Category: Shopping

Posted on

Holiday Shopping Deals Online

Deal Sites

It’s easier than ever to find good shopping deals online. The biggest sites that aggregate online deals are:

These sites have forums where people discuss Hot Deals, Black Friday Deals, Freebies, and Coupons. This is where people go to find amazing deals.

Shopaholics also enjoy the innovative woot.com site, which sells one item a day until it is sold out. Occasionally there are “woot-offs” where they sell multiple items sequentially over a 24 hour period, each until they sell out. During a woot-off, they might sell what they call a “Bag of Crap” (BOC) which is 3 random things for $15. It could include a new Xbox 360 or it could be pens. Oddly, people on the slickdeals and fatwallet forums get very excited about the BOCs. I guess it appeals to people who like to gamble.

Some lesser-known deal sites include:

Electronics

As noted in an earlier post, you don’t want to get ripped off at a big box store when buying electronics. Look at Newegg, Amazon, and Buy.com for their deals. And whatever you do, don’t buy any cables from Best Buy. Best Buy and most retail stores sells HDMI cables for $100 that can be bought for $5-10 from MonoPrice.com.

There is also no need for a warranty from Best Buy, as the items are normally insured by the manufacturer. The most common failures are discovered immediately, when you can still bring the item back to the store for a return.

If you want to shop locally in the D.C. area for electronics, the best store is MicroCenter in Fairfax, Virginia. They have knowledgable staff and a wide selection of computers, electronics, software, game systems, and TVs for reasonable prices.

Posted on

New Macs On the Way

Lots of Rumors

Computer support clients often ask me for computer buying advice. Luckily for Mac users, there are many rumor sites such as MacRumors and AppleInsider that tell you about anticipated new products. Just keep in mind that the rumor sites are sometimes completely wrong.

New Apple Laptops

Apple said that on Tuesday, October 14, 10AM PST new Mac laptops will be announced. The rumor is that at least some will use a new “brick” process of building the case out of a solid block of aluminum.

Some have speculated that the prices will also be lowered (perhaps to $800 from $1100) as they were on the iPod Nanos recently. This would help Apple continue to gain market share.

New Apple Desktops?

While not anticipated, many users are still hoping for a new basic Mac desktop that would be cheap. The Mac Mini ($600) is nice, but you pay more for small laptop parts and it isn’t easily upgraded. The iMac ($1200) is a decent value, but it is also not easily upgraded and it is still more expensive than just buying basic computer without a monitor (something PC users can do for $400).

People have called this hoped-for box the Mac Cube (a reintroduction of that form) or jokingly the Mac Mac (to differentiate from the high-end Mac Pro that is out of the price range for most people). By attacking the low end desktop market, Apple would expand market share and largely eliminate the problem of “Hackintosh” Mac clones from Psystar.

Wait and See

So my buying advice is to wait until at least Tuesday before buying anything if you are considering a Mac.

UPDATE: The new laptops are out. There is a new aluminum 13″ screen MacBook
starting at $1299 and a new 15″ screen MacBook Pro
starting at $1999. There is no cheap laptop or desktop as many people hoped, but Apple is keeping its old white plastic MacBook around at $999, a $100 price drop.

Posted on

Get a Battery Boost with APC Mobile Power Pack

The APC UPB10 (about $60) is a handy little battery that is charged from and charges over USB. It is the size of a deck of cards and is very useful if you need to finish that game, movie, or phone call when you are away from a power outlet.

The APC UPB10 more than doubles the power to an iPhone, Blackberry, or Sony PSP. It charges any USB device, which also includes some GPS devices and cameras.

It does require you to push a button to activate the power. If the device you are charging is nearly out of power, the APC will continue to charge it. If the device is nearly full, the APC will only charge it for about 20 minutes before you need to press the button again. It does this to save the battery.

If you are like me and sometimes find yourself on the other side of D.C. without any cell phone power left, the APC UPB10 can help.

Posted on

Hands-Free Headsets

When people ask me for hands-free headset advice, my first question is if they prefer wireless (using bluetooth) or wired (plugging a headset into the phone). Each have their pros and cons.

Wired:

  • cheaper ($10-$25)
  • no loss in audio quality
  • simple
  • no battery to charge
  • needs to have correct adapter for particular phone

Wireless:

  • More expensive ($80 for my favorites)
  • No wire to get in the way or take up room
  • Allows you to walk about 20 feet from the phone (helpful if your phone only gets reception in one spot)
  • Works with any bluetooth device, including computers (so you can use it for Skype calls)

Favorite Models

The exact model of headphone is a matter of preference because ears are different shapes and sizes. My current favorites are from Plantronics.

  • The Plantronics MX-505 (pictured) is an excellent wired headset. Make sure to get the correct version for your phone. Plantronics now also sells the MX-500i which includes both a 2.5mm adapter for most mobile phone and a small USB adapter for computers.
  • The Plantronics Discovery 925 (pictured) is a great Bluetooth headset. It has a case that has a built-in battery to charge the phone. As bluetooth headsets go, it sounds good and is simple to operate.

Your Preference

Much of the wired/bluetooth decision is preference. I think that both look dorky and I prefer the lack of any audio degradation by a wired headset. But seeing people on phones around D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, I think that I’m in the minority at this point.

Because of Washington D.C.’s hands-free headset law (July 1, 2004) and just to be safer, you should have a headset that you feel comfortable using.