Tech Bargain Thread: Post Your Deals Here!

jercra

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I was looking at those. Any security concerns? That's what gave me pause.
Less than most cameras in the traditional IOT sense since there's no one user/password to be left default. It's the same level of security concern as something like a Nest device since it connects up to the cloud and then down to your app.
 

jercra

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Yes, but I'm less concerned with someone fiddling with my room temp than peeping in on my family.

https://gizmodo.com/a-creepy-website-is-streaming-from-73-000-private-secur-1655653510
Right, that was my point. These don't have default username/passwords or user/pass at all. They are configured and accessible via only their app. There's no webserver to even host a username/pass. All data goes from camera to AWS to phone (all over https and all encrypted resting as well).
 

drbretto

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Looks like the first affordable OLED I've run into with no apparent downsides. I'm about to pull the trigger as soon as my tax returns get deposited. Unless someone knows something I don't on this, whether it be a better deal elsewhere or a fundamental flaw to this one. But so far the reviews look great.
 

drbretto

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Nice box Brett-o. Looking now...not in your league tho :(
You can still get a really nice 55" 4K smart TV for around $650 if you don't mind forgoing the OLED part. That LG just marks the spot when OLED became less absurd.

(that said, I did get that TV and it's magnificent)
 

Couperin47

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This thread is close to moribund for one very specific reason: Amazon.

Amazon's search is close to useless as it always returns thousands of hits and unless you then restrict down to what are often quite arbitrary categories you can't reorder to find lowest price etc easily or you get thousands of hits that are parts or refills or just items that actually mention but are not the product you want.

Next add in the fact that the same item is quite often listed in a dozen places at different prices, even including Amazon's own products. This makes futile attempts like HoverHound, a browser addon that tries to find comparable products at other sites when, say you're at Newegg, as it either cannot find or choose only one of the duplicate Amazon listings.

Finally, it's almost impossible to announce a price at Amazon usefully: If it's anywhere where more than a handful actually see it, traffic increases and, literally, within minutes the Amazon price changes (invariably upward). Perfect example was an Amazon Basics gaming keyboard I was alerted about yesterday for $13.89, when I actually went to Amazon an hour later... it was already $18.79...

Like all rebate schemes it's become about baiting with price that they know very few will actually manage to obtain between their time constraints or the silly hurdles few will successfully jump thru....
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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This thread is close to moribund for one very specific reason: Amazon.

Amazon's search is close to useless
My pet peeve with Amazon's search is that their automobile part matcher is often flat out wrong. I had to return a few items based on that, and will now only order car parts by using a part number that I know is correct (from a third party/source).

And the 20% Added Discount on select items in AWD is up and running. Different this time is that the discount doesn't show up on the product page, nor in the Saved part of your cart, it shows only when the item is in your cart proper.
 

Couperin47

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Walmart and Target are finally figuring out Amazon is an existential threat to their very existence and are becoming competitive online, but it's not in the best interest of any of them to make it truly easy to find their best price on most products, in part it is the limitations of their search engines and in part that inefficiency is to their financial advantage.

In car parts the online discount car part companies tend to be pretty damn accurate regarding correct parts, some are also competitive with Amazon on price, but, of course, Amazon is doing their very best to lock you into using them for everything....
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Amazon is doing their very best to lock you into using them for everything....
2 day Prime delivery is a powerful thing.

On NYC radio, we're getting testimonial ads for Walmart.com from on-air talent. Basically, WM.com has free shipping as well, but without the $119 charge for Prime, with that saved $119 then being spent on the important things in life.

(should mention, I'm in the northeast corner of NJ, and to drive to anything other than a supermarket, mini-Target, or Staples is all surface roads and traffic lights. And the nearest WMs are even more of a pain to get to. )
 
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Papelbon's Poutine

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My BiL works for Walmart, having just moved from regional position in pharmacy to an ecommerce position. It’s not so much that they ‘finally realize’ Amazon is a threat, but they spent so much time and resource worrying about Amazon getting into pharm, that they focused on that. They’ve started moving over, the towers are a good start, as is the free two day, but they don’t believe they can actually compete/steal with Amazon in that realm outside of loyal buyers. (At least from what he hears from the inside). And Prime cost is offset by streaming, Prime only specials, Sunday deliveries, a much wider spectrum of products available. Search can be annoying on Amazon, but if our figure out how to use the proper keywords or as said, have an item number, it’s really not that hard and Walmart isn’t there yet.
 

