Tech on the Cheap?

andyatkinson asks: "A technology enthusiast always has more products and services to buy than he or she can possibly afford. A variety of methods will help you save money: discount, deal, and coupon websites, price comparisons, eBay, and rebates. How do you save bucks on tech?"

Comments

Wait for the next version.

[Rimbo]

Because you can always get more for less if you wait 6 months.

6 months from now, repeat.

Re:Wait for the next version.

[Jupix]

Indeed. And remember, if you'll wait for an upcoming IT release now, you're gonna wait every time (and consequently never buy anything). That's a good way to save cash..

Re:Wait for the next version.

[PFI_Optix]

As far as my PC's hardware, I stay right in the middle of the price curve. A friend of mine calls it the "75% mark," meaning that you get about 75% the performance of top-of-the-line for around 50% the price. That's especially true in the processor and video card markets, which account for the the costliest and most frequent upgrades.

As networking goes, I tend to avoid eBay for most of it. A lot of tech sites have forums with a for sale/for trade section where you can find what you're looking for at a much better price than eBay. I trade a lot of my old parts that I don't need for old parts that I do need.

Stay a generation behind

[XxtraLarGe]

The latest and greatest is seldom so great. Now is a great time to buy a GameCube or PS2 if you don't have one. All the good games have been made and are available for bargain basement rates. Also, at my home we have several old Macs that we use for the wife & kids. We find them more than adequate for our purposes. I guess it all comes down to learning to be content with getting things later rather than sooner.

Bad Math

[krgallagher]

I like this part of the article about using ebay:
"In one 9 month period, I bought and sold 5 laptops, taking a loss of around $200-300 per sale, before settling on one to keep. This is a bit extreme and certainly involved a fair amount of hassle, but on the plus side, I was able to try out several brand new laptops on my own terms, and sell them for a relatively minimal loss. After about 9 months, I still had a new laptop for around US $1500 (as opposed to leasing laptops)."

Given the conservative estimate of $200 loss per purchase, that would $1000. That would mean that at the end he either had a $1500 laptop for $2500, or else he bought a $500 laptop for $1500. Either way this is not "Tech on the Cheap."

Don't be an early adopter

[the eric conspiracy]

Don't buy into a new technology for the first couple of years unless it is immediately apparent the item will repay your money over a 1-year time frame. Generally it takes 3 years for the rapid advancement period to come to a conclusion and product lines to stabilize. You will also avoid a lot of fads this way.

Avoid any proprietary formats - MD Disc, Blu-Ray, DVD-Audio. These never work out in the long run.

What

[GigsVT]

A technology enthusiast always has more products and services to buy than he or she can possibly afford

I don't have this problem. I'm not rich either. Is "tech enthusiast" some new code word for "sucker consumer"?

Or buy older model instead of latest & greates

[93,000]

Resign yourself to the inevitability that whatever you buy that's 'cutting edge' will only be so for a matter of months. Spend accordingly.

My father bought a Treo 650 about six months ago for around $500. After seeing/using his I decided to give the pda/phone combo a try. But instead of dropping the cash on a Treo 650, I bought the "old" 600 model on eBay for about $150.

It may not be cutting edge, but it still has all the basic features I need. In another year or so I'm sure I'll be able to upgrade to the 650 for about the same price, now that the 700 is out.

Identify your wants and needs

[hattig]

And prioritise the spending on the needs, and only pick up the wants when they're a good deal.

And paying of your credit card bill is a great need than any of your wants.

For many things waiting just a few months can make something you want more affordable. This especially applies to computer hardware, but also applies to DVDs, CDs, as well. Patience has its rewards.

Don't underestimate missing out on your typical upgrade cycle and just sticking with what you have. Oh, and know your product release cycles by reading the geeky websites every so often.

OTOH don't become a miser! Don't buy cheap stuff just because it is cheap. Get good quality stuff even though it costs more, because it will last longer (in most cases).

Re:Surplus Stores

[M-G]

One, most of this surplus sales are auctions meant for volume buyers. They don't advertise them in consumer channels because they don't want to sell 1 computer to an individual, they want to sell 2000 computers to a guy with forklift and a truck that will haul them away. When companies/schools decommission large amounts of technology, they want to get them out of the way as quickly as possible.

They also frequently want to sell them to a company that will do data destruction, etc. for them, so they don't have to mess with it. While they can invite qualified companies who will do that to bid, they can't exactly put together contractual agreements for every person who wants a single box.