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Yup, you can get a Wii with MarioKart for $99. Same price as the Ouya, and has a great selection of party games.

What happens once all the still-working used netbooks on Amazon are bought up?

I'm pretty sure you can still find 'em... this one for example is on sale this week, for damn near netbook prices. Yes, it's about $100 more than most netbooks cost, but it's in the price range of a midrange tablet, and it has a keyboard.

If you prefer something cheaper, you could, you know, buy a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard for less.

And failing that, there are always chromebooks. That was my plan for my next ultraportable... buy a 13" chromebook, wipe the drive, and install my Linux of choice....

Long time reader, no account, but I just had to write something here regarding the comments posted thus far.

I have owned the iPhone 5 for one year now. It came with a wall plug and lightning cable. It has never broken, and works perfectly. When I wanted an extra one to keep in my car, I picked up one from FutureShop (here) when it went on sale for $12.99. The price was so good for a MFi (Made For iDevice) certified cable, that I bought two of them. Neither have broken. I treat them well. One stays in the car and the other stays at work.

I could have easily bought 10 for $0.89 USD each (here) from China but my experience with the cheap cables from China is that they work for a while then just suddenly stop. They don't handle wear and tear quite so well and the wires inside break near either end. Sometimes the Chinese cables only allow syncing and sometimes they only allow charging. It all depends on the supplier. I've ordered enough of these over the years to know a bad product when I see one.

For my American friends, hit up Monoprice: here or here will have you up and running with a MFi certified cable (so no blocking with iOS 7), and it'll cost you $12. This is a totally reasonable price considering the quality of almost everything Monoprice carries. They run an honest business and I even go so far as to pay the shipping, handling, and import duties just to get their products into Canada.

For the haters out there, I also own several other phones: a BlackBerry Curve (OS 7), a Samsung Galaxy S (CyanogenMod), LG Optimus Windows Phone (OS 7.8). All of those phones charge by standard micro USB but for spare cables and wall plugs I use exclusively BlackBerry chargers. Why? Because without the packaging, they're $12.99 in Canada. The cable itself is thick and sturdy, and the wall plug isn't one of those cheap knock-offs that puts out more noise than anything else, nor does it heat up to the point of discolouring the USB cable. Yes, I've used wall chargers like that.

It's an expensive device and you want to charge it via the magic of electricity. Spend the money and get the right cable.

No, the preloaded Linux distributions listed stunk. Crappy repos, and limited updates. Aftermarket Linux distros (eg: Ubuntu-based distros, I found Crunchbang worked great, with full repo support) had a really good experience, and would have done well if they were preloaded.

I maintain that OEM's wanted cheap licences from Microsoft, and their approach was to sell Netbooks that shipped with Linux to scare Microsoft. Half my Xandros-preloaded EeePC 701's manual was about how to install XP, and it is what I'd consider "the first Netbook", back when Microsoft was cutting off XP support.

Unfortunately the whole thing went into a death spiral. Microsoft provided cheap licences (XP-Home, then 7-Starter), but eternally limited the platform specs (1GB RAM, 160, then 250GB Hard drive, and crappy Atom-class processors), in collusion with Intel who wanted to sell Ultrabooks at 4x the cost of a Netbook and claim they are what people really want. Over the course of 4 years (2008-2012, the mainstream life of the Atom-HDD-based netbook), the specs didn't improve appreciably. There is a certain niche of an ultraportable, ultralow cost full fledge PC (not a tablet) that Netbooks did indeed fill. And they could have thrived if allowed to grow. If you look around you can find decent low cost ~12" laptops eg This C$370 11.6" Core i3, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-aspire-v5-11-6-laptop-silver-intel-core-i3-2365m-500gb-hdd-4gb-ram-windows-8-v5-171-6815/10223555.aspx

I like these). They actually have a higher end one on clearance (being replaced with something with a ridiculous name). The ones on clearance include both foam and silicone tips, but as I mentioned, the foam ones mold nicely. I'd recommend the clearance ones if you can still get them, but I haven't tried the ones that replace them. I already picked up a supply of them when the price dropped frop $40 to $10.

