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Most people think Windows XP Home Edition costs less than $100. In fact, that's the price of the upgrade only. The full version costs $200. Similarly, the full Proffesional Edition cost more than most people think.

In order to legaly put Windows on your Mac, you're going to need the full version of one of these products. If Microsoft has significan't better pricing with Vista than with XP, this will be cheaper, but the full version of their curren't OS, when sold shrink-wrapped to the public, is significantly more expensive than most people think.

TW

Most people think Windows XP Home Edition costs less than $100. In fact, that's the price of the upgrade only. The full version costs $200. Similarly, the full Proffesional Edition cost more than most people think.

In order to legaly put Windows on your Mac, you're going to need the full version of one of these products. If Microsoft has significan't better pricing with Vista than with XP, this will be cheaper, but the full version of their curren't OS, when sold shrink-wrapped to the public, is significantly more expensive than most people think.

TW

Considering I can buy a 2GB flash drive for ~50$ (on sale now at Best Buy), I don't see why the 'next gen' media couldn't be solid state again. Assuming the trend continues, the price in bulk might be competitive enough to make it happen.

They also could use something akin to Sony's MagicGate (tm) format, where the data is encrypted in the drive itself, except that the content is somehow tied to a TPM chip in the PS4. This would give them the advantage of a solid state memory design, combined with tying it to their platform and "securing" the data from piracy. I would be surprised if I'm the first to think of this.

The only reason, I think, that consoles moved to optical media was because of the density increase and price to produce. If solid state memory improves enough and is cheap enough I see no reason to think colsole manufacturers wouldn't jump back to making carts.

I just hope they throw in an add-on Optical Drive so we can play our PS1/2/3 games/movies on there as well.

I tell everyone I know to check out techbargains.com. A quick search there revealed:

Samsung Black-and-White Laser Printer for $60, not a bad deal, but I don't have any experience with Samsung laser printers, so who knows how good it is.

Here's another by Konica.

I gave a link for a $500 HP Wintel laptop, then I stumbled across one for $400 this week at BestBuy, not MIR. 512 MB of PC4200, 1.46 GHz Celeron M with 1 MB of L2 cache, 1280x768, 6-in-1 digital media reader (I gather Mac lappies don't routinely have those), firewire, USB 2.0, wireless and wired LAN, 5.2 lbs., 60 GB SATA drive. Supposedly Vista-ready and it comes with a remote and ear buds, so hopefully people will think you have an iPod in the cyber-cafe. You could almost buy 3 of these for the price of the cheapest new Apple notebook.

Beat Windows XP Home in to a corner with QTPARTED, then blow on Mepis or Ubuntu or whatever your favorite distro is & you've got a great, secure little dual-booting box. Linux for surfing and coding, Windows for gaming and using proprietary hardware.

I know lots of folks have had issues with a lot of Wintel hardware failing, but that issue is hardly unique. Mac hardware fails, too, and lots of cheap Wintel hardware lasts for years without any issues. I built an AT box with the cheapest stuff I could find 10 years ago (well, I splurged on a $107 FIC PA-2007 motherboard). Though I upgraded a few things (32 MB EDO to 128 MB of SDRAM, Pentium I 120 MHz CPU to a K-6 300, 1.7 GB HD to a 5 GB WD HD), nothing EVER failed. It went from Windows 95A to being a Debian Sarge server in a room where I didn't have to listen to the fans. It arrived in La Paz, Bolivia about a week ago, where hopefully the Ministry of Health will continue to use it for years.

Also, I'm not saying that ALL Apple hardware is overpriced and over-hyped. I'm actually very attracted to the MacMini because it is so quiet & energy-efficient, and not too expensive, though I could build a much more powerful Wintel SFF box for a lot less and it would be a lot easier to service (fix, upgrade).

I've had my eye on this one and online it actually says it's 20 bucks.

Either way, it's nice to have such things that are ported directly to Linux.

In the holy wars of whether WINE benefits the Linux community or not, I think it hurts more than it harms. If you want to game with your PC, dual boot...you know, with that OS your machine came with. If you want to use Linux, convince yourself to use only native games. If you REALLY REALLY want to game, get yourself an XBox.

First off, "second set" is pointless to say here. Batteries are typically sold in sets of four, and since the Wii's remote uses two...voila! Problem solved!

Also, Rob Simpson already made this point in another comment on this level, but he used Canadian prices when they're far from the majority on Slashdot. So, I'll say it again: battery chargers are cheap. $20 for four batteries and the charger? I do believe that most people can afford that if they're paying $200+ for a console.

