Western Digital Elements 1.5TB (1500 GB) Desktop/External USB Hard Drive for $80 with free shipping. Most stores sell it for around $100.

This is a regular external drive which uses a power cable and a USB cable.

This looks like a great deal if you were looking for a good quality digital camera with high megapixels and optics. The Kodak Easyshare Z981 is a 14-megapixel standard size digital camera with a 26x wide-angle, image-stabilized optical zoom lens. It's on sale for $209 with free shipping. Most stores sell it for around $245.

Unlike some older Kodak cameras which used a proprietary battery, this one includes rechargeable batteries and a charger. It's also compatible with AA batteries, so in a pinch you could always use any AA batteries. The camera uses Secure Digital/SDHC cards and has mostly good reviews. The quality seems similar to some Canon and Olympus cameras with similar lenses, however those sell for over $300.

Asus (WL-520GU) Wireless Router for $39 with free shipping. Most stores sell it for around $5 more. They also have a $10 Visa Prepaid Card available by mail-in rebate.

This wireless router's operating system can be flashed with third-party DD-WRT, which requires quite a bit of customization and is not officially supported by Asus, but provides more features than the standard Asus software.

• Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit for $93 with coupon FOOTBALL15 .
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit for $93 with coupon FOOTBALL15

These are the exact same ones sold at Newegg for $100 apiece, which include the Windows 7 on DVD and a valid license key. They are full versions, and do not require a previous version of Windows. Also 3-packs are available and work with the FOOTBALL15 code to get $15 off.

Unless you really need 4GB of memory or more, we suggest the 32-bit version of Windows 7 which should work with RAM up to 3.5GB. The software will be more stable in 32-bit, but 64-bit is obviously preferred for those who need more memory.

Windows 7 Pro Upgrade is available for students (or anyone with an email ending in ".edu") for $30.

If you have a bunch of machines with Vista or XP, Microsoft will release a Windows Family Pack on October 3 for $150. It gives three Windows 7 upgrade licenses (all require previous versions of Windows).

Computer Stuff:

• Rosewill 8-port Gigabit Switch for $25 with coupon EMCYXYV64
• Iomega 320GB Portable USB Drive for $45 with coupon EMCYXYV65 ($0.14/GB)
• Acer 18.5" LCD Monitor for $100
• Intel X25-V 40GB SSD for $100

Computer Memory:

• Mushkin 2x2GB DDR3-1066 SO-DIMM 4GB Laptop Computer Memory for $85.
• G.Skill 4GB Single DDR3-1066 SO-DIMM Laptop Computer Memory Module for $90.
• A-Data 2x2GB DDR2-800 4GB Desktop Memory for $80.
• A-Data 2x2GB DDR3-1333 4GB Desktop Memory for $75 with coupon EMCYXYV37
• G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3-1333 4GB Desktop Memory for $80.
• Corsair 2x2GB XMS3 DDR3-1600 4GB Desktop Memory for $90 with coupon EMCYXYN43 . Also a $15 Visa Prepaid Card is available by mail-in rebate.

Other Stuff:

• Ginsu 4-Knife & Block Set for $15 with coupon EMCYXYV45 . Usually goes for $20.

Activision's Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty game is on sale for $40 at Kmart stores. Usually sells for $60.

Logitech Marathon Mouse (M705) for $30 after automatic $10 coupon appears in the cart. The original $40 price counts toward the $50 free shipping requirement, so you only need to add $10 more to the cart to qualify for free shipping. Most other stores sell it for around $40 to $45.

Sparkle Geforce GTX 460 768MB PCIe Video Card for $167. Add about $6 for standard delivery. In-store pickup is available if you live near one of their 23 locations.

Most GTX 460 graphics cards go for around $190, and this one has good reviews.

Samsung (2494LW) 23.6" LCD Monitor for $160 today.

Our policy has always been recommending deals on products that seem to be a great value, and until now, SSD's have been difficult to recommend because of their high cost. Now SSD's are beginning to be more affordable, and are worth looking at.

We will start off showing the difference between hard drives and SSD's, followed by some specific SSD's we recommend.

It's no secret that SSD's are faster than hard drives, and cost more per GB. But selecting which SSD drive is right for you, and how to use an SSD is a little more complicated than a hard drive.

For example, here are some differences between SSD and hard drives, and where the advantage lies.

