Asus Price Trends and Favorite Retailers

Has anyone ever made a graph of the price of various Asus notebooks over time? It would be very interesting to see how frequently models are discounted to find the best time to buy.

Here are my 3 questions about buying Asus.

-Online stores like buy.com and eWiz have a lower price than the resellers, although they are close. Do the $200 off and other discounts from Asus still work if one buys from the online stores instead of retailers, and how is the quality of these stores? I know that buy.com has an abysmal rating, so I'm not sure if I'd buy a notebook there. It seems risky. What do you think?

-When rebates are over (eg the $200 off on the V6J that's currently good until July 4), would you expect the price to go back up, or for there to be a different rebate /mark down to keep the price the same, or would you expect the price to drop? From what I've seen of W3V pricing, the price doesn't jump back up after rebates. (Except in Canada where new ones take longer to apply? But I'm not Canadian)

-Who is your favorite online Asus reseller? (If this is an inappropriate question, please tell me.)

Thanks,

Cyrus

 

IM actually surprised by the rebate. asus really doesnt normaly budge on prices. they never come lower they just raise the specs to meet the same price after time. it doesnt matter where you buy an ensemble from. It only matters barbones. since asus handles support for the ensembles not the reseller. so what would it matter if you bought from ewiz or buy.com

my favorite resellers are proportable.com and geared2play.com

 

Thanks! That's good to know. I was just checking to make sure there wasn't any fine print trickyness (it would be a bummer to lose the $200 rebate in order to save a few bucks choosing where to buy it.)

I was also concerned about getting scammed at buy.com or eWiz. Sounds like my fears are unfounded. That's good.

So do you think that after July 4th the price will go back up and the specs will get better, or what? (I know I'm asking for you to predict the future, which is hard... )

Proportable and Geared2Play seem to have the lowest prices among retailers that I've looked at so far.

 

I ended up buying my V6J from eWiz. It wasn't only the price... they also had it in stock and were able to ship it same day which I needed at the time for a project. I was a little nervous about buying from them too but it went fine. Their ratings weren't great but when I looked through the ratings, I found that most of the complaints were from people who were buying parts, so I figured that those complaints didn't really pertain to what I was buying. Perhaps faulty logic but the point is I was quite happy with the purchase. They called me on the phone to verify my account info, which to be honest made me feel more secure. I would assume Asus will honor the $200 rebate... last time I looked eWiz was on their official list on the Asus USA website (assuming that the website is up to date).

 

I bought mine from geared2play. I was in no hurry and the prices were all about the same. I picked them b/c of their great ratings AND b/c he emailed me back within the hour on a question I had before purchase. I am so happy that I bought with him.

After you put the computer in your cart a page comes up with all of the accessories that you can buy with it (so you don't have to go and search for them individually).

Also, it was only around $20 to ship it via UPS when everyone else was charging at least $40 for FedEx (same time frame). I hate FedEx plus the cost savings was great!

He also has an option where you can pay extra ($40 maybe) for a one day turnaround. I did not need this but I am sure that it would help some out.

Finally, I bought additional RAM for my computer (not as an upgrade, it was aftermarket). BUT, Eddie installed it for me before he even shipped it out. Now THAT is service. Also, you get an additional $100 off for paying with PayPay or credit card.

About the rebates... I was worried about that too when I bought mine. The rebate for mine expired but I was not ready to buy. But then a week later a new rebate came out so I saved the same amount. I am not saying this will always happen but it did for me.

Good luck buying it but I would go with someone you can trust. You never know what might go wrong and $1500 is alot to gamble on.

 

is gentechpc.com a trusted reseller?

They called to confirm and order and I had to give them some credit card info over the phone... was that safe??

Thanks,
Sean

 

resellerratings.com has great info on different... resellers.

Buy.com is out the window. What an atrocious site. I'm still getting spam from them just for pricing out a W3V there a while ago.

I was looking at the eWiz "V6J", and they call it the

Asus VAJ-X009P 15 inch Core Duo 1.66GHz/1GB/100GB/DVDRW/XP Pro Notebook Computer.

It's got the same specs and picture as any other V6J, but why "VAJ"? They say the manufacturer's part number is "VAJ X009P". Does it mean it's the first of a number of V6Js, like VAJ, VBJ, VCJ, or what?

Thanks,

Cyrus

 

The rebates are on models that ASUS wants to clear out so that they can bring the refresh units in with higher specs...mostly the next higher processor. This is due to the Intel processor price drop back on May 28th. As soon as the rebated models are cleared out they will bring in the new ones.

Yes, giving your credit card information over the phone is quite safe as long as you are dealing with a legitmate dealer. You can check gentechpc.com out at http://www.resellerratings.com/seller594-p1-s2-d1.html#reviews

 

it's always best to give sensetive info over a landline rather than a cell or cordless phone, but you should be ok. I got mine from gentech, and they were great.

 

Buy.com isnt a scam at all. Its a huge well known site. While their support is lacking they do take pretty much most returns and have never issues with them.

 

As long as the reseller is legit.. then it's safe to give out credit card info over the phone. Gentech is a trusted reseller. Ken Lee of Gentech is a member over at Notebookforums.com. He is a very helpful guy and he helps members out with notebook related issues.

 

ahhh yeah Ken sounded very nice and professional.

Thanks =)

I can't wait til tuesday! =D

 

I emailed eWiz and they said that the "VAJ" was a mistake and that it was indeed the "V6J". I don't get how the price is so low! $1708 BEFORE $200 off.

As long as I can still get the $200 off, this is an amazing deal! Are eWiz items all new or are some refurb? Newegg is selling an "open box" V6J for $1550, but I think it is used- hence open box.

Cy

 

Yeah I paid that $1708 price when I got mine a couple of months ago (unfortunately just before the rebate but was still a good deal). Mine was new, sealed, everything fine. Can't promise anything but my purchase was fine.