jayhoz

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Anyone looking to out Amazon Amazon is going to fail in embarrassing fashion. Walmarts product offering sits squarely on top of Amazon's. Luckily, much of Walmart's customer base is too poor for Prime.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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And Prime cost is offset by streaming, Prime only specials, Sunday deliveries, a much wider spectrum of products available. Search can be annoying on Amazon, but if our figure out how to use the proper keywords or as said, have an item number, it’s really not that hard and Walmart isn’t there yet.
Where I really make my Prime back is AWD where they can often have only one unit of an item: if you don't pull the trigger in the next five minutes, there's a chance the item will be gone. Free shipping often makes it a no brainer, esp on the low cost items.

And yes to your last part: WM.com and Jet.com UI have no where near the ease of use as Amazon.
 

Harry Hooper

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I did a trial membership with Amazon Prime and didn't renew it. I seldom need fast shipping, and the entertainment content I wanted to stream all too often had additional charges to view. For pricing I look at sites such as Google Shopping {froogle.com still lives} and then look at Amazon's price(s). For me at least over the last 24 months or so the Amazon prices are looking less and less competitive. Some of that may be other vendors price matching a short-term promotion at Amazon and then being slower to raise their prices back up. Some of that may be price-matching along with offering additional discounts (places like OfficeDepot with coupons and Sears in its slog to bankruptcy with some sizable rewards credit offers). Some of that may be Amazon making it so easy to order/reorder via Prime that you stop really looking at the prices.
 

MikeM

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So yesterday morning we got with brief Florida storm, my 19 year old surge protector didn't do it's job (shocker), and all my modem's ethernet ports apparently got fried.

Hopefully I see some decent prime day sales on both today.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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I did a trial membership with Amazon Prime and didn't renew it. I seldom need fast shipping, and the entertainment content I wanted to stream all too often had additional charges to view. For pricing I look at sites such as Google Shopping {froogle.com still lives} and then look at Amazon's price(s). For me at least over the last 24 months or so the Amazon prices are looking less and less competitive. Some of that may be other vendors price matching a short-term promotion at Amazon and then being slower to raise their prices back up. Some of that may be price-matching along with offering additional discounts (places like OfficeDepot with coupons and Sears in its slog to bankruptcy with some sizable rewards credit offers). Some of that may be Amazon making it so easy to order/reorder via Prime that you stop really looking at the prices.
Add ons like Honey are good for price match comparisons; apps like Earny also good for when stuff goes down and they monitor it and you can get the difference back.

If one is willing to take the time you search multiple sites, then yes, you'll always be able to find stuff that's cheaper on different sites - I go through this with my restaurant accounts, that tell me they can get product X for $.04 cheaper per piece at Sam's Club or item Y for $.10 less through Web Restaurant or Target online. Yes, if you want to spend the time, knock yourself out, I can't be lowest on everything.

Personally, I value my time more than that. If it's a large purchase, sure, I will price shop for a TV or something like that. If it's a $4 difference on the price of a pair of sneakers, I'd rather just click twice than spend 10 minutes inputting everything into a new account, dealing with more spam email, paying for shipping, etc.

I also place an extreme value on the free two day and the ease of reordering, or even subscriptions (and their discounts) for everyday items. I could probably save money by, I dunno, going to BB&B to buy the Simplehuman garbage bags we use, cash in a 20% coupon and save a few bucks; or i could lump five other things we need into the same box from Amazon and pay a little more. I'm fine with the latter if it makes it easer and I don't need to deal with the unwashed masses.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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I don’t know if this is a new issue, but I’m noticing several items on Amazon today that have thousands of reviews and solid ratings -but the reviews and pictures are actually for a different product altogether. It seems like the seller boosts the feedback by selling a cheaper item, then changes the title and description to something more popular and profitable. Here is one example of an iPhone dongle than has reviews and pictures from another item, in this instance it’s a case for a Kindle.

https://amzn.to/2mooODG
 

uncannymanny

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2 day Prime delivery is a powerful thing.

