Slashdot Mirror
Gifts and Toys You Should Pass on This Season?
poincaraux asks: "So, Christmas is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a horde of sales. But, of course, new technology is "almost ready" as always. For instance, there's always the hope that if I wait a little longer, I can buy a laptop that's faster and has a better battery. I'm certainly going to spend some money on fun electronic toys this Christmas, but what *shouldn't* I buy? What's going to be so much cheaper a month or so after Christmas that it's really worth waiting for?" What is out there that you can pass up on, maybe because it's just not worth it...or it will be cheaper in due time and a better buy then? With economies the way they are these days, anything you can put off until later may be a good thing.
I think that y'all should avoid buing the X-Box, the Cube and the rest for now. Right now, there are relatively few games out for any of them. It would be best to wait until one of them becomes dominant over the others. Remember VHS vs Betamax? If you chose betamax, you might as well have thrown your money out. It was a great piece of hardware, but you couldn't watch anything on it. Wait a couple months, prices will drop, and you will be better able to pick the system that's gonna last.
Isn't this entire question anti-consumerist, and therefore Un-American? Report for termination, troubleshooter.
(Okay, so that's two words....)
Seriously, they have just recently become available to the masses, they are still fighting a format war, and the blanks are far too pricey.
However, give 'em a few months. I would bet the price will drop from $500-$600 to closer to $300 in the first couple months of the new year, the DVD+RW vs DVD-RW formats will have some semblance of a winner, and the blanks should drop to $5 or so. It's just too early to make a reasonable purchase of one.
though it is tempting, hold off on any gift subscriptions to certain athletic member-ships.Technology is progressing so fast in this area, that the upgrades purchased by early-adopters today may become obsolete quickly.
Don't get manties for anyone. Don't even click on that link I just put in there. Don't even try to imagine what the hell manties could be. In fact, forget I ever mentioned it.
Get the old ipaq, since you care not for PPC 2002 (since you're going to run Linux on it, aren't you), and they're cheap these days.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
I just get the feeling that the laptop market is getting ugly. Companies aren't buying them and there are a flood of off-lease and refurbs. They're getting close to a good price point for consumers. When Dell cuts a quality laptop to under $1,000, I think the pricewar will really heat up. I wouldn't be suprised to see decent laptops going for under $800 by March.
Boxes like the ever-popular Linksys Cable/DSL Router will probably continue to fall. Siemens had a two-port for $29 after rebate. I would expect Linksys to ride out the holiday season, maybe with a few rebate offers, then cut prices.
On the other hand, I just don't know what memory is going to do. Most people I know with a modern desktop now have more memory than they can use. If things were bad 3 months ago, they've going to be jump-out-the-window brutal after Christmas. How much cheaper can memory get? It's not like they can keep offering more for the money. Not a lot of market for a $50 2 gig DIMM, if that's even possible. I don't even think many machines can take a 512 meg DIMM.
I'm also waiting for every one of you satellite-stealing-mother-f'ers to buy your used slim-line PC with 2 serial ports ("perfect for emulation") so the price goes back down on those boxes. I need to build some firewalls and other appliances and you guys are driving the prices up.
Apple has a history of announcing speed bumps, lower prices, and/or new products in January and March. Rumor has it that there will be speed bumped G4s or possibly even G5s real soon now. Since the iBook and PowerBooks got a speed bump recently, don't expect anything new in the portables except maybe a slight price drop. I would think the iPod will get a price reduction once the Christmas buying rush is over.
Probably not such a popular party game this year.
System: $50
Second Controller: $15
Memory Card: $15
3 "expensive" games: $60
Total spent for a great console that just didn't cut it in the American market: $140
Gonna get me one of those this year!
Justin
You can pass on these things:
A thin, 50" widescreen HDTV for my wall
Bose Lifestyle 25
DVD-RAM or DVD+RW
iMac
iPod
etc.
Pass them on to me.
"The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson