Since we live in a fairly rural area, there are no major local computer stores to purchase your stuff at. So as most of you, I either drive to Wilmington (or Raleigh) and go to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. or buy over the Internet. I have to confess that I buy my computer stuff almost exclusively using the latter method. I can get what I want, the prices are better than local, and the stuff arrives at my doorstep. A side benefit is getting to say "Hello!" to the nice UPS lady fairly frequently!
I thought I would put together a list of the places on the Internet where I buy computer stuff. Of course, I have no connection with these companies, and you should always verify for yourself that the particular outfit is the right one for your requirements.
Before we begin, we should perhaps discuss the topic of shopping robots (or bots). There are lots of services on the Internet that will (they claim) search out the best deal for you. Two, for example, are mysimon.com and pricegrabber.com. I have used these services in the past, but I have found that for the most part, a few vendors will satisfy all of my needs and I really don't have to search around. Another factor is shipping costs, which can be high. If you shop at one place and batch up your orders you can effectively save on the shipping. So, I end up sticking with these vendors. I might check pricegrabber for a large ticket item, but usually not otherwise.
I buy most of my stuff from www.buy.com. They consistently seem to have the best prices and their online ordering and service webpages are very good. I have on occasion had to return items or replace lost shipments, and they have been excellent to deal with. A major drawback of buy.com is that they don't have everything you want all the time - there are sometimes noticeable holes in their product offerings.
I would give buy.com very good grades on the honesty of their stocking status. Some outfits will say they have an item in stock just to lure you in, and then you find out in fact that it is not. Buy.com doesn't seem to play that game - the displayed status of an item is usually quite accurate.
Buy.com also ships fairly quickly. It doesn't matter if you pay for two day shipping, when they don't bother to put the item into the box for a week, so its important to select a vendor that ships in a timely manner.
As a backup to buy.com, I use www.computers4sure.com. Sure, it's a funny name, but they are actually quite big - perhaps even bigger than buy.com. They are affiliated with Office Depot. I think computers4sure has more stock than buy.com and their webpages and search capability are probably better. However, they seem to charge a little bit more than buy.com and also their shipping charges seem to be a little higher. I have also had excellent dealings with them on returns.
Both buy.com and computers4sure.com ship UPS and provide timely tracking information on their websites.
For parts, especially cables and hardware, I go to www.computergate.com. They carry lots of ancillary stuff such as cables and adapters, cleaning kits, mice and accessories, power strips, media, etc. It's fun just to browse around. Well, fun for a computer techie, anyhow! My only complaint about computergate is that they are sometimes a little show at getting the parts into the box and shipping it.
For computer parts, my favorite is www.newegg.com. If you are shopping for computers parts or memory, or perhaps a memory card (digital film) for your digital camera, this is the place to be. But, as with any parts store, you have to pretty much know what you want.
I would have more to say, but I think I hear the UPS lady now…
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).