I like these). They actually have a higher end one on clearance (being replaced with something with a ridiculous name). The ones on clearance include both foam and silicone tips, but as I mentioned, the foam ones mold nicely. I'd recommend the clearance ones if you can still get them, but I haven't tried the ones that replace them. I already picked up a supply of them when the price dropped frop $40 to $10.

Why do we have to rent them?

Not sure about other jurisdictions, but here in British Columbia you can most certainly buy a PVR - Here's the IP TV PVR that sits in my entertainment centre:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/telus-telus-optik-tv-500gb-hd-pvr-receiver-cis430-500-available-in-bc-ab-only-cis430-500/10193848.aspx

You seem to have completely missed the point. The point is not a desktop vs tablet thing. It's a current operating system with Windows 8 logo, vs another current operating system with Windows 8 logo on it being unable to run the same software.

If I buy an Android phone I sure as hell expect it to run Android applications.
If I buy an iPhone / iPad I sure as hell expect to it to run iOS applications.

As someone else has posted: here's an example of what the sale of these things look like. Now you and I are intelligent people. We'll go through the specs and be able to see the 2 character difference in description between devices.

Yet here's a list of "Windows 8" tablets, and half of them won't be able to run the software from the other half. Half of them have full backwards compatibility to the rest of the windows brand, and the other doesn't.

You have an operating system with a full internet explorer that looks identical and in half the cases will be 100% identical to the system you have on your desktop, what on earth makes you think that people magically will associate that device as being a walled garden? What differentiates one sheet of glass with rounded corners and a Windows logo capable of running any standard "compatible with windows operating system" executable from the other which is app store only?

This is a fuckup on huge proportions. Think back to the netbook days. Big words like Linux, Ubuntu, a complete different look and feel, a complete different box, with no mention of Microsoft or Windows on it, and people still bought them and then promptly returned them after their favourite windows program didn't work. Now we're trying to screw around some of the slightly more clued on users by making only subtle differences in markings on the devices the main differentiator.

Funny I remember the thousands of slashdot posts saying how much of a bad idea it was having the desktop OS and tablet OS look identical is a bad idea, and here we are taking our first steps towards trying to confuse the hell out of the device users. Tim Cook and Larry Page must be grinning in their big chairs stroking their white long haired cat right now.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/category/windows-tablets/31088.aspx?path=6d56ed26a8e2432d145864a8ee45cd37en01

This is the biggest Electronics retailer in Canada (does link work outside Canada?).

No. Canada operates on the Internet CA which isn't compatible with any other country.

Macs Run OS X.
iPad Runs iOS.

x86 and ARM machines both run "Windows 8".

Here is a perfect example of this SNAFU:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/category/windows-tablets/31088.aspx?path=6d56ed26a8e2432d145864a8ee45cd37en01

This is the biggest Electronics retailer in Canada (does link work outside Canada?).

The First two tablets listed, both $599, Both look physically the same. Both have the exact same blue screen "Windows 8" logos on their screen.

There is absolutely no way that you can know by looking at any of the information at this level, that one of these tablets in x86 and will run legacy applications, and the other is ARM and won't.

If you go to each product page you can find in the fine print of specifications that one runs Intel, the other Tegra and one is Windows 8 RT. Which is incomprehensible nerd speak to most people.

It is that fact that they look the same, are marketed the same with the same graphical "Windows 8" is going to confuse almost everyone that isn't a hard core nerd.

I agree with everything you say, except the part about laptops being more expensive. Compared to a desktop, complete with a screen, mouse, and keyboard, you would probably pay more for the desktop. You can get a netbook for $200. That's good enough to send a few emails, browse the web, write up a resume and find yourself a better job. Plus you can carry it around, which means that you can go to the public library, coffee shop, or McDonald's and use their internet connection so you don't have to pay for that either.