On NYC radio, we're getting testimonial ads for Walmart.com from on-air talent. Basically, WM.com has free shipping as well, but without the $119 charge for Prime, with that saved $119 then being spent on the important things in life.

(should mention, I'm in the northeast corner of NJ, and to drive to anything other than a supermarket, mini-Target, or Staples is all surface roads and traffic lights. And the nearest WMs are even more of a pain to get to. )
Walmart’s got a ton of work to do and I’m already done with them. I’ve ordered 2 things from them as they’ve pushed into ecommerce and both were complete disasters that wasted both my time and my money. One wrong item, which I had to pay to return, and another that never came. I still can’t get them to refund my money on that one (“it’s a third party seller, we’re helpless!”). Amazon isn’t perfect (I doubt anyone can be at that scale to begin with), but at least they understand the value of customer satisfaction wrt retention.
 

MikeM

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Amazon has the 2017 Nvidia Shield (minus game controller) on a lightning deal atm for $139.

Cheapest I've seen it and definitely a purchase choice I didn't regret after-the-fact after being initially hesitant to spend the extra money on a better streaming device.
 

charlieoscar

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Amazon isn’t perfect (I doubt anyone can be at that scale to begin with), but at least they understand the value of customer satisfaction wrt retention.
There was a thing for Prime Day at Whole Foods and I followed their instructions to record my cellphone number so I could be credited with their special offer (spend $10, get $10 to spend on Amazon Prime Day). Go to WF and when I checked out and gave them my number, it came up as unknown. Contacted Amazon and was given a $10 gift card. Ordered a book once and found when it arrived I mistakenly clicked on two. Contacted them to ask about a return for the one I didn't want and was credited with the cost and told just to keep it (apparently cheaper for them just to me keep it). I'll keep my Amazon Prime.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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I’ve had multiple small items either incorrect, damaged or needing to otherwise return and I’ve found if it’s less than $10 or so, they just tell you to keep it. I don’t know if it’s the obscene amount I use them (someone here a while back posted a link to tabulate your last ten years of orders; I was a bit embarrassed) or just freight+manpower > than item cost, but I assume it’s a combination of the two. Their customer service is fantastic. I got a recent email that they didn’t get a pair of ~$35 pants I returned and were charging me; I emailed them back and said ‘yes I did, here’s the return approval and shipping label’. ‘Okay, we’ll refund you’. Found out a few days later that the better half never dropped them off at post office so called to tell them and they just said ‘no worries, hang onto em or send em back for a credit’, but shippings on you for that.’
 

SumnerH

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Amazon isn’t perfect (I doubt anyone can be at that scale to begin with), but at least they understand the value of customer satisfaction wrt retention.
Yeah I ordered from Amazon Prime Now for the first time because my brother needed a mini USB cable right away; there's a $25 minimum and it was a $7 cable or something.

The order comes an hour or two later and it turns out the cable was out of stock so they had refunded the $7 but delivered everything else.

I called them up and said I basically only ordered for the one item, and you have a bunch of other mini USB cables in stock. I'm fine paying for it but I don't want to order another batch of stuff I don't really need to meet the minimum order again.

They determined that there's no way to waive the minimum, and so had me order again a full $25 worth of stuff but credited my account with a gift certificate for everything other than the cable and applied it immediately. So I basically got $18-20 worth of free stuff, which showed up an hour or so later.
 

bibajesus

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Yeah I ordered from Amazon Prime Now for the first time because my brother needed a mini USB cable right away; there's a $25 minimum and it was a $7 cable or something.

The order comes an hour or two later and it turns out the cable was out of stock so they had refunded the $7 but delivered everything else.

I called them up and said I basically only ordered for the one item, and you have a bunch of other mini USB cables in stock. I'm fine paying for it but I don't want to order another batch of stuff I don't really need to meet the minimum order again.

