Wired! Or Not…

Now that the thought of wireless home networking has become more of a reality, I had been thinking about taking the computer that we bought last year for the business, making that the family computer, and getting a laptop.  So, last week there was a sale at CompUSA on a nice laptop from HP where there was an instant $300 savings and, coupled with a $50 rebate, brought the final total to $599.  Unfortunately, it was one of those “deals of the century” that got people knocking over their grandmothers to get one, the stores sold out in a heartbeat, and many of these bargains mysteriously showed up on eBay.

Suddenly experiencing one of those I just gotta have it moments, I went on eBay to try and get one.  First, I tried getting one for $599.  Then I started bumping my bids to $650, and kept going up in $50 increments until, by this past weekend, I was willing to part with $800 for one of these babies; even at that price it was a bargin – 2.0 GHz, 80 GB HD, 512 MB RAM, 15.4 widescreen monitor, DVD+/-RW, and plenty of bells and whistles – and a refurbished unit from HP cost $859.  However, I kept getting outbid again and again to where I thought that I was never going to catch a break.

Then, out of nowhere, a Buy It Now! offer of $720 appeared and, while some sellers were asking upwards of $80 for shipping and “handling,” this person wanted just $20 for that purpose.  So, without hesitation, I snatched it up and by tomorrow (Wednesday) I should happily be the proud owner of one of their beauties.  Of course, for now, I’ll have to stay connected via a 6-foot network cable but, when the basement gets finished, I’ll have decided upon a nice wireless network system so, in the meantime, if anyone out there has a recommendation, please pass it along to us!