‘Tis the Reason to Be Jolly: Best Buy Unveils Its Lowest-Advertised-Priced Laptop Ever

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) will appeal to value-conscious consumers with a dynamic holiday computing selection launching Nov. 11 and featuring the retailer’s lowest-advertised-price laptop ever. Selling in-store and online for $249.99, the Acer laptop delivers solid specifications including an Intel Celeron 900 processor, 2GB memory and a 160GB hard drive, and debuts the extensive seasonal computing offerings at Best Buy.

“We promise a broad assortment of quality products at a variety of price points, all the major brands, and smart Best Buy Blue Shirts and Geek Squad Agents to help customers feel confident about the choices they’re making.”

This holiday, computing selection at Best Buy spans nine popular brands, and includes over 30 laptops, six netbooks, 17 desktops and four all-in-ones. The assortment, coupled with new technologies and promotional offers like the $249.99 Acer laptop, are intended to help both customers who want to upgrade their own gear with the arrival of Windows 7, and who have computing on their wish lists for holiday.

“For many of us, computers are the center of our digital worlds, and Best Buy is committed to remaining a valued partner in this space,” said Jason Bonfig, vice president of computers at Best Buy. “We promise a broad assortment of quality products at a variety of price points, all the major brands, and smart Best Buy Blue Shirts and Geek Squad Agents to help customers feel confident about the choices they’re making.”

From now through the end of December, Best Buy will marshal a distinctive combination of dynamic assortment, exclusive offers and support services to benefit shoppers ready to give the gift of computing this holiday season – whether for loved ones or themselves. The retailer’s holiday line-up includes:

Broadest-Ever Selection and Newest Technology.

Best Buy and BestBuy.com carry the nine top computing brands (Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Gateway, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo), and more than 30 laptops, six netbooks, 17 desktops and four all-in-ones. Laptops range in price from $249.99 to $1999.99, and eight desktops are priced under $500. Apple laptops range from $999.99 to $2,499.99. Customers can select from newly popular functionality like embedded broadband/Gobi enabled-laptops and netbooks with the customer’s choice of Verizon, Sprint or AT&T as carrier.

Ultra-thin laptops (13-inch, 14-inch, and 15.6 inch) are also available. Large memory machines (6GB of memory) start at $879.99 and Blu-ray laptops at $699.99. Best Buy also offers a wide variety of accessories including products like the Logitech M305 Pattern Mice, Rocketfish Lapdesk, Golla fashion bags and Incase Netbook Sleeves.

Unique Promotions.

Holiday shoppers will be attracted to offers that deliver value through pricing and performance. In addition to the Acer $249.99 laptop, Best Buy will feature computing products such as the Samsung Netbook (1GB/160/6 Cell/Win 7 – available now), the most competitive Windows 7 netbook offer ever, and Best Buy-Dell Limited Edition Exclusive Netbooks, which are individually numbered and designed by world renowned artists.

Throughout the holiday season, six months of anti-virus protection will be free with the purchase of any laptop/desktop/netbook, and one year of Napster will be included free with any Dell computer purchase. In addition, Best Buy continues its popular exclusive HP in-home networking bundle introduced with Windows 7 arrival. Dubbed the “PC Home Makeover,” for only $1,199.99 customers can purchase an HP desktop, monitor, laptop, netbook, wireless router and Geek Squad setup and networking. The exclusive PC Home Makeover offer is available through mid-January.

In-Store Service & Post-Purchase Support.

Best Buy Blue Shirts are ready to help customers find the right computer and ensure they have everything they need to get up and running. Geek Squad is available to help set up that new gear, with Agents available in-store, in-home or online. For those customers who want to upgrade to Windows 7 without buying a new PC, Geek Squad has reduced its $129.99 operating system install service charge to just $39.99. The service allows customers to upgrade their Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system to Windows 7 without the hassle of doing it themselves through January.

To learn more about how Best Buy’s holiday computing selection will help make your season jolly, visit your local Best Buy store or www.bestbuy.com/computing.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.

With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China and Mexico, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $45 billion in annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Audiovisions, The Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star,Magnolia Audio Video, Napster, Pacific Sales, The Phone House, and Speakeasy. Approximately 155,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and Web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and activities in its communities. Community partnership is central to the way business is done at Best Buy. In fiscal 2009, Best Buy donated a combined $33.4 million to improve the vitality of the communities where its employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bestbuy.com.