So, for $1,100 you can have a slow, short battery life, and expensive laptop PC. Or for $600, you can give up the touch screen, get a faster CPU, faster hard drive and a bigger, higher resolution screen and get a basic notebook computer. Too much price for too little bang.

I was pretty sure that this had already been done by Best Buy, so I searched for it, and it looks like that's been covered here, twice. Do you, or anyone else, know if they have actually stopped rebates? I avoid Best Buy, as my experience with them has been pretty poor, so I haven't been keeping up. I get the impression that they haven't eliminated them completely, as a quick search indicates that they still have a rebate center. If Best Buy hasn't kept up to their end of the deal, and nobody seems to mind, what incentive does Office Max have to stay the same?

Mitsubishi - 62" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready Rear-Projection LCD HDTV w/HDMI Inputs - Silver/Black - $2,299 - 1280 x 720
Sony BRAVIA 40" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready LCD HDTV with HDMI Input - $3,299 - 1366 x 768
Pioneer - 61" HD-Ready PureVision Plasma Monitor - SALE: $8,549.99 - 1365 x 768 !!!

Finally we come down the list to
Mitsubishi 62" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready DLP Rear-Projection HDTV w/HDMI Inputs - Silver/Black
Model: WD-62627 - $2,799 - 1920 x 1080

Mitsubishi - 62" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready Rear-Projection LCD HDTV w/HDMI Inputs - Silver/Black - $2,299 - 1280 x 720
Sony BRAVIA 40" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready LCD HDTV with HDMI Input - $3,299 - 1366 x 768
Pioneer - 61" HD-Ready PureVision Plasma Monitor - SALE: $8,549.99 - 1365 x 768 !!!

Finally we come down the list to
Mitsubishi 62" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready DLP Rear-Projection HDTV w/HDMI Inputs - Silver/Black
Model: WD-62627 - $2,799 - 1920 x 1080

Yes, but you can get the single layer discs for $0.33 each, Which will give you 470 GB for $30 (when bought in lots of 100, Best Buy Price). That price is much better than hard drives, and you can swap stuff with friends easier. I would hesitate about giving a friend a $70 hard drive. I also wouldn't want to tote it back and forth with me everywhere, because that much travel can make them much more failure prone. The new BluRay disks hold 25 Gigs each, so assuming you could get them at the same price (DVDs are as cheap if not cheaper than CDs now) you could get 2.5 TB for $30. Which again, is much cheaper than buying a hard drive.

Gotta Love Best Buy

Basics only, the PS3 is said to have 256mb of RAM, where as this computer has 2GB of RAM. The size of the harddrive is 320GB, which is about 5 times larger than the 60GB harddrive that comes with the PS3. The processor of the computer is 2.2 Ghz. I have yet to see any specifics on the processor used or the power of the processor for the PS3. These are just the very basic differences.

See what I mean about computers for the same price being far more powerful?

There was an article a couple days ago on TGDaily that stated the Samsung's first blu-ray player to be a grand.

I don't know why an article on Slashdot is reporting Sony's to be $1500 when Best Buy is already taking pre-orders for both the Sony BDP-S1 & Samsung BD-P1000 models each equally priced at a thousand dollars. Even the Froogle search for it seems to come out on the one grand consensus.

It seems a lot of articles have been against Sony while this fear of Sony's set top player being overpriced is relatively unfounded. As we all know, this shall prove interesting if the PS3s offer the same functionality for much less.

If both players debut at $1,000, perhaps this will be a war one in quality instead of price? Ah, who am I kidding--whoever licenses pr0n easiest/fastest will come out on top (no pun intended).

I don't intend to run out and buy one because the only movie I've seen advertised for blu-ray is the second Underworld movie. And I don't even know which kind of blu-ray player it's for (customer confusion indeed)!

Just a side note, the same Reuters article is in The Washington Post and I've linked the print format to avoid having to click through pages and view less ads.

There was an article a couple days ago on TGDaily that stated the Samsung's first blu-ray player to be a grand.

I don't know why an article on Slashdot is reporting Sony's to be $1500 when Best Buy is already taking pre-orders for both the Sony BDP-S1 & Samsung BD-P1000 models each equally priced at a thousand dollars. Even the Froogle search for it seems to come out on the one grand consensus.

