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Shop at Popular Online Stores and Take Advantage of Web Deals Many of your favorite electronics stores also have an online presence and you can shop for the hi-tech goodies that you want from the comfort of your home. |
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Find Store Locations and Info About Retail Locations in your Area Find and map the electronics store locations that are close to where you live. Even if you plan to shop for electronics online, some stores offer discounts for in-store pickup. |
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Look at the Most Popular Electronics and Find Exactly what you Want! Personal music players, phones, GPS, copiers, flat panel TV's and more. See what's hot right now. Compare prices and use your knowledge for shopping leverage. |
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Search allelectronicstores.com for what you need!
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We know that it can be difficult to visit all of the consumer electronics stores in your home town. You just want to buy that hi-tech item that you really need but you really don't need to waste your whole day chasing it down in your car. If you shop online then you worry about paying too much for shipping and waiting too long for your goodies to arrive. If you shop at your local electronics store then you wonder if you could have received the best deal if you had shopped online. |
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Types of Consumer Electronics to Buy
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Popular Merchants
Electronics News Ticker |
Consumer Electronics Shopping Tips Tip #1 - Get real about your budget. In a typical scenario you will get in your car and head to the electronics store intending to buy a TV with an initial budget of $500. You end up walking out the door with a receipt that says $744.36 instead. Make sure that you allow for taxes, shipping, extended warranties, delivery charges and any accessories that you may need.
Tip #2 - Take measurements of the space where you plan to place your new electronic devices. Put a measuring tape in your car for when you visit the electronics stores. Most of the time, the measurements of your device will be clearly listed but it can be handy to have your measuring tape with you anyway.
Tip #3 - Know your rebates. These days it is a common practice to receive some type of a rebate on many brands of consumer electronics. Pay attention to the details! Get as much information as you can from the sales clerk and then be sure to file for the rebate as soon as possible. If you put it off for any time at all, there's a good chance that you will forget and then lose out on your computer rebate due to the fact that the time to respond has already expired.
Tip #4 - Use good judgment when it comes to extended service contracts. Even the best electronics can go haywire. This is true for some types more than others. Just use common sense for most items. If you want to buy a cell phone for a child then you should be willing to spend quite a bit on an extended service contract. On the other hand, if you only want to buy a personal music device for yourself and you are fairly confident that it will be safe in your care then you might want to just skip the extended plan and use your savings for extra goodies.
Tip #5 - When shopping in the brick and mortar electronics stores, don't be afraid to barter. Sure, you can't just ask for a discount or name your own price but if you come to the store with proof of a lower price at a competitors store, many of these retailers will honor the lower price. Just do your homework. This becomes even more important when you are shopping for something expensive like computers. Also be sure to check for free shipping!
Also be sure to take a look at the specific tips for buying electronic devices down the page. There are also some information articles available from the Allelectronicstores.com website. Additional information can be found on the consumer electronics product pages from the directory on the left. |
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Specific Tips for Shopping at Consumer Electronics Stores |
| TV's - Big Screen, Flat Screen, HDTV |
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Best
Brands - Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp, Insignia®, Panasonic, Toshiba, Dynex®,
Mitsubishi Remember that you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to electronics for the home. If you are willing to settle for a little less quality in order to save some money on your consumer electronics then just let your conscience be your guide. If you are looking for the best quality then try to find an HDTV television that fits in your price range. Look for 1080i resolution and get a TV that can stratch the viewing area to your preferences. That way you don't need to have those horizontal bars on the sides of your picture or, you can go with the 4:3 aspect ratio that is standard. Combine this with screen size and your budget, stick with a trusted brand name and you should be fine. Keep in mind that the tech details of your new TV do not need to exceed your broadcast specifications. For instance, in order to get true HDTV from your cable company you need to have an HDTV ready television, an HD receiver and an HD subscription from the cable company or satellite TV provider. |
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| GPS Systems |
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Best
Brands - Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, Pioneer When you look at a display case full of GPS devices, your eye might naturally wander to those with the cheapest price tags. The key to finding the best GPS system for your car is to evaluate your needs and weigh that against your budget. This is a 'want versus need' thing. Some of the features that you may want (or need) may include a large viewing screen, a high-sensitivity receiver, audible directions, traffic detection and more. If you are just looking for the cheapest model then you can probably find a TomTom in your price range but even Garmin has some cheaper models. In general, audible directions are pretty much a must and live traffic updates can come in handy in a pinch. In the long run, a good GPS unit might actually save you some money and even pay for itself by sending you in the right direction and therefore saving you some money on gas for your car. The cheapest option can often end up being one of the higher priced models. The best GPS unit to buy is the one that can get you home, or, to your local electronics stores. |
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| Computers Desktops, Laptops |
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Brands - (Desktops) - HP, Dell, eMachines, Sony, Apple® - (Laptops)
- HP, Sony, Dell, Apple®, Toshiba The first thing that you need to do is know what you will be using your computer for and whether you should buy a laptop or a desktop. Will you be using it for mostly email, playing games, running desktop applications, work, etc. If you are a light user (you like to email friends and family or search for stuff on the internet from home) then you might consider simply buying a cheap laptop computer. If you are a gamer or you use your computer for work then you might want to think about buying a powerful desktop computer. In general, you can get much more computing power, at a cheaper price, if you buy a desktop PC. Gamers and workers should look for fast processing speeds while casual users might want to look for extra storage capacity so that they can save thousands of songs, images and even movies on their hard drive. Keep in mind that this technology evolves on a yearly basis. If you get a 250 gigabyte hard drive, that might be the best buy for now but in a couple of years you might be able to buy the same thing with double the capacity and at half the price. In the world of consumer electronics and specifically computers, you just have to suck it up and not worry about the technology of tomorrow. You're here to buy a computer today and you want to be able to take it home and play with it today! |