Hard Drive	Solid State Drive
1.8" & 2.5" drives transfer data around 20-40 MBytes/sec 3.5" drives transfer data around 40-100 MBytes/sec	(advantage) 1.8", 2.5", 3.5" drives transfer around 75-385 MBytes/sec
Buy a 1.8" or 2.5" for your laptop or netbook, depending on which of those sizes it needs. Buy a 3.5" for desktop/tower computers.	(advantage) 2.5" SSDs will work in either laptop/netbooks or desktop/tower computers. Some, such as the Intel retail (boxed) SSD's, include a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for installing inside a desktop/tower computer, but most SSDs require you to buy an adapter (Newegg) for installing inside a desktop/tower computer.
(advantage) Cost around $0.04 to $0.06 per GB for a 5400rpm or 7200rpm drive, with most recent hot deals around $0.04/GB.	Cost around $1.75 to $2.75 per GB, with recent hot deals around $1.75 to $2.15 per GB.
Has moving parts, so they are susceptible to skips caused by bumpy conditions.	(advantage) No moving parts. Some Youtube videos show someone throwing an SSD from the roof of a 3 story building, plugging it back in, and working fine.
Depending on the hard drive's spindle rotation speeds, they consume about 4 to 8 watts of power.	(advantage) SSD's use less than 1 watt power.
In Windows filesystems, hard drives benefit from occasional defragmentation to avoid the drive having to spend time finding the data across all areas of the disk, similar to a CD player jumping ahead and back to different tracks just to play a single song.	(advantage) SSD's do not benefit from defragmentation, because SSD's can theoretically access any data on its drive at the same speed. In fact, you should disable defragmentation when using an SSD in Windows, to improve the longevity of your SSD by reducing the amount of unnecessary writes.
(advantage) Hard drives do not degrade in performance as data is written to the drive. Hard drives running a Windows filesystem can become fragmented, especially when they fill up, but can be defragmented.	SSD's can degrade in performance over time as data is written, deleted, then later overwritten. Degradation can begin as early as when the SSD is filled to capacity. A new TRIM feature for Windows and Linux helps slow the rate of degradation. Mac supposedly will release TRIM compatibility soon, but we heard Windows filesystems benefit more from TRIM than Mac by the way they store data on the drive. As described on WindowsITPro.com, TRIM only helps slow the rate of degradation, and does not eliminate it. This is why SSD's probably should only be purchased in brand new condition, to avoid drives which already suffer from degraded performance. Formatting SSD's do not help bring back the performance. There are some SSD-specific "secure erase" or "wipe" or "Sanity Erase" utilities which can restore the SSD back to peak performance by erasing all data blocks on the SSD. Wiping degraded SSD's is great if your SSD contains data that can be easily backed up first then later restored, but not so easy when your SSD contains your operating system.
(slight advantage) Partition and use the entire drive if you want, but keeping hard drives from exceeding 85% capacity will help keep the performance optimal. Drives on Windows can be defragmented to help keep the performance optimal as the drive fills up. If your drive reaches capacity, just delete some data, defragment, and the drive should perform at or near peak performance.	Leaving 10% to 20% free at all times should help reduce the rate of performance degradation. Some people even recommend leaving 10% to 20% unpartitioned, so the SSD will internally use the unallocated space as extra free blocks useful when the drive writes and deletes a lot of data. Check the SSD's specs for its true memory size, as some SSD's have already factored in an automatic 10% to 20% of space which cannot be partitioned. Intel's have about 5% reserved, while Vertex 2's already have about 20% of space reserved. So if you buy an Intel X25-M 80GB to hold your operating system and all your programs, you might want to consider leaving 5GB to 15GB unallocated, unpartitioned, and therefore unusable by you.
Comparing the performance of different hard drives is relatively simple. They spin at either around 5400rpm, 7200rpm, 10,000rpm, or 15,000rpm, where the faster spindle speeds mean faster access to your data.	Comparing SSD performance requires reading reviews and viewing benchmark comparisons.
Can be used safely with most operating systems, even older ones such as Windows XP	Best if used on a newer operating system with TRIM support, or a Mac
(advantage) Friendly to all RAID levels, those with redundancy (RAID 1), those with striping (RAID 0), and those with both (RAID 5,6,10). Double the performance of one disk by striping it across another disk of equal specs.	Most SSD's are not so RAID friendly in Windows yet. Intel came out with Windows 7 TRIM drivers for RAID, but it's new. Also putting SSD on a hardware RAID card with in a stripe set (RAID 0) configuration may not give much benefit unless the RAID card supports speeds faster than the SSDs can perform.

So as a buyer, don't think you need to choose between old clunky technology (hard drives) and new super-fast technology (SSD). As you can see there are many advantages and disadvantages of each. While an SSD can be 2 to 8 times faster than a hard drive (with a bigger boost in performance in laptops than desktops), it really all depends on what you're looking for.

Because SSD's can degrade in performance when doing lots of writes over a period of time, they are usually best when loaded once with something (like the operating system and programs) and limit the amount of changes/writes to your SSD. For this reason, when comparing SSD performance, you probably should focus more on the SSD's sequential reads and random reads than the writes.

Because SSD's can degrade by doing lots of writes, and because of the SSD's high cost, these are reasons why some desktop computer users are buying an SSD for their operating system & programs, but also keeping a hard drive in their computer to store all their music, movies, temporary files, and swap space.

Desktop users who want an SSD for a super-fast "scratch space" drive separate from the operating system should be prepared to wipe the SSD and reload the files when it eventually runs very slowly.

