We know the drill; plenty of you are scoping out those new G4-based iMacs while standing in an ever-deepening puddle of drool and fantasizing about saying "to heck with the kids' college fund" and engaging in an orgy of debt-amassing that would be astonishingly bad for your credit rating. (Well, maybe you were, but now you've been distracted by pondering the simultaneous elegance and grossness of the phrase "ever-deepening puddle of drool." Trust us, it'll pass.) The sad fact of the matter is that we're wallowing in one ugly economy, and plenty of us simply lack the liquidity necessary to snag one of those 800 MHz jobbies, pump it up to a solid gig of RAM, maybe toss a set of Soundsticks on there, and wallow in that joyous glow of New Mac Ownership. Instead you're stuck with an LC II, a twelve-inch CRT, and a world of regret at having invested your life savings in eTulipBulb.com a couple of years back.

But fear not, because we're here to tell you that even the chronically insolvent can afford a new iMac if they just know how to keep their eyes peeled for bargains. Now, we know what you're thinking: "Oh yeah, six bucks off, an extra 128 MB of RAM, and maybe a free printer-- that's all well and good, but it still doesn't change the fact that I barely have enough cash on hand to buy posterboard and a Sharpie so I can make a 'WILL WORK FOR FOOD' sign." To that we say, pshaw! (Yes, it's a real word-- look it up.) If you think that a decent bundle and a few bucks off list price is the best deal you can find for a new iMac, you're clearly not looking hard enough. Why, faithful viewer Mark found a page over at ClubMac which lists a ton of iMacs, new and old, all for the low low price of $.00. And even you can afford that.

Yes, at broadcast time (and we don't expect it to stay that way), that ClubMac page was advertising an 800 MHz G4-based iMac with a free Lexmark printer and an extra 128 MB of RAM, all for $.00. 384 MB of RAM not enough for you? No problem-- all the RAM on that page is also $.00, as is a set of Harman Kardon Soundsticks, so go wild and trick that puppy out. In fact, just about everything on that page is marked as free... except for a $99.99 Hewlett-Packard printer and a $287.95 copy of Microsoft Office. (Gee, why are we not surprised?)

While we admit that there's a slight chance that this is all some sort of mistake and ClubMac isn't just overly generous with their discounts, we prefer to see the glass as half-full. Whether or not you follow suit is entirely up to you. Now pardon us, but we're off to order about three hundred of these things to get our Christmas shopping done nice and early for a change...