The Great Netbook Caper of 2009

NOT YOUR MOMMA'S COMPUTER

If you haven't been online or seen a magazine or newspaper lately, you may not be aware that you want a netbook. Consider yourself informed. Apparently everyone wants one, no exceptions. The Frugal Maven is ahead of this trend since I cannot keep a laptop working past 13 months. A few weeks ago in the grips of not-swine-but-still-nasty flu (again, ahead of the trend), I got blue-screened. After fighting it with my meager arsenal of computer fixing tips (pushing F8 a bunch of times with my eyes squeezed shut in concentration) I gave up and called Mumbai, also known as Microsoft. Steve from Mumbai, er, sorry, Orange County, gave me several tea based remedies for my sniffles and coughing but could not fix the blue screen. He did, however, charge me $62 and turn me over to the specialty tech team. Who told me it was a lost cause. The Geek Squad told me the same thing without charging me a dime.

This led to the search. Which took two hours. It lasted exactly until my eyes lit on a pink Toshiba netbook with a 9 hour battery. I am not a pink person and normally eschew anything that can be labeled cute except for kittens and puppies. This tiny little laptop with its' pink shiny cover blew away my tough exterior, leaving me longing for unicorns and My Little Ponies and tiny yappy dogs with bows in their fur. I was lost. Plus, it was on sale at the H.H. Gregg for $50 off since it was the day Windows 7 came out and their truck was late so they were just trying to move the existing merchandise. I offered them $50 less than the sale price and walked out with it for $299. Not bad. Plus their store in Clarksville, Indiana is poorly lit and scroungy looking and smells like foot. I figured I deserved another discount for lack of ambience.
The whole point of this is to tell you that you do want a netbook whether you knew it or not. Mine fits in my purse. It's easy to lie in bed and use. The battery life is everything I could wish for. The keyboard works beautifully. It's really pretty. Etc.

So, here's a roundup of deals on netbooks this week and around Black Friday. Good luck!

• Gateway 10.1" - $229 at Radio Shack and Best Buy. Best Buy advertises over 7 hours of battery life and Radio Shack lists theirs as 3 hours so Best Buy is a no-brainer. Also, according to the ad that came in my paper this morning, Radio Shack is now calling themselves The Shack, which somehow seems dated and pathetic. So, Best Buy it is.



• Target's ad has their Acer for $199. And for the record, they are still Target, not The Tar, so points for them.



• Office Max is rumored to have the Acer as a Black Friday deal for $150 but I can't get confirmation.

This should be enough to get you going. Let me know if you know of deals that I missed!