What to Look For in an SSD:
Since SSD's seem best when used for the operating system, you probably want one that's reliable as well as fast. Here are the three things we will focus on:

• Reliability - Nobody wants to pay money for something that causes failure/return/RMA hassles
• Performance - obviously you want the best bang for your buck
• Support & ease of installing firmware upgrades - SSD is a rapidly changing technology. When new enhancements come out, you want to know the manufacturer provides an easy way to upgrade the drive's firmware.

Reviews of drive failures are the best way to determine a drive's reliability.

Based solely on Newegg's user reviews as of 8/26/2010, the most reliable consumer SSD's today, available in 50GB to 160GB capacity with a cost of around $1.50 to $2.50 per GB appear to be:

1. Intel X25 (G2 models) - Released a long time ago with almost no reported drive failures or issues since, good support, and good toolkit software for Windows.
2. Crucial C300 - Almost no reported drive failures or issues since firmware fixes in June. All new drives purchased from a reputable vendor do have updated firmware.
3. Kingston SSDNow V Series and G.Skill Phoenix Pro - Few reports of failures/issues, their support seem decent, and their existing firmware update tools seem okay.
4. Corsair Performance and Corsair Force - Few reports of failures/issues, but some reported their firmware update tool was a little difficult to use.
5. OCZ Vertex 2 - Unfortunately, several reported drive failures & reliability issues recently.
6. Patriot - Lots of failures.

Technically, the lowest read/write performing SSD above is the Intel X25-M however it does have better random seek times than most of the other drives. This means the overall real-world performance of the Intel's should be just about as good as the newer SSD's which are priced similarly, especially with operating system and application tasks.

For games and bootup times, sequential read speeds are more important. Some resources to compare SSD performance are Anandtech and StorageReview. You will find a drive like the C300 and Vertex 2 series will have some of the fastest transfer rates and quickest bootup times, but if you plan on using this drive for your bootup/operating system, also keep in mind the other factors stated above: reliability & support.

Considering reliability, performance, software, and support, our recommendations for today's best values depend on how much you want to spend, and what you will use the SSD for:

Looking to spend around $100 for the OS and some Programs	Intel X25-V 40GB SSD
Looking to spend around $125 for Apps & Games	Kingston SSDNow V-Series 64GB
Looking to spend around $150 for OS, Apps, Games	G.Skill Phoenix Pro Series 60GB SSD
Looking to spend around $200 for OS, Apps, Games	Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD
Looking to spend around $250 for OS, Apps, Games	Crucial C300 128GB SSD
Looking to spend around $400 for OS, Apps, Games	Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD
Just looking for the fastest write speeds	OCZ Vertex 2
If your motherboard supports SATA3	any 2.5" Crucial C300 SSD
If your ultra-portable Laptop/Netbook needs a Micro-SATA 1.8" drive	Crucial C300 1.8" or a Intel X18-M
Use on a non-TRIM supported OS, or in a multi-disk RAID	G.Skill Phoenix Pro or OCZ Vertex 2

Note, our recommendations will change often as prices fluctuate, deals become available, and new drives come out. These are only suggestions, and we recommend you do your own research before making any decision on which is the best for you. If you're using an SSD for the operating system (OS), it is recommended the OS freshly installed on the SSD from scratch, although transferring from an existing hard drive should work fine if you are technically savvy.

If you have a laptop computer or netbook and are unsure whether you need a 2.5" or 1.8" SSD, use Crucial's Storage Advisor. Enter your laptop/netbook's make and model, and it will display compatible SSD's in either 2.5" or 1.8" form factor, telling you which size your portable computer is compatible with.

Most retail versions of SSD's include a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for installing inside a desktop/tower computer. The OCZ Vertex 2, the Corsair P128, and the Crucial C300 do not include an adapter. Retail versions of the Intel X25-M do include an adapter. Any 1.8" will not work in regular 2.5/3.5" SATA computers without a SATA to Micro-SATA adapter.

Western Digital Elements 120GB Portable USB Drive for $30.

Black & Decker (TRO480BS) 4-Slice Toaster Oven for $20. Free shipping with a $25 order.

(expired)

Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive for $41 ($0.04/GB), and will be sold out by around 11:15am EDT. Good reviews. Limit one.

Select two of the 300 Blu-Ray titles from the list, apply code LABORBD in the cart, and the Blu-Ray of equal or lesser value will be free. Free shipping as well.

Some notable Blu-Ray titles before applying the buy-1-get-1 coupon:

• 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and 7th Voyage of Sinbad for $79.
• Spiderman 1,2,3 for $68. Usually sells elsewhere for around $65, without a buy-1-get-1 promotion
• Starship Troopers 1,2,3 for $66
• Rescue Me Season 3 for $58
• Shawshank Redemption (digibook) for $29
• Dirty Harry (digibook) for $29
• The Matrix (10th Anniversary Edition) for $29
• The Fifth Element for $22
• Men In Black for $22
• Donnie Brasco for $22
• The Pursuit of Happyness for $22
• Casino Royale for $22
• Bad Boys for $19.50
• Leon, The Professional for $19.50
• Charlie's Angels for $14.50
• Run Lola Run for $14.50

Most of these prices are about 40% higher than other stores' prices individually, but you still come out ahead with the buy-1-get-1-free coupon. For example, The Pursuit of Happyness and The Fifth Element Blu-Rays each go for around $15 at other stores, which would cost $30 together. The Deepdiscount deal is $22 total for both of those, after applying the coupon.

