I bought my i7/256 at a local Best Buy a few weeks ago, and, looking at today's inventory using the "check stores" function online, it looks like every Best Buy within a couple hundred miles (I'm in Burlington, VT) has 512s, and about half or a few less have i7/256s as well... I'm almost sure that this is just a question of what MS has been shipping and Best Buy has been selling, not an actual decision not to carry the i7s. I bet the i7/256 has been a really good back to school seller, while the 512 is so much more expensive that it has been hanging around?