They determined that there's no way to waive the minimum, and so had me order again a full $25 worth of stuff but credited my account with a gift certificate for everything other than the cable and applied it immediately. So I basically got $18-20 worth of free stuff, which showed up an hour or so later.
A few years ago I ordered a Nest thermostat from Amazon. A month or two later I found out I qualified for a $200 rebate through Mass Save. I needed a proof of purchase, so I emailed Amazon and they said they couldn't provide a receipt but they would credit my account the $200. And they did.
 

jercra

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A few years ago I ordered a Nest thermostat from Amazon. A month or two later I found out I qualified for a $200 rebate through Mass Save. I needed a proof of purchase, so I emailed Amazon and they said they couldn't provide a receipt but they would credit my account the $200. And they did.
This stuff is no joke to them. Full disclosure, I work for AWS, but check out their Amazon Leadership Principles some time. It's not corporate speak. Every single thing at the company is talked about in terms of "ALP"s and Customer Obsession is one of them. They'll do just about anything for customers.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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A few years ago I ordered a Nest thermostat from Amazon. A month or two later I found out I qualified for a $200 rebate through Mass Save. I needed a proof of purchase, so I emailed Amazon and they said they couldn't provide a receipt but they would credit my account the $200. And they did.
That's awesome, but I'm wondering why you couldn't just go to your account page and print it out? Was that invoice not sufficient?
 

uncannymanny

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A few years ago I ordered a Nest thermostat from Amazon. A month or two later I found out I qualified for a $200 rebate through Mass Save. I needed a proof of purchase, so I emailed Amazon and they said they couldn't provide a receipt but they would credit my account the $200. And they did.
This is crazy, wow.
 

bibajesus

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That's awesome, but I'm wondering why you couldn't just go to your account page and print it out? Was that invoice not sufficient?
MassSave wouldn't accept a screenshot of my order. I may be wrong but it looks like the previous order page is a lot more detailed than it was at the time.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Harry Hooper

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Walmart has the Canon Imageclass WiFi MF232W Monochrome Laser Printer/Scanner/Copier for $99.

LINK
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Decent 14" 2-in-1 with an 8th gen cpu for $299 (single RAM slot, so you can swap in something bigger):

https://www.microcenter.com/product/604814/VivoBook_Flip_14_TP412UA-IH31T_140_2-in-1_Laptop_Computer_-_Gray;_Intel_Core_i3-8130U_Processor_22GHz;_4GB_DDR4-2400_RAM;_128GB_Solid_State_Drive;_Int?utm_source=201808_Abandon_Browse_Prod&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AB18A&MccGuid=9b42aea7-dc50-451a-bfbc-7156940739c0

EDIT: I bought an Open Box for 10% off, and it is a nice little machine. And this AM I found a reasonably priced NiB Crucial 16gb stick of RAM on Ebay, so that's on its way. I'm in no rush, so I'll keep an eye out for a larger M.2 ssd. Display is bright, speakers are loud enough. Took just a few minutes to roll it back from S mode to plain ol' Windows 10. Still have to find out if the M.2 slot is nvme. Bezel is narrow enough that it's not much bigger at all than a 13" MacBook Air.

MC had a similarly priced Lenovo Flex 14" a week or two ago, but it had an older gen CPU.

Wish I'd had something like this last year. It would have been perfect for the two months my son spent in Hiroshima.
 
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bohous

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Not bad, and a pretty good display too. Note this has Windows 10S which is limited, but I believe you can switch out of S mode.
I had been keeping an eye out for a Lenovo Flex 14 which is similar but typically more expensive. I ended up getting a 14" Dell Vostro with a bump in specs (i5/8gb/256ssd) but may be returning it depending on the hit I would take on restocking fee. The case has a design flaw with extremely pointy corners making it literally painful to use.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Not bad, and a pretty good display too. Note this has Windows 10S which is limited, but I believe you can switch out of S mode.
I had been keeping an eye out for a Lenovo Flex 14 which is similar but typically more expensive. I ended up getting a 14" Dell Vostro with a bump in specs (i5/8gb/256ssd) but may be returning it depending on the hit I would take on restocking fee. The case has a design flaw with extremely pointy corners making it literally painful to use.
Did the cost of touch screens technology come down recently? Two more very decent deals on touchscreen or 2-in-1 laptops today.

Dell Inspiron 14 5481 14" 2-in-1 Laptop - $400 -i3-8145U 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD - Micro Center

Dell Inspiron 13 7375 Laptop: Ryzen 7 2700U, 13.3", 12GB DDR4, 256GB SSD $500- BestBuy

(IIRC the Ryzen beats the i3-8xxx?)