It seems a lot of articles have been against Sony while this fear of Sony's set top player being overpriced is relatively unfounded. As we all know, this shall prove interesting if the PS3s offer the same functionality for much less.

If both players debut at $1,000, perhaps this will be a war one in quality instead of price? Ah, who am I kidding--whoever licenses pr0n easiest/fastest will come out on top (no pun intended).

I don't intend to run out and buy one because the only movie I've seen advertised for blu-ray is the second Underworld movie. And I don't even know which kind of blu-ray player it's for (customer confusion indeed)!

Just a side note, the same Reuters article is in The Washington Post and I've linked the print format to avoid having to click through pages and view less ads.

Have you seen this?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtool s/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=548251&sku=B600-2004&CMP= EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEBNPR226

--100 discs/unit, ~7 seconds max eject time, comes with its own database/search software. It's even stackable.

--Alternatives:

http://www.storeyourmedia.com/-100-cd-stackable-di sc-drum-bonus-wallet.aspx
http://www.storeyourmedia.com/-60-cd-stackable-pod -titanium-blue-finish.aspx

--I use the 40-disc version of this one, plus an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of it:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?categoryid =pcmcat32500050007&id=1109233681431&skuid=7070411& type=product&ref=29&loc=01&srccode=cii_15720625&cp ncode=07-9481310-2

Nope, referring to gems like these:

42" 1080p LCD HD Monitor (For Cheap)
Same, only 37"

Westinghouse isn't the only company doing this. You'll find a bunch of HD PC gamers who are doing stuff like this already on the AVS Forums

Nope, referring to gems like these:

42" 1080p LCD HD Monitor (For Cheap)
Same, only 37"

Westinghouse isn't the only company doing this. You'll find a bunch of HD PC gamers who are doing stuff like this already on the AVS Forums

Of course, as even the linked article admits, Samsung's blu-ray player is still due out at the end of this month, at the same time the first round of blu-ray discs are.

Since unlike UMDs and other failed "Sony" formats of the past, Blu-Ray is not propreitary, it doesn't matter when Sony gets their player out. The Blu-Ray does not succeed or fall based on Sony alone; Sony delaying their personal player for six months makes no difference. While surely having two blu-ray players out at format launch would have been better than one from a consumer perspective, Sony's delay means effectively nothing except that early adopters interested in blu-ray will be buying a Samsung instead.

But hey, Zonk's never let little things like facts get in the way of his constant proclamations of doom and death for Sony and everything connected to them. So whatever. Rootkit rootkit rootkit $599 lol.

re:"If you're sitting there with a expensive 1080p TV pissing-and-moaning about $100, then I apologize."

I was thinking the same thing. When I get around to getting a flat LCD:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7749 653&type=product&id=1140394400806

Which isn't bad at under 1600.00, 100 extra for future-proofed (2012? Shit I hope there's a pass-through for 500.00 ps3's akin to the Xbox 360 mentioned in the parent-post or another game system by THEN) is the least of my cost-worries. And since I'm using the ps3 as a tax write-off for business expenses (I work with games and UI) - what do I care about 100.00 more dollars?

Much adeau? Meet nothing.

Bottem-line, they'll sell plenty to bleeding edge adopters - and the rest when the prices come down. That's how the PS2 sold anyway. They sure as hell didn't move the 100 million in the first year! Heck GTA3 - the first killer app for the PS2 didn't even arrive till nearly a year later.

But of course Zonk dredges every anti-sony article he can find, and the rest is predictable.

Xbox 360 doesn't have HDMI and you can't play HDDVD games on 360, so why not get a stand alone player?

You want a crippled, subsitized media player branded as a Mircosoft product? There is nothing wrong with that, but at least admit it. A lot of people buy clothing because of brand name on it.

Actually, the Xbox 360 has a specialized connector that can be whatever connection Microsoft wants to allow it to be. Chances are they'll be releasing an HDMI adapter when the HD-DVD drive is released.

I can get a PS3 with HDMI and games that actually use the higher denisity media for the same prices as an 'upgraded' 360 a year or more after PS3 launch. The last time I heard a timetable announcement for the HDDVD addon was over a year off anyway.

In that aspect, the most game creators will be using of the Blu-Ray for awhile is for the HD cutscene content. To make the kinds of assets (models, textures) used to fill ANY kind of DVD medium be it Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, or even plain jane DVD is a serious undertaking. I personally feel that only the largest of developers will be able to fill a single layer of a Blu-Ray disc, and THAT would be after multiple years of work - i.e. a Final Fantasy game.

