Saving Money on Gadget Purchases

I tend to make my gadget purchase on the spur of the moment: I have to have a new A/V receiver, so (after researching to figure out what model I want), I fire up Amazon and buy it on the spot. Alas, I'm probably paying more than I ought to. With a little patience and some common sense, I could be making smarter purchases by timing them properly.

The Free Geek has some helpful advice on this topic, and I highly recommend giving his eight tips a spin. Some of his best insights:

• Never buy brand new gadgets. This is (one of many reasons) why I still don't have a high-definition DVD player: First-gen products cost a ton and quickly plummet to more affordable levels. The author uses the example of PC computer chips, where vendors are constantly in a price war, but doesn't mention that if you buy a slightly older CPU that runs at a lower clock speed (you won't even notice the speed difference), you can save hundreds of dollars on a new PC. The effect extends to other products, too: Sony said it could have Blu-ray players (which currently run up to $1000) on sale for $299 by the end of the year.
• Compare prices online. A real no-brainer here. Sites like Froogle, Pricegrabber, Ugenie, and of course Yahoo! Shopping let you check out prices across the web with minimal work. Watch out for scam sites, though.
• Stay on top of the specials. While the author recommends Digg (which regularly posts links to single products on deep discount), he doesn't mention dedicated deep-discount "deal of the day" sites like Woot and Jellyfish. One I especially like is The Hotlist, which rounds up the discounts at sites like these every day and puts them all on one page.
• Wait. You'll almost always find a better deal tomorrow if you wait a day or two. Life is funny that way.
  

Lots of great advice (whether it's common sense or not) on tap! Give the full story a spin, and feel free to add your suggestions below! 

LINK: How to Time Your Gadget Purchases: The Ultimate Guide