Tech Bargain Thread: Post Your Deals Here!

[SeoulSoxFan]

Inspired by the members only section on AVSForum, here's the place where the insanely awesome deals can be placed in a single spot, whether it be a $89 2TB drive, or a $16,000 pair of used WATT/Puppy speakers.

Here's my first one to get it started. I've been looking into setting up a home theater, and decided on the new 1300 lumen JVC X3/RS40 projector. No one has these in stock, local dealer had it "sale" at $3997 + %8.5 tax, which was still the cheapest I saw anywhere.

Until I called ProjectorPeople.com for a screen and just happened to ask if they carried the JVC. "Yup, we can get one to you in 2 weeks for $3600, no tax, no shipping, brand new, factory-sealed, and we're an authorized dealer."

Their site does not mention this price. So if you were thinking of getting a new LED TV for "only" 65" and still spend $3-5k, consider this little monster for $3600 (plus screen) and watch the Celtics playoff in all 133" glory:

Some reviews:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/review/2011/02/01/JVC-DLA-X3/p1
http://www.avforums.com/review/JVC-X3-DLA-X3B-DILA-3D-Projector-Review.html (UK AV Forum, not the popular AVS Forums)

PM me for the sales rep's name and number.

Edit: oh yeah, it does 3D too.

 

[AlNipper49]

That thing is fricken awesome. If I had the wall space I'd have a new entry on the credit card in about 30 minutes

 

[CoRP]

That thing is fricken awesome. If I had the wall space I'd have a new entry on the credit card in about 30 minutes

I have the wall space. I just don't think I have a dark enough room.

 

[AlNipper49]

I installed one in a large conference room with a ton of windows. While we had shades come down, it was still pretty viewable otherwise.

Imagine how large that 3 inch cock of yours would look on that thing during showings of Jackie Is a Bad Boy?

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

I have the wall space. I just don't think I have a dark enough room.

Ah - you don't need batcave with that projector CoRP.

Pair that baby with a Da-Lite High Power 2.4 gain screen, and that should be enough to be seen on a reasonably light room. 1300 is also super bright - in our not-very-dark living room, I'll probably have to turn down the iris and actually reduce the light coming out of the projector.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=773065

There's also the Screen Innovation's Black Diamond screen that's supposed to work specifically in a very well-lit room. I've seen it and it works better with ambient light than not. It's super expensive however.


Wife and I just went to the movies this weekend, and for the first time in my life I went "hmmm - the JVC demo looks better than the movie theaters".

 

[CoRP]

I installed one in a large conference room with a ton of windows. While we had shades come down, it was still pretty viewable otherwise.

Imagine how large that 3 inch cock of yours would look on that thing during showings of Jackie Is a Bad Boy?

I thought we agreed that we were never going to speak of this again. Now all the memories are coming flooding back.

 

[jayhoz]

$29.99 for a WD My Net™ N750 HD Dual-Band Router
 
http://www.staples.com/Staples-Daily-Deals/cat_BI586663?icid=HP:HP:LPBAILYD::20130811:1:

 

[Harry Hooper]

Staples.com has the Samsung 128 GB 840 Pro SSD hard drive for $149.99. That's about $10 more than places like Newegg, but there are "$30 off a $100 purchase" Staples coupons floating around.

 

[AlNipper49]

Staples.com has the Samsung 128 GB 840 Pro SSD hard drive for $149.99. That's about $10 more than places like Newegg, but there are "$30 off a $100 purchase" Staples coupons floating around.

 
The exact same ones I bought for our server, crapola

 

[Harry Hooper]

 
The exact same ones I bought for our server, crapola

 
Wow, saw good reviews, so what are the issues?

 

[SumnerH]

We didn't get the good deal?

 

[AlNipper49]

We didn't get the good deal?

 
Nah, I bought em all on Amazon though.  128GB SSDs and 2TB WD Blacks.  Still have 6 bays free though, but was thinking of putting shit disks RAID5 in there since it'll just be backup and stuff.  Will post pics in the other thread

 

[saintnick912]

Amazon may price match if you email them.

 

[Blacken]

Not hardware, but server rental: OVH has a new line of spectacularly cheap servers with eye-popping specs. http://www.ovh.co.uk/dedicated_servers/kimsufi.xml
 
I have a KS 16G and it is awesome. There's a little latency from the U.S. as they're all in the European data centers, but not enough to notice.
 
Also, OVH's dedicated machines in the US are pretty great, too--$39 for an i3 with 8GB of RAM and 2x1TB disk.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Not a deal, but I ordered a hard drive and RAM from Newegg yesterday with the free 5-day shipping. I just received that package less than 24 hours later.

 

[rembrat]

Yea what's up with that? I placed an order for a new mouse, with the free 5 day shipping, Saturday afternoon and received the package on Monday morning. 

