24" LCD back at Geeks.com

Geeks.com again offers the 24" Soyo MT-GW-DYLM24D6LCD Monitor for $199. They had the same display at the same price a few weeks ago and it quickly sold out. This has to be the lowest price I have ever seen for a 24" monitor, excluding perhaps Black Friday specials or other gimmicks. This refurbished monitor features DVI and VGA inputs, and a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels.

Laptop Roundup

At the request of a reader wondering what to do with her stimulus payment, I've prepared a list of notebooks at varying price points, from the sub-$500 bargain Dell to the premium $1500 MacBook Pro.

• Overstock.com has the Dell Latitude D600 14" laptop, an older model, refurbished, for $450 with $3 shipping. It has 512mb of memory, 30gb hard drive, and Windows XP Professional.
• Dell offers the Vostro 1000 15.4" notebook, with 1gb memory, 80gb had drive, and CD burner, and Windows Vista Home Basic, for $399 plus sales tax and $20 for shipping. Windows XP Pro costs an extra $100, or Windows Vista Home Premium and an upgraded optical drive are available for an extra $44.
• Geeks.com has the Sony VAIO VGN-N395E/B 15" laptop, with 1gb memory, 160gb hard drive, DVD burner, and Windows Vista Home Premium for $590.
• Buy.com has the HP dv9627cl 17" laptop with 2gb memory, 200gb hard drive, DVD burner, webcam, and Windows Vista Home Premium for $706 shipped free.
• The Apple Store has the Refurbished MacBook 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White for $949 shipped free.
• MacMall offers the MacBook Pro 15.4" glossy notebook with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz processor, 2gb memory, 120GB Hard Drive, webcam, and Mac OS X Leopard for $1498 after $150 MIR. Parallels Desktop, which allows you to run Windows on the Mac, is also available free after two MIRs with this purchase.

iPhone Refurbs

While Apple has stated that they're permanently sold out of the first-generation iPhone online, and retail stocks are being drawn down, AT&T has new phones in stock and has also renewed its stock of refurbished models.

• 8gb refurb - $249
• 16gb refurb - $349
• 8gb new - $399
• 16gb new - $499

2gb MicroSD $7

TigerDirect has the Centon 2gb MicroSD card with full-size SD adapter, for $6.99 until tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9am PST. Shipping is $3.75 for up to 20 pieces.

25% off at Picaboo - custom photo merchandise

Picaboo offers a variety of merchandise created with photos you upload. They offer cards as low as 79¢ when purchased in volume and books from as low as $9.99 (prices before coupon savings).

Save 25% on all orders. Coupon code: GRADU8. Exp: 6/30/2008

Geeks.com deals

Geeks.com has the Seagate Momentus 2.5" 160GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive for just $54.50. This is less than half the price of a new drive. If you currently have a 5400rpm drive (standard with most notebooks... some even have 4200rpm) this can make for a significant increase in your performance, in addition to adding some space.

They have sold out of the 24" LCD's I mentioned earlier in the week; I will post again if they restock. Other notables on sale include the Sony PSP-1001K PlayStation Portable (PSP) System (Black) at $123 (a $46 savings from Amazon) and the Lite-on DD-A500GX 1080i Double Layer DVD Recorder w/HDMI - a standalone DVD recorder with TV tuner for just $80.

Wii Bundle at GameStop

It seems like the Wii shortage is finally easing. Both Best Buy and Toys-r-Us had the unbundled console in stock last week for several hours each, and the bundles are getting a little more reasonable as well. GameStop offers the Mario Galaxy Wii Bundle for $399. It comes with the following items:

• Wii Console - $250


• Wii Play (including extra controller) - $50


• Nunchuck - $20


• Mario Galaxy game - $50


• Wii Charge Station with rechargeable controller batteries - $27

The total value of the bundled items is $397, so you're paying a small $3 premium, but ultimately, if you want the game (Mario Galaxy) it's a good deal, since you pretty much need the rest of the things included, there's no real fluff involved.

24" LCD for $199 at Geeks.com

Geeks.com offers the 24" Soyo MT-GW-DYLM24D6LCD Monitor for $199. This has to be the lowest price I have ever seen for a 24" monitor, excluding perhaps Black Friday specials or other gimmicks. This refurbished monitor features DVI and VGA inputs, and a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels.

Kitchenaid Mixer, $185 shipped free at Amazon

Amazon.com offers the KitchenAid Artisan 5-quart stand mixer, today only, in white only, for $185 with free shipping. That's about half of the MSRP and the lowest total price I have ever seen for this product. It's also available in red for $189. Most other colors are $239.

Kindle, Civilization, and more...

If you're one of the twelve people waiting with bated breath to buy a Kindle from Amazon, they're in stock now with free two day shipping. At $399 including lifetime wireless service, it's an interesting advice but a little too rich for my blood. At $99 or $199 it might pique my interest a bit more. For the big spenders out there, grab one and let me know. Lunch on me if you do, since Amazon pays $40 commission for each device. :)

Also, get your pre-orders in for Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, the first installment of the venerable Civilization franchise for consoles. The game is available for pre-order from Amazon at $60 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and $30 for the Nintendo DS. As with other pre-orders, Amazon offers a price guarantee; you automatically get the lowest price they offer between now and when the item ships (June 2 is the release date right now).

Speaking of notable pre-orders, Wii Fit is scheduled for release on May 21, and is offered through the same Amazon price guarantee program at $90.

And, for you who requested travel deals, save 50% off your car rental at Hertz - expires 6/30/08 - courtesy of Expedia.com.