Issue 50.09
A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the great deals available this year if you are buying a computer. There are a few of those deals still available if you look for them, but they are rapidly disappearing. What you can still get for Christmas at some very nice discounts are the accessories and upgrades to add to your new computer or improve your old one.
High-quality printers are available at some unusually good prices. I am not talking here about the cheap ones that usually sell for around $100 and are on sale for $25-60. Those are usually not very good quality and are lucky to last a year under normal use. I am looking at the nicer printers such as the HP OfficeJet 6500 and 8500. They are $50 and $100 off the normal price at OfficeMax and some other retailers and they have wireless capability. That means you can connect them to your home or office wireless network (if you have one) and can print to them from any computer that is connected – even a laptop sitting on the kitchen table.
Some others you may want to look at are the Samsung Color Laser CLX-3175FW (half price at OfficeMax), the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 (which prints up to 13″ wide documents) at $100 off at Staples and OfficeMax or the HP Photosmart Premium All-in-one Wireless for $100 off at Costco.
Some other stocking stuffers at great prices include USB flash memory cards, Micro SD Memory cards, RAM upgrades for your computer and speaker systems for your computer. USB flash memory sticks (or jump drives as they are sometimes called) have dropped in price. I purchased an 8 Gigabyte USB drive on special at OfficeMax for $14.99 last week and similar deals are available at Best-Buy, Staples, etc. While I was there I picked up a 4 Gigabyte Micro SD card for my camera for only $9.99.
Memory upgrades are a bargain this year and you may need them if you want your computer to run faster and more efficiently and especially if you are looking at upgrading to Windows 7. One Gigabyte memory cards for most computers are available for around $50 each and 1/2 Gigabyte (512 Megabyte) cards are usually around $30. If you aren’t sure what you need or how to install them, you should have a professional do it, because you can cause problems if you choose the wrong memory or install it incorrectly.
I don’t have the space to go into the new N series network cards and routers in depth, but suffice it to say that they are lower-priced than they have been and give you better coverage and speed than the old G series. You may also want to look at adding a Blu-Ray Player or Recorder to your computer. These are especially nice if you can hook your system up to a big-screen TV and they cost less than the stand-alone versions.
Have a Merry Christmas, stay safe and happy computing – and always have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 28 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him at 668-7118.