What is the best way to buy electronics?

September 17, 2005 1:42 PM

What is the best way to buy electronics?

Something like a laptop (also used) or a handheld. Is online always better than brick-and-mortar? Online from a retailer or from ebay? I read about waiting for new models to come out and then the old models go on sale. Any other tips?

posted by dino terror to shopping (10 comments total)

I'm waiting for Apple to come out with the improved/upgraded Nano, which I have a feeling they're just sitting on.

I bought my first laptop from IBM's refurbished department over the phone, and had it shipped direct. I bought my second laptop from an Apple store rather than go online simply because I wanted to visit one of their stores.

Stereo equipment I've bought mostly from friends and relatives.

Miscellaneous stuff, like harddrives, camera memory, cables, and so on I'll either buy online (not ebay), or from a mom-n-pop local store if I feel like the price differential is worth the time saved waiting for the item to ship.
posted by odinsdream at 1:46 PM on September 17, 2005

Briefly, it depends on the item, and whether your priority is to get the precise item you want, to get the best deal possible, to get something right away, etc.

Online's not always better than brick-and-mortar. Ebay's not always cheaper than a regular retailer. This is a hard question to answer because it resists generalization.
posted by box at 2:42 PM on September 17, 2005

The best way is to be patient and be ready to pounce on a true bargain when it becomes available. The tools you use to know what a 'true bargain' is will depend on what you are looking for.

Personally, I use slickdeals.net, and only buy things that I really need. For quick online comparisons, I like pricewatch.com and for apple related things I like dealmac.com as well as dealram.com and dealcam.com for RAM and cameras/videocameras, respectively. I don't buy much home theater and home audio equipment.

The most important thing is to having a sense of what the 'going rate' is for an item, even if your sense isn't precise.

I like to cruise the 'clearance' racks at WalMart and Target every other week or so. I've found some good things that way, and sometimes found bargains that I turned around and sold on eBay to help fund my next purchase.

In summary, know what you want, know what the 'average price' is, and keep your eyes open patiently.
posted by Wild_Eep at 3:02 PM on September 17, 2005

I bought all my NAD shit second hand on eBay. Generally, I try to be used locally, if not I'll try an ebay store - but you have to be vigilent with the sellers on ebay, or else they will sometimes flake out.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 3:26 PM on September 17, 2005

You're juggling three variables, here: getting what you want, price, and time.

By and large, buying online gets you what you want at a good price, since you can just keep trying new retailers until you find one with what you want in stock and at a good price. However, you lose at least a day of time. That is, even if you pay the extra $40 (or whatever) for overnight shipping, you still have to wait until the following day, and you've probably eaten up any savings you found.

The advantage to local stores is, of course, that you walk in and back out with what you want in your hands. For some things in some circumstances, this makes an incredible amount of sense. For instance, I once had my video card fry the day before a major OpenGL programming assignment was due. Consequently, I needed a new video card that minute. I hopped on a bus, went out to King of Prussia, bought a new card, made it home, and had it installed in about four hours. It would've been an hour and a half if I'd had a car. In this case, I didn't have any specific requirements, other than that it be nVidia and of a certain power level. I was willing to drop the extra fifty or seventy-five bucks so that I could have it right then.

Likewise, I once ordered a new system's worth of components online. Everything showed up one day, except for the case. It was on backorder for two weeks. So, we zipped off to the BestBuy in NE Philly at 1700 on a Saturday night. It took three hours, but I got exactly what I'd ordered online.

For blank media, cables, connectors, power strips, and other ancillary things, I'll always go with the local store. Waiting a week for UPS ground to deliver a USB cable tries my patience.

By and large, if you know in advance you're buying something, have been researching it for a while, and don't need it now, buy it online. If time is a factor, buy it locally.
posted by Netzapper at 3:28 PM on September 17, 2005

I second what Wild said, but I go to www.bensbargains.net -- watch it for awhile and you'll see patterns.
posted by k8t at 3:41 PM on September 17, 2005

I've bought laptops and desktops online and in stores and built PCs from either online or store bought parts. What I've come away with is that while you can often get lower prices from sites such as TigerDirect, the turnaround time time if a part breaks is enough that sometimes I just buy the part again somewhere else. That and you have to wait a bit to get what you ordered, while in a store there's a good chance you can get it right away.

So if time isn't a pressing issue for you, then online is definitely good. I always do my pre-shopping and research very carefully before buying online, and I don't think I've ever done any impulse buying online, so there's that too.
posted by furtive at 5:13 PM on September 17, 2005

Define "best." Is it the best price? The best service? The best pre-purchase shopping/education experience? These three things are rarely (well, never, in my experience) found at the same place.
posted by winston at 5:55 PM on September 17, 2005

I personally prefer pricewatch.com which gathers electronics prices from a multitude of Internet sites.
posted by jmd82 at 6:55 PM on September 17, 2005

Another vote for bensbargains. Just check in once a day to see where prices are. You'll get a feel for prices and know the right time to buy.

Today for instance, after needing a second SD card for my digicam, I finally found a Kingston 512mb for $21 thanks to bens.

Also checkout the comments for each item. I've avoided a few bad purchases by reading other's opinions.

The key here is patience!
posted by vaportrail at 9:21 PM on September 17, 2005