More photo for your buck

Costco is running a special in September on their über large 20"x30" photo enlargements for under $10 ($9.95/each). I know what you're thinking - print quality. If you're like me and take the quality of your photos seriously, I share your skepticism. However, some professional have said the prints come out remarkably good; on par with with pro labs such as Dale or Mpix.

One word of caution: finding frames in some awkward sizes such as 20x30 might not prove to be easy. Make sure you check the availability of a matching frame before you submit your order for your gargantuan, life size print.

Deal Savvy: Online coupon shopping

It's amazing how you can find practically anything online these days. Not sure how regular brick and mortar retailers can even compete, and I guess many can't, as evidenced by the closure of Circuit City. It's getting to the point where I actually feel guilty shopping online because I know that I'm contributing to the closure of some wonderful local store. But, what can I do? Pay more?

Compound the problem with online coupons. Fatwallet was one of the first sites I heard about that would detail exactly how to squeeze every bit of value out of your dollar. Recently, I used logicbuy to get 30% off $1099 on one of my new favorite HP Pavilion dv3t series laptops. Killer price for an amazing machine.

Be weary though, not all coupons are as good as they seem. Some claim to be 50% off, but the resulting price is only a few dollars off from what other e-tailors are hawking the same item for.

The super thin, highly attractive, Lenovo u350

After using a 1.3Ghz Pentium Mobile on the ultra portable Lenovo u350 for about a week, I got mostly what I expected, but some surprises as well. Although the mobile Pentium will give you lots of battery life, and adequate processing power for most tasks -- if you're a techie, you'll undoubtedly run into some of it's limitations and get a little frustrated. Specifics? Try playing back HD video on your TV over HDMI: smooth 1080p playback is just not possible. I even tried the "fastest in the world" CoreAVC software codec, and the hardware accelerated Media Player 12 running on Windows 7. Try un-raring some large downloads, or even opening up large PDF's. Every now again, you'll get a little annoying pause. Price is awesome though - I got the super sexy u350 for $610 shipped to my door after the Lenovo employee discount (it pays to know people). Personally, I think 13.3" is the sweet spot for laptops. 14.1" is just a bit on clunky side, and 12" feels a little too cramped.

The build quality of the machine is above average. The light weight comes at the obvious cost of durability. You definitely notice the abundant use of lightweight materials (read plastics) on this machine. With normal use, I don't foresee any problems - but I doubt it would withstanding the daily stresses that road warriors would put it through for too long. It isn't quite the bullet-proof tank that the Thinkpad T series is legendary for, but then again, it doesn't come with the hefty price tag of the T series either.

Never thought the day of the sub $1000 ultra portable would come so soon! Gotta love economies of scale.