Ahh, the BestBuy Dell has a rather wide bezel, so that may be a bit older.
 
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bohous

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I sense 2-1 is starting to become the new standard for these consumer grade laptops. It doesn't add a lot of value for me but that may be a generational thing.

That BB deal is pretty slick. It also has a decent graphics card. I'm not really a computer guy so grain of salt but what I have been told about Ryzen vs Intel is
Ryzen 7 = i5
Ryzen 5 = i3

If I didn't just decide to keep the Vostro I just bought I would probably be all over that BB deal.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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I sense 2-1 is starting to become the new standard for these consumer grade laptops. It doesn't add a lot of value for me but that may be a generational thing.

That BB deal is pretty slick. It also has a decent graphics card. I'm not really a computer guy so grain of salt but what I have been told about Ryzen vs Intel is
Ryzen 7 = i5
Ryzen 5 = i3

If I didn't just decide to keep the Vostro I just bought I would probably be all over that BB deal.
I ordered an open box for $420 for pickup up in Tax Free, but immediately got a followup email that it was OOS.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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This 1tb nvme m.2 for $105 at MicroCenter is getting some notice (IF you can find it in stock). Downside is the warranty is only 3 years (having filed a claim 10 days before a 4 year warranty expired on a Toshiba SSD and then having them cut a check for the original purchase price, that's a biggie for me) :

https://www.microcenter.com/product/600422/1TB_SSD_3D_NAND_M2_2280_PCIe_NVMe_30_x4_Internal_Solid_State_Drive

N.B: has to be the Premium edition, not the Professional. PCIE gen 3x4. (that 4 being the important number, as there are some gen 3x2 out there)

https://hardforum.com/threads/hotter-than-hell-inland-1tb-nvme-premium-105-microcenter-samsung-970-pro-killer.1978390/

EDIT: sounds like the Phison E12 controller is all the rage right now. Several 1tb nvme in the $115-130 pre tax range. Sabrent Rocket thru Amazon for $10 more may be worth it for the extra 2 years of warranty.

EDIT: RetailMeNot has a $5 coupon to use instore at MC. Ended up paying $103 including tax.
 
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Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Decent 14" 2-in-1 with an 8th gen cpu for $299 (single RAM slot, so you can swap in something bigger):

https://www.microcenter.com/product/604814/VivoBook_Flip_14_TP412UA-IH31T_140_2-in-1_Laptop_Computer_-_Gray;_Intel_Core_i3-8130U_Processor_22GHz;_4GB_DDR4-2400_RAM;_128GB_Solid_State_Drive;_Int?utm_source=201808_Abandon_Browse_Prod&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AB18A&MccGuid=9b42aea7-dc50-451a-bfbc-7156940739c0

EDIT: I bought an Open Box for 10% off, and it is a nice little machine. And this AM I found a reasonably priced NiB Crucial 16gb stick of RAM on Ebay, so that's on its way. I'm in no rush, so I'll keep an eye out for a larger M.2 ssd. Display is bright, speakers are loud enough. Took just a few minutes to roll it back from S mode to plain ol' Windows 10. Still have to find out if the M.2 slot is nvme. Bezel is narrow enough that it's not much bigger at all than a 13" MacBook Air.

MC had a similarly priced Lenovo Flex 14" a week or two ago, but it had an older gen CPU.

Wish I'd had something like this last year. It would have been perfect for the two months my son spent in Hiroshima.
Open Box at MC down to $239. It's an absolute steal at that price if your MC has them. Wish I had a reason to buy another, as my MC has three available, but noooooo, my younger son wants a MacBook for college.....
 

Harry Hooper

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Newegg (and others) has Crucial 240GB SSD on sale for $28.95. Newegg also has the Crucial 960GB SSD for $93 w/coupon code.

Link1

Link2
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Potentially a decent price at $150:

Sabrent Rocket Pro 1TB NVMe USB 3.1 External Aluminum SSD (SB-1TB-NVME)


Can anyone advise on how this might run on a Tbolt3 connection on a new Air? Tbolt3 version of it is like 3x the price.

Enclosure has been as low as $35 (usually $50), SSD as low as $113.
 
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