Back-to-School Notebook Deals for the Plundering, Pt. 3

The sales saga continues!

If your student hasn’t headed back to the books already, they certainly will in the next few weeks. And unless you’ve raised a Tracy Flick, they’ll probably kick, scream, and claw all the way there.

There are options to make the transition from summer laxness to fall stress a little bit smoother. This time of year back-to-school deals equal slashed prices on a spectrum of gadgets. So it’s still the perfect time to buy a new laptop for the student in your household.

For the last three weeks we’ve raked popular online discount stores and the websites of big-box retailers to find the best notebook deals for you and yours. For our final installment, the premier deal isn’t a notebook, it’s a 91% discount on Microsoft’s Office Ultimate 2007.

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007

MSRP: 679.95 Instant Savings: $620.00 Bottom Line: $59.95

Apparently Microsoft sympathizes with the Student Struggle. Why else would they shave more than $600 off the price of MS Office Ultimate, their productivity mega-suite that includes 2007 verisons of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

That’s so cheap that Microsoft is rightfully calling the offer The Ultimate Steal. Student’s with a valid address from an educational institution and who can prove they are enrolled for at least .5 a class credit will not only receive programs critical to any office or academic environment, but they’ll get a ton of other programs, too. Included in the bundle is Outlook for email, One Note for taking notes in and out of the classroom, Publisher for special desktop publishing assignments, Accounting Express for accountancy majors or the fiscally responsible learner, and software we’re not even sure your student will need but they’ll enjoy having like Groove 2007 for group project management over the inter-webs and InfoPath 2007 to build online documents and forms.

Go to www.theultimatesteal.com to find out if you’re eligible and to take advantage of this grade A online deal. Notebook deals after the jump.

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 to 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 What it’s Packing: Screen: 15.4 inches RAM: 2GB HDD: 120GB Optical: DVD Burner Wi-Fi: 802.11abg OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

HP Pavilion tx2510us Tablet PC

Where We Found It: New Egg

MSRP: $1,099.99 Instant Savings: $100 Mail-in Rebate: $50.00 Bottom Line: $949.99

At $1000 with instant savings and a mail-in rebate, this tablet HP Pavilion is the most expensive entrant on our list, but when your student converts this small-ish PC into tablet node to write class notes directly unto the touch-sensitive screen, he’ll appreciate the extra change that went into this less-than-6-pound machine. Purchase a copy of Microsoft’s One Note 2007 to take full advantage of its note-taking potential.

What it’s Packing: Screen: 12.1 inches RAM: 3GB HDD: 250GB Optical: DVD Burner Wi-Fi: 802.11abgn OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

Lenovo 3000 N200

Where We Found It: Tiger Direct

MSRP: $799.99 Instant savings: $200.00 Bottom Line: $599.99

Though the straight-edges and muted color palette of this business-class notebook may be desirable to only the most pre-professional of students, any notebook user will appreciate it’s impressive array of ports including 4 USB 2.0 slots for charging and syncing portable devices like MP3 players or peripherals like a printer or a scanner. And Lenovo’s signature spacious keyboard and trackpad means greater comfort craps late-night work marathons.

What it Packs Screen: 15.4 inches RAM: 1GB HDD: 120GB Optical: DVD Burner Wi-Fi: 802.11 BG OS: Windows XP Professional

Toshiba Fusion Satellite A305-S6829

Where We Found It: Circuit City

MSRP: $799.96 Instant Savings: $120.03 Bottom Line: $679.96