HP Tablet Laptop w/ 4GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive $649.99 Plus Free Printer

I usually don't post deals about laptops and PCs because people's needs and the choices are so different. But I wanted to post this for anyone who is looking for a tablet computer. That's the kind that you can do writing and drawing on the screen. I happen to be writing this blog post on an HP tablet, and this deal caught my eye. It's a loaded system and HP's latest tablet features even surpass the one I got last summer.

The system is the HP TouchSmart tx2z Laptop, and after instant savings and a coupon, you can get a hefty configuration for $649.99 -- from a starting price of $1099.99. If you choose, you can add a printer for $69.99 and get a $70.00 rebate making that free (or get $70.00 back on an all-in-one printer). They even ship it all to you for free. for $1100 - $200 Instant Savings - $250 (with code NB4357) = $650 with free shipping.

To give you a comparison, if you got this at Amazon.com right now, you'd pay $1,469.45!

This is also one where I would suggest ebates, where you can earn another 3% cashback. That's another $21.60 back from ebates on top of what you're saving at HP. If you haven't joined ebates, you can do that by clicking this link. Ebates is a way to get savings at hundreds of stores on-line, and they credit you with $5.00 just for joining.

But back to the laptop...

To get this HP TouchSmart tx2z Laptop with a nice configuration, search on laptops and bring up the tx2z. Select "base configuration" which you will then customize in a step-by-step process.:
1. Select your Vista operating system -- 64-bit or 32-bit are the same price (although 64-bit is powerful, my understanding is that some hardware drivers don't come in 64-bit and some really early software might not be compatible so you should choose that only if you're sure that's what you can work with).
Genuine Windows Vista Home Prem w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit) [adds $0]
2. Select Free Upgrade to 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
3. Select Free Upgrade to 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
4. Click "Review & Buy" then "Add to cart" -- you'll see a price reflecting an instant $200 savings of $899.99.
5. You can also click a button "Add a printer" -- the first, highlighted choice is the HP Deskjet D4360 Printer at $69.99, which comes to free after rebate. You can choose a more robust printer and get $70.00 back on any of the others.
6. During checkout, enter coupon code NB4357 -- that will take another $250.00 off the deal. That brings the tablet laptop down to $649.99 -- or the deal with printer down to $719.98 or $649.98 after rebate.

This price would be a good sale price for a standard laptop with 4GB RAM and 320GB Hard Drive -- here you get the added benefit of a tablet.

Plus, if you want to build it up even a bit more, you can add LightScribe (the laser-imprinting labeling for DVDs you burn) for just $15.00 more. You can also choose faster chips (although the one it comes with is pretty fast as is) or other options to build it precisely as you want it.

The configuration as shown above would come with:
- AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-74 (2.2GHz, L2 Cache)
- 4GB DDR2 System Memory 2 DIMM
- 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
- ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics with 64MB Display Cache Memory
- 12.1" WXGA High-Def HP LED BrightView Wide (1280x800) Touch-screen
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- Built-in Webcam
- Wireless-G Card
- HP Imprint Finish (Reaction)
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
- HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit or 64-bit)

Just as a personal note -- the tablet laptops do seem to run a bit hot, both at the base and behind the screen. And the screen is a bit smaller than some other laptops. But having the tablet feature is a nice bonus, especially for someone who's doing any kind of art program and would like to draw with a pen instead of a mouse.

As I said, I would go through ebates to do this and get back the extra $21.60 too. If you'd rather just go directly to HP, click here and select "base configuration" and get started.

The deal may last only a short time -- the coupon code NB4357 has a limited number of uses before HP pulls it back.