Exactly. For $200 I could get a netbook. That's a full computer that comes with a small keyboard, screen, and trackpad. I can open the box and use it right away. It comes with much better specs than any of these "educational" or open computers. By the time you buy a screen, keyboard, mouse, and power supply for your raspberry pi, you're probably already close to the cost of the netbook. If you already have all these extra required devices then the Raspberry Pi can be fun to play around with (I have one myself), but if I was poor and wanted to learn computers, and didn't already have some other computer, it would make much more sense to just go with the netbook and get a complete computer.

You're doing it hopelessly wrong.

She has totally different criteria than you. Numbers and specs mean nothing. Anything on the shelf will be powerful enough and have enough RAM, etc. for a normal person.

The real question is: Will it make her happy?

Take her to a big shop with lots of laptops and see which one she fondles. Feel the keys, pay particular attention to the trackpad buttons. Pick it up and see if it feels solid. If it seems reasonably well built then that's the right one.

I would also do some up-front research on battery life for the models carried by the particular store you're visiting, then be ready to steer her towards the ones with 6+ hours of rated battery life. For some reason, they all make it extremely difficult to compare models based on expected battery life (stores don't seem to expect their customers to care about battery life, often the saleschimps don't even know when you ask them). I know, it's an estimate only and won't apply if you're watching blu-ray movies while converting video and d/ling the Library of Congress in the background, but it still gives the user a better idea of how long they can expect to be able to use their machine for email, youtube and FB. The extended battery laptops may not be available in pink, but for a casual, on-the-couch, email and you-tube watching laptop, a longer battery life = much more satisfied casual user.

A couple of contenders in the 17" division right now are the DV7-6C50CA or 6C70CA for 17-inch models. (sorry about the Canadian links, but they should give you a model number to google...) Acer used to have a 'Timeline' series, that was known for long battery lives, but they discontinued it a while back...as far as I know, HP is the only ones making 17-inch notebooks with extended battery runtimes right now. Dell makes (made?) some 15-inch ones in their Inspiron lineup, and HP, Samsung, Lenovo and Toshiba have each had some of their 15-inch models offer extended battery life, but that's from research done almost six months ago, so now it's hopelessly out of date in the laptop world...:S

FWIW, I went this way when helping my Dad buy his last two laptops, and as a result he thinks I'm a 'frickin computer genius' :) Neither of his laptops went over $700 CAD in price point, either, which is a good thing because the replacement was necessary because of a spill on the first...all over the keyboard :( It still fires up and runs fine, but the keyboard is borked (and yes, we've tried to clean it up), so he uses it as his desktop with an external keyboard. Still, for a $650 machine, I was impressed that it would run at all...

You're doing it hopelessly wrong.

She has totally different criteria than you. Numbers and specs mean nothing. Anything on the shelf will be powerful enough and have enough RAM, etc. for a normal person.

The real question is: Will it make her happy?

Take her to a big shop with lots of laptops and see which one she fondles. Feel the keys, pay particular attention to the trackpad buttons. Pick it up and see if it feels solid. If it seems reasonably well built then that's the right one.

I would also do some up-front research on battery life for the models carried by the particular store you're visiting, then be ready to steer her towards the ones with 6+ hours of rated battery life. For some reason, they all make it extremely difficult to compare models based on expected battery life (stores don't seem to expect their customers to care about battery life, often the saleschimps don't even know when you ask them). I know, it's an estimate only and won't apply if you're watching blu-ray movies while converting video and d/ling the Library of Congress in the background, but it still gives the user a better idea of how long they can expect to be able to use their machine for email, youtube and FB. The extended battery laptops may not be available in pink, but for a casual, on-the-couch, email and you-tube watching laptop, a longer battery life = much more satisfied casual user.

