Looking to buy a new computer?
Overwhelmed by all of
the options available to you?
Stressed by the high cost of computers
today?For most people, buying a new computer does not have to be as
stressful as buying a new car.
Nor does it have to be as expensive. If you’re
like most people, and you have a limited budget for
buying a computer, then you
need to try to get as much computer for your money as possible.
Here are
3 simple ways anyone can save money when buying a new computer:
1) Shop
around for best deal.Sounds pretty obvious. But many people don’t
realize they don’t need the fastest,
most expensive computer with the most
“extras”. In fact, if you are already using an older computer,
even the least
expensive new computer will be a big upgrade. If you don’t know a lot about
computers,
you can learn a lot by shopping around. Ask lots of questions,
compare prices, compare features,
then find the best price. Shop at your local
electronics store, and look for the best deals online.
You’ll be surprised at
how much money you can save by shopping around!
2) Install your own
“extras”Many computers you will find in a store have a lot of extra
software already installed.
While this is convenient, it is not always the best
way for you to save money.
Also, while many of these extras sound good, you
don’t always need them.
You can often find better deals by shopping around
separately for your own
software extras (such as a word processor, anti-virus,
popup blocker, spyware removal, games, etc).
And some of these you can get for
free. So before you buy the “fully loaded” computer,
ask yourself if you really
need all the extras, then shop around to see if you can buy
a scaled down
computer - and get the extras yourself for much less!
3) Don’t buy
extended warrantyIf you are not a computer “techie”, the extended
warranties offered by the computer retailers
often sound like a good idea. After
all, who wants to be bothered paying for service on a
computer after you buy it.
But keep in mind that most computers come with a warranty,
and most computer
problems will either happen at the beginning (when you still have the warranty
in effect)
or much later (when it might be cheaper to buy a new computer).
Technology changes very quickly these days. So consider whether or not it’s
worth the inflated price
of the extended warranty. And, if you really feel you
need the extended warranty, then ask to
purchase it at a lower price. Not all
retailers will negotiate on the warranty, but some will.
And whether you buy the
extended warranty or not, make sure you back up all your files periodically,
just in case!
If you have an unlimited budget, consider yourself lucky.
And if you do business on the computer,
make sure you get what you need, while
trying to keep the price down. At any price, buying something that
does not fit
your needs is not a good deal.
Hope you find these tips helpful, and
happy computer shopping! |
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