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When to Buy Technology Goods?
inblosam asks: "I am about to make 'the switch', but the thought came to me that there may be a strategic time of year to purchase technology goods. Of course once you buy something it is nearly outdated already, but there must be some marketing cycle for lowering prices and releasing new toys. Anyone seen any patterns that may help? I do have one hypothesis: Companies push their products that have been on the market for 10-11 months during the holiday season (December), then afterwards drop the prices some and bump up the product with a new feature or size, etc. I believe this was the case for the iPod ($500 down to $300 ?), and even the Handspring Visor Edge was $300 when I bought it (November?) and then $169 three months later."
price drops 50%.
This reminds me of my old manager when I did computer sales, he was an old used car salesman and he would always say "it's ALWAYS a good time to buy a computer."
But he was full of crap. A good example was my PowerMac 8100/110. It $4500 (even at edu discount), it took 60 days to deliver the machine due to delays caused by some idiotic porny easter egg they found in the OS CDs and they had to master new CDs for ALL their stock. 2 weeks after delivery, they dropped the price $300. Mere weeks later, the machine was discontinued and replaced by far cheaper, faster models.
Another good example is my Powerbook G3/500, purchased 30 days before the G4/500 was released at the same price. But that one I don't regret, because I paid for the machine with the 30 days of work for one specific job.
So what you could do is just ask ME, and whenever I buy, that's the WRONG time to buy. FYI, I just bought a new dual-1Ghz machine.
Any self-respecting geek knows full well that whatever tech product you end up buying, no matter how well researched, no matter how "latest and greatest," will be instantaneously transformed into the lamest piece of outdated old fashioned stone knife and bearskin technology that even your grandfather wouldn't be caught dead using -- the *moment* you pay for it.
But, since you asked...
The entire technology industry monitors your activities. As soon as you purchase a product, we lower the price. Dramatically.
Again, I'm very sorry.
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[ -1, incoherent rambling ]
the coolest club on
You should purchase your computer like you would buy a car. They say that you should buy a car after it's been used for 2-4 years because that way the price has depreciated the most that it ever will.
Thus I'm currently surfing the web on a trusty 486. Can you believe that it only cost me a mere 25 cents!?!?! And this post has only taken me a mere half an hour to do. Now that's using your money wisely! ;-)
The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. - Tom Bradley