Great deal on a new laptop!!!!

[Jasmania]

One of my employees spilled a pitcher of iced tea on my Inspiron 8000 and fried it.
I went on line and while googling for deals I found an coupon for a 40% off deal for notebooks over $900.00 to use at Dell. The best deal on Dell's own site was only 20% off. I decided to see if the coupon was legit and low and behold it was good. I ordered a Dell XPS Gen2, got free shipping, no interest until 2007 and the 40% deal saved me $1,139.20!!!!
This is cut and pasted from my on-line invoice.
Dell Home Customers:Save 40% on select Inspiron™ notebook purchases $999 or more (before tax and shipping)! (affiliate only online offer)
Expires on 2005-07-25 10:59:59 - $1,139.20

I found the coupon at www.techbargains.com. They are also showing some great coupon deals on Dell monitors. I need to do some homework to see if any of them are good for hardcore gaming.

here is the listing for the laptop coupons-
Dell Home 40% off Notebooks $999+ - Dell XPS Gen2 Notebook $1649, Jul 22

Great coupon for expensive 9300 and XPS Notebooks
Dell Home has 40% off Inspiron Notebooks $999+ With Coupon
Code: 8NFJ8?5JRTSRWD Exp Mon 7/25 5:59am
Free shipping $849+, $25 handling. No tax in some areas.

May not be combinable with Outrageous Deals, dollars off, percentages off, or select other promotions. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Coupon code expires after first 4000 uses, or earlier if offer is terminated earlier.

Additional 2% off if you using Dell Preferred account Code: 4N13PT2J68HCDX

Inspiron XPS Gen2 Gamers Notebook $1649 shipped free

Huge $1099 discount! Top of the line Inspiron XPS Gen2 8.6lb Gamers Centrino Notebook Pentium M 760 2Ghz/2MB Cache/533Mhz bus, 15.4in WUXGA Screen, 512MB DDR2-533/60GB, CDRW/DVD, 256MB Geforce Go 6800 Ultra, Intel 802.11g wireless card, Gigabit Ethernet, Standard warranty, Word Perfect, XP Home $2749 - 40% off Coupon
code: 8NFJ8?5JRTSRWD = $1649.40 shipped free. $20 handling.

The $750 off $1499 deal is a better bet for most other cheap Dell laptops.

Here are the coupons for the monitors- Post a reply if any of these monitors are good for gaming. The 2005FPW really interests me.

New Dell Home LCD Coupons - 1905FP 19in Digital LCD $260 - 20in 2005FPW LCD $389, Jul 22

Dell Home Electronics and Accessories has some hot LCD display online only coupons. Free shipping on orders $49+, no tax in some states.

Stackable Online Codes (Combinable with auto discounts) Th 7/28 5:59am CT or after 10,000 uses
$20 off $150 Code: 2?S0TTNBZHCW9V
$35 off $300 Code: ZDV7X34LTDMGMG
$60 off $500 Code: C07TR1WFGJ18SF
Excluding Select Dell DJs, Dell Projectors, Dell Plasma TVs, Dell Axims and Dell printers. Codes only works on orders upto $1000.

2% additional off using Dell Preferred Account Code: 4N13PT2J68HCDX Exp 7/29
$25 off $999 using Dell Preferred Account Code: 9BNV79NQ456GVN (Exp 7/29)

Dell 1704FPT (17”) LCD flat panel, fast 12ms response, 500:1 contrast ratio, DVI originally $329 for $185.43, free shipping after $35 off coupon
code: ZDV7X34LTDMGMG and 33% off Coupon
code: ?TN8?M3G6JB5FK Exp Tu 7/26 5:59am or after 6000 uses

Dell 1905FP (19”) Digital LCD Flat Panel 1280x1024, 800:1 contrast ratio , 20ms response, DVI, originally $479, now for $285.93, free shipping after $35 off $300 code and 33% off Coupon
code: ?TN8?M3G6JB5FK Exp Tu 7/26 5:59am or after 6000 uses
Buy $21 more and use $60 off coupon - Final cost = $260.93

Dell 2001FP (20”) Digital LCD Flat Panel 1600x1200, 400:1 contrast ratio , 16ms response, DVI, Svideo, Composite Video originally $749, now for $441.83, free shipping after 33% off coupon
code: ?TN8?M3G6JB5FK Exp Tu 7/26 5:59am CT and $60 off Coupon

Hot price! Dell 2005FPW (20”) Digital LCD Flat Panel 1680x1050, 600:1 contrast ratio, 12ms response, DVI, Svideo, Composite Video originally $749, now for $389.40, free shipping after $60 off Coupon
Code: C07TR1WFGJ18SF Exp 7/28 and 40% off
Code: W34XRDP2KW2K90 Exp Tu 7/26 5:59am CT or after 3000 uses

Lowest price! Dell 2405FPW (24”) flat panel 12ms response, 1920x1200, 1000:1 contrast originally $1199, for $803.33 free shipping after 33% off
Code: ?TN8?M3G6JB5FK Exp Tu 7/26 5:59am CT or after 6000 uses

[E.T.]