A couple of contenders in the 17" division right now are the DV7-6C50CA or 6C70CA for 17-inch models. (sorry about the Canadian links, but they should give you a model number to google...) Acer used to have a 'Timeline' series, that was known for long battery lives, but they discontinued it a while back...as far as I know, HP is the only ones making 17-inch notebooks with extended battery runtimes right now. Dell makes (made?) some 15-inch ones in their Inspiron lineup, and HP, Samsung, Lenovo and Toshiba have each had some of their 15-inch models offer extended battery life, but that's from research done almost six months ago, so now it's hopelessly out of date in the laptop world...:S

FWIW, I went this way when helping my Dad buy his last two laptops, and as a result he thinks I'm a 'frickin computer genius' :) Neither of his laptops went over $700 CAD in price point, either, which is a good thing because the replacement was necessary because of a spill on the first...all over the keyboard :( It still fires up and runs fine, but the keyboard is borked (and yes, we've tried to clean it up), so he uses it as his desktop with an external keyboard. Still, for a $650 machine, I was impressed that it would run at all...

The same thing happened in Canada.

Did it? I know it still happens with books, but new games cost $59.99. (Please note that this link in no way recommends shopping at Future Shop)

I'm not advocating piracy. That won't change their minds; they'll just say we are ripping them off for the heck of it

I was under the impression that they pull all their piracy figures out of their asses. Surely any decrease in sales will be blamed on piracy anyway.

Future Shop specifically will allow returns up to fourteen days after purchase. It doesn not say anything about rejecting a return that's opened.

However, it sounds like the [thieves?] just re-shrinkwrapped it and returned it, so they didn't open it to check.

This news is disturbing, I just bought eight of them for work (although not at one of the listed stores), tomorrow morning first thing I'm going to open them all to make sure they're legit!

This is not news as 16GB is on sale at Futureshop at $199 link (Canadian)

32GB is also on sale for $249 link (Canadian)

64GB is selling for $399 so in that case "buy any for $299" is a good deal... essentially only for 64GB version is good for this deal.

I saw these deals during Christmas Boxing day on-line sales, and even though I'm in a market for a tablet under $200 that performs reasonably well, I still didn't have any interest in RIM product. It's too proprietary for my taste and it locks me in their very limited market, and it can not be rooted to run android last time I checked...but I might be wrong... I'd pay around $100 to buy it as a kids toy, for them to draw or play YouTube videos as similar products geared towards kids are much more expensive and much more lacking even than RIM's PlayBook.

This is not news as 16GB is on sale at Futureshop at $199 link (Canadian)

32GB is also on sale for $249 link (Canadian)

64GB is selling for $399 so in that case "buy any for $299" is a good deal... essentially only for 64GB version is good for this deal.

I saw these deals during Christmas Boxing day on-line sales, and even though I'm in a market for a tablet under $200 that performs reasonably well, I still didn't have any interest in RIM product. It's too proprietary for my taste and it locks me in their very limited market, and it can not be rooted to run android last time I checked...but I might be wrong... I'd pay around $100 to buy it as a kids toy, for them to draw or play YouTube videos as similar products geared towards kids are much more expensive and much more lacking even than RIM's PlayBook.

Here are my comparison picks.
The odd screen resolution was the hardest to match, if you can sacrifice a few pixels, you can save even more.
(Future Shop was the first place that came to mind)

Here are my comparison picks.
The odd screen resolution was the hardest to match, if you can sacrifice a few pixels, you can save even more.
(Future Shop was the first place that came to mind)

Here are my comparison picks.
The odd screen resolution was the hardest to match, if you can sacrifice a few pixels, you can save even more.
(Future Shop was the first place that came to mind)

I guess they don't advertise on TV, but regardless, you can walk into various electronics stores and see Archos's stuff on display. You don't have to buy it online. Here's a large, local chain: http://www.futureshop.ca/ Search for "archos" and see what comes up.

Let's face it though, they are a niche player. The people who want to install alternate operating systems or whatever will know how to look for this stuff.

You can get your own:

Here:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/parrot-parrot-ar-drone-ipod-iphone-ipad-controlled-quadricopter-orange-blue-pf720002ag/10156982.aspx?path=81e4f1876418f65ce283409ba0d00969en02

for $330 Canadian this baby flies for 20 min. indoors and out self stabilizes and hovers, and can be controlled via your iphone or your computer via wifi
and has two onboard cameras (one forward facing one downward facing.

