Notice I put the word deals in quotes, this was not by accident. If you’ve seen some of the advertised netbook “deals” for black friday you might be tempted to go pick yourself up a netbook at these ridiculously low prices, but don’t give in to temptation. These advertised netbooks are cheap because most of them are junk.
Kmart
Here is one advertised at Kmart for $119 for 5 hours only. It is a Delstar 7 Inch Wireless Netbook 05. The biggest problem with this netbook, for most users, is that it runs Windows CE; an operating system originally designed for phones. Since this netbook runs Windows CE instead of Windows XP or Windows 7 like many netbooks you’ll find that many of your favorite programs won’t install on it.
Not only is the operating system out of date; the 7 inch screen, 400 Mhz ARM processor and included 2 GB of storage are reminiscent of the first netbooks to come to market, not something that should be on the shelf today. In fact, most smart phones boast better specs than this netbook. It doesn’t have any wifi, usb ports, or mic and headphone. It also has a useless 3 cell battery.
Office Max
If you want a really cheap netbook that is actually usable then Office Max has your answer. Their black Friday deal is an Acer Aspire One with Windows XP. It comes with a 10 inch screen, 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive which all add up to a more usable and functional computer for only $150. The catch is that this is good “while supplies last” and I’m pretty sure they will only have about 5 in the store. So If you get there about 2am and trample nudge some people to get in the door your efforts may pay off.
Best Buy
Best buy has a few interesting black Friday netbooks from Compaq and even a Dell that will be available when they open at 5am:
Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive $179.99
Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive $229.99
Dell 10.1″ Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive $379.99
Here is the fine print for the deals above: “note that these are doorbuster sale items and require a ticket from an employee given out at 3:00am in the store parking lot.”
Well I for one won’t be in the parking lot at 3am for a compaq but it’s still one of the most reasonable deals I’ve seen so far.
If you see any other Black Friday netbook deals let us know and we’ll add them to the post.
Oh and if you want some cheap netbooks without trampling pushing anybody or getting up at 2am browse through some of these deals.