 

[Harry Hooper]

SATA III SSD prices continue downward. Newegg has the 250 GB Samsung 840 EVO for $169.99 with a promo code and the 250 GB Toshiba HDTS225XZSTA for $149.99

 

[MasterShake15]

Link
 
Newegg has a good deal on Polk M60 Floorstanding Speakers. $100 each and free shipping. Only color available is black.

 

[jayhoz]

16GB iPad 4 wifi for $399.
 
http://www.staples.com/Staples-Daily-Deals/cat_BI586663

 

[jayhoz]

Nexus 7 for $139.

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Daily-Deals/cat_BI586663

 

[InsideTheParker]

Nexus 7 for $139.

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Daily-Deals/cat_BI586663

Funny. I was able to get this page, then click to the Nexus, which was priced at $159. I saved that page, then later used your link to show my husband, and the Nexus 7 was gone. I wil call as soon as they open. I wonder if they ran out already.

 

[bosox188]

Funny. I was able to get this page, then click to the Nexus, which was priced at $159. I saved that page, then later used your link to show my husband, and the Nexus 7 was gone. I wil call as soon as they open. I wonder if they ran out already.

 
It's showing up for me, but keep in mind this is the older Nexus 7, not the new one. That's probably the reason it's priced to move. Still a nice deal though.

 

[InsideTheParker]

Well, finally got through to the store in Hadley, and the closest stores with any of the close-out Nexus 7 are in Simsbury, CT and Worcester.

 

[deconstruction]

Well, finally got through to the store in Hadley, and the closest stores with any of the close-out Nexus 7 are in Simsbury, CT and Worcester.

 
You wanted the 32? 'Cause the 16 appears to be available online. 

 

[jayhoz]

Target paying $200 for any functioning iPad.  Great deal if you have an iPad 1.
 
http://lifehacker.com/get-200-at-target-with-any-ipad-trade-in-even-a-first-1458268904

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

 
It's showing up for me, but keep in mind this is the older Nexus 7, not the new one. That's probably the reason it's priced to move. Still a nice deal though.

No, this was the new one, but it was basically a pure bait and switch. I live pretty close to a Staples and had a UPS drop to do, so I figured might as well show up right when they open on Sunday morning. First person in the store said "Online deal only" then a manager came up and said "No, it's in store only, but we don't have any in stock." 10:05 on Sunday morning and none of the stores within 30 miles had any in stock.

 

[jayhoz]

It was an online only deal.  All of Staples.com "Daily Deals" are online only.

 

[InsideTheParker]

It was an online only deal.  All of Staples.com "Daily Deals" are online only.

I don't know how it's possible for two people to get different pages using the same link, but it definitely said "in store only" when I brought it up. I wanted to get it for my husband's birthday and online would have been much better for me than schlepping to town.

 

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

Sorry, late to the dance: Bestbuy listed AppleTV Gen2s online for $79. According to some, the listing had been there for days, but it hit the big time when posted on slickdeals Sunday 5AM; they s/o 4hours later. Limit 1/order but mult orders allowed.

Hundreds of guys waiting to see if they do indeed get Gen 2s and what v the firmware is.

 

[epraz]

Am I missing something?  That's 20% off, a decent deal but not earthshattering.

 

[bohous]

Target paying $200 for any functioning iPad.  Great deal if you have an iPad 1.
 
http://lifehacker.com/get-200-at-target-with-any-ipad-trade-in-even-a-first-1458268904

 
Anybody else take advantage of this? I ended up at 2 different Targets on Friday and both had 5-6 people in line. In addition to the $200 GC for the exchange they had a deal for $25 GC with purchase of iPad mini plus I stacked a $10 off $100+ coupon so essentially turned our old iPad1 into a new iPad mini for about $80 bucks.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

My dad ended up doing that. $279 to go from an iPad 1 to an iPad Air, not a bad deal at all. The guy at target said they were slammed with returns of iPad 1's. 

 

[Leskanic's Thread]

Ditto here -- had to call around to find a Target store in the L.A. area that still had the proper gift card (the run was so big they were running out almost as soon as they were coming in).  Eventually got one, then had to wait until a store had an iPad Air in stock.  Between the $200, the $10 off, and a bunch of leftover giftcards lying around, upgraded to the Air for $160.  Can't complain about that.  Thanks to jayhoz for pointing it out.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Is the deal off if my iPad2 has a crack on one of the corners? 

 

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

Am I missing something?  That's 20% off, a decent deal but not earthshattering.

Gen2 can be jailbroken  (READ:  tons of free content); the Gen3 can not.  Big aftermarket for Gen2s:  starting price for new on eBay was $200, prior to BB finding this pallet of them.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

For those looking to get an iPad mini and don't mind the non-retina version, the 16GB wifi version is $299 at Wal-Mart with a free $100 giftcard or at Target with a free $75 giftcard (Wal-Mart deal starts at 6pm on Thanksgiving, Target is available Friday-Sunday - while supplies last, of course).

 

[kelpapa]

2 years/3 licenses of Bitdefender is free after $55 rebate through Newegg. Found it through Slickdeals.