It's made by AR Drone
http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/

It's even hackable:
http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/news/73-urbi-following-a-ball-in-25-lines-of-code.html

I've seen it fly and it's sweet. With a VGA camera its pretty cool.

My wife had been considering an Archos - specifically this one: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/archos-archos-5-32gb-internet-tablet-web-only-archos-5-32gb/10131425.aspx?path=a2920f14d4a7faabedef8bb3f4ee353ben02&lid=fp-10131425-archosarchos532gbinternettable-en what do you think sucks about Archos?

As far as I'm concerned, this is the pinnacle of netbooks:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10128254&catid=27003&logon=&langid=EN&dm=DEBUG

Intel Atom, 9" 1024x600 matte screen, 2lbs, thin, runs Linux perfectly, decent battery life, perfect keyboard, $200.

That's a netbook. 12", dual-core, 3+lbs, $500 isn't a netbook, that's a decent 12" laptop without an optical drive.

The thing is, you can pick up much better used 12" 3+lb laptops for $500. Heck, I'm typing this on an HP 2710p tablet I picked up on ebay. It is a 12", dual-core, can take 8GB of RAM, and is a TABLET and it cost me as much as this Asus "netbook" after taxes.

The only reason you need dual-core ION and a big screen on a netbook is because Windows demands it. My HP netbook (linked above) runs like a dog in Windows by the time you add virus scanners and all of the associated baggage. However, Ubuntu 9.10 NBR runs brilliantly. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB and put it back down to 1GB and haven't missed it.

Sadly, with the onslaught of Windows 7, it appears as though the nascent netbook market, which began with affordable computers running Linux on small SSDs, is in the process of dying. Such is life. Pick up your 2lb 9" Linux wonder while supplies last.

We call what you just wrote foot in mouth disease.

I have "foot-in-mouth disease"? Let's put that in context. You're the one ridiculous enough to claim that a 30" tube tv and a set of speakers is a home theatre. More on that below, but first ...

you never justified any of the points you made with any citation

... you lied. I've posted plenty of links and quoted the RFCs many times in this thread. It's not my fault if you're too lazy to look. I'm not a maid, and more specificially, I am not YOUR maid. Most clued-in people would look through the thread. Also, I don't see YOU providing citations for your claims that cookies are "the approved way" to maintain state, that getting informed consent would "break interfaces", or that they are risk-free, just arm-waving. Hypocrite. I've pointed out that there are several different mechanisms for maintaining state, and that cookies are only one of them. Any claim that "cookies are the approved way" is an intentional misreading of the RFCs - the RFCs doesn't say they are "the approved way" - just that they can be used that way - AND that when used in any manner they should require INFORMED consent, and that this policy should be enforced at both the server and client, same as the EU is demanding, which is the real issue here. Try to stay on-topic.

One word: context. Learn it. In this case, it means look at the surrounding posts. You know, the "context." I'm not only not your maid, I'm not your secretary either. If you had bothered to look throughout the thread. You'll see I made plenty of references to the RFCs. Also, you're free to search the web. There are plenty of articles on security issues with cookies. Or is your Innert00bs broken?

The only issue here is you being totally tone-deaf in your insistence that cookies are needed, and trying lamely to defend it. They are not. They are also a security issue. And ANY site that doesn't ask for informed consent is broken by design, as per the RFCs. If you have an issue with that, take it up with the IETF. Until you get them to agree to change it, you're wrong and the EU (and I) are right.

Now, moving on, back to "foot-in-mouth" ...

Exhibit A ... from your website: You think a 30" TUBE TV and some speakers is a "home theatre".

I managed to get a floor-model 30" wide screen CRT HDTV for just under $800 (canadian) and then bought the Starchoice HDTV receiver with my remaining budget. Since then I've been greatly enjoying both high definition television offerings from Starchoice and much improved DVD viewing without the severe shrinkage I had to put up with on my old TV to watch widescreen movies (in letterbox). See photos of the TV (very flat tube) as well as my speakers and receiver by clicking the link to the right. A secondary benefit to buying a new TV is being able to connect multiple video sources directly to the TV without using my receiver's video source switching capabilities. That said, I do miss clicking "DVD" on the remote and having it change both video and audio simultaneously. Time to invest in a $250 universal remote? Not anytime soon but we'll see.

