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And the cost I have always gotten for cds is 15 each, DVDs 61 each, which for me is 46M vs 73M per penny.

But I have not bought cds for over a year. That last batch of 1200 was it. I bought about 4000 or so and that's it. (Now, I've purchased over 600 DVD-Rs in the last year.)

To buy? Go to Pricewatch and click on media. My stated costs include shipping as discs are surprisingly heavy. I usually end up buying from AllMediaOutlet.

Doesn't matter, because the transfer rates for a 3gig $1100 CompactFlash Type II Card are so incredibly slow (3.5mB/sec). You can buy a 80gig IDE drive that transfers at 58mB/sec for $66.

That's 16 times faster for 1/16th the price. Anyone still want to replace your hard drive with a CF card?

Why not just get the demo when it comes out in the next week and see if you can tweak the settings and ini's enough to get it running decently? As reported by BeyondUnreal, the demo will be distributed by BitTorrent.

Also, why not just get a new processor. You can get a decent one for under $40 these days. and with a motherboard combo you might get away with something under $80.

opterons and their motherboards currently still fetch a premium and aren't in the average consumer's price range

as opposed to the price of extreme edition cpus?

Don't forget Nikon.

Nikon supports CompactFlash only in their high-end cameras. I'm not sure why they don't support it in their low-end cameras. Probably some sort of kick-backs from selling a camera that supports the more expensive media. There's always collusion when ignorant consumers are involved.

Someone tell me what I'm missing. From PriceWatch.com, we get the following for a 512MB media card (many of the proprietary don't go larger than this):

$95 - CompactFlash
$138 - Memory Stick
$141 - MMC/SD
$165 - xD
$199 - ATA

As geeks, it is our duty to inform people from being stupid and buying cameras that don't support cheap, open standards. Why is SD so popular if it is 50% more expensive?

You want a non-exclusive unsupported OEM version of Microsoft, get it here
$5 - Windows XP Pro
$5 - Windows XP Home
$7 - Windows Server 2003
$6 - Windows 2000 Pro OS

What? Your company doesn't want to pay that kind of money? It's too expensive you say? Your company doesn't want to buy one license at a time? It would save on labor cost to just have one CD with no registration key. It may even want to get some sort of minimum level of support. Well, the evil Microsoft corporation can help you with that -- it's all part of the negotiations. In the end, your company gets a wholesale quantity at a wholesale rock-bottom price.

And yes, your buyer will probably get too many licenses, but hopefully your buyer will base his purchasing decision on the actual number of licenses he needs and not the actual number of licenses he gets.

Sincerely Yours,

A Fellow Linux User
(who chose not to pay the extra $5 the last time I assembled a Linux box)

People get those rates because of deals that companies like Dell, HP, etc. negotiated with Microsoft.

No, they get those hardware bundle rates because Microsoft offers them for Windows systems. You can get it, too, just go up on PriceWatch and see how cheap you can get Office 2003 with the purchase of a hard drive.

HP and Dell get an even GREATER discount than you are able to get because of the volume of units they move.

Three reasons to discriminate against Mac users:

1) They have a virtual monopoly on office software for the Mac. Therefore, they can charge each and every Mac user full pop without fear of losing marketshare. I believe Office has consistently been the top-selling software title for Macintosh for a number of years, so what's the motivation to cut the price?

2) It contributes to the general belief that Macs are overpriced. You spend a couple hundred more on the hardware, and then you have to spend an extra $200 more than Windows users for Office? It helps price Macs out of the competitive price range of Wintel systems.

3) Keep Macs out of the lucrative corporate market. Again, they'll sell in volume discount their Windows solutions, but corporate Mac users are stuck.

Where's the infiniband hardware in the Xbox again?

Why would you waste your money on something you have to hack, when you can get the same
thing but faster for about the same money, and have the ability to customize it all you want?

Where's the infiniband hardware in the Xbox again?

Why would you waste your money on something you have to hack, when you can get the same
thing but faster for about the same money, and have the ability to customize it all you want?