Code cannot apply toward 2 of the same title.

Code can also apply toward a list of buy-1-get-1 CDs.

Western Digital Elements SE Portable 1TB USB Drive for $100 with coupon J5ZCPL58QC3P06

(expired)

Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse for $30 with free shipping. Usually sells for $50.

(expired: price raised)

Just like Newegg did yesterday, today Amazon put the Corsair (CMFSSD-128GBG2D P128) 128GB Performance Solid State Drive up for $250 ($1.95/GB) with free shipping.

Vizio M220VA 22" LED-edgelit LCD 1080p HDTV for $239 with free shipping.

It's currently on backorder for a few weeks. If you need it sooner, Walmart sells it for the same price plus $10 shipping ($249).

The M220VA had its price reduced because newer Vizio 22" models have been released, one with Internet apps, and another with LED-backlit LCD.

MLB's At Bat 2010 program for iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry are on sale for $7 through Sep 7. Their program provides a live, computer-generated image of the playing field and live radio broadcasts of any regular season MLB game. Works over wifi and over AT&T's wireless network, even when traveling. Does not include the postseason, which begins Oct 4.

According to a news report, NFL fans will be able to get live video of any NFL game, even if they do not have DirecTV. This is good news for people who travel, or are living in a city far away from their favorite NFL team. The bad news is the price: $350 for the season. Far, far from any hot deal, but from we can tell, it's the only way someone can get their favorite team's games at home while living in a far away place.

NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go will be available for $350 starting Sep 8, and will include a flash-based app for watching games on your computer, and apps for watching live video from an iPhone, iPad, and select Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile devices.

The other, and far more economical options are to find a local sports bar and watch your favorite team's games from there at no charge, or get a Slingbox installed in your home team's territory and tune in remotely.

A bundle of a Jetway Book-size Mini-Top Dual-Core D525 Barebones PC and a OCZ Vertex 60GB Solid State Drive for $339. A $20 Visa Prepaid Card is also available by rebate from OCZ, but be aware the rebate must be postmarked within 21 days of purchase. Reviews seem decent.

Inside the mini-PC is an Intel Atom Dual-Core D525 CPU, Nvidia Ion 2 graphics card, Wifi support, 1 HDMI output (to 1080p), 1 DVI output, 1 eSATA/USB combo port, 1 S/PDIF optical audio output, memory card reader, and includes a media center remote control. Also includes a VESA Mount for installing on the back of an LCD monitor.

Note it does not appear to include a keyboard, mouse, and RAM. The "512MB DDR3" mentioned in Newegg's title refers to the memory on the Nvidia Ion 2 graphics card. You must purchase and install 1 or 2 SO-DIMM (laptop) DDR2 667 or 800 MHz memory modules. It does not include an operating system either, so you will be on your own to install an OS through a USB drive, a USB CD/DVD drive, or a memory card and install appropriate drivers. They provide an instruction video showing how to install memory and an SSD, as well as using the included VESA plate to mount the Jetway on the back of an LCD monitor. More product details can be seen on JetwayComputer.com.

The Jetway Mini-Top is a brand new product, with little reviews except the ones on Newegg. It looks really nice for someone with an LCD monitor who wants to hook up a computer for media and video watching.

Note it has a S/PDIF output, but according to the diagram on page 5 of their user manual, it's not a standard S/PDIF optical. The audio within the the HDMI seems like the best way to get audio from the Jetway. Since it includes a VESA mounting bracket, this device definitely seems best when used with a LCD HDTV with built-in speakers, or with a HDTV/Receiver combo which can separate the audio & video from the HDMI.

One minor flaw we anticipate however is the remote control which may be line of sight dependent, and possibly a problem if you mount the Jetway to the back side of the TV.

No other mini book-size PC seems to have both the Ion 2 graphics card and a Atom 525 or better processor. Some benchmarks were done with an Asus Eee Notebook with Ion 2 graphics and a slightly slower Atom N450 processor.

• Logitech MX1100 Cordless Laser Mouse for $34.14 with coupon logi_mx1100_9110 and after shipping fee. Usually sells for $60.
• Logitech LX3 Gray/Black Wired Optical Mouse for $15 after coupon logi_lx3_9110 and after shipping fee.
• Logitech QuickCam Communicate 1.3-megapixel Webcam for $21 after coupon logi_qcmp_9110 and after shipping fee.

