Laptop Coming In $99

Just when we thought the Black Friday rumors were not going any further in terms of Blockbuster-ish frenzy, Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CC) will have a reported $99 laptop computer available on Black Friday. Actually, the system will be $299 after rebates -- possibly matching an offer by competitor Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) but priced above a rumored $199 laptop from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT). The Circuit City laptop, however, will be just $99 after a customer signs up with Internet phone provider Vonage.

Circuit City's featured notebook will be a rather bland but functional Compaq system that features a Celeron processor from Intel rather than processors from Advanced Micro Devices, and it will also come with an optical drive that burns both DVDs and CDs -- not just CDs like the rumored Wal-Mart laptop (and that's a huge upgrade). The circuit City laptop will also come with 512MB of memory, a 15.4-inch screen and a 60GB hard drive.

Is Circuit City poised to have the "official" lowest Black Friday holiday price on a new laptop computer? The retailer currently sells the Compaq notebook for $499 as of today, and says that the computer ordinarily lists for $680. In order to get to the $299 price, Circuit City gives consumers a $280 instant rebate at the store and a coupon for a $100 mail-in rebate ($680-$380=$299). Sign up for Vonage in two weeks and get another $200 off. Where will you shop?