Those of you not familiar with Black Friday...it's a site that lists leaked advance ad news and rumors. There's a pretty interesting deal being reported (not confirmed) on a fairly nice little laptop at Walmart. Might only last a few hours at the stores as an earlybird deal, but who knows?

It is an HP ZE2300WM laptop, 256mb memory, AMD 1.8gghz chipset, 15" display, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 40gb hard disc, and 801.11a/g built-in wireless. $399 (plus tax) out the door! No rebates. No contracts for internet services required. Just $399. Pretty sweet for some folks if it happens and you're able to jump on it quick. You'll spot a nice deal on a HP desktop with flat panel there too.

Here's the web site.

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/

Click on "Walmart" on the left. Then it's alphabetical by product, so you'll have to scroll to the "H" items to find it.

Just a heads up if you want to watch for it.

I can see the stampede already...

I can see the stampede already...Exactly! Didn't someone get trampled last year for a $39 DVD player - what a deal! :rolleyes: For the past several weeks Dell has advertised a notebook with better specs, 1 year tech support and warranty for $499 - well worth the extra $100.

Someone has now posted that Walmart has said this is going to be an everyday item and price now. If that's true, I bet a whole lot of people are going to get a new laptop this Xmas season. Could be the Crockpot of 2005. ;)

There's a lot of talk in various tech forums that this Walmart thing is really going to shake-up the market and industry. If true, this could really turn out to be something big if this proves to be the hot breakthrough pricepoint.

Rumor no more! - I saw a TV commercial last night for Wal-marts day after Thanksgiving sale - $378 for that laptop. Lots of other blowout deals - it will be a zoo! Glad I won't be there. ;)

...but are the specs good enough to play World of Warcraft? I'll have to go check.

The RAM doesn't look high enough to run both WinXP and a graphics-intensive game like WoW. The video board is probably not so hot either.

However, for simple word processing, email tasks and browsing the Internet, it's probably okay.

The RAM doesn't look high enough to run both WinXP and a graphics-intensive game like WoW. The video board is probably not so hot either.

However, for simple word processing, email tasks and browsing the Internet, it's probably okay.
You can upgrade the RAM (http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=381) easily enough; I'm sure it uses standard SODIMMs. Video might be another matter. But you don't really by a value-priced laptop for high-end gaming; it's more likely to be aimed at the casual user as Sheila suggests.

This would make a nice kitchen computer, for example.

Rumor no more! - I saw a TV commercial last night for Wal-marts day after Thanksgiving sale - $378 for that laptop. Lots of other blowout deals - it will be a zoo! Glad I won't be there. ;)

Yep. And the Day-After-Thanksgiving sale flyer with this laptop is viewable online:

http://walmart.richfx.com.edgesuite.net/catalog_walmart/electronics_flyer_2005/index.aspx?banner=No%20Rebates.%20%20No%20Hassles. %20Just%20Unbeatable%20Prices.&eDate=Effective%20Friday,%20Nov.%2025,%205am%20-%2011am&rfx_dontcache=&drpStoreID=5162&store=27931%20Kelly%20Johnson%20Parkway%2CSanta%20 Clarita%20%28W%29%2CCA%2C91355&zip=91355

But not much in the way of additional specs or details. It just says "Limit One Per Customer."

Dell is attempting to match (or get close to) the $378 Walmart HP deal. But their's you have to deal with a $100 rebate, $50 shipping (shipments start Dec 6) and a slightly smaller screen size.

But on the positive side for the Dell, their offer includes a free printer. And of course not having to visit a Walmart store. ;)

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_basnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs