Deals on dv5000z

I'm planning on buying a dv5000z, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. I'm currently in school, so I'd like to use the student discount, but I can't get the webpage to work for me. In firefox, I try to log in and it takes me in an infinite loop. In IE, it gives me the page cannot be displayed screen. I'll probably end up calling in my order to get around this.

Here's my question: How does HP cycle their discounts? Currently, they're offering a $50 MIB, free shipping, free upgrade to brightview, and free upgrade to lightscribe. Is this going to change any time soon? If they're going to replace the free lightscribe with, say, a free upgrade to the HDD, I would wait. If they're going to up the MIB, I would also wait. If they're going to get rid of the MIB, I would order now.

Finally, is there any way to get HP to ship a notebook without windows? I don't want/need windows and it pains me to pay for another windows license that I'm not going to use.

Thanks

 

HP deals are hard to track as they tend to be mostly arbitrary. I would try calling them and seeing what they can offer. Sometimes sales CSR's can give you more rebates than what is on the website. Also with HP, the price on their components tend to change along with the discounts. So watch out for these as sometimes it might be costlier to upgrade with the discounts rather than without them.

From what I have seen the free upgrade tend to cycle between free upgrade to the brightview screen or the free wireless or the RAM. Free upgrades on hard drives tend to be not to common. Free shipping is good though as they charge $65 for shipping. One more thing to remember is that HP now has to charge tax in every state for their online sales.

Check the sticky on the top of this forum. the links provided there should give you the info regarding current rebates.

All of HP consumer laptops come standard with Win XP. Only some of their business class notebooks come with the option of a different OS.

 

Office Depot sometimes has deals on HPs.

 

I posted this earlier on NBR.

Use Costco.com for 200$ off your total online price. $200 taken off at checkout. If you don't like computer..take it back to any land costco store
or ship it for full refund. Costco Policy. Also free shipping. Base price is cheaper than HP site.

http://www.costco.com/CTO/HPLanding.aspx?Prodid=10029570&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

*** Deals on costco.com changes week to week ***
My deal includes great free HP all in one printer.

Heres my earlier post:
Ordered HP DV5000z 2/22/06 from Costco. Got it March 3rd or so.
1436$ - 200$ instant and rebate. 1226$. Free Shipping.

64 ML-40
1X1024 MB
80GB 5400 rpm
Lightscribe DVD
a/b/g with Blue
Brightview
Media Center
2 x 12 cell
HP remote control

I'm Tripping.

Duo Core is nice. But if thats the game.. I want Duo Core 64 AMD mid Year.
Right Now... I'm just using it for DVD play. Cool Enough.
I'm Freaked with the display.

Do the BrightView addition for 23 Bucks.
It gives you The glossy screen..more brighter, more contrast.
Will just trip you out.

Do the 128MB 200M w/Hypermemory for 25$. You get 128 discrete and 128
Hypermemory for total 256MB video mem. In addition you get
6-1 media reader, IEEE1394 port, and extra USB 2.0 port with the 128MB 200M.

 

Office depot has a great deal on them right now. I configured and ordered one on sunday and the total was about $800 after rebates.

heres everything i got:
15.4" brightview widescreen
Turion ML-32
512 mb ram (1 dimm)
80 gb 5400 rpm
dvd rw with lightscribe
128 mb ATi 200m graphics and extra usb, firewire, and cardreader
54g wireless
hp all in one printer
one year of norton internet security

 

Thanks for the replies. The costco deal looks good. Do you know if I will still be able to purchase an extended service plan from HP if I purchase the laptop from costco?

I looked into Office Depot, but couldn't find anywhere to configure one...

 

Yes you can.

 

Yeah, it does not matter where you buy the laptop from, you have upto the end to the standard warranty to decide if you need the extra service plan

 

The deal I got at office depot was in-store only.