Get a Lenovo IdeaPad A1 7-inch tablet for $199 shipped

Um, remember that Samsung 7-inch tablet I wrote about the other day, the one that was refurbished for $259? [Waves hands mysteriously] That neeeever happened.

While supplies last, Lenovo is offering the new IdeaPad A1 7-inch Android tablet for $199 shipped, plus sales tax where applicable. That's after applying coupon code WEEKLYSAVEA1 at checkout.

(You'll see four models listed on the landing page; the black one is the one on sale. The blue one, FYI, is only $10 more.)

To be fair, this tablet lacks the Galaxy Tab's built-in 3G option, so don't feel too badly if you snapped up the latter. In other respects, however, it's pretty close--making this arguably the best $199 tablet you can buy right now.

The IdeaPad A1 features a 1GHz processor, 16GB of storage, front- and rear-facing cameras (0.3 and 3.0 megapixels, respectively), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, offline GPS, and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

It's because it runs Gingerbread that I give it higher marks than, say, the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet--both of which have nice media-centric ecosystems, but impose some limits on what you can do, app-wise.

CNET hasn't reviewed the A1, but the user reviews over at Amazon are mostly positive.

I wish I could tell you I've tried this model myself, but I haven't. If you have, hit the comments and let your fellow Cheapskaters know if this is, as I suspect, the best $200 you can spend on a 7-inch tablet.

Bonus deal: Whew! Looks like hard-drive prices are indeed starting to come down again. For a limited time, Best Buy has the Seagate FreeAgent 1TB USB hard drive for $59.99 shipped (plus sales tax).

Bonus deal No. 2: Remember that $149.99 24-inch LCD monitor I posted the other day? Yeah, um, forget about that, too. Newegg has the Acer G245HQABD 24-inch LCD monitor for $129.99 shipped (when you use coupon code EMCNJJH39 at checkout)--the lowest price I can recall seeing on a monitor of this size. It's new, not refurbished, and features DVI and VGA inputs.