Black Friday at Wal-Mart revealed? ($398 HP laptop, 12-cup coffeemaker for $4.24)

CNN/Money ^ | November 2, 2005 | Parija Bhatnagar

[HungarianGypsy]

When I was a teenager I used to go out on Black Friday just so I could people watch, LOL!

[Arthalion]

Ack, no way in heck would I brave a WalMart on a Black Friday. I've been in Sears & JCPenney at 5AM, I've tackled ToysRUs in the driving rain before dawn to get their Black Friday doorbusters, and I'm a yearly "Before 10AM" shopper at Home Depot to pick up some of their awesome deals. But I've only been in a WalMart one time on a Black Friday, and it's the only time I've ever been scared while SHOPPING. It took 20 minutes to get INSIDE of the store, there were NO shopping carts because every one of them was in use (which was a good thing anyway because the aisles were gridlocked), the entire store was a disaster because every single employee was on the registers or bagging, and I witnessed two physical assaults and several arguments in the 10 minutes between my entering and leaving the store. In one case, a woman and a man were arguing over a microwave oven (apparently the last one) when the man tried to pick it up and walk off with it. The woman kicked the box, causing him to drop it, which in turn made a noise that pretty clearly indicated that she'd broken it. The guy picked the box with the microwave up and HURLED it at her, slamming her to the ground and dazing her. Nobody cared either. Not one security officer showed up, not one employee called for help, and not one person offered to help defuse the situation or help the woman afterward.

That was the first and last time I went into a WalMart on a Black Friday. It's not worth risking my health over!

By the way, if anyone wants to go Black Friday shopping somewhere OTHER than WalMart, you can find a ton of ads here: http://bf2005.com/

[RedWing9]

No mention of Windows. My guess is that it doesn't come with an O/S.

[irons_player]

DOS 5.0

[rolling_stone]

I swore if I ever did it again I'd pee on my clothes and let them sit in a garbage bag for a week, put them on and then go fight the masses. At least that way I'd have somewhat of an advantage at driving people away from me.

Hmm I hear tell someone tried that at an IRS audit, they thought it might speed things up...LOL..

[avg_freeper]

"My guess is that it doesn't come with an O/S."

I checked out the serial number at HP to see if I could find more specs but concluded that this is a Walmart special. (the "wm" at the end probably should of been my first clue)

None the less I imagine it has XP home on it. But even if it doesn't I can get XP Pro, Office, and a whole slew of software free through my company's employee incentive plan or Microsoft deals through the college I attend.

So I'm set!

[arizonarachel]

I went last year to the local Wal-mart, and showed up at 7am. There was almost no one there, and still a lot of items left that were the good deals. I say let the rush go, and then show up awhile later.

[avg_freeper]

Here's a link to an eBay seller that supposedly is offering one of these: HP Pavilion ze2308wm Notebook PC AMD 1.6Ghz *SEALED*

If the specs shown there can be believed (how could they get this computer before the sale?) then it has XP Home on it.

[Mustng959]

There was alot of good deals this morning but the main one I went for eluded me. The HP Laptop computer was actually at $388. I was there at 4:30am for a 5:00am start. By the time I reached the register to get the laptop at 5:20am, it was sold out! Someone said there were only 40 to begin with.
That's okay...found a Dell (made in America) online for $399 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

[junkyarddawg]

Our Wal-mart here had exactly 13 of the hp computers at 4:00am this morning.

[fishbabe]

great for dips...Like the one with chili beans and tons of cheese...