 

[bohous]

Is the deal off if my iPad2 has a crack on one of the corners? 

 
I believe the trade-in program ended on Saturday but I'm pretty sure they did not offer full $200 value with cracked screens or other visible damage. 
 

For those looking to get an iPad mini and don't mind the non-retina version, the 16GB wifi version is $299 at Wal-Mart with a free $100 giftcard or at Target with a free $75 giftcard (Wal-Mart deal starts at 6pm on Thanksgiving, Target is available Friday-Sunday - while supplies last, of course).

 
Is the target one Black Friday weekend too? I suspect to get that Wal-Mart deal it will require skipping turkey dinner and camping out in their electronics dept. for hours

 

[Yaz4Ever]

sorry, should've included links:
 
Target - http://9to5toys.com/2013/11/11/target-black-friday-ad-ipad-air-w-100-gift-card-479-ipad-mini-w-75-gc-299-apple-tv-89-hdtvs-games-more/
 
Wal-Mart - http://9to5toys.com/2013/11/12/walmart-black-friday-ad-ipad-mini-w-100-gc-299-iphone-5s-w-75-gc-189-video-games-more/#jp-carousel-78221

 

[Leskanic's Thread]

Is the deal off if my iPad2 has a crack on one of the corners? 

 
I believe the rules were it had to turn on and the screen couldn't be cracked.  If you mean a crack on the edge or casing, you might have been all right.  The bigger issue is that the deal ended this past Saturday.  Don't know if/when it's coming around again.
 
(Was also discussing with a friend why Target was doing this, since clearly $200 for a 1st gen is giving them a loss.  Did they just want to get their name out there as a place to trade in old electronics?  Or to get customers in the door to buy a high end tech product with them, in the hopes that they would become repeat customers for such items?  Or are they going to gather a bunch of old iPads, then donate them to schools and get a big promo boost/tax write off?)

 

[jayhoz]

These are completely made up numbers, but you get the idea how they can get to a positive position pretty easily.
 
 $200 out the door to customers in the form of Target Gift Card
-$120 support from recycling partner.  Aggregate market value of returned iPads is probably worth much more than this.
-$30 (15% of cards lost or not redeemed.)
=$50 cost of trade in program
 
 $170 gift card redemptions ($200 less the 15% not redeemed)
+$30 extra items added to the basket
=$200 in topline sales.  Much of this from incremental customers
 
 $200
x 35% margin
=$70 in bottom line dollars.  Much of this from incremental customers
 
So they spent $50 to make $200 in topline and $70 in bottom line from a bunch of customers they may not have ever seen had they not run the program.  The cherry on top is the pain they inflicted on their competition.

 

[Leskanic's Thread]

That makes a lot of sense, and my being blind to its reasonable simplicity underscores why I would never have succeeded in business school.

 

[canderson]

I'm looking for a deal ... I'm in need of a 2 or 3 TB USB 3.0 external HDD. Anyone seen any sales on good ones recently? I'm not even sure what brands are legit these days. It'll be used for Time Machine and photo storage.

 

[AlNipper49]

wait for Black Friday, but the Western Digitals are usually pretty good. 

 

[SumnerH]

WD and Seagate are basically your 2 choices, I'd avoid going refurbished if you care about your data.  You're probably looking at $85-110 for a 2T (the older Seagate Expansion is at the cheaper end, WD is at the high end).
 
I alternate between the 2 manufacturers so that a production flaw in one won't hit all my storage at once.  I've had pretty similar failure rates through the years.  Just replaced a WD:
 
 

 

[canderson]

Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open around BF and that next Monday.

 

[jayhoz]

Set up an alert over at slickdeals.  You'll get an email whenever a deal is posted that matches your search criteria.  
 
You can also get a peak at some of the BF ads over at http://bfads.net/.

 

[canderson]

WD and Seagate are basically your 2 choices, I'd avoid going refurbished if you care about your data.  You're probably looking at $85-110 for a 2T (the older Seagate Expansion is at the cheaper end, WD is at the high end).
 
I alternate between the 2 manufacturers so that a production flaw in one won't hit all my storage at once.  I've had pretty similar failure rates through the years.  Just replaced a WD:
 
 

That's a lot of TBs you have there. The ladies must go wild.

 

[Harry Hooper]

WD and Seagate are basically your 2 choices, I'd avoid going refurbished if you care about your data.  You're probably looking at $85-110 for a 2T (the older Seagate Expansion is at the cheaper end, WD is at the high end).
 
I alternate between the 2 manufacturers so that a production flaw in one won't hit all my storage at once.  I've had pretty similar failure rates through the years.  Just replaced a WD:
 
 

 
 
I got an external 2 TB WD from Newegg last month for $59.99, so a deal at least as good should pop up this month.

 

[SumnerH]

That's a lot of TBs you have there. The ladies must go wild.

Half are backups, so it's not as much space as it looks like.  Sorry, ladies.