Only tangentally related, but it seems silly to spend $19 on a cable for USB2 when you could add Firewire to your computer for $8 including the cable, and have it be useful for so much more....

President Bush to Liberate Alaska

I don't know about any of you, but "Froogle" hasn't impressed me yet. I am a frequent user of pricewatch and techbargains, and Froogle hasn't even come close to matching these. Call me old fashioned, but I sincerely hope that google stays away from the portal business.

For shit's sake, moron, try going to www.pricewach.com and checking out their prices. Most Intel CPUs are twice that of the equivalent AMDs.

What's so amazing about that? HD space has been under one dollar per gigabyte for a few years now. Add the cost of RAID and it's still under a buck a gig.

--

Next you're going to tell me my frame rates will go DOWN a whopping 2%!

"---Original BIOS---
FX5900 @ 475Mhz/950Mhz DDR (Overclocked to FX5950U Speeds)
3DMark03: 5770
---A380U BIOS---
FX5950 @ 475Mhz/950Mhz DDR (Default FX5950U Speeds)
3DMark03: 5661"

Sounds like one mod I can't wait to do...

Next you're going to tell me my frame rates will go DOWN a whopping 2%!

"---Original BIOS---
FX5900 @ 475Mhz/950Mhz DDR (Overclocked to FX5950U Speeds)
3DMark03: 5770
---A380U BIOS---
FX5950 @ 475Mhz/950Mhz DDR (Default FX5950U Speeds)
3DMark03: 5661"

Sounds like one mod I can't wait to do...

www.pricewatch.com

http://www.pricewatch.com/menus/m226.htm

The cheapest 2GB I see there is $175.

pricewatch

I'll recommend the HP LaserJet 1300 which supports PostScript Level 2 for all your Linux printing needs and which you can find for as little as $350 on PriceWatch.

How does $169 delivered sound?

Does anyone know of a tiny form-factor storage media that costs roughly $50 / GB?! I'd love some miniature removable media at that price point! So far, the best I've seen is the MagicStor 2GB CF hard drive for about $200.

Maybe it'll just use the same 1.8" hard drive tech as the existing iPod line, with the rest of the electronics shrunk... :-(

I know PriceWatch prices are hard to get and you have to deal with shipping and all that.

For the last year or so, Pricewatch prices have included shipping.

$213USD seems to be the lowest on pricewatch, for those who are wondering
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/3/5867-1.htm

Very true. Of course, any $30 cd-burner these days comes with Nero for free.

I am so glad Ahead, rather than Roxio, made friends with all those cheap white-box CD-RW distributers. That Roxio program is the crap.

Actually, IBM (now Toshiba) microdrives are distinctly cheaper than solid-state media of the same storage capacity- at least in the 2 and 4 GB sizes that they're selling these days. A quick check at Pricewatch shows 2 GB microdrives (in Compact Flash packaging) selling for as little as $195, while the cheapest solid state 2 GB CF is $430. 4 GB sizes are not listed at Pricewatch, but the price advantage for Microdrives is likely to be even greater there. When I checked at Ritz Camera, the 4 GB microdrive was only about 50% more than the 2GB, while the 4 GB solid state CF was more than double the price of 2 GB.

Start searching

I figure a good high-grade Athlon64 system sans vid card (I already have a decent one) and a decent monitor for under $1100 US. Probably get much better hardware than what E-Machines is offering. Not to mention if you want a real 64-bit operating system, go grab gentoo or Mandrake's 64-bit Linux and don't worry about paying the Microsoft-tax. Not to mention if you are an avid linux user you can specifically pick out your hardware to make sure that it's all supported.

I've always been a fan of building your own system simply on the fact that it means you don't need any credit to actually pay for it over a substantial period of time... Just buy the hardware bit-by-bit.

fatwallet.com
mysimon.com
pricewatch.com
pricegrabber.com ?

The first site is a great place to find great deals at larger retailer sites (and lots of not-so-large ones). People post what deals they find. The other ones are competitive shopping sites where you can compare prices. (Check more than one, and check the DETAILS!)

