Why You Can Trust CNET Five-deal Friday: A MacBook Air for $650, an iDevice speaker dock for $16, and more!
Sure, one or two of these items might sell out, but all of them? Impossible! (Hope I didn't just jinx it.)
It's been a rough week for the Cheapskate. The blog, I mean, not the man. (I'm doing fine.) First that super-cheap powerline Ethernet kit sold out in what seemed like minutes, then yesterday's free DVD ripper caused all kinds of confusion (as these things always seem to do, despite my best efforts at making the instructions clear).
But do I buckle? Do I bend? Hell, no! I come roaring back with a week's worth of goodies in a single post! Because no way can five deals sell out. Bring it on, universe!
1. This is probably a bad place to start, because CowBoom stuff tends to sell out very quickly, and I've been burned by them before. But, yowza: while supplies last, CowBoom has the refurbished Apple MacBook Air laptop for $649.99 shipped. It features a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and an 11.6-inch screen. Just one quibble: there's no warranty information provided. I'll update this later if I'm able to get some details from CowBoom. In the meantime...soooo tempted.
2. Also today only, and also while supplies last, Woot has the Acoustic Research ARS13 portable iPhone/iPod/iPad speaker dock for $15.99, plus $5 for shipping. It sells elsewhere for around $40. It's very compact, and it has a line-in jack for connecting non-iDevice devices.
3. Tired of all your mobile devices hogging all your AC outlets? You can charge four at once with a single wall wart. PricePlunge.com has the Scosche reVIVE Quad 4-port USB wall charger for $4.99, plus $1.99 for shipping. It's new, not refurbished, and it sells elsewhere for $15-20. Continuing the trend, this is available today only, and while supplies last.
4. An 8GB microSD card for $9.99? Pretty good. An 8GB microSD card for half that price? Killer. Newegg has the Patriot LX Class 10 (!) 8GB microSD card for $4.99 shipped. That's after redeeming a $5 mail-in rebate (PDF). I've occasionally seen a Class 2 or Class 4 card at that price, but never a Class 10. (That's a speed rating; Class 10 is the fastest.) It comes with an SD adapter and a five-year warranty.
5. Free music! When you link your Twitter account to your Amazon.com account, you can get a $1 credit from Amazon MP3. That's enough for a free tune (one that's 99 cents or less, natch). Might I suggest Brendan Benson's endlessly awesome ""="">"Eyes on the Horizon"?