You didn't "manage" to get a home theatre. You "managed" to get ripped off. That wasn't even a "home theatre" back at the end of the last century. It certainly wasn't when you bought it less than 4 years ago ... so if anyone suffers from "foot-in-mouth", it's you. There's nothing wrong with having a tube tv. There's some serious "foot-in-mouth" action going on when you call a 30" tube tv a "home theatre."

THIS, a 50" 600hz 1080p native resolut

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dm=DEBUG&sku_id=0665000FS10128876&catid=#

With Areo on no less... lol. Good luck with that.

You're right. I'm in Canada and you simply cannot purchase a netbook with Linux on it from the local retail.

This statement is entirely false. they aren't as numerous as the XP models, but they are relatively easy to find--at least where I live. This past weekend I saw an HP netbook running Linux on display and in-stock at a Future Shop store in Calgary. It was the least expensive notebook in stock in the store at that time ($50 cheaper than a nearly identically equipped XP-based netbook, except for SSD instead of traditional drive).

Just look harder. The login screen and desktop were quite obviously not XP--it was much more attractive and modern. However it wasn't immediately evident that it was Linux either--it wasn't mentioned on the product description or in the UI. Casual inspection however revealed that it was indeed Linux (things such as the options available on the login screen).

Another retailer that will often have Linux netbooks in stock are "The Source" (formerly) by Circuit City. InterTan, the parent company of The Source, was once mostly owned by Circuit City, but that stake in InterTan was sold to Bell Canada in the liquidation of C.C's assets (rumours they were being rebranded as "Bell Source" stores as there was no indication Bell bought rights to the Circuit City name).

Of course this is not helpful to American consumers--both retailers only operate in Canada. Interestingly, even though Future Shop is essentially an entirely owned subsidiary of Best Buy (USA), it seems only Future Shop stores are stocking Linux netbooks right now.

can you recommend a decent, inexpensive player that supports Ogg + mp3? My range is ~$40 as long as it has at least 1GB of space.

Samsung Pebble plays OGG, has 2GB of storage and retails for ~$50 here.

I recently purchases a 2493 from Futureshop and can't say enough about it. Great monitor, and I see its even on sale again (though for a bit more than I got it on sale for). I would imagine that the smaller monitors in the same line are also respecatble.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10098388&catid=

I was just about to buy a new monitor for WotLK so I could quest easier (having quest info from wowhead on monitor A while gaming in windowed mode on monitor B).

Now I'm gonna definitely go with Samsung, because they are not involved in this lawsuit and therefore they must be rewarded for not getting caught. Anyone can tell that Samsung also does not pad their contrast ratios like LG obviously does. Who could believe a 10000:1 contrast ratio? That's ridiculous! Samsung has decided to only push their padding to 8000:1 which respectfully identifies with the company's obvious higher level of integrity.

The Samsung even looks nicer!

I was just about to buy a new monitor for WotLK so I could quest easier (having quest info from wowhead on monitor A while gaming in windowed mode on monitor B).

Now I'm gonna definitely go with Samsung, because they are not involved in this lawsuit and therefore they must be rewarded for not getting caught. Anyone can tell that Samsung also does not pad their contrast ratios like LG obviously does. Who could believe a 10000:1 contrast ratio? That's ridiculous! Samsung has decided to only push their padding to 8000:1 which respectfully identifies with the company's obvious higher level of integrity.

The Samsung even looks nicer!

You don't even need to pay anywhere near that much. Blocking ambient sound ain't rocket science, and the headphones that block the noise physically are also quite comfortable. I like these ones (Canadian site). They have more expensive ones as well, but I actually use these in my wood shop, and they work quite well.

So I guess I'll be without a set until prices for decent sized screens (think 28 or 32") comes close to $500.

Would you prefer LCD or Plasma?