Huge $1099 discount! Top of the line Inspiron XPS Gen2 8.6lb Gamers Centrino Notebook Pentium M 760 2Ghz/2MB Cache/533Mhz bus, 15.4in WUXGA Screen, 512MB DDR2-533/60GB, CDRW/DVD, 256MB Geforce Go 6800 Ultra, Intel 802.11g wireless card, Gigabit Ethernet, Standard warranty, Word Perfect, XP Home $2749 - 40% off Coupon
code: 8NFJ8?5JRTSRWD = $1649.40 shipped free

That is a GREAT deal for going mobile! I have same 15.4" WUGA screen on my notebook, but it still doesnt compare to my old CRT desktop monitor for gaming imo.

Wish there were some "affordable" 17"-19" LCD montiors that would look as nice as CRT units for gaming, doubt that has changed [I'd love to dump my CRT & save some desktop space].

Anyone gaming on a desktop 17-19" LCD for $400 or less & enjoying it?

[Mochan]

Sounds like a sweet deal!

ET, SBS has been gaming on a 17" LCD I think for some time now and enjoys it. He paid $400 at the time and it was just a 25ms model, he says it's great though. Myself, I just found a 14ms 17" model over here and it only goes for some $215. And you can do a LOT better over there in the US.... a month ago I saw a flagday sale on New Egg for a 19" Samsung monitor and it was only going for $200+. If I were in the US I would have bought it on the spot.

[E.T.]

Thanks Mochan, thats encouraging. I just started searching for 17"-19" LCD last week.

I hear Samsung is a fair unit for the $. This is the best deal I've located thus far online for a 17" model:
Samsung SyncMaster 710M Silver 17" LCD Monitor
17" (17" Viewable), 1280 x 1024 (Max Resolution), 500:1 Contrast Ratio, Connects Via 15-pin mini D-sub (Analog) PRICE: $325

The possibility of dead pixels have me apprehensive about buying online though...maybe they are not as common as they use to be a year or two ago.

EDIT: What about lesser brands, i.e. Viewsonic & Westinghouse.....avoid?

[Mochan]

Samsung is a good brand, but quite pricey. Viewsonic is ok, I hear. I don't know about Westinghouse.

That Samsung deal you have is a little pricey. I can get a Samsung 710V for about $270 here. As a general rule, electronics should be a whole lot cheaper in the US. I dunno how much of a difference the 710M model has with the 710V, but from the research I did, the 710V is only a 25ms model.

I found a $230 17" model here from CMV, I honestly know nothing about the brand but it's the only 17" model I could find here below 16ms so I wanted to get it. The other brands available (Viewsonic, AOC, MAG, LG and Samsung) all had higher ms.

I too am afraid to buy online because of dead pixels. I still haven't made up my mind whether to get one right now. My reason for getting one isn't to save desktop space; the way my PC is setup I have more than enough desktop space. What I'm after is the lesser radiation; I'm in front of my PC practically the entire day and I'm trying to give my eyes longer life.

[E.T.]

Regarding gaming, specifically slow paced strategy genre, just how low of a response time is needed? I did find a rather good deal on a SAMSUNG, 710N-2 17"LCD with a response time of 12ms! Price for this is $266, including shipping [though theres that dead pixel concern thing again].
Sure wish my local brick 'n mortar had online prices :( They just dont come close to online shopping.

[Mochan]

I'm no expert on LCD monitors, I've never owned one in my life and I've never tried one for gaming.

But even a slow-paced strategy game methinks would show the ghosting effect, since a good strategy gamer will scroll around the map a lot (even in turn-based games). I know it's usually the FPS games that get this kind of feedback but I would imagine even turn-based strategy would see the effect, though maybe not feel too badly about it.

I get the feeling that Samsung's model naming scheme is "lower letter, better model." The 710V model is a 25ms model, if the N-2 is a 12ms model then maybe the M is an 8ms model; makes sense considering the price it was going for.


EDIT:


By the way, does anyone know how TFT LCD monitors are for glare? If there's something that would make me buy an LCD monitor right now, it's if it reduces the glare effect tremendously. My room has four huge windows and glare is a real problem for me, I can't even play FPS games during the day time because I can't see anything on my screen (unless I close the blinds; but even then it's still a little bright and worse the room gets hot due to lack of circulation).

[E.T.]

Regarding glare, I just rearranged my setup for same reason.

You may already know of a product to "eliminate" screen glare from 3M co?
3M claims reduction of monitor glare with their anti-glare filter & increased viewing privacy as only the user in front of monitor can see whats on it [no side viewing]. While 3M claims no blurring or distortion, I wonder what other negative affects anti glare screens bring....

[Mochan]

I've heard of the product but can't find it on the market around here. I wish brick and mortar over here had the availability, and not just the prices!

I've tried another so-called "anti glare" filter but it was from some generic company. The filter didn't reduce glare at all, in fact the new shiny flat surface had more glare because it had a mirror-like finish.