Ramblings from the Marginalized

I'm not even sure what to file this one under.

Dell is teaming up with blizzard to produce a World of Warcraft themed XPS M1730 Laptop. The top of the laptop can be ordered with the Horde or Alliance themes.

Components
Alliance Theme
• Alliance or Horde designs on the wings, LCD back and hinge cover.
• Intel® Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
• Speed: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
• CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
• 512MB Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT with NVIDIA® SLI®
• glossy 17" HD Widescreen Display (1920x1200)
• Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 a/g Mini Card
• No Mobile Broadband selected
• High Definition Audio 2.0

My Software & Accessories
• Trend Micro Internet Security 24-months
  My Service

• 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor,24x7 Phone Support
• 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection (CD Shipped Separately)
• Included 10GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year

Horde Theme

Also Includes
• 17inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA
• 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Battery
• World of Warcraft themed Backpack, T-shirt and Mouse Pad
• Logitech® GamePanel Display
• AGEIAâ„¢ PhysXâ„¢ Physics Accelerator
• Adobe® Acrobat® Standard 8.1
• Windows Vistaâ„¢ Premium
• Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
• No Pre-installed Productivity Software
• No Entertainment Software Pre-installed
• No ISP requested

Did you catch the lines about pre-installed productivity software? Yeah, like this thing is designed to do work! Even funnier is when you read the next line where is says no entertainment software is pre-installed! Is that an intentional burn or just an oversight?

So, aside from the designs on the laptop what makes this is a World of Warcraft system?

• Golden Ticket for a custom FigurePrint of your in-game World of Warcraft character.
• World of Warcraft Beta Club Card, granting access to future beta tests.
• Collector's Edition Account Upgrade Certificate, allowing access to previously exclusive pets.
• Original desktop background artwork and screensavers.
• Warcraft-themed backpack, t-shirt and mouse pad.
• World of Warcraft Expansion: The Burning Crusade.

Funny how they include a mouse pad for a laptop computer. I guess you can add one on later.

If you take your World of Warcraft seriously would you want to be seen playing the game on anything less than this?

Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition Notebook Computer

Prices start at $4,499 and can go over $5,000 when you add in various options.

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I know what you are thinking, why is this in the Tech Deals section? It is here because all techies love coffee. so here is the deal:

Go to any 7-Eleven store near you on Monday Dec 31 starting at 11PM to Tuesday Jan 1 at 7AM for a free 12-ounce cup of coffee or other hot beverage. Participating stores will have free coffee signs in place.

The offer includes all 7-Eleven store coffees as well as gourmet specialties like cappuccino and hot chocolate. Participating stores will display a sign on the front window announcing information about the free-coffee program. Since ringing in the 1988 New Year, 7-Eleven stores across the United States have given away more than 1 million cups of coffee as part of its free-coffee program for late-night revelers and drivers. But that’s a drop in the cup compared to 365 million cups of coffee the retailer sells a year. 7-Eleven brews almost 10,000 pots every hour of every day of the year. A free cup of coffee on New Year’s Eve is a small way that 7-Eleven can thank its customers for their business and to wish them a happy 2008.

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Looking for an old Gameboy Advance to play some of your games on? While not as slick as the DS Lite or even the Gameboy Advance SP you can't beat the price!

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You have likely heard about the sub $100 HD DVD player that Wal-Mart (and others) will be selling tomorrow but, have you seen the other items?

First up we have the Fisher Price Ride-on Nascar for $144.72

Second we have a Sanyo 50" Plasma HDTV for $998.00

Third is an Acer Laptop with 1GB of RAM for $348.00

Fourth is a a sale on HD-DVD DVDs for $14.96

Last up is the well known Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player for $98.87.

I wish I knew more about which Acer laptop or Sanyo TV they are selling but that has not been revealed. What I do know is that all of the HDTVs I see in my local market are 720P.

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This deal is just too good not to pass on.

For a limited time, get the True Seating Concepts faux leather massaging recliner with ottoman (retail value $399.99) for free with your purchase of any Samsung HDTV 32" or larger at BestBuy.com. All you have to do is click the link below and follow the following instructions:

• 1. Select a qualifying Samsung HDTV below.
• 2. Select the massaging recliner with ottoman below.
• 3. Click the Add Items to Cart button at the bottom of the page.

The lowest price HDTV you can select is a 32" 720P model for $799.99.

Free massage chair (shipping extra) with select Samsung HDTVs at BestBuy.com. Now through 11/3.

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