Above prices do factor in an average shipping fee of $6 for orders under $75. Be sure to enter the coupon codes in all lowercase, without any extra spaces before & after the code. These 3 products are new, but their boxes may suffer from cosmetic damage.

(expired)

Audio Technica (ATH-AD300) Open-Air Dynamic Headphone for $30 plus $5 shipping ($35). It's new, not refurbished. Most stores sell it for around $60. The reviews are pretty good, and seem like a great value for $35.

CowBoom was acquired by Best Buy about 2 years ago, and is their liquidation site. Their products have a 30-day money back guarantee.

Iomega (34866) 1TB USB Portable Hard Drive for $100 with coupon R47WBGPT466T2$ . Usually sells for $130, and has pretty good reviews.

RiData 16GB SDHC Lightning Series Class-10 Memory Card for $32 with coupon F6F7367C . Usually sells for around $38.

(expired)

1. Click here and press "more info" under the free AVG Anti-Virus
2. Sign up for an account with your email address.
3. Receive the email and click the verification link
4. Re-click here to go back to the AVG Anti-Virus page, and download the software for free.

(expired)

McAfee Total Protection 2010 3-PC License and 1 year subscription for $7.

(expired)

Code valid today only (Eastern Time). Add about $7 for shipping.

Samsung Ecogreen F2 (HD154UI) 1.5TB 5400rpm Hard Drive for $75, and coupon HELLO gives $7.50 off in the cart. At $67.50 it prices out to about 4.5 cents per GB. Most other stores sell it for around $95, and it has very good reviews. Benchmarks reported to be between 60 and 90 MBytes/sec.

Note, eWiz limits each of their coupons to one use per household.

Back again is the Rosewill eSATA 5-Bay Hard Drive Enclosure. Price is $166 after starting at $200, coupon ROSEWILL826 gives $50 off, and shipping adds $16.

It's an external hard drive bay, to let you add a bunch of Serial-ATA (SATA) disks individually (JBOD) or as a RAID array. Since the drive bay works through a single eSATA port from you computer, the port must be a "multi-port eSATA" capable of supporting 5 drives from a single eSATA cable. They did throw in a PCIe x1 card with two eSATA ports each capable of multi-port. The unit has very good reviews.

• Dell E2310H 23" LCD Monitor for $169.
• Dell ST2410 24" LCD Monitor for $200.
• Dell P2211H 21.5" LED-backlit LCD Monitor for $189.

Electronics:

• Vizio (M221NV) 22" LED-backlit LCD 1080p HDTV with Internet Apps for $210 with coupon DB6XV?3B5CP1TN
• Vizio RazorLED (M420NV) 42" LED-backlit LCD 1080p HDTV for $630 with coupon X5X5CTXVSS07SZ . Most stores sell it for around $800.
• Sony (VPL-BW7) LCD 720p Home Theater Projector for $400 with coupon 8MHZ2TGW8206LC . Usually sells for around $630.

Intel X25-M 160GB Gen2 2.5" Solid State Drive for $400 with free shipping, and coupon LION330 gives $30 off in the cart.

This is a bare drive only, and does not include a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for desktop/tower computers like the retail version does, but you can buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter from Newegg or Amazon if you need one.

Also available:

• Kingston SSDNow V-Series 30GB Solid State Drive for $76.50 with coupon HELLO ($2.55/GB) from eWiz.com. Usually sells for $90.

For today only, McAfee Antivirus Plus 3-PC License for $10. Includes a one year subscription for virus definition updates, afterward fees are required to maintain the subscription.

Rosewill 8x CD/DVD Burner Drive for $37 today. Last week a similar portable drive with Lightscribe was available for $40, so this is a very similar deal in comparison, but portable CD/DVD drives usually go for $50. It's a portable drive, and powers items through the supplied USB data cable. It's mainly useful for laptop/netbook computers which do not already have a built-in CD/DVD drive, but can also be used with any computer.

(expired)

1. Click here to see a EVGA Geforce GTX-460 768MB PCIe Video Card for $210.
2. Scroll down and select a "combo" of an Nvidia Gift, which drops the price to $156.
3. Scroll back to the top and press "add to cart".

Price is $156. This video card usually sells for at least $200, and has great user reviews and a professional review. You will likely need at least a very good quality 500-watt power supply in your PC, or a 600-watt is preferred.

The above is for a 763MHz Core Clock version of the card. If it is sold out, a similar deal is available on a 675MHz Core Clock version for $10 less, which is also a hot deal.

This deal will likely expire sometime early this morning.

Update: The 763MHz Clock card is sold out. The 675MHz EVGA GTX 460 768MB is available.

Update (1pm EDT): Both are now sold out.

Logitech V220 Cordless Optical Mouse for Laptop/Notebook Computers for $10 online and in-store. Free online delivery with a $50+ order, or choose in-store pickup. The V220 usually goes for between $20 and $25.

