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Sunday, November 20. 2011
TigerDirect, Buy, NewEgg, Oh My!
Today's computer hobbyist builder has a wide variety of choices when it comes to where to purchase his hardware from. In the old days it was more about resisting the desire for immediate gratification found by driving to the local computer discount store. Simply by purchasing your hardware online you could save major bucks. While that is still true, it has become much more difficult to find the bargains amongst all the noise out there trying to make a buck. It's also less likely that the best deals will be available for all your components in one location. And the online buyer still has the problem of "knowing" what he is buying. You can't just go on your gut feelings. You need to do your research and due diligence. Especially since most of the good bargain online stores have a "no returns" policy.
Let me tell you about some of my experiences when on the hunt for the components of my next computer build.
The Bargain Bundle
You've probably heard of TigerDirect and if you are on their mailing list I know you have drooled over their bundle specials. Who wouldn't drool over a 6 core machine with 8 gigs of RAM and all the necessities for a mere $400.00. It's a very enticing offer. They are very good at putting together just the right components to make you want to buy it. But every time I look closely at what they are offering I can find a key component that just isn't something that I would want in my Hot Rod computer build. Usually it's the motherboard. Off-brand or severely lacking Mobos bundled with a great processor and gobs of fast ram just isn't worth it. Granted, you could buy one of these bundles and after you assemble it you could probably find some unsuspecting user to buy it and make a nice little profit for yourself. But I would have trouble sleeping at night, even if I was up front with the buyer and gave him or her my honest opinion of the equipment I was selling them.
Once in a while they will put a right nice mobo in a bundle, but in nearly every case I've seen they then include a lesser processor or starve it for RAM. Even so, I get excited every time that darn email shows up with the next great bundle deal.
So Ok, we've decided the latest bundle isn't quite what we'd like. They also have some really great blowout deals on individual components. And you can find several excellent quality components at TigerDirect if you look carefully. Just keep in mind that just because they have a great price on a several good components doesn't necessarily mean everything there is priced as good as you can get it for. Competition is so great these days that every seller is offering "loss leaders". That's a marketing term for offering a popular item at rock bottom prices in an effort to draw in the customers and once they are in they typically will buy other things, too. And you make your money on the other things to make up for the one item that was used as the bait to draw them in.
I have found that it's nearly impossible to get the best price on all the components you want to build a computer at one store. Several times I've made my list of components and done the comparison shopping only to find that no one store has the best price on everything I'm in the market for. NewEgg is another online seller of computer components at very competitive prices. But just as with TigerDirect, not everything is the best bargain you can get. They also offer bundles and tend to have better mobos with their bundles, but it's the same old story when you get to the bottom line. I will almost always purchase from 2 or more different places in order to get the very best price on everything I purchase. And yes, before you shake your finger at me, I do take shipping into consideration.
The Magazine Build
Being the avid hobbyist builder that you are, you probably get one or more computer magazines or spend considerable time on a regular basis with your nose in some computer related review website. I personally enjoy my monthly copy of Maximum PC. I especially enjoy the ones that have their recommended "Budget Build" and the "Build of The Year". I frequently get excited enough to jot down the exact manufacturers part numbers of the components to go shopping with the intent of building a machine exactly like they have recommended. And I'm almost always disappointed and frustrated by the fact that there is some component that just is not available. Here again, it's usually the motherboard. I can find similar models of the brand, but it's seems every time the exact model they mention is out of stock or not available. If it's not the motherboard it's something else. It's very frustrating to get all excited about a build and then not be able to get all the parts purchased. I imagine others who are more determined than I will roll the dice and select an alternative component just to keep the thrill alive.
So what's a determined builder to do?
What Works
Well my friend, it's the same as it's always been for me. From my reading and from the advertising emails I get I have a good idea of the caliber of machine I want to build and what is popular, too. I dig my heels in and go to work researching. I'll start with a motherboard. I'll go to a couple of my fav shopping sites and look for a bargain that has all the features I think are necessary. Once I find a contender I'll then hunt down two or three recent reviews on it. This will tell me if it's of the quality that I require or not. If it fails this test then it's back to shopping around some more until I find another one. I'll repeat this process for the other key components until my hardware list of manufacturer part numbers is complete. Now it's time to go shopping for real. I'll hit all my regular stores comparing prices and sometimes I'll even go beyond and look at price comparison services like Amazon, Google, etc.. Eventually, I will have my buying plan complete and I'll get started doing the actual purchases.
Every time I go through this I think to myself that it sure would be nice if there was some way to automate this process or if there was just one place where I know I'm gonna get the best deal on everything I'm buying. But that is just a pipe dream boys and girls. And don't get me wrong, sometimes I'm willing to pay a little extra just for the convenience of getting everything at one place. After all, that is what they are all hoping I will realize and do.
