Travel Laptop Deal - Macbook looks with a Windows 10 Price

The Huawei Matebook X 13" laptop is an excellent value right now, on sale for $700 at Amazon (LINK).  Very strong specs, premium materials, and top-notch build quality for under $1,000.  Thin and light.  A great travel laptop.


Features / High Points

• Lighter than comparable Macbook
• 2K screen resolution (2160x1440 pixels)
• Office 365 Personal included
• Narrow bezel 13" screen with 88% screen-to-body
• Metallic body
• First laptop in the world with full Dolby Atmos sound.  Much richer, better sound than typical of a laptop this size
• Intel Core i5 dual core 2.5 GHz CPU
• 8 GB memory
• 256GB solid state drive
• USB-C
• Includes a port dock and USB-C to USB adapter
• Fingerprint reader
• Comfortable, smooth chiclet keyboard
• Battery life good (8-9 hours) but not great.
• Thinner (12.5mm) and lighter (2.31 lbs) than Macbook
• Windows 10 Home 64-bit
• Intel HD Graphics 620
• 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wireless compatibility

Cons

• Battery life trails behind many competitors.  E.g. half of the Microsoft Surface laptop
• Non-touchscreen display
• No standard USB ports; must use the included dock or converter cable to connect older USB devices
• No optical drive - not really a con as it is not expected on a laptop this small and light

Professional Reviews

• PC Mag
• CNET

Pictures

(courtesy CNET)

[Expired] Mainland US to Hawaii from $296 Round Trip

This fare sale has expired

no time to get into all the details, but search from your desired departure cities.  Many large cities - particularly Delta hubs such as Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City - have the best fares.

Most of the sale flights are to Honolulu (HNL) but some good fares also seem to be available to other airports in Hawaii including OGG and LIH.

Spring break (first week in April) and summe are EXCLUDED from this sale.

FYI - Toronto (YYZ) has sub-$500 Hawaii flights almost all the time, so check there if you are within reasonable driving distance.

MSP and SLC are cheapest, from $296.  DTW from $515.  Delta fares are basic economy, so add $70 if you want to get an advance seat selection, upgrade eligible, etc.  American's fare is a standard economy.

From GRR, could possibly book separate flights to and from MSP and combine with the $300-310 round trip fares.  Or drive to Detroit.

American, United, and Delta are all participating in this fare war.

Deal popped up earlier today and could expire at any moment.

Advice
Recommend booking flights right away - *even if you are not sure you can go.*  Get the ticket booked and take the 24 hours afterward to figure out if you can keep the reservation or if you need to cancel.

Background articles
Note that prices are cheaper than stated from certain cities mentioned in these articles.

http://faredealalert.com/2018/02/08/united-starting-318-las-vegas-orlando-kansas-city-maui-kona-honolulu-kauai-hawaii-and-vice-versa-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/

http://www.secretflying.com/posts/many-us-cities-hawaii-vice-versa-395-roundtrip/

Sample Searches
April 4 - 16 DTW from $515

May 9 - 17 MSP from $306

[Expired] Widespread Fare Sale US to Europe $450+ Most US Airports to Rome, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Brussels etc.

This fare sale has expired

Big fare sale, apparently started by Delta and matched by United.

Dates:

• Now thru May
• Mid-September thru early December

7-day stay required.  Must book 28 days in advance.

Big airports around the US, including Detroit (DTW) and Chicago O'Hare (ORD) are showing the cheap fares.

So are small airports in Michigan, all showing sub-$500 roundtrips to various European cities.  Includes flights from:

• Grand Rapids (GRR)
• Lansing (LAN)
• Traverse City (TVC)
• Muskegon (MKG)
• Flint (FNT)
• Kalamazoo (AZO)

Destination Cities Available Include:

• Rome (FCO)
• Milan (MXP)
• Paris (CDG)
• Amsterdam (AMS)
• Munich (MUC)
• Brussels (BRU)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• Dusseldorf (DUS)
• Berlin (TXL)
• Marseille (MRS)
• Zurich (ZRH)
• Geneva (GVA)
• Prague (PRG)
• Krakow (KRK)
• Warsaw (WAW)
• Bucharest (OTP)
• Zagreb (ZAG)
• Barcelona (BCN)
• Madrid (MAD)
• Valencia (VLC)
• Bilbao (BIO)
• Lisbon (LIS)
• Porto (OPO)
• Possibly others

More details here:  https://www.theflightdeal.com/2018/02/05/united-starting-507-united-states-amsterdam-milan-rome-paris-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/

Sample Dates with Cheap Flights:

• Fri Oct 12 - Sat Oct 20.  From GRR/LAN/TVC/FNT/MKG from $453.  Google Flights
• Weds Nov 21 - Sat Dec 1 (Thanksgiving is Nov 22).  From $451.  Google Flights
• Mon Mar 12 - Tues Mar 20.  From $451.  Google Flights
• Fri Mar 30 - Mon Apr 9.  From $503.  (Spring break week).  Google Flights
• Sun Apr 1 - Mon Apr 9.  From $458.  From Detroit.  Google Flights

Google Flights "Explore" View from October showing available prices from GRR