Some Logitech products are 30% off, which are around 15% less that what most other stores sell them for. Deals include:

• Logitech G500 Mouse for $50. Sold for $56 last week.
• Logitech Z523 2.1 Speakers for $70. Sells elsewhere for $85.
• Logitech DiNovo Mini Home Theater PC Keyboard for $110. Usually sells for around $150.

Lots of Blu-Ray movies are on sale for $8 and $10. $8 titles include Terminator 3, Deliverance, Under Siege, Reservoir Dogs, and Blazing Saddles. $10 titles include Ghostbusters, Starship Troopers, and Brokeback Mountain.

(expired)

Transcend 16GB JetFlash 500 USB Flash Drive for $24 today. Free shipping with a $25+ order. One good review.

(expired)

Rosewill (RCP-511A) DC to AC Power Inverter for $20 today.

(expired)

This deal expires today, and is a great deal for someone looking for one of the best SSD's on the market today. It's a crucial C300 128GB Solid State Drive for $270, and coupon SHINE2630 gives $30 off in the cart. At $240 for 128GB, it prices out to about $1.88 per GB, a great value for a high performing, highly rated, very reliable SSD.

You can also get a Highpoint Rocket 620 SATA3 Controller Card for desktop/tower PC's for $15 more. Click here but do not add the C300 to your cart, instead scroll down to the combo deal that includes the SATA3 Controller, and press "Add To Cart" next to it. The bundle comes up as $285, then apply coupon SHINE2630 to get $30 off making it $255. The Highpoint Rocket 620 usually goes for around $35, and is not to be confused with a "Highpoint RocketRaid 620".

Connecting the C300 SSD to a regular SATA port can give around 280 MBytes/sec reads, but according to this review, connecting it to the Rocket 620 can achieve 370 MBytes/sec reads. However there are user reviews who reported no speed increase, and even some speed loss when connecting their SSD to the Rocket 620. This is likely because they installed the card into a PCIe x1 slot with a 250 MBytes/sec limitation. According to this Crucial forum, some people had success installing the Rocket 620 into a PCIe x4 or x16 slot to achieve 378 MBytes/sec reads on the C300. At only $15 it card may be worth a try to see how it works in your desktop PC, but don't be surprised if it becomes more hassle than it's worth.

The C300 is 2.5" form factor so it can fit inside a laptop computer, and includes a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for installing inside a desktop/tower computer.

• Western Digital 2TB USB Desktop/External Hard Drive for $100 with coupon EMCYTZT118 .
• A-Data 16GB Secure Digital SDHC Memory Card for $28. Most 16GB SDHC Cards go for around $33, and this one has mostly good reviews. When using in a digital camera, depending on camera type, settings, and photo quality, roughly 350 to 550 photos can be stored per GB, so this 16 GB card can store somewhere around 5,600 to 8,800 photos.
• Samsung 18.5" LCD Monitor for $105 with coupon EMCYTZT120
• Asus Radeon HD 5750 PCIe x16 Video Card for $120 and a $20 Prepaid Visa Card is available by mail-in rebate. Most other Radeon HD 5750 cards go for around $150 before any rebate.
• Canon Vixia HF R10 Flash Memory Camcorder for $350 with coupon CAM827B . It has 20x image stabilized optical zoom and decent reviews.

Also FYI on future deals available.

Tomorrow this deal will be available:

• Rosewill 2-outlet DC to AC Power Inverter for $20.

The following deals will be available on Monday morning:

• OCZ Vertex 2 90GB Solid State Drive for $225 ($2.50/GB) and a $25 Visa Prepaid Card will be available by mail-in rebate.
• XFX 750-Watt PC Power Supply for $105, and a some kind of rebate valued at $20 will be available.
• MSI (P55-GD85) PC Motherboard for Intel Core i7 for $180 and some kind of rebate valued at $30 will be available.
• Rosewill 7-Port USB Hub for $16.

(expired)

The game "DJ Hero" with a Turntable controller for $40 today only, available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii. BestBuy also sells them for $40 (in-store and online), and most other stores sell the games for $50.

• Samsung Ecogreen F2 (HD154UI) 1.5TB 5400rpm Hard Drive for $70 with coupon HIGH5 . At $70 it prices out to about 4.7 cents per GB. Most other stores sell it for around $95, and it has very good reviews.
• Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit for $92 with coupon HIGH5 .
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit for $92 with coupon HIGH5

The above Windows 7 are the same full OEM ones sold by Newegg for $100. Unless you really need to have more than 4GB of RAM in your computer, stick with the 32bit to avoid some software compatibility problems. For example, Google Chrome, a 32bit app, actually caused some infamous "blue screen of death" crashes on our Windows 7 64bit. 64bit browsers did not have basic features like Flash and basic plugin support. Our Windows 7 32bit computer runs stable and works with everything we throw at it.

(expired)

OCZ Agility Series (OCZSSD2-1AGT60G) 2.5" 60GB SSD for $125, which is about $25 less than normal price. They also have a $25 Visa Prepaid Card available by mail-in rebate. The purchase price and rebate are valid for purchases through 11:59pm Pacific Time today.

