What a find!
Recently I had to visit Sam's Club to pick up a few items. Because the location in Wausau is moving their entrance to a different section of the building and rearranging the store in the process, upon entering the store there was a clearance section! I had never seen a clearance at Sam's Club before, and so due to the nature of products sold at this store, I hurried right over. They had electronics and clothing items, discounted dramatically. After a brief inspection, I proceeded to pick up the items that were on my list.
However, after picking up a few of my items, I was in dire need of a shopping cart. On my way back to the entrance I was about to pass by the clearance table and I about stumbled over an open cardboard box. Here, on the floor beside the tables was a laptop/printer/case bundle just recently marked down from $699.81 earlier this week to $500, and to $400 just today! I couldn't believe my eyes! Because I had only given my old Compaq notebook away a few months prior, and then now recently decided to return back to school, I was in the market for a new notebook. This one, the HP Pavilion zv6123cl-b (HP PSC 1410 All-in-One Printer/Scanner/Copier & HP Sport Backpack), had double everything (and then some!) my old notebook, a Compaq Presario 900US, had. I just couldn't let this go. What a find!
I peered into the box only to find the printer, and then located the price tag which indicated that the notebook was currently locked up (probably because it was so close to the entrance!). I scurried over a clerk manning a cash register near the entrance, inquiring if I could inspect the laptop and accessories. My intention was to keep "hush-hush" and near the location of that box so nobody else would nab it but...
The clerk paged overhead for another clerk working with electronics, and proceeded to announce throughout the whole store that, "a customer is inquiring about the notebook located at the clearance tables." So much for keeping hush-hush! I then hurried back to the box and stood over it like a hawk, waiting in anticipation for the clerk from electronics to explain a bit further about the notebook I wanted to inquire about.
Come to find out it had been a return from the holiday sales in addition to the bundle being the last of its stock to clear. I inspected the notebook in lockup, noting any accessories or discs that may have been missing; at this time I noted that Microsoft Windows XP Professional was also installed on this system, disc having been included, a $200 value in itself! After verifying all was there, I purchased it. On my way out, everyone commented on my find including the cashier herself and the customer service rep as I had to log it out, as the tag was still attached, visibly waving at everyone as I exited out the store. I was so thrilled!
I took it home and did the whole clean install routine, personalizing it in addition to installing my old faithful academic edition copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2003 w/FrontPage that I had obtained the last time I had been in college (which of course Microsoft gave me trouble in activating as I had installed it on my Dell XPS 410 desktop purchased back in October). Everything went very smoothly, even better than when I had purchased my Dell. I am still impressed HP included the operating system CD; they have been known in the past for not doing so on the HP systems I have worked on in the past. Paging through the user's guide, I also noted I have every available optional component available this notebook can have, such as the 15.4" widescreen, the digital media reader, 1394 port, express card slot, wireless 802.11 b/g compatibilty - even an infrared (IR) lens! Along with the all-in-one printer, which prints, copies, and includes a flat-bed scanner that can be operated without a computer and takes the cheapest ink HP manufactures, this made the HP Pavilion zv6123cl-b quite the steal at the price I paid for it!
It has now been three days and is still running beautifully. In hindsight, this purchase can also be justified as being a wise choice as the new version of Windows - Windows Vista - is expected to debut right around the corner - January 30th - in which PCs will be retailing with this new version on it. (Suppose maybe there will be more clearance sales ahead?) As I anticipate both my employer and university to not upgrade for quite some time yet, having purchased my laptop now will have saved me trouble and headache in potential compatibility problems, which I hadn't thought of previously, as upgrading is usually much easier than downgrading...
Again, I cannot say this enough, what a find! Not only had this made my whole day, but my whole week, month... even the whole year! :)
However, after picking up a few of my items, I was in dire need of a shopping cart. On my way back to the entrance I was about to pass by the clearance table and I about stumbled over an open cardboard box. Here, on the floor beside the tables was a laptop/printer/case bundle just recently marked down from $699.81 earlier this week to $500, and to $400 just today! I couldn't believe my eyes! Because I had only given my old Compaq notebook away a few months prior, and then now recently decided to return back to school, I was in the market for a new notebook. This one, the HP Pavilion zv6123cl-b (HP PSC 1410 All-in-One Printer/Scanner/Copier & HP Sport Backpack), had double everything (and then some!) my old notebook, a Compaq Presario 900US, had. I just couldn't let this go. What a find!
I peered into the box only to find the printer, and then located the price tag which indicated that the notebook was currently locked up (probably because it was so close to the entrance!). I scurried over a clerk manning a cash register near the entrance, inquiring if I could inspect the laptop and accessories. My intention was to keep "hush-hush" and near the location of that box so nobody else would nab it but...
The clerk paged overhead for another clerk working with electronics, and proceeded to announce throughout the whole store that, "a customer is inquiring about the notebook located at the clearance tables." So much for keeping hush-hush! I then hurried back to the box and stood over it like a hawk, waiting in anticipation for the clerk from electronics to explain a bit further about the notebook I wanted to inquire about.
Come to find out it had been a return from the holiday sales in addition to the bundle being the last of its stock to clear. I inspected the notebook in lockup, noting any accessories or discs that may have been missing; at this time I noted that Microsoft Windows XP Professional was also installed on this system, disc having been included, a $200 value in itself! After verifying all was there, I purchased it. On my way out, everyone commented on my find including the cashier herself and the customer service rep as I had to log it out, as the tag was still attached, visibly waving at everyone as I exited out the store. I was so thrilled!
I took it home and did the whole clean install routine, personalizing it in addition to installing my old faithful academic edition copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2003 w/FrontPage that I had obtained the last time I had been in college (which of course Microsoft gave me trouble in activating as I had installed it on my Dell XPS 410 desktop purchased back in October). Everything went very smoothly, even better than when I had purchased my Dell. I am still impressed HP included the operating system CD; they have been known in the past for not doing so on the HP systems I have worked on in the past. Paging through the user's guide, I also noted I have every available optional component available this notebook can have, such as the 15.4" widescreen, the digital media reader, 1394 port, express card slot, wireless 802.11 b/g compatibilty - even an infrared (IR) lens! Along with the all-in-one printer, which prints, copies, and includes a flat-bed scanner that can be operated without a computer and takes the cheapest ink HP manufactures, this made the HP Pavilion zv6123cl-b quite the steal at the price I paid for it!
It has now been three days and is still running beautifully. In hindsight, this purchase can also be justified as being a wise choice as the new version of Windows - Windows Vista - is expected to debut right around the corner - January 30th - in which PCs will be retailing with this new version on it. (Suppose maybe there will be more clearance sales ahead?) As I anticipate both my employer and university to not upgrade for quite some time yet, having purchased my laptop now will have saved me trouble and headache in potential compatibility problems, which I hadn't thought of previously, as upgrading is usually much easier than downgrading...
Again, I cannot say this enough, what a find! Not only had this made my whole day, but my whole week, month... even the whole year! :)
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