get the 2 year warranty as I could use it one either one. Should be worth it or I can get store credit in 2 years if nothing breaks which usually doesn't.

 

[AMD K9]

Pretty nice laptop but the left and right buttons is one solid bar which I don't care for. Also it is hard to press and you can't just tap it like you can most left/right buttons. You have to press it, and press it HARD!!! Doing a drag and drop is pretty difficult with one hand. Maybe the membrane over the bottom bar will break in making it easier over time? Anyone else have comments about this?

 

[razel]

I was also similarily impressed by the laptop. I was worried about the processor being 64bit FPU instead of the usual 128bit, but the CPU WinSAT score and 7zip benchmark put it on par with the Pentium M 2 GIG Dothan, which isn't a bad thing. It's single core. The plastic is cheap, but at least it's nicely textured. It seems like after a few months your fingers will eventually polish it. The keyboard is solid, but sounds hallow inside the laptop. There doesn't appear to be much inside, but it is light. If you care for it there is no modem, no webcam, no fingerprint reader, no 5-in-1 flash reader, but it does have a mic. Battery life is very good. I'm averaging 2-3 hours.

The LED screen is brighter than my glorious HP HDX18. Like most budget LED screens you really gotta turn down the blue. Luckily it comes with WIN 7 64bit. type 'calibrate' in the windows bar, find calibrate display or color and turn down the blue in the color temperature about 20 clicks.

The chipset video is pretty damnnn fast. One of the fastest I've encountered. After updating the video drivers and going on battery and turning up the brightness, MAKE SURE to uncheck the 'VariBrite' function in the drivers. It will ruin your gamma.

The HDD is ok. Good thing it comes with 2GIGS of RAM. I'll definately will be putting an SSD in here as soon as another good $1.5GIG sale comes around.

Another thing, I actually like the simple geometric design, especially the front with the half ball feet. Makes me want to replace the feet on my other laptops. Overall, $250 is a bangin' value. Don't buy one... they'll be less for me.

 

[AMD K9]

razel do you like the 1 bottom bar instead of separate left/right buttons? Is yours as hard to press/tap like mine is? Also does yours have this small pinhole with a raised round pin in the upper left of the touch pad? I keep hitting my finger across it, very annoying. What is this hole for?

 

[razel]

I don't use the bottom button bar much, I tap the pad. It does need a bit of travel to register a click. It'll probably loosen over time. I don't like how there isn't an indent to find the verticle scroll, luckily it is a gesture pad and you can two finger scroll.

The round pin is a light and turns the touchpad on and off. Tap it twice.

 

[AMD K9]

Anyone know if this is decent and compatible for this laptop? Decent price for 4GB of DDR3!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-DDR3-L...9392203&sr=8-1

 

[AMD K9]

Verticle scroll works better than most laptops I've had. Right side of touch pad works pretty much every time. My older Presario F574US had a verticle arrow but more times than not the scroll wouldn't work.

What is this 2 finger gesture you speak of?

 

[razel]

Yes the touchpad scroller works, it's just my finger is so used to bumping up against an edge to tell it by touch that I reached an area where I can scroll. Unforunately there is no edge or border.

Put two fingers on the touchpad and move up or down or even left to right and you can scroll. You may need to enable this in the Synaptics mouse options. In there you'll see a bunch of other gestures.

 

[jjmIII]

Anyone know if this is decent and compatible for this laptop? Decent price for 4GB of DDR3!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-DDR3-L...9392203&sr=8-1

yes, that will work

 

[Lead Butthead]

called my local staples, and all they had left are the store demo units.

 

[Netopia]

The LED screen is brighter than my glorious HP HDX18. Like most budget LED screens you really gotta turn down the blue. Luckily it comes with WIN 7 64bit. type 'calibrate' in the windows bar, find calibrate display or color and turn down the blue in the color temperature about 20 clicks.

THANK YOU! I didn't know that existed. Just made an interesting and positive difference on my Dell laptop!

Joe

 

[makken]

Just picked up one of these, I'm trying to get rid of all the bloatware included with it and have issues getting rid of some of the HP stuff.

I'm close to just doing a clean win7 install on it. does anyone know if there are any driver issues i might encounter with it?

It didn't come up an recovery disc, so im wondering if i can use my win7 upgrade disc to do a clean install with the serial from the sticker on the bottom?