Back-to-School Notebook Deals for the Plundering, Pt. 1

If your student is looking down the barrel of another school year, we feel just as bad for you as they feel for themselves. It is August, after all, and no student spends the waning months of summer saying , “Wow, I sure do miss all that homework,” or “I can’t wait to practice the Cornell note-taking method this year.” By now, Summer’s End Lethargy has probably hit full force. But, parentals, tell those debbie downers to buck up. There’s at least one good reason to embrace learning for the 08-09 school year, and that reason is a brand new notebook. Get your child the right academic tool for the fall, and who knows, he may be screaming “Oh, Captain, My Captain” at you before Thanksgiving. Earlier this summer we compiled a list of the Top Ten Notebooks for hitting the books (in addition to tons more back-to-school product lists and tips available here). Now that a little time has passed, and retailers are slashing prices in honor of the pre-scholastic season, many of our favorite notebooks are cheaper than ever. We scoured discount electronics sites like TigerDirect.com and the online big-box retailers to uncover the best deals on the best student-oriented PCs that will have your child calling this the best school year ever. As the homeroom bell draws nearer, we’ll be searching for bigger and better deals. So stay tuned for more savings! Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 MSRP: $749.99 Save instantly: $150.00 Bottom Line: $599.99 We found it here: Tiger Direct With the 6.5-pound, 15.4-inch IdeaPad Y510, your student will be able copy and burn DVDs, use video chat, and connect to the net with 802.11a/b/g embedded Wi-Fi. The snazzy and well-designed system comes with a 1.73-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T2370 processor, 1.3-MP webcam, 6-in-1 memory card reader, 24X DVD+/-RW drive, 2GB of RAM, a 5,400-RPM 120GB hard drive, and Windows Vista Home Premium, too. Read Our Review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 Gateway T-1631 MSRP: $729.99 Save instantly $80.00 Mail in rebate: $ 50.00 Bottom Line: $599.99 We found it here: Circuit City We were shocked when the price of our Gateway T-Series turned out to be just $799. We were doubly shocked that Circuit City is now selling a different configuration of the thin-and-light notebook for more than $200 bucks less. For $599, you can buy your student a 14.1-inch notebook with a 250GB HDD, dual-layer DVD RW optical drive, 802.11b/g embedded Wi-Fi, and 1.3-megapixel webcam. Read Our Review of the Gateway T-6828 Review Dell Studio MSRP: $979.99 Save instantly: $180.00 Bottom Line: $799.99 We found it here: Best Buy Dell’s new Studio Line makes it the perfect notebook for the multi-tasking student with multimedia needs. At full price, this 6.1-pound notebook with a 15.4-inch display, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, and a DVD RW drive costs $980, but you can get it today at BestBuy.com for $799. Read Our Review of the similarly-configured Dell 17 HP Pavilion tx2510us MSRP: $1,099 Save instantly: $110.00 Instant Rebate: $40.00 Bottom Line: $989.00 Where we found it: Office Max With Pavilion tx configurations as high as $1,700, there isn’t a soul in the universe who wouldn’t appreciate one that costs just $949. Especially since it includes a speedy AMD Turion X2 ZM-80 Ultra Dual-Core processor, 250GB of storage space, 3GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n wireless, and a 16x DVD burner all beneath a 12.1-inch touchscreen display. Be prompt. This deal expires August 09, 2008! Learn More From Our Review of the HP Pavilion tx2500z Sony VAIO NR285 MSRP: $ 829.99 Instant Savings: $200.00 Bottom Line: $629.99 We found it here: OfficeMax Buy this notebook from OfficeMax and save yourself $200 for that vapor-filled gas tank. You’ll find that the notebook, a member of the Sony Vaio N series, is a sleekly-designed 6.3-pound notebook with hardware to match its $629 price tag. With a 200GB hard drive, your studious audio-and-cine-phile will have ample space to store downloaded music and movies, and the 8x SuperMulti DVD burner won’t hurt with media storage either. More From Our Sony VAIO NR310e Review Toshiba Satellite U405-S2852 MSRP: $899.99 Instant Savings: $100.00 Bottom Line: $799.99 We found it here: Best Buy We described the Toshiba Satellie u405 as the “perfect fodder for tech fashionistas” because of its stylin’ exterior and the 13.3-inch display with native 720p High-Definition support. We also liked that at just 4.4-pounds, it’s the slimmest notebook in our bunch. Toss in a 5-in-1 card reader, 250GB hard drive, 3GB of RAM, a DVD/CD burner, and a $100 discount, and you’ve got a well-priced machine that’s great for not only back-to-school but any other tasks you throw at it. Read Our Review of the Toshiba Satellite u405-s2830 The net has more deals than we could possibly summarize. Good thing we’ll be doing this for the next three weeks. Check out a few more marked-down notebooks to tide you over for the next 7 days. HP Pavilion dv2910us MSRP: $849.99 Save instantly: $170.00 Mail-in Rebate: $50.00 Bottom Line: $629.99 We found it here: Circuit City Toshiba Satellite A305-S6852 MSRP: $829.99 Save instantly: $150.00 Bottom Line: $679.99 We found it here: Office Max Acer Aspire AS5920-644 MSRP: $729.99 Save instantly: $150.00 Bottom Line: $579.99 We found it here: Office Max Have you seen any good notebook deals? Let us know!