Skylarking

Skylarking is gearing up for Black Friday, but you can get an early start with these home entertainment and computer specials from TigerDirect.

SONY BRAVIA HDTVs w/FREE Blu-Ray Player.- (11/9 – 11/16/09) or while supplies last!

SAVE $545 – FREE SHIPPING - Sony Bravia II 40″ LCD HDTV KDL40V5100 w/ Sony BDP-N460 Network Blu-Ray Disc Player Bundle $954.98. I’ve been wanting to get one of these network blu-ray disc players. Hook them up to your home network to stream movies, videos, music, and more right off the Internet from Netflix, YouTube, and more. Plus you can also play and upscale your standard DVDs to near high definition with this player.

SAVE $650 – FREE SHIPPING - Sony 52″ Bravia V LCD HDTV KDL52V5100 w/ Sony BDP-N460 Network Blu-Ray Disc Player Bundle $1,599.98. One more foot of viewing space on your screen with fantastic Sony Bravia features. Too many to list, and, once again, the same great network Blu-ray player as before.

SAVE $750 – FREE SHIPPING – Sony 55″ LCD HDTV KDL55V5100 w/ Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player Bundle $1,799.98.

BEST SELLERS.- (11/9 – 11/16/09) or while supplies last!

• SAVE $40 – FREE SHIPPING – AOC 20″ Widescreen LCD Monitor with 1680 x 1050 pixels of resolution, a 3000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for crisp images with sharp black and white. Has a VGA connector for use with any PC or notebook. All yours for $109.99.
• SAVE $20 – FREE SHIPPING – ACER Aspire Desktop with an AMD Athlon 2.6GHz processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM (memory), a massive 320GB hard disk drive for storing all your files. All powered by Vista Home Premium. $249.99. This computer is eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade, too.
• SAVE $200 – FREE SHIPPING – HP Pavilion dv2 Notebook with an AMD Athlon Neo 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM (memory), a 250GB hard disk drive (storage) with an external DVD-RW (rewriteable DVD burner). The screen measures 12.1 inches. Comes with Windows Vista Premium $549.99 after $50 MIR, rebate expires 01/16/2010. Plus you can get a Windows 7 upgrade for this machine.
  

  Gateway Win7 Notebook $700

• SAVE $90 – FREE SHIPPING - HP Pavilion G70 Notebook with an Intel Core2Duo T6500 processor with a 2.1GHz clock speed, 4GB of DDR2 RAM (memory), and 320GB of hard disk space. A large 17 inch screen tops it off. With Windows Vista Premium (64-bit) This is a refurbished unit for $579.97. Upgrade it to Windows 7 while you’re at it.
• SAVE $150 – FREE SHIPPING – Gateway Notebook Intel Core2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM (memory), a 500GB hard drive for storage, and a large 17.3 inch LED screen. Equipped with the Microsoft Windows 7 Premium 64-bit operating system for a mere $699.99.

I was reading Walter S. Mossberg’s Personal Technology column in today’s Wall Street Journal as he reviewed, quite favorably, Toshiba’s latest entry in the netbook market: The Toshiba Mini NB205-N310/BN Netbook. ($399.99 at TigerDirect).

I have long been a fan of Toshiba laptops which have offered unmatched features in their price range. I’m happy to see their netbooks continue that tradition.

On the positive side, Walter was very happy with the exceptional Mac-style keyboard on the Toshiba NB205-N310. He thought it had a “decent” array of ports and connectors such as 3 USB ports which he, like I, agreed were useful for charging cellphones among other things.

Toshiba Mini NB205-N210

He mentioned there was also the Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 Netbook which at 349.99 had a standard flat keyboard. He thought the N310′s keyboard was worth the extra $50.

He was also happy with the mouse touchpad and its buttons which he says are larger than those found on many other netbooks.

Walter was also very pleased with the battery life on the N310. Toshiba says the battery lasts over 9 hours. By Walter’s own battery test he believed that the battery would probably last over 8 hours.

The drawbacks he listed were slow boot speeds which he said took 30 seconds longer than many other netbooks. He compared it to his previous Acer Aspire One netbook. He also thought the speakers were “feeble, even for a netbook”.

Overall, it was a very positive review. I have been considering a new netbook purchase, and I think this may be the one.

Tech specs: Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM (Memory), 160 GB hard disk drive, 10.1 inch WSVGA screen, webcam, with Windows XP Home edition. Dimensions were 2.9 pounds, 10.4 inches wide by 7.6 inches deep, and 1 inch thick “at its thinnest point”.

For myself I am curious if the new Windows 7 operating system will work well on this netbook. It appears to meet Microsoft’s minimum requirements.

You can also order the Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 Netbook ($349) and the Toshiba Mini NB205-N310/BN Netbook ($399)from CompUSA.

Just a quickie notice today, that Dell is offering $50 off, today only, on the Dell mini 9 netbook. I know a lot of you want one, so here’s your chance to get one and save money, too! Offer good until midnight CST tonight.

One Day Only! Inspiron Mini 9 for only $199 after $50 off. Offer ends February 27, 2009.

Mini 9 in Obsidian Black

The base model for this price comes with the Ubuntu Linux operating system (version 8.04.1). Some people say, “Linux?! I don’t know Linux” which shouldn’t be an issue because many people get the netbook for Internet usage, and once you’re on the Internet the operating system doesn’t make much of a difference.

The base model also has an Obsidian Black finish (which can be changed to either Promise Pink [add $30 and Dell will donate $5.00 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure), Alpine White or Cherry Red [add $30], Stickers in Green, Black, or Blue, or The Muse in Purple or  Orange [either of the beforementioned for an added $50]. It also includes 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service, 512MB DDR2 RAM (Memory), 4GB Solid State Drive (no moving parts like the drive in your digital camera). It uses the Intel Atom Processor model N270 (technically that’s 1.6GHz clock speed, 533Mhz FSB (Front System Bus), and 512K cache memory space on the chip). The screen is a glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600). Internet access is via a Wireless 802.11g Mini Card.

Available Upgrades

Some of the upgrades include 4 times the memory (2 GB) for $75 (that’s a good price), 4 different hard drive upgrades up to 64GB for $150, and a 250 GB external portable hard drive for $80 (another good deal), and last but not least an add-on integrated 1.3 MP webcam for $25.

Promise Pink (For the Cure)

Muse Orange