Best Place to Buy a New Laptop Computer?

[gt6974a]

you can try 'Star Office', fully compatible with MS Office. $70 vs $200+

For the most part your not going to find a computer preloaded with MS Office, b/c they cost some much. Sometimes they'll give you 'Word Perfect' but who cares.

[buckhead mom]

If you have a student in the family, you can buy the Microsoft Office Student Edition. It is less expensive than the version they sell to professional offices. It is about $150, but you can get it online for about $119 or less. It has: (from website)
Product Features

Essential software suite for home computer users makes it a pleasure to complete schoolwork and other tasks

Includes 2007 versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote
I
ntuitive user interface that exposes commonly used commands; updated graphics and formatting galleries help you to easily produce high-quality documents

Work with confidence and security thanks to the improved automatic Document Recovery tool and the Document Inspector tool, which removes personally identifiable information from your document

Enhanced Help system includes online tutorials with step-by-step instructions; includes OneNote, a digital notebook that helps you gather, organize, and search many types of information in one place

[globalnomad]

Good News: My spouse was able to return the notebook computer to Best Buy.

Bad News: Although he handled all components with extreme care, he was still charged $120 for "re-boxing"!

Great News: He took your helpful advice, Last Minute Mom, and bypassed the US Post Office completely and purchased a temporary street address (good for 6 months) from the UPS Store. Brilliant idea!

Now he can order a notebook computer on-line, as many of you recommended, and get exactly what he wants in terms of software packages.