Sell it at market price based on supply and demand

When multiple independent resellers keep their prices in lockstep, you should be suspicious. When a discount is offered for every product in a category except one, you should be suspicious. When just about every product in a store goes on sale at least occasionally, except those products from a single company, you should be suspicious. When you can't find price variations in the intensely competitive land of online sales, you should be suspicious.

Maybe the market for iPods has stabilized enough that the price can't come down through competition. But maybe Apple is engaging in price fixing. If someone is engaging in price fixing you no longer have a free market; supply and demand playing a balancing game. I don't know if Apple is playing dirty, but it would seem to warrant at least a bit of suspicion.

Movies: RottenTomatoes, imdb, and MetaCritic have saved me dozens of hours of time I might have wasted on crap (like Matrix Revolutions, or TimeLine).

Books: Amazon, despite its evils (patents/privacy), is a very nice filter (with a few shills and idiot-reviewers). I [ab]use amazon as a filter, and then buy them cheaper new or used.

News: Popular Daily News Tidbits, Blogdex, Daypop, and slashdot.

Music: iRATE radio, and word of mouth. Need more Collaborative Filtering in this area to root out the Clearchannels/RIAAs function as a giant pusher of "cool"

Ads (aka: mental engineering): I use PopFile to filter SPAM, and Privoxy to filter out slow-loading, privacy-invading, all-around-annoying ADS. I'm still missing a proxy for my eyeballs in the real world. Soooon. :)

Cheap Products: Not a quality filter exactly, but a quantity filter: PriceWatch, PriceGrabber, Froogle, Anand's Hot Deals ...

Phew, that's a lot of linkage. Anyway, I couldn't function without these and other filters; I'd really be info overloaded.

Collaborative filtering in general has a very bright future IMO.

--

If you want a low power system, definately check out the EPIA systems from VIA.

A less expensive option is the VIA C3. These cpu's are socket 370 compatible. You can find these for under $50. See pricewatch. Max power on these is about 18 watts.

Josh

"...is that really a $699 computer?"

"...is that really a $699 computer?"

"...is that really a $699 computer?"

Systemax pc's are pretty good, been around awhile, basic solid machines. If you already use AOL, thats a nice system with monitor for 299. Wonder how much the ink cartridges are... The mobo seems to be very cheap, would be nice for more specs.

Doing a quick pricewatch search shows the pc is an average deal, and system max uses quality oem hardware, your choice.

But I'd rather go over to Outpost.com (frys) and get something like amd200+mb for 100 bux, get a nice case for 40 bux, some memory, hd and gfx card for about 350 for that price. Pick up a used 17 inch monitor for 20 bux at RePC.

There are good deals, but you have to look. I found used dual P2's for 250 bux with scsi drives. Awesome linux/bsd servers.

5. Price. For once, Apple is not selling the most expensive product on the market. The iPod sells for very little above what the HD alone would sell for
As much as I would like to own an iPod, I have to disagree with the above statement. Check Pricewatch... EIDE 30 Gig disk, as low as $39. Or a firewire 30 gigger for about $54. And a 30 gig iPod goes for upwards of $450. I love the iPod and really want one, but they are darn near the most expensive product in it's class.

But these rules were created before many advances were made.

For instance, you aren't likely to find everything you want at an online store in three clicks. If you are looking for jewelry or specialty blank CD media, you may get to your category in three clicks, but there are still a dozen clicks beyond that to see the full contents of the category.

I would be interested in seeing what kind of tasks users were asked to perform and rate their "three-clickability" (terrible term). Almost anything involving a store, inventory, or selection process voids that "rule" for the end result, but not for the category.

Perhaps it should be rephrased that the user should be able to get to any content-space in three clicks instead of a page.

Pricewatch gets you to content in two clicks.
Outpost has three clicks to content on the sections I checked - one click, really - two for refining.
ice.com has one click to content, and then two for refining.
Barnes & Noble has three clicks to content.
Even eBay has three clicks to content.

http://bestbookbuys.com (compares prices for books accross most online bookstores)
http://consumerreports.com (untainted consumer information, subscription required)
http://edmunds.com (a good read before you buy a car)
http://insweb.com (cheap online insurance agency with a number of insurance providers)
http://www.ftc.gov (to learn your rights as a consumer or as a business)
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jsp?forum=107 (scams performed on Ebay -- good read for Ebay newcomers)
http://resellerratings.com (to check the track record of electronics resellers, some of the cheapest electronics resellers are one-fly-night operations that take your money one day, go bankrupt the next, and restart the day after under a new name)
http://pricewatch.com or http://pricescan.com (compares prices on pc hardware and electronics)
http://techbargains.com
http://bottomdollar.com

FYI, a very useful place to go before ordering from a mail order or internet place is Reseller Ratings. Newegg is one of the highest rated general computer components places, and it is based on thousands of reviews, so is a pretty reliable rating.

Reseller Ratings is particularly useful when considering ordering from a place listed at Pricewatch. The vendors listed at pricewatch range from great to total sleazebags that I would not order from even if their price was half anyone else's and included shipping and a blow job from the UPS person.

pricewatch

looks good to me

BestBuy is nothing but a shit hole. When the chain came to our area, I was happy to see it because Circuit City did not cut it for me. I hoped to see a better selection, lower prices and somewhat educated sales people. Yeah, right...

What we have here is a complete clusterfuck that is full of high school dropouts, stupid managers and anal security folks who check my bags everytime I come there. The prices are not as good as on PriceWatch and the service is poor. In fact, I am not going to purchase a single item from them after one of the sales people told my friend that a more expensive video card had a longer life span than the cheaper one (ATI 9800 was the cheaper card in this case).

I have to admit, their initial DVD collection was impressive compared to what their competitors had to offer. But it all changed after I got a high-speed internet connection.

shopper.com is OK, but there are some better alternatives IMHO. pricescan.com and pricewatch.com both offer more merchants and, as a result, will usually find you a lower price.

Try getting one of those drives retail - you'll see. 5 GB 1.8" drive

Over $170 for FIVE GIGS. I'm sure they get a deal, but still. Damn.

What are these then?

The problem with these though, is that they're so fesking expensive. I just checked out Price Watch, and found a 256MB Memory Stick for 61 USD. Not too shabby, however, for 2 USD less than that, I could get 200 CD-RW's. Each one capable of storing over twice as much data as a single memory stick, not to mention, just as reusable. Sure, maybe it's not as convienient to carry around, but you're getting exactly 129.744 GB more reusable storage space, for less money.

The problem with these though, is that they're so fesking expensive. I just checked out Price Watch, and found a 256MB Memory Stick for 61 USD. Not too shabby, however, for 2 USD less than that, I could get 200 CD-RW's. Each one capable of storing over twice as much data as a single memory stick, not to mention, just as reusable. Sure, maybe it's not as convienient to carry around, but you're getting exactly 129.744 GB more reusable storage space, for less money.

Of course, others have suggested bandwidth throttling, which is better because you can fine-tune it, but if it can accept data at 10MB/s then a $3 card would do the trick.

Of course, others have suggested bandwidth throttling, which is better because you can fine-tune it, but if it can accept data at 10MB/s then a $3 card would do the trick.

+/- RW's offbrands for just over 100 bucks. Pioneers for 130 ish, and the sony's for close to 150.

Try a USB 2.0 external hard drive - you can't even tell the difference between it and an internal drive if you've got USB 2.0.

I disagree. Real world transfer rates for USB 2.0 are about 12 mBps (90 mbps), compared to upwards of 36 mBps for sustained data tranfer with ATA/100. Only ATA/100, Firewire, SCSI, and SATA can keep up with today's fast hard drives.

Anyway, EIDE drives are really cheap. You can get a decent 7200 RPM 120 gig IBM w/2mb cache for only
$80 on Pricewatch, which works out to 66 cents/gigabyte. USB drives start at $110 and are much slower.