(n.b. Those were the first "like 28-32" sets I came across at the first store I checked. Were I in the market I'd comparison shop at 3-5 stores online, setup price-watch e-mails and watch for store flyers and sales and I'd get one or the other for $500 or below.)

So I guess I'll be without a set until prices for decent sized screens (think 28 or 32") comes close to $500.

Would you prefer LCD or Plasma?

(n.b. Those were the first "like 28-32" sets I came across at the first store I checked. Were I in the market I'd comparison shop at 3-5 stores online, setup price-watch e-mails and watch for store flyers and sales and I'd get one or the other for $500 or below.)

Early adopter phase? It's getting more and more difficult to buy a NON HD TV nowadays! When you can get decent sized HD TVs for sub-$400 it's hard to argue against it. Tubes are practically obsolete, flat panels are all the rage, and there aren't many flat panels out there that aren't HD capable.

Insignia 32" LCD HDTV currently on sale for $499CDN. I could buy that with the leavings from my next paycheque. If you'd prefer something smaller you can get a 26" for $399. If you'd rather a name brand you can get a Toshiba 26" for $499. A few years ago I paid $899 for a 32" Sony Vega CRT that's not HD and now I can buy a slim form factor television for half that that's both widescreen and HD capable. Samsung Blu-ray Player (BD-P1400) on sale for $399. So I can meander into Future Shop and pick up a full HD TV visual experience for $901.74 including all of our Ontario and Canadian sales taxes.

I can assure you that $900 is significantly less than 1/20 or even 1/30 of my personal net income and I'm not exactly wealthy.

So how is it exactly that HD is in its early adopter phase?!?

Early adopter phase? It's getting more and more difficult to buy a NON HD TV nowadays! When you can get decent sized HD TVs for sub-$400 it's hard to argue against it. Tubes are practically obsolete, flat panels are all the rage, and there aren't many flat panels out there that aren't HD capable.

Insignia 32" LCD HDTV currently on sale for $499CDN. I could buy that with the leavings from my next paycheque. If you'd prefer something smaller you can get a 26" for $399. If you'd rather a name brand you can get a Toshiba 26" for $499. A few years ago I paid $899 for a 32" Sony Vega CRT that's not HD and now I can buy a slim form factor television for half that that's both widescreen and HD capable. Samsung Blu-ray Player (BD-P1400) on sale for $399. So I can meander into Future Shop and pick up a full HD TV visual experience for $901.74 including all of our Ontario and Canadian sales taxes.

I can assure you that $900 is significantly less than 1/20 or even 1/30 of my personal net income and I'm not exactly wealthy.

So how is it exactly that HD is in its early adopter phase?!?

I think the big problem here is the consumers who could go out and buy a machine, regardless of cost, that is labeled "Vista Capable". Shortly thereafter they purchase either the Vista Ultimate Upgrade ($299.99 CDN at Future Shop) or even just plain old Vista Ultimate ($499 at Future Shop) because it is "The best edition of Windows Vista with the power, security, and mobility features you need for work, and the entertainment and ease you want for fun. It has everything you need to shift seamlessly between the worlds of play and productivity."

So now that they've dropped well over $300 or $500 (sales taxes inclusive) for this product, opened it, spent 4 hours installing it - now they can't return it because it's open and they have to replace their brand new computer.

This suggestion is IMHO pretty bang-on. It should list XP Home|Pro, Vista Home Basic|Home Premium|Ultimate and rate them on compatability (in full-featured mode) rather than "Yeah, it'll run a form of Vista if you disable all cool stuff that makes Vista Vista" (for whatever definition of 'cool' and 'stuff' you or the marketing people would prefer). The problem here is the disconnect between the marketing of the product and the capabilities required to actually unleash same. I have a pretty darned powerful computer connected to my home theatre system and much to my chagrin it's not up to snuff to run Vista Ultimate - letalone perform up to its multimedia requirements at the same time!

I think the big problem here is the consumers who could go out and buy a machine, regardless of cost, that is labeled "Vista Capable". Shortly thereafter they purchase either the Vista Ultimate Upgrade ($299.99 CDN at Future Shop) or even just plain old Vista Ultimate ($499 at Future Shop) because it is "The best edition of Windows Vista with the power, security, and mobility features you need for work, and the entertainment and ease you want for fun. It has everything you need to shift seamlessly between the worlds of play and productivity."