The HD-DVD drive will be available this holiday season, a mere six months away [MS' E3 Report: Check out 12:21].

Personally, as someone without an HDTV neither console's video capability does anything special for me. Until I get an HDTV, it would be a waste for me to invest in such things when bills need to get paid ^_^. Having said that, I like the idea that with Microsoft's support choice for HD, if the drive dies I don't have to send in my whole system, and the drive is bound to be very cheap in comparison to a dedicated player (which really only costs $500 anyways). On top of that, if HDDVD doesn't take off as expected, they can simply make a BR drive. If the BR drive in the PS3 dies, game over until you send it in to Sony.

All in all, I want a gaming console - which I have. When Sony announced the price, i'd rather wait until the low model comes down to $400. If I wanted to pay near a grand for a computer - as Sony freely admits the PS3 is - i'd rather just get a MacBook :).

I don't think you know what an "order of magnitude" is.

Processing power is less than an order of magnitude difference, between handhelds and desktops. Slightly larger handhelds can have standard notebook hard drives, making them less than an order of magnitude of difference.

$2 / disc.

Thankyouverymuch.

A - The game playing capability of the PS3 is only worth $100.

B - Sony is dumping its product onto the market.

The stripped down 360 costs $399, the higher-end costs $499

Nope.

The core is $299, the "regular" is $399. There are bundles that go even for $800+, but that's not the point.

and that's without the HD-DVD.

For now. MS is already losing money on the XBOX hardware, they'll add an HD-DVD player when the time comes, right now most people don't even have HD-TV, why would you need the HD-DVD? Not to mention games will also be more expensive for HD-DVD since the disks cost more.

Plus, Sony's online play is free,

Sony has an online play? I wouldn't compare the fact that it's free compared to $50, but how much you actually get for it. Given XBOX Live already has built a large community, and is rapidly increasing, the $50 are worth it. Plus Sony is _announcing_ it's free, given the greedy bastards they are we'll see. They'll have a free sign-up but get very little and probably charge the same or more for the equivalent.

All Sony has to do is throw in a couple games and they'd have MS beat already.

Wrong...all Sony has to do is release a console, and then they can actually start playing catch-up

I tend to agree with the article. PS3 has so far nothing to offer me the XBOX360 doesn't. The people who buy Nintendo consoles do it cause they're huge SmashBros et. al fans. The market targeted by Nintendo is different than the one MS/Sony is going after.

By "Microsoft's most expensive model" I think they mean the one that Microsoft produces for $399 and NOT the bundles that businesses sell, or marked up auctions... because everyone knows that Sony isn't quoting prices for a bundle.

Really, I was at BestBuy yesterday, saw the premium bundle for $399 You can buy them right now, at walmart, bestbuy, etc for 399!!! You are the one spreading FUD

~nate

Dude, no matter how many times you repeat that it isn't going to be true!

Core system = $299. Full system $399.

If you want to pay some scalpers bumped up price thats fine, but the 360s retail price (which can be found most places now) are $299 and $399. Its not hard to find accurate information! How long did you have to look around to find these marked up prices? Why not just quote some Ebay auction selling them? In fact here you go: OMG!!!! 360s cost over $1,000 with just a few games!!!! What are they thinking?!?!?! Go buy a PS3 its cheaper!!!!!

Dude, no matter how many times you repeat that it isn't going to be true!

Core system = $299. Full system $399.

If you want to pay some scalpers bumped up price thats fine, but the 360s retail price (which can be found most places now) are $299 and $399. Its not hard to find accurate information! How long did you have to look around to find these marked up prices? Why not just quote some Ebay auction selling them? In fact here you go: OMG!!!! 360s cost over $1,000 with just a few games!!!! What are they thinking?!?!?! Go buy a PS3 its cheaper!!!!!

Sure you can pay more than $399 for the full system if you look around enough and really want to, or just head to BestBuy (or really anywhere else) and just pay $399 if you want. Your choice. Then the games range from $40 to $60 so previous poster saying you can buy the full 360 plus 3-4 games for the price of the full PS3 seems spot on to me.

benefits far outweigh the tiny fraction of compatibility issues.

Unless one of those compatibility issues affects your favorite game by scrambling the graphics beyond recognition or (worse) causing it to halt. And have emulators of newer systems (PS1, N64) progressed to the point where they don't need settings per game?

