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Toward the end of 2012 I was in the market for an ultraportable notebook with a 1600 x 900 pixel or higher resolution display, and at the time the best options around seemed to be the Asus Zenbook UX31 and the Samsung Series 9. Both laptops tended to sell for close to $1000, so when I spotted a Black Friday deal on a Samsung Series 9 for about $800, I snapped it up, even though the laptop had a Sandy Bridge processor.
Nine months later I’m still pretty happy with my ultrabook. But that doesn’t mean that my head didn’t turn when I saw a brand new Asus Zenbook UX31A on sale today with a 1600 x 900 pixel display, an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, and a $570 price tag.
Technology: It keeps getting cheaper (if you’re willing to buy devices with last year’s state-of-the-art specs).
Here are some of the day’s best deals.
- Asus Zenbook UX31A ultrabook w/Core i5 Ivy Bridge for $570Â – BuyDig (via eBay)
- 2012 Apple MacBook Air 11.6″ notebook w/Core i5 for $749Â – Adorama (via eBay)
- Acer Aspire S7 13″ ultrabook w/Core i5 Ivy Bridge for $680Â – Rakuten
- Refurb Acer Aspire S3 13″ ultrabook w/Core i3 Sandy Bridge for $370 – Woot
- Refurb Asus VivoBook Q200E 11.6″ touchscreen notebook for $290 – TigerDirect (via eBay)
- Movie bundle sales with prices as low as $10 for trilogies – iTunes (via 9to5Mac)
- $60 iTunes card for $48 – Gift Card Mall (via eBay)
- Refurb Samsung Galaxy Player 4″ Android media player for $109 – Woot
- Seagate 1TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive for $60 – Newegg (coupon:Â EMCXMWT58)
- Lenovo portable USB 2.0 DVD burner for $20 after rebate – TigerDirect
- Rosewill slim USB 3.0 external Blu-ray writer for $60 after rebate – Newegg (coupon:Â EMCXMWT46)
- ADATA 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $8.59 after rebate – Newegg (coupon:Â EMCXMWT67)
You can find more bargains in our daily deals section.
“Technology: It keeps getting cheaper (if you’re willing to buy devices with last year’s state-of-the-art specs).”
In the past, it’s been getting cheaper even if you bought the current year’s equipment.
The fact that you now have to buy last year’s stuff means that many manufacturers failed to sell of their production runs. (not a surprise in the case of a high end ultrabook without function keys, but happened to other manufacturers as well)
And new, top-of-the-line ultrabooks, have actually made quite a jump up from last year, making them a good indicator of inflationary price pressures on OEMs for materials.
The fact that this is happening in an industry that managed to make things cheaper and cheaper over the years should be a pretty big blip on the radar of anyone who’s trying to ascertain where we stand on inflation, given the FED’s never ending, massive expansion.