Note, there are some reports of drive failures in their user reviews. If you're looking for a more reliable SSD for $100, check out a Intel X25-V 40GB.

G.Skill Phoenix Pro (FM-25S2S-60GBP2) 60GB Solid State Drive for $144 when using coupon EMCYWNV32 ($2.40/GB). Pricey, but highly rated and one of the best performing drives on the market.

Our policy has always been recommending deals on products that seem to be a great value, and until now, SSD's have been difficult to recommend because of their high cost. Now SSD's are beginning to be more affordable, and are worth looking at.

We will start off showing the difference between hard drives and SSD's, followed by some specific SSD's we recommend.

It's no secret that SSD's are faster than hard drives, and cost more per GB. But selecting which SSD drive is right for you, and how to use an SSD is a little more complicated than a hard drive.

For example, here are some differences between SSD and hard drives, and where the advantage lies.

Hard Drive	Solid State Drive
1.8" & 2.5" drives transfer data around 20-40 MBytes/sec 3.5" drives transfer data around 40-100 MBytes/sec	(advantage) 1.8", 2.5", 3.5" drives transfer around 75-385 MBytes/sec
(advantage) Cost around $0.04 to $0.06 per GB for a 5400rpm or 7200rpm drive, with most recent hot deals around $0.04/GB.	Cost around $1.75 to $2.75 per GB, with recent hot deals around $1.75 to $2.15 per GB.
Has moving parts, so they are susceptible to skips caused by bumpy conditions.	(advantage) No moving parts. Some Youtube videos show someone throwing an SSD from the roof of a 3 story building, plugging it back in, and working fine.
Depending on the hard drive's spindle rotation speeds, they consume about 4 to 8 watts of power and can get very hot.	(advantage) SSD's use less than 1 watt power, and do not get hot.
In Windows filesystems, hard drives benefit from occasional defragmentation to avoid the drive having to spend time finding the data across all areas of the disk, similar to a CD player jumping ahead and back to different tracks just to play a single song.	(advantage) SSD's do not benefit from defragmentation, because SSD's can theoretically access any data on its drive at the same speed. In fact, you should disable defragmentation when using an SSD in Windows, to improve the longevity of your SSD by reducing the amount of unnecessary writes.
(advantage) Hard drives do not degrade in performance as data is written to the drive. Hard drives running a Windows filesystem can become fragmented, especially when they fill up, but can be defragmented.	SSD's can degrade in performance over time as data is written, deleted, then later overwritten. Degradation can begin as early as when the SSD is filled to capacity. A new TRIM feature for Windows and Linux helps slow the rate of degradation. Mac supposedly will release TRIM compatibility soon, but we heard Windows filesystems benefit more from TRIM than Mac by the way they store data on the drive. As described on WindowsITPro.com, TRIM only helps slow the rate of degradation, and does not eliminate it. This is why SSD's probably should only be purchased in brand new condition, to avoid drives which already suffer from degraded performance. Formatting SSD's do not help bring back the performance. There are some SSD-specific "secure erase" or "wipe" or "Sanity Erase" utilities which can restore the SSD back to peak performance by erasing all data blocks on the SSD. Wiping degraded SSD's is great if your SSD contains data that can be easily backed up first then later restored, but not so easy when your SSD contains your operating system.
(slight advantage) Partition and use the entire drive if you want, but keeping hard drives from exceeding 85% capacity will help keep the performance optimal. Drives on Windows can be defragmented to help keep the performance optimal as the drive fills up. If your drive reaches capacity, just delete some data, defragment, and the drive should perform at or near peak performance.	Leaving 10% to 20% free at all times should help reduce the rate of performance degradation. Some people even recommend leaving 10% to 20% unpartitioned, so the SSD will internally use the unallocated space as extra free blocks useful when the drive writes and deletes a lot of data. Check the SSD's specs for its true memory size, as some SSD's have already factored in an automatic 10% to 20% of space which cannot be partitioned. Intel's have about 5% reserved, while Vertex 2's already have about 20% of space reserved. So if you buy an Intel X25-M 80GB to hold your operating system and all your programs, you might want to consider leaving 5GB to 15GB unallocated, unpartitioned, and therefore unusable by you.
Comparing the performance of different hard drives is relatively simple. They spin at either around 5400rpm, 7200rpm, 10,000rpm, or 15,000rpm, where the faster spindle speeds mean faster access to your data.	Comparing SSD performance requires reading reviews and viewing benchmark comparisons.
Can be used safely with most operating systems, even older ones such as Windows XP	Best if used on a newer operating system with TRIM support, or a Mac
(advantage) Friendly to all RAID levels, those with redundancy (RAID 1), those with striping (RAID 0), and those with both (RAID 5,6,10). Double the performance of one disk by striping it across another disk of equal specs.	Most SSD's are not so RAID friendly in Windows yet. Intel came out with Windows 7 TRIM drivers for RAID, but it's new. Also putting SSD on a hardware RAID card with in a stripe set (RAID 0) configuration may not give much benefit unless the RAID card supports speeds faster than the SSDs can perform.

