kingalien

Will get mine after Christmas, when the prices drop .

SylviaCaras

[QUOTE=SpaceBass;8789458] ... I also bought a few of the OLPC "give 1 get 1" sales

I bought a pair. I've seen one, but not used it.

But 'Politics 'stifling $100 laptop''
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094695.stm . It looks like South America may be first, Uraguay has committed. And the 1:1 has been extended through the end of the year.

Sylvia

wehsu

I'm looking to give myself a first iPod product, maybe an iTouch. I can probably use portion of my citicard thankyou points to get one. Just wondering if they'll have an up-to-date version coming soon!

IsleOfMan

All of the iPod products are pretty fresh right now. The iPod Touch is slick with the iPhone interface but the iPod Nano and iPod classic offer much greater value in terms of price (8gb Nano under $200) and capacity (up to 160gb on the Classic). The 8gb Nano is the one I'd be going after if replacing my 30gb video. I'd actually go after an original 30gb Zune for the screen size and capacity at rock-bottom price, though the accessory support is not as great.

I'll add on to my original post by filling in on the Home Theater room (finished basement) I'm helping my brother complete. He's a cheap-skate so it has been an exercise in getting the most "wow" out of his limited budget. Here's what we're looking at:

InFocus IN74 Projector ($535 refurbished)
Elite 120" Electric Remote Pulldown Screen ($200 refurbished)
Onkyo SR605 HDMI 1.3 Receiver ($275 refurbished)
Dayton In-wall/ceiling speakers (5 speakers for around $100 new)
Dayton 12" Powered Subwoofer ($145)
Toshiba A2 HD-DVD Player ($99, he doesn't know I got him this for Christmas)
Moxi Dual-Tuner HD-DVR ($10/month from the cable company)
Harmony 520 Remote ($40 used, he does know I got him this for Christmas)
Monoprice Cables (around $75 for HDMI, speaker, and subwoofer run in-wall)

The speakers, subwoofer, HD-DVD, remote, and cables have been purchased. The receiver will be purchased after Christmas. He will receive the screen as a Christmas present from my parents. The projector will be the last purchase after the room is painted, carpet is down, and furniture is in place.

The one real compromise will probably be the subwoofer. His room is going to be on the large size (16 x 30) and the single 12" sub will likely get lost in the huge room. Creative placement will get it as close to the primary listening position as possible so it'll likely be enough for his tastes, at least for now. He can always add a second identical sub on the other side of the room later on.

The speakers are also a compromise to a lesser degree as he wants a very clean installation and the price of the reasonable quality entry-level Daytons appealed to him (I use them in my living-room for news/sports/background music and am impressed with the sound quality at moderate volumes for the price). The electric screen is an idea he wanted to carry over from my theater room (100" electric at 14') more for show than anything else. He was very impressed with how I was able to incorporate the screen lowering and raising with the activity commands of the Harmony remote. He was also surprised by the relatively low cost (around $75 more than a comparable manual screen). I think the 120" screen size is a bit of him wanting to one-up me, but at 17' viewing distance, it's about the same field-of-view as my setup and a good size for the room.

For a little under $1500 (about the cost of my receiver alone) in equipment this setup should be very impressive for the non-audiophile that he is. He'll mainly use it for prime time HDTV, sports, and some movies. It won't be reference quality by my standards but will make him smile from ear-to-ear for a long time. I'm really eager to see it all come together and see how good it will really be for such a (relatively) small amount of money.

drummingcraig

^ Great machine. We had one on a tour bus in Europe this past summer and it was great.

I've got my eyes set on one of these. Not automatic, but I like doing things the hard way.

Craig

Boraxo

On black friday, I bought a 160G external hard drive for macbook time machine backup ($50) - the 500G were an even better deal, but I don't need that much space (and when I do memory will no doubt be even cheaper )

Also bought a 10" DVD player for $87 which we hope will keep our 14-month old occupied on the upcoming flight to australia.

After much angst, decided to pass on the GPS. The cheapo Navigon 2100t appeared to be a steal at $149 incl. free lifetime traffic, but I had to nuke the idea after seeing the poor reviews. Simply could not justify paying $400+ (discounted) for the top of the line Garmins and then hundreds more for AUS/NZ maps.

But I am really salivating in anticipating of a new iTouch (10% off at Amazon - and courtesy of Mrs. B) which will permit me to say "Hasta la vista, Palm!" ^

markwtaylor

A new sewer connection for over $30,000. Call me GrinchyPoo

drummingcraig

Why are you wasting so much money an crap like that?

ArizonaGuy

I already got my Asus eee PC.

I've got SDHC memory and USB flash disk on the way I got on BestBuy.com as a Black Friday deal. I ordered a 160GB passport USB drive last night, got the sweet deal on Buy.com.

Along the lines of sewage, I get to fix a bathroom - probably replacing an out of date, ugly toilet instead of fixing it (it's not level, and it used to be but has been rocking more and more since I replaced an old wax ring a year ago). The big, super Christmas gift will come with tax return time when I replace all the crummy old windows in my house with modern energy saving ones.

The rest of the toys are for the girlfriend. New laptop if I can find a deal I'm happy with, and anything and everything sea turtle related since it's her favorite animal.

Hartmann

I am thinking about getting this bad boy:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...4&sku=320-5647

24" of widescreen LCD monitor goodness... mmmm 1080p for my MacBook Pro

alcathiax

I already got myself a 22" LCD Viewsonic five weeks ago at only $199. On sale at my local CompUSA. :-)

I don't think I will be buying any other tech stuff for a while.

chuckd

A couple Sinn watches, an MX revolution mouse, an XBox Live renewal, probably some sort of geotagging-able (not a word, I know) GPS unit, a DS lite and R4, some SD cards, and maybe the new Zune. Most of this, excepting the GPS and Zune, has already been bought. Despite the fact I don't pay for my internet service, the web sure is costing me a lot of money.

Bytepusher

Some sort of media player, now to decide between Sonos, Roku and Slim

chicka12

I'm looking at GPS units. I've been borrowing a TomTom 910 and I kind of want the Go 720 now because its a practical size with a large face. I also really like their mapping provider, Tele Atlas, and the units are light weight with large faces. I also want another flat panel television. I have a 32" but I want a 42 or 50" for the living room.

IsleOfMan

My dad got a 46" Sharp Auqos 720p for $999 - 10% for using sears card on BF. The 1080p version was going for $2500, so the 720p version for $910 was a pretty good deal since he'll likely get an HD Cable box but not HD-DVD or BluRay any time soon (his first DVD player we got him for christmas last year will finally get hooked up to this new TV).