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| Cell Phones |
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Best
Carriers - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile Shopping for cell phones usually means picking a carrier. If you are already locked into a plan then that is another story. In general, cell phones are amazing devices. They are no longer simply used for making phone calls from your car. You can take pictures, shoot video, get on the internet, check your email, send pictures and text messages plus more. But what do you really need your phone to do? One thing to be careful with is the fact that almost all of these handy features cost extra money. Want to get on the internet with your phone? You'll need a data plan that costs between $20 and $80 extra per month. Cell phone carriers offer plenty of extra features but they also offer subscriptions that you need to sign up for in order to use the goodies. It's best to take some extra time and decide what you really need from your cell phone. Do your homework and read all of the fine print in your cell phone contract. If you're not careful, you could end up paying hundreds of dollars more than for the phone that you initially intended to buy. |
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| iPod and MP3 Players |
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Brands - Apple®, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony, Microsoft When selecting a portable music player, it is important to know your needs. If you use your player while exercising then it is probably best to buy a unit that is stable and small. How many songs do you want to have on your system? You can get a system that holds thousands of songs or only hundreds. Today's portable music players can also play videos, read audiobooks, browse the web, check email and more. Do you need or want any of that stuff? Take a look at your cell phone and see what it can do. Some people prefer to have music players that do just that...play music. They use their cell phones for all of that other fancy stuff. Portable music players come with either flash drives or hard drives. The flash drives hold between 1 and 30gb of data compared to the hard drives which can hold up to 160gb. To give you an idea of what that kind of capacity means, you can typically hold about 250 songs for every 1gb (Gigabyte). If you want more capacity then go with a hard drive but if you're active, consider a flash drive as they are smaller and more compact so they'll hold up better. |
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| Digital Cameras |
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Best Brands - Kodak, Nikon,
Canon, Sony, Olympus, Lowepro, FUJIFILM, Panasonic |
Information and Articles About Consumer Electronics |
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This is a list of the current articles about consumer electronics. Before you buy electronics for your car or home, your best bet is to get as much information as possible. One of the ways that you can do this is by reading informational articles. This is an ever-growing list so be sure to check back often for the latest from Allelectronicstores.com and also see our recommended shopping tips! |
Shopping at Your Local Store vs. Shopping for Consumer Electronics Online |
| If you already know exactly what you want then you might be tempted to just hop in your car and visit your local Best Buy, Radio Shack or Circuit City to buy your electronics. However, there are ideas to consider before you just run out and purchase your goodies. |
| Local Sales vs. Online 'Web Only' Deals |
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This is where doing your homework can really pay off. Suppose you are shopping for a car audio system from your home. You notice that Radio Shack has a great deal that is available only if you buy online. You go into your local Radio Shack store and verify that the online deal is cheaper. Then you go to your local Best Buy electronics store and see that they have the same car audio system on sale. You calculate that the difference does not quite make up for the shipping costs. This is a cycle that can end up taking all of your time. If you are lucky enough to have nothing better to do, you might just be able to keep up with this out of control shopping comparison situation. However, if you are like most people, you probably have better things to do with your time. You can save yourself some time by simply looking for a consumer electronics store that honors prices from other stores. That way, when you find the best deal, you can simply get in your car and go to the store and show them the price that you would like to pay. You can buy discount products and pay a cheap price without having to run from store to store. In fact, you can do most of the leg work from home. Another thing to look for is free shipping. Let's face it, staying at home, keeping the car in the garage, and shopping online is very convenient. Many people choose to buy their electronics at the local store simply because they believe that they will end up with a cheaper deal after shipping costs have been considered. These days, there are plenty of online electronics stores that offer free shipping right to your home. They may have an ongoing deal for this or it may be something that you have to keep an eye on. Sometimes they only run the free shipping deals at certain times of the year. If you are looking for discount electronics then shopping online is your best bet. |
| Buy Online and Have Your Electronics Delivered to Your Local Store |
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Many online electronics stores also have a brick and mortar store in your home town. You can usually order online and then pick up your merchandise in the local store. Of course, it would only make sense to go this route if the store does not offer free shipping directly to your home. While many of the larger electronics stores offer this option, be sure to check your alternatives. If you can buy your stuff online and take advantage of free shipping you can skip the car and a trip to the store. Keep in mind that some stores allow you to order online and then pick up your electronic devices in the store on the same day. As you can see, you just have to weigh your options and pick what's best for you. |
| Using the Power of the Internet for Comparison Shopping |
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Your computers' internet browser probably allows you to open multiple tabs or multiple windows. Use this to your advantage when you are shopping in order to find the electronics that you want to buy. Sure, there are some websites that offer side by side comparison shopping but do you really trust that those are the only products that you can compare? It's always best to rely on your own two eyes. By doing your own research and visiting the online electronics store individually, you can get a better feel for where to find the best deals. Just open each electronics store in a new tab or new window and then go back and forth between the pages. By using a process of elimination (Close each browser window or tab as you eliminate your least favorite choices), you can narrow down your choices to just a few. This will simplify your life and you might get a cheap price in the bargain! You can even create your own comparison chart. Open up Notetab or a similar text program (Even Microsoft Word will work). Then copy and paste relevant information from each of the pages that you visit. If you practice copying and pasting then you can get pretty good with this handy tool in a fairly short period of time. You can then delete the non-relevant information and even print out your results! |
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