So as a buyer, don't think you need to choose between old clunky technology (hard drives) and new super-fast technology (SSD). As you can see there are many advantages and disadvantages of each. While an SSD can be 2 to 8 times faster than a hard drive (with a bigger boost in performance in laptops than desktops), it really all depends on what you're looking for.

Because SSD's can degrade in performance when doing lots of writes over a period of time, they are usually best when loaded once with something (like the operating system and programs) and limit the amount of changes/writes to your SSD. For this reason, when comparing SSD performance, you probably should focus more on the SSD's sequential reads and random reads than the writes.

Because SSD's can degrade by doing lots of writes, and because of the SSD's high cost, these are reasons why some desktop computer users are buying an SSD for their operating system & programs, but also keeping a hard drive in their computer to store all their music, movies, temporary files, and swap space.

Desktop users who want an SSD for a super-fast "scratch space" drive separate from the operating system should be prepared to wipe the SSD and reload the files when it eventually runs very slowly.

What to Look For in an SSD:
Since SSD's seem best when used for the operating system, you probably want one that's reliable as well as fast. Here are the three things we will focus on:

• Reliability - Nobody wants to pay money for something that causes failure/return/RMA hassles
• Performance - obviously you want the best bang for your buck
• Support & ease of installing firmware upgrades - SSD is a rapidly changing technology. When new enhancements come out, you want to know the manufacturer provides an easy way to upgrade the drive's firmware.

Reviews of drive failures are the best way to determine a drive's reliability.

Based solely on Newegg's user reviews as of 8/26/2010, the most reliable consumer SSD's today, available in 50GB to 160GB capacity with a cost of around $1.50 to $2.50 per GB appear to be:

1. Intel X25 (G2 models) - Released a long time ago with almost no reported drive failures or issues since, good support, and good toolkit software for Windows.
2. Crucial C300 - Almost no reported drive failures or issues since firmware fixes in June. All new drives purchased from a reputable vendor do have updated firmware.
3. Kingston SSDNow V Series and G.Skill Phoenix Pro - Few reports of failures/issues, their support seem decent, and their existing firmware update tools seem okay.
4. Corsair Performance and Corsair Force - Few reports of failures/issues, but some reported their firmware update tool was a little difficult to use.
5. OCZ Vertex 2 - Unfortunately, several reported drive failures & reliability issues recently.
6. Patriot - Lots of failures.

Technically, the lowest read/write performing SSD above is the Intel X25-M however it does have better random seek times than most of the other drives. This means the overall real-world performance of the Intel's should be just about as good as the newer SSD's which are priced similarly, especially with operating system and application tasks.

For games and bootup times, sequential read speeds are more important. Some resources to compare SSD performance are Anandtech and StorageReview. You will find a drive like the C300 and Vertex 2 series will have some of the fastest transfer rates and quickest bootup times, but if you plan on using this drive for your bootup/operating system, also keep in mind the other factors stated above: reliability & support.

Considering reliability, performance, software, and support, our recommendations for today's best values depend on how much you want to spend, and what you will use the SSD for:

Looking to spend around $100 for the OS and some Programs	Intel X25-V 40GB SSD
Looking to spend around $125 for Apps & Games	Kingston SSDNow V-Series 64GB
Looking to spend around $150 for OS, Apps, Games	G.Skill Phoenix Pro Series 60GB SSD
Looking to spend around $200 for OS, Apps, Games	Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD
Looking to spend around $250 for OS, Apps, Games	Crucial C300 128GB SSD
Looking to spend around $400 for OS, Apps, Games	Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD
Just looking for the fastest write speeds	OCZ Vertex 2
If your motherboard supports SATA3	any 2.5" Crucial C300 SSD
If your ultra-portable Laptop/Netbook needs a Micro-SATA 1.8" drive	Crucial C300 1.8" or a Intel X18-M
Use on a non-TRIM supported OS, or in a multi-disk RAID	G.Skill Phoenix Pro or OCZ Vertex 2

Note, our recommendations will change often as prices fluctuate, deals become available, and new drives come out. These are only suggestions, and we recommend you do your own research before making any decision on which is the best for you. If you're using an SSD for the operating system (OS), it is recommended the OS freshly installed on the SSD from scratch, although transferring from an existing hard drive should work fine if you are technically savvy.

If you have a laptop computer or netbook and are unsure whether you need a 2.5" or 1.8" SSD, use Crucial's Storage Advisor. Enter your laptop/netbook's make and model, and it will display compatible SSD's in either 2.5" or 1.8" form factor, telling you which size your portable computer is compatible with.

Most retail versions of SSD's include a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for installing inside a desktop/tower computer. The OCZ Vertex 2 and the Corsair P128 do not include an adapter.