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Tech on the Cheap?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the a-not-so-expensive-habit dept.

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?"

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Wait for the next version. by Rimbo · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    6 months from now, repeat.

    1. Re:Wait for the next version. by PFI_Optix · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

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  2. Stay a generation behind by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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  3. Bad Math by krgallagher · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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."

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  4. Don't be an early adopter by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  5. What by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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"?

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