king of deals

i know i've posted a similar post in the past, where i brag about some deals i've gotten. but man, i'm really proud of this one. i finally broke down and decided to buy a laptop.

ibm's thinkpad lenovo series has won many awards for producing good, small laptops. i basically just wanted something small, simple, and dependable. something with which i can travel. my approach to finding deals is that i spend over half the time researching what i want to buy, then the remaining time on where to buy it. i figured i would buy it from ebay, but turned out that ibm's site had a deal too good to pass:

my chosen laptop was regularly $956 (after upgrades from a $825 base model)

1. today was the last day of a 25%-off-all-laptops sale ($956 => $717)
2. i told the site that i was a student at Calvin College, giving me 5% off ($717 => $618.13)
3. i found a 10% off eCoupon that was good for only today ($618.13 => $613.02)
4. + taxes = $669
5. + free shipping = $669

so, what would normally be $1,040 shipped, i got for $669 :) my ultimate bargaining goal is to pursue something worth~$20, convince the salesman that he owes me money, and to walk out of the store with $5 more than what i came in with. that would be sweet.

incase anyone wants the nerdy details, the specs follow:

• intel core 2 duo processor (dual 1.6 ghz CPUs w/ 2mb cache)
• 14.1" wxga (aka widescreen), extra bright monitor w/ embedded webcam
• 2 gb ram (pc2-5300 ddr2 @ 667MHz)
• 80gig hd @ 5400rpm
• 6 cell battery (5.7 hr lifespan)
• it's pretty small: 13"x9"x1.5"