How To Shop For Your Next PC

I recently purchased a PC for my internet business adventure, and thought it may worth sharing some ideas with you. After all, a PC is an important asset that you would likely own for at least a couple of years. Hopefully, these ideas would help you choose the PC that fits your needs and save some serious dollars.

1. Understand what you need. You should start this process by asking yourself: What would you do with this PC? What kind of software would you run? Are the software CPU intensive? For example, I plan to use the new PC to work on my art projects that tend to be image and graphics intensive. So, a system with high power for computation and graphics would be desirable. Specifically, Adobe Illustrator runs the best with the graphic card that supports OpenGL 2.0. If you plan to play 3D video games on this PC, you need even more powerful CPU's and a graphic card. In contrast, if you simply use it for Internet surfing and writing emails, you may be fine with an entry-level system.
2. Desktop or laptop? For the same price, you typically get a more powerful desktop than a laptop. So, do you need to trade power for portability? Also, the desktop tends to have more room for expansion than the laptop, if you ever want to add another disk storage or even more memory.
3. Survey the market. Once you know what you need, you may start looking to see what's available in the current market. I typically start with CNet.com for this exercise thanks to its well designed filtering capability. You can easily filtering down to a small number of systems based on price, manufacture, model, CPU type, and so on. Best, you can read comments or recommendations from those who have used the system.
4. Consider a local store. There are pros and cons, when you make your purchase at a local store or on the Internet. Purchasing the PC at a local store allow you to put your hands on the new PC without waiting for the shipment. If possible, I encourage you to go to a nearby store or a discount warehouse and personally try out those system available at the store. You also have the opportunity to ask the staff any questions you have in your mind, before settling down on a specific model. Lastly, this option helps the local economy.
5. Purchase over the Internet. There are many comparison shopping sites that show you the products of various price offering from different stores. They do not appear to work well, when it comes to purchasing a PC. I prefer to go to sites such as Deals2Buy or DealUnion and look for best available deals. You may want to follow these sites for a few days to get familiar with those deals, before you decide to jump in. Consider Dell and HP, if you prefer to customize your new PC for specific needs. In fact, I found my PC under the Desktop Deals at Dell's site. Warning: Avoid adding services, software, or hardware to your package, unless you truly need them. Lastly, do not forget to check out what is available on eBay. You may be able to get a great deal, if the specific model of your PC is right on the auction block.
6. Timing matters. There tends to be more and better deals, as it approaches the holiday season. The Black Friday after Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity for extra discounts, if you can wait.

I hope these ideas are useful. I would not be surprised if there are some new ideas that I am not aware. Feel free to leave me comments and happy shopping to you all.