So now that they've dropped well over $300 or $500 (sales taxes inclusive) for this product, opened it, spent 4 hours installing it - now they can't return it because it's open and they have to replace their brand new computer.

This suggestion is IMHO pretty bang-on. It should list XP Home|Pro, Vista Home Basic|Home Premium|Ultimate and rate them on compatability (in full-featured mode) rather than "Yeah, it'll run a form of Vista if you disable all cool stuff that makes Vista Vista" (for whatever definition of 'cool' and 'stuff' you or the marketing people would prefer). The problem here is the disconnect between the marketing of the product and the capabilities required to actually unleash same. I have a pretty darned powerful computer connected to my home theatre system and much to my chagrin it's not up to snuff to run Vista Ultimate - letalone perform up to its multimedia requirements at the same time!

I've never seen a single one in an actual store. But thanks for reminding me, Future Shop just got a bunch in...

Not at all !

Goods are allways at higher price in Canada.

Look at cars, even if no border tax exist for foreing company to import car in Canada (or in the USA) all car have better price and better warrenty in the USA than in Canada. Go to jeep.ca or toyota.ca and try to build a car and then compare it with jeep.com ou toyota.com for a 30k car in the USA you will buy 36K in Canada (plus taxes).
Samething for everything from Apple, you got 10% to 30% of foreing charge when you buy in Canada.

And don't try to buy it at Amazon.com, they don't send thing like that in Canada, you must buy at Amazon.ca.

Try this Ipod Nano at future shop 219$ (or BestBuy.ca)

Same Ipod nano at BestBuy.com at 149$

Even if the Can$ is higger thant the US$ price a cheapper in USA, That's before taxes, and the overall business etablishment price is lower in Canada.

I got a laptop with a 1.5 GHz Celeron and 512 MB of RAM (Still available for Under $CDN 500). Anyway, Vista runs quite slow, and I can't even believe that they sell a machine with such low specs running Vista. However, Mandriva with Metisse runs quite smoothly, and would say it's the best $500 I've ever spent. If you're just looking for a laptop so you can browse the internet from the couch or watch stuff you've recorded from your TV Tuner in the bedroom, than this definitely does the trick.

They are overpriced. At least if you don't want to spend a lot of money. Looking on Apple.ca, the cheapest laptop starts at $CDN 1249. I just bought a laptop for $CDN 500. It came with Vista, which runs like a pig in 2 feet of mud, but it has an Intel GMA, the BroadCom Wireless (still using NDISWrapper), so I'm running Linux and I'm completely happy with my purchase. I would like a longer lasting battery, but I usually just use it on the couch, so it doesn't bother me that much. Macs are nice if you're looking to spend that much money anyway. However, if you're looking to spend less money, there's lots of good products available in the PC world.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?lo gon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10084072&catid=

Good grief man, stop spreading FUD. That's in 30 seconds of checking, I'm sure you can do cheaper.

These are the three big-name electronics retailers in Canada:

Future Shop
Best Buy
The Source

Not one of them seems to carry it. What's that all about?

Yep, and guess who owns them? http://www.futureshop.ca/companyinfo/content/defau lt.asp

(see last paragraph)

Futureshop i still alive and well, at least in Canada http://www.futureshop.ca/

Also, there's a lot of people that want Wiis, but can't find them. On the other hand, if you want a PS3, it's quite easy to find one. And still, nobody is buying them.

So their putting ads in games to offset the cost of making games, but not the cost of my buying the game? Gimme a break. The video-game industries profits are at an all time high and they need MORE money? Last time i checked http://www.futureshop.ca/ Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy were 69.99! Thats 70-fucking-dollars for a video game designed for a "kid-friendly" game sytem? I think not. Thats the great thing about profits and piracy being so high, they don't need my money and the games are easy to find.

Put a wii-mote to my head and paint the walls with my brains.