Significant Other just received a very generous check from her dad as a graduation present to apply to the purchase of a new notebook computer. (She’s getting a master’s in accountancy, a degree she’s been plugging away on since 2005. Yay!) So she went shopping all last week, online of course. Should she go with HP? Should she choose Dell? Was there another company out there people were talking about? Could she find what she wanted for that much money?

Here’s what we learned: Companies are willing to make great deals right now. If you pay sticker price, you’re probably paying too much.

Over the next few days, I’ll describe her shopping journey, in case there’s something useful for your next consumer jaunt too.

Since SO had mostly satisfactory experience with both HP and Dell, she felt comfortable going that direction.

As you probably know, it can be a lot of fun to spec out a dream machine on the HP and Dell sites. You start clicking this radio button over those, specifying this component as an add-on, that application suite over the other one, and as you go along, you get to see the price tag adjust itself.

But it can also be overwhelming. You have to decide if you’re going to shop through the business side or home & home office side of a company’s site, when it’s a machine you’ll be using at home but for business reasons. Then you have a myriad of laptop choices, depending on weight considerations, screen size and a slew of other details.

Plus, those shopping tools don’t always help you get what you’re really looking for. In her case, she wanted at least a 15-inch display with anti-glare.

Next: Live Chat to the Rescue!

Posted on April 12th, 2008 by dian