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Get an HP Pavilion Wave desktop PC for $299.99

Most PCs are decor-killers but this beauty is just the opposite. Plus: a fantastic game bundle and the Cheapskate's first-ever deal on a high-tech purse.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
3 min read

CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones , gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and follow the Cheapskate on Twitter!


Watch this: HP's new living room PC looks sharp, but is built for sound

What. Is. This?

I eat, sleep and breathe tech, yet somehow the HP Pavilion Wave never crossed my radar. Which is too bad, because it's forward-thinking and gorgeous in a way few PCs ever have been.

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Speaker or PC? Turns out it's both!

Sarah Tew/CNET

More on that in a moment. For now: Today only, and while supplies last, Woot has the refurbished HP Pavilion Wave mini-desktop PC for $299.99, plus $5 for shipping. It originally sold for $549 when it debuted less than a year ago and currently runs about $449 new.

Calling this a desktop PC belies its design, which I find pretty dang snazzy. It's a triangular, cloth-covered monolith, short and stocky, more closely resembling an oversize Bluetooth speaker than a PC. This is a tower that can actually improve the decor in your den, kitchen, home office or wherever you decide to put it. Most desktops? Not so much.

Speaking of speakers, the Wave is one: It features built-in B&O Play hardware and 360-degree audio. It also borrows a bit from Amazon's Echo, with dual-array microphones able to pick up any commands you issue to Windows 10's Cortana.

On the spec front, it's more than sufficiently suited to typical home tasks, with a Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.

CNET hasn't reviewed it, but you can get a nice overview of the product in the video up top.

Because this is a refurb, it comes with a 90-day warranty.

This, quite frankly, is what Apple's HomePod should have looked like. For less money, you get a prettier, smart(ish) speaker that's also a full-featured PC.

Your thoughts?

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PCT

Bonus deal: I'm still a big fan of my (now-discontinued) Nomad Wallet. It hides a 2,400mAh battery and Lightning cable and it's come in handy more times than I can count. But it's decidedly a men's product.

Hello, ladies! For a limited time, and while supplies last, Universal Goods and Sales (via Amazon) has the PCT Power Pochette Ladies Clutch Leather Wallet with RFID protection and built-In 3,000mAh power bank for $14.99. That's after applying promo code CHEAPS15 at checkout. (Yep, it's a Cheapskate exclusive!) Shipping is free for Prime subscribers.

The purse is available in three colors, but if you want blue or black, you have to jump through a small hoop: Find the "Other Sellers on Amazon" box along the right side (if you're using a desktop browser) and then click "New (2) from $39.44." Now select the desired color, make sure Universal Goods and Sales is still the selected seller and then proceed to checkout. Don't ask me why it's set up this way; it just is.

I'll be the first to admit there's no real advantage to this over any other purse with any third-party mobile charger tossed in. Indeed, you could carry something that offers even more juice. But this has a special pocket for the battery, meaning it's always right where you can find it, and the RFID protection is a nice perk. Plus the whole thing is only $15.

Annoyingly, the listing doesn't indicate anything about the charger's output, but I'm assuming it has one 1A USB port, which is sufficient for the intended purpose: charging a phone.

Bonus deal 2: Game time! If you like horror-themed shooters, look no further than Humble's Capcom Rising Bundle. There's no point even mentioning the tiers; for $12 you get 10 action-packed games with a combined value of $229.

And the collection includes some seriously noteworthy titles, including Devil May Cry, Dead Rising 2 and 3 and Resident Evil 6. As always, a portion of the proceeds goes toward charity -- so feel free to pay a little extra, seeing as you're getting such a tremendous deal.