How to Get the Best Deal on a New Laptop
If you're in the market for a new laptop you want to get the newest and quickest laptop you can for as little money as possible. This may sound like the obvious way to go about shopping for anything but most people don't look for good deals and leave a lot of money on the table. If you're shopping at local chain stores and the item isn't on some clearance or close out sale chances are you're paying too much. With laptops and modern electronics there are endless ways to get a good deal and there are new businesses opening all the time who sell the same products as these stores but at a lower price due to reasons like lower overhead, used or open box items, and many other reasons. If you want a new model laptop but don't want to pay full price see how you can save hundreds!
Where to Buy a New Laptop Online
The place to get the best deal on a new laptop is online, there are endless sites who either sell brand new models, used ones, refurbished laptops and even work or school hand me downs. If you're wanting to save some money buying a laptop, online is the way to do it. You should start with well known sites like New Egg or Tiger Direct, they've been around for a long time and are a reliable company who will deliver on their good deals. If you look at their websites home page you will see deals that are changed and updated everyday! This is where you can find the really good deals and if you're not in a hurry should check them for a couple of weeks as they don't always have a deal on a specific laptop but could have one everyday. Another good place is another well established name and that's eBay. They have made huge changes to their policies over the years making it horrible to be a seller on there but as a buyer you're still in pretty good hands and can find good deals. Chances are if you're looking at a specific model in the store there has been someone else who bought it and decided they no longer like it, you can buy a week old laptop for 20-30% off it's MSRP very easily. Laptops and electronics in general are worse then cars with how fast they depreciate because technology moves so fast you always need the newest gadgets. If you want to save some money buying a lightly used one can save you hundreds on a new computer! If you want to keep it local and actually see the laptop in person you can still do that by looking online at places like Criagislist. Craigslist is basically a huge online garage sale website where people can list items for sale, job listings and pretty much anything else you'd be looking for locally. One of the sections is computers, if you're looking for a new laptop chances are you can find what you're looking for here and can actually go test the item before buying it. This is a much safer option for some then having to go through a site like eBay where shipping is involved, only thing to think about is eBay allows you to file a claim and communicate with the buyer if your laptop is not as described where if you buy one off a local listing chances of getting any help from the seller if there's an issue is very unlikely. This would be my last option when spending a large amount of money online for a laptop.
Buying a New Laptop Locally
If you don't want anything to do with online sales or are afraid of using your credit or debit card on the internet you have a few options left locally. Depending on what city you live in you might have a ton of small computer shops or pawn shops to choose from. Most of these people at a pawn shop can't tell a high end laptop from a base model one and leaves the chance for a good deal. If you've got the time to drive around and check out your local pawn shops you might just find a diamond in the rough, on top of that you can typically haggle with them on the price because they pay next to nothing for electronics and laptops. If you have local computer stores that aren't large chains they'll probably have the same laptops at Best Buy or Walmart for half the price, when I went to buy my last Macbook Pro I was able to find a 2013 15'' Macbook Pro Retina for half the price of a brand new one! It might not always work but if you're willing to look for a good deal on your next laptop you might save hundreds off what you'd normally spend. If you're a frugal shopper or just want to save a little money on your next gadget purchase I'd recommend spending a little time to shop or look around and see if what you're looking for falls into this category. Laptops are the easiest to find since everyone buys them and they're typically replaced every 18-24 months so there is a lot of used ones to be bought. Smart phones are also replaced on average every 12-14 months so don't think you need to pay full price in order to have the latest tech gadgets. Shopping online can save you thousands a year!