Top 10 Tech Deals of the Day

We've got your latest list of items that fall under the best tech Deals of the Day for you, separated out into laptops, desktops, monitors, gaming, and home entertainment. The laptop deals are right here, but be sure to click through to get a look at all the rest of what we determined to be today's top 10 deals in tech, including that 15-inch MacBook Pro up there!

Laptops

• 17.3" HP ProBook 4730s Core i7-2630QM 2GHz Quad-core "Sandy Bridge" Laptop w/8GB RAM, 750GB HDD, Blu-ray, 1GB Radeon HD 6370 for $1,100 (normally $1,299)
• 15.4" Apple MacBook Pro MC721LL/A Core i7 2GHz Quad-core "Sandy Bridge" Notebook w/4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Radeon HD 6490M & Thunderbolt port for $1,659 with free shipping (normally $1,769)
• 14" HP Pavilion dm4t Core i3-2310M 2.1GHz Dual-core "Sandy Bridge" Laptop w/4GB RAM, 640GB HDD for $525 with free shipping (normally $630 - use coupon code MULN4163)
• 11.6" Alienware m11x Core i3-330UM 1.2GHz Gaming Laptop w/8GB RAM, 320GB HDD & 1GB GeForce GT335M for $699 with free shipping (normally $899 - use coupon code BHW1L0MX0D?MCX)

Don’t forget, if you’re looking for other deals, be sure to check out our Newegg Promo Code thread. Oh, and if you're on Twitter, be sure to follow @TechPromos for the latest deals, or you can Like TechPromos on Facebook.

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Portal 2 review

Innovation in video games is terrific—sometimes. But with certain ideas and series, particularly the simplest ones, the smartest thing to do can be to just expand and build on the concept but not change it very much. That's the choice Valve Software has made with Portal 2, the ravenously awaited sequel to the addictive and brain-twisting 2007 first-person puzzler. Judging from our initial half-day with the game, Valve has chosen wisely.

The original Portal, first released as part of the Orange Box collection, was maddening because it was so straightforward, and delightful because of its rampant dementedness. As a test subject trapped in the Aperture Science building, you were armed only with a gun that could create up two dimensional portals: shoot a blue one, shoot an orange one, then run through one to emerge from the other. Strategy and physics played key roles as you struggled to discover what happened to the all the office workers, evade turret fire and pits of foul-looking liquid, and determine what the nature was of the teasing and tormenting computer (the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, or GLaDOS) that made jokes at your expense every 30 seconds.

 

Portal succeeded because its formula was both hard to screw up but easy to love. It was both rigorously adult (some of the levels were hard, and many of the bonus boards all but impossible), and yet faultlessly cute (who can forget the baby-voiced android weapons, or the Weighted Companion Cube emblazoned on all six sides with hearts). This meant that anyone of any age could play it, and because it required just a handful of keys or buttons (far fewer than the average shooter), you didn't even need to be an experienced gamer. As if realizing this, Valve even structured the game to provide to provide its own fully integrated tutorial so you could master tricky concepts without being aware you were learning everything.

In fact, the most commonly cited problem with the game was that it was too short: Nineteen levels and it was done. For years, people have been crying out for more levels and more snappy wit—and with Portal 2, that is what Valve has almost exclusively provided.

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