24" LCD

Can you get such an LCD for $150 like this 24" CRT SDTV? Not everybody makes a ton of money.

crappy RF switch

The front-loading NES can output composite video. The Super NES, PS1, N64, PS2, and GameCube (and presumably the PS3 and Wii) can output S-video. Who needs an RF switch?

I just bought a Swiss Gear Synergy backpack for a trip to London that I just got back from. I was amazed at how much it would expand and contract depending on the load that I put in it. The outer pocket is a special section for just about anything smaller such as a cell phone, pocket knife, usb keys, business cards, etc. It even has a place to thread headphones though in case you want to listen to an MP3 player while you're wearing it. Even though I found out about it just a few weeks ago, I was amazed at how many people at the airport had similar ones as well. Best of all, it was only 80 dollars.

I have the Swiss Army bag and it works well for me. If your notebook is not any longer than 15.4" you shouod be fine. I carry my laptop, external DVD burner, Power supply for each device, cd case, and also my mouse. With all of that, i don't get close to filling the bag. The link below is to Best Buy's website showing the bag. Since it is a backpack it has some security straps on it to keep it from falling off of you, or really straining your back and sholders. It's another bag to consider.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6563 747&type=product&productCategoryId=cat08003&id=107 7630480948

Great idea. I found a site that does JUST THAT! Go to http://www.google.com/ and type in 'bist buy'. Right before the first link, you will see:

Did you mean: best buy

Which contains a link to the correctly spelled site!

Oh, you mean those retarded bundles that for the most part try to con you in to buying the core system and some games you probably don't want?

Nope, just the "premium" system for $399.

Here order your damned Xbox, you can have it the day after tomorrow and quit your bitching... Oh, what's that you say? You already have one, or you wouldn't be blathering on like a fanboy? Where'd you get it? I thought there was a shortage?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7139447&type=produc t&id=1110265594154 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7438873&type=produc t&id=1122655672986 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7461409&type=produc t&id=1125465419565

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7139447&type=produc t&id=1110265594154 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7438873&type=produc t&id=1122655672986 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7461409&type=produc t&id=1125465419565

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7139447&type=produc t&id=1110265594154 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7438873&type=produc t&id=1122655672986 and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid =QCQURGFMHRAFNKC4D3KFAFQ?skuId=7461409&type=produc t&id=1125465419565

I bought my first apple product EVER last week, a Mac Mini.

Wow, you were turned into an Apple Fanboy in a week? Impressive.

The Nano is another recent product that still has no competition.

Really? http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage.jsp?id=113808 6672392&skuId=7712969&type=product

(It's cheaper too, BTW.)

"Er no. Your account isn't linked to the retail copy it's linked to your credit card"

BZZZZT!

Hardly. You can buy the game with cash, and then there are those pesky monthly game cards that you can purchase the same way, guaranteeing your anonymity.

They're going to get a catchy name like "analog hole" pretty soon too.

BTW, WoW expansion pack fans should take note of this link

"Er no. Your account isn't linked to the retail copy it's linked to your credit card"

BZZZZT!

Hardly. You can buy the game with cash, and then there are those pesky monthly game cards that you can purchase the same way, guaranteeing your anonymity.

They're going to get a catchy name like "analog hole" pretty soon too.

BTW, WoW expansion pack fans should take note of this link

I don't like messenger bags, they require either a hand to be occupied or a shoulder to be disproportionately burdened. I use a Camelbak Alpine backpack. It will hold my laptop, charger, two USB cables for my Palm and my digital voice recorder, plus books for one class. I can squeeze in my Eos Digital Rebel if need be, and it'll still hold two 1-liter bottles of water. It is now carrying its second laptop and I see no problem with it lasting indefinitely.

And when I'm at a convention or something, the laptop stays in the hotel room hidden in luggage and I add the liter bottle of water back to it.

What I want is a Swiss Gear bag, but I'm kind of severely underemployed right now. I think the compartments would work better for the stuff that I need to keep around, the only problem with it is that it won't hold the one liter bottles of water that I prefer.

EB Games sells 1600 cards for $20, but the regular price is $25 elsewhere and the retail/list price is always $25.

Here in the UK I've never seen an HDTV CRT --- the push for HiDef came after the LCD/Plasma thing. I didn't realise there were such beasts as HiDef CRT TVs! ian

So? When I was in college I was 'forced' to buy a bunch of textbooks. They were my property, but the University mandated I used a particular set of books that the professors had chosen to teach from. It's really no different.

