The saga of the HP TouchPad continued on Friday, with Best Buy announcing an upcoming bundle that will let customers snag a 32GB HP TouchPad for $149.99 with the purchase of a new PC.
The deal kicks off Tuesday, November 1 for online purchases and will be available in stores starting November 4.
Anyone who buys a Compaq laptop, desktop, or all-in-one computer will also be provided with the option to purchase the 32GB TouchPad for $150. The 16GB model is sold out and will not be available. The offer excludes netbooks, as well as computers sold via the BestBuy.com Marketplace, or those that are refurbished, in an open box, or from a Best Buy outlet center.
Best Buy said the deal is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Approximately one hour before your local Best Buy store opens, employees will hand out tickets for the HP TouchPad. One hour after opening, any unclaimed, ticketed TouchPads will be released to those in line without a ticket.
Best Buy will accept TouchPad returns for up to 14 days after purchase. If you return the computer and not the TouchPad, however, Best Buy will charge you the full price of the tablet, which is $599.99.
Best Buy's Geek Squad Black Tie Protection will not apply to the TouchPad.
HP, meanwhile, said tonight that it is officially out of stock when it comes to the TouchPad.
"At HP, we try very hard to provide a positive experience to every customer who purchases an HP product. In some cases, like the HP TouchPad where supply has been extremely limited from the start, we simply cannot meet demand," HP said in a statement. "We are now announcing that while some retailers will have limited stock available, HP's online inventory is depleted."
The HP TouchPad was a well-received, webOS-based tablet, but it couldn't compete with the iPad. If you had $600 to spend on a tablet, Apple's offering was the clear winner. As a result, HP said in August that it would end support for webOS-based devices, including the TouchPad, and the fire sales began: $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB. At those prices, the TouchPad was a steal, and suddenly, HP had the demand it was looking for, but for all the wrong reasons.
That demand prompted HP to promise one last batch of TouchPads, and they appear to be making their way to Best Buy.
The news comes one day after HP also announced that it no longer plans to ditch its PC division. The future of webOS, however, is still up in the air, with CEO Meg Whitman saying during a conference call that HP would have an answer within a few months. For more, see Who Should Buy WebOS?
Not sure if you should make the purchase? Check out PCMag's full review of the TouchPad, as well as our 20 Best Apps For The HP TouchPad slideshow below and 10 Great Web Apps for the HP TouchPad.
Since you'll also have to buy a PC, see PCMag's Top 10 Best Laptops and Top 10 Best Desktops.