HP TouchPad Sale: Best Buy Offers 32GB Model for $149; But What's the Deal?

If you were one of those who missed the chance of snagging an HP TouchPad during the $99 fire sale, here is some good news for you.

The discounted HP TouchPad is back on sale now. Best Buy is selling the 32GB model of the HP TouchPad for its fire sale price of $149. But the deal is not as simple as it looks; the tablet is eligible for the discount price only with the purchase of a new PC.

Starting Tuesday, customers who purchase an HP or Compaq computer from Best Buy retail and Web stores will be eligible to pick a 32GB HP TouchPad for the heavily discounted $149 in addition to the price of the PC. Without a PC purchase, customers have to pay $599 for the tablet. This was the price HP originally set before winding up the product on Aug. 18.

The offer will not be available in store shelves nationwide until Nov. 4 and it does not include the 16GB model which was priced at $99 during the fire sale.

Limited Release

There is no information yet about how long the current offer will last. However, Best Buy said in a FAQ that quantities will be limited, CRN reported.

This is a spot buy of a limited release of TouchPads by HP. These units are first come, first serve and when they're gone, they're gone, as per the FAQ.

According to sources close to HP's build plans, the initial TouchPad order was for between 1.8 million and two million units. However, another source disagreed with that number without further elaboration, AllThingsD reported.

TouchPad, a Loss Leader

In August, an IHS iSuppli teardown analysis showed that it cost HP $328.65 to build a 32GB TouchPad. At $149.99, HP takes a paper loss of over $178 for each unit.

After the device spent a month on the market, just before HP pulled the plug on it, Best Buy could reportedly sell less than 10 percent of the 270,000 TouchPads it had in inventory. According to AllThingsD, the retailer was also pushing HP to take back the unsold TouchPads.

Last Chance to Snap up the Tablet

After HP slashed the price of the 16-GB TouchPad to $99 and the 32-GB model to $149, the tablet became a hot commodity among bargain hungry shoppers.

HP later announced its plans for one more production run for the TouchPad. On Friday, the company said that the product has been sold out and will only be available through retail partners.