It is very different. First of all, you had the option to buy the books second-hand most of the time, reducing the cost of the books to you. There's not really a good option out there for buying a second-hand laptop that will be able to keep up with the latest programs (especially graphics and video). Secondly, you also had the option to take the book out of the library (school or public), and not pay anything at all. Please remember that the average college/university student doesn't have a lot of money. It's possible to budget in $1,000USD or more for textbooks -- it's even covered by many student loans and bursaries. But how about this kind of budget:

Mac 2GHz Intel Core Duo: $2,499.00
Microsoft Office 2004 -- Student and Teacher Edition (For Mac): $149.99
Adobe Photoshop CS2: $649.00
Total: $3297.99

That's the absolute minimum that an average graphics design student would have to spend, on top of textbooks. Doing any courses in animation or web design? Expect to spend $699 on Adobe After Effects or $999 on the Macromedia Suite. Video editing? That's $849 for Adobe Premiere Pro if you're running Windows or $1,299 for Final Cut Studio for Mac. God forbid you have to buy your another (larger) monitor, peripherals, an OS, or your course requires you to use Media 100 or Avid. Soon you're paying more for your laptop than you paid for your whole school year in residence (including meal plan), tuition, and possibly your entire school experience combined!

One of the primary reasons that schools offer computer labs is because most students cannot afford to buy the requisite hardware and software. Schools pool resources from the government and tuitions in order to get computer labs, which is something that an individual cannot do. Schools also get trememdous discounts on the products and liscences that they buy because they buy in bulk.

Please remember that many of us went through school on student loans and part-time jobs. Where I live (Ontario, Canada), they have decreased what the government-sponsored loans will lend out, and even bank loans (which have to be co-signed by your parents) are limited. The average student can hope to receive about $6,000CAD max from the government, and maybe another $8,000CAD from the bank, and, if you're lucky, a couple of hundred bucks a paycheck from a part-time job. This has to last you for lodging, food, tuition, and supplies for eight months. Can you imagine what a $3,000 (minimum) mandatory laptop will take out of your ability to pay for things like, say, food?

Also, think about the tech support necessary to keep everyone's computer running smoothly when every numbnuts out there has administrative privileges. Books don't exactly require support. If the school doesn't provide the technical support, then a large percent of student-owned laptops will be out for service so much that they're rendered useless for educational purposes.

Or I could do the other thing that I described in my post above: XBox 360 + HDTV = $400 + $600 = $1000.

And, as long as we're taking into account economic factors, I get the additional benefit of getting the goods right now, vs. in 2007.

Okay Ass clown

True, you can get a bargain basement el-crapola 24" HD-TV with out a Tuner card.

Jumping up a few inches and adding a tuner will get you into the $600-$700 range.

And you won't find a 50" Plasma for under $3000.

My DVD has dts 7.1, if it is lossey my ears can't detect it.

And what do I want advanced menus for? I want to be able to press play and watch my movie.

Okay Ass clown

True, you can get a bargain basement el-crapola 24" HD-TV with out a Tuner card.

Jumping up a few inches and adding a tuner will get you into the $600-$700 range.

And you won't find a 50" Plasma for under $3000.

My DVD has dts 7.1, if it is lossey my ears can't detect it.

And what do I want advanced menus for? I want to be able to press play and watch my movie.

but with no wires how are the wire monkeys gonna make their money? i mean.. what will they do without HDMI Cables to shower upon the unwitting masses? after all they have finally gotten those low brow buisness types needing their gold plated USB cables to push all of them 480 mbps.

Headphones are always, always, going to have better sound quality over earphones.

Not quite true - headphones might get the technology first, but it would eventually trickle down to the earbuds/earphones. Not to mention that earbuds will have a better quality of sound as there is less interference (and less bouncing of the waves) in getting the sound to your ears.

I would think the little earphones would dammage your ears more than headphones; at the same sounding volume.

True - but the key here is the same volume level. The nice thing about earbuds is that you can get the same quality of sound as headphones at a lower volume level, with less outside interference.

I've been using earbuds for years, and love them. Some are better than others, and expense doesn't necessarily mean better. Currently I find the $10 Sony MDR-J10 earbuds to be the best, and have 2 or 3 pairs of them that I use nearly all the time.

As per the original question of why some people can use them and others can't stand them - I would lean towards the fact that while they are generally comfortable to me (some are more comfortable than others), others can't seem to be able to wear them at all; the cause of which I believe is the size of people ears. Headphones will always be usable by anyone, while for earbuds your ears have to be big enough to hold the earbud.