Spring Buys

The holidays have passed, our credit cards have recovered, and it is almost February so electronics prices can again begin their spring decline. What to are good buys?

First anything flat screen. For PCs, the home TV, the kitchen. Flat screen prices continue their decline as these technologies are sorted out and their manufacturing continues to ramp up. If local store prices seem high, try BeachCamera (http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/home.aspx). Why not get a 50” or 60” TV?

Cameras are also good buys. The new digital cameras do everything so it is really point and click. Let your kids become photo journalists in training. Just hope that they do not happen to choose you at the most inopportune time. Blackmail oh dear! As a kid I always wanted to have some thing on my parents. The cheap cameras start at around $20. Try nexttag,com cameras (http://www.nextag.com/Digital-Cameras--zz500001zB4z5---html).

GPS unit prices are dropping as well. These handy units fasten to the windshield with a suction cup thus mounting for easy viewing. They contain maps of all the U. S. and Canada. Touch screens and simple human factors menus make them easy to use and a home feature means that you can always go home no matter how lost you get. See pricegrabber.com gps (http://electronics.pricegrabber.com/gps/p/522/st=category).

Almost anything USB is cheap as well. These are small devices that plug into any PC. USB provides the power to the device so you can find a 3 in 1 USB kit (fan – light – extender), a USB CD destroyer, a thumb drive bottle opener, USB Missile Launcher (great to discourage nosy office mates), USB rechargeable batteries, and for everyone the USB powered heating blanket. Why be cold working late at night in an unheated office. Most importantly USB external disk drives to keep critical data safe in more than one place. It is always a good time to think backup, backup, and backup. My simon.com found several USB external hard drives over 80 GB running from $90 to $150.

Color laser printers are at great prices. You can get an HP LaserJet 1600 color printer for 224.99. My Canon MF8180c multifunction (Scanner-fax-color laser printer) that I bought for around $700 now runs $570 at newegg.com. It is hard to go wrong with a color laser printer until you replace the color toner cartridges. Ink and toner is where the money is.

As Spring approaches, bargains now abound. The good thing about computers and electronics is that they always get faster and cheaper.