I'll leave you with a listing of most of the websites that I shop on. Feel free to leave a comment with any gems that I overlooked or perhaps didn't know about.
This list is from memory and in no particular order. They are all good sites to purchase computer components from.
mwave.com
buy.com
tigerdirect.com
newegg.com
bhphoto.com
jr.com
cyberguys.com
amazon.com
o.co
Cheers..
Let me tell you about some of my experiences when on the hunt for the components of my next computer build.
The Bargain Bundle
You've probably heard of TigerDirect and if you are on their mailing list I know you have drooled over their bundle specials. Who wouldn't drool over a 6 core machine with 8 gigs of RAM and all the necessities for a mere $400.00. It's a very enticing offer. They are very good at putting together just the right components to make you want to buy it. But every time I look closely at what they are offering I can find a key component that just isn't something that I would want in my Hot Rod computer build. Usually it's the motherboard. Off-brand or severely lacking Mobos bundled with a great processor and gobs of fast ram just isn't worth it. Granted, you could buy one of these bundles and after you assemble it you could probably find some unsuspecting user to buy it and make a nice little profit for yourself. But I would have trouble sleeping at night, even if I was up front with the buyer and gave him or her my honest opinion of the equipment I was selling them.
Once in a while they will put a right nice mobo in a bundle, but in nearly every case I've seen they then include a lesser processor or starve it for RAM. Even so, I get excited every time that darn email shows up with the next great bundle deal.
So Ok, we've decided the latest bundle isn't quite what we'd like. They also have some really great blowout deals on individual components. And you can find several excellent quality components at TigerDirect if you look carefully. Just keep in mind that just because they have a great price on a several good components doesn't necessarily mean everything there is priced as good as you can get it for. Competition is so great these days that every seller is offering "loss leaders". That's a marketing term for offering a popular item at rock bottom prices in an effort to draw in the customers and once they are in they typically will buy other things, too. And you make your money on the other things to make up for the one item that was used as the bait to draw them in.
I have found that it's nearly impossible to get the best price on all the components you want to build a computer at one store. Several times I've made my list of components and done the comparison shopping only to find that no one store has the best price on everything I'm in the market for. NewEgg is another online seller of computer components at very competitive prices. But just as with TigerDirect, not everything is the best bargain you can get. They also offer bundles and tend to have better mobos with their bundles, but it's the same old story when you get to the bottom line. I will almost always purchase from 2 or more different places in order to get the very best price on everything I purchase. And yes, before you shake your finger at me, I do take shipping into consideration.
The Magazine Build
Being the avid hobbyist builder that you are, you probably get one or more computer magazines or spend considerable time on a regular basis with your nose in some computer related review website. I personally enjoy my monthly copy of Maximum PC. I especially enjoy the ones that have their recommended "Budget Build" and the "Build of The Year". I frequently get excited enough to jot down the exact manufacturers part numbers of the components to go shopping with the intent of building a machine exactly like they have recommended. And I'm almost always disappointed and frustrated by the fact that there is some component that just is not available. Here again, it's usually the motherboard. I can find similar models of the brand, but it's seems every time the exact model they mention is out of stock or not available. If it's not the motherboard it's something else. It's very frustrating to get all excited about a build and then not be able to get all the parts purchased. I imagine others who are more determined than I will roll the dice and select an alternative component just to keep the thrill alive.
So what's a determined builder to do?
What Works
Well my friend, it's the same as it's always been for me. From my reading and from the advertising emails I get I have a good idea of the caliber of machine I want to build and what is popular, too. I dig my heels in and go to work researching. I'll start with a motherboard. I'll go to a couple of my fav shopping sites and look for a bargain that has all the features I think are necessary. Once I find a contender I'll then hunt down two or three recent reviews on it. This will tell me if it's of the quality that I require or not. If it fails this test then it's back to shopping around some more until I find another one. I'll repeat this process for the other key components until my hardware list of manufacturer part numbers is complete. Now it's time to go shopping for real. I'll hit all my regular stores comparing prices and sometimes I'll even go beyond and look at price comparison services like Amazon, Google, etc.. Eventually, I will have my buying plan complete and I'll get started doing the actual purchases.
Every time I go through this I think to myself that it sure would be nice if there was some way to automate this process or if there was just one place where I know I'm gonna get the best deal on everything I'm buying. But that is just a pipe dream boys and girls. And don't get me wrong, sometimes I'm willing to pay a little extra just for the convenience of getting everything at one place. After all, that is what they are all hoping I will realize and do.
I'll leave you with a listing of most of the websites that I shop on. Feel free to leave a comment with any gems that I overlooked or perhaps didn't know about.
This list is from memory and in no particular order. They are all good sites to purchase computer components from.
mwave.com
buy.com
tigerdirect.com
newegg.com
bhphoto.com
jr.com
cyberguys.com
amazon.com
o.co
Cheers..