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I'll be completely honest with you. Always finding the best deal on computers and electronics will take some time on your part, but it will be well worth the effort. You would be surprised at the huge range of prices that you can find online for the same product. Spending a small amount of time doing some research on the web can save you lots of money. And there's nothing more rewarding than knowing you got a better deal than 95% of all the other poor fools out there. Ah, that's a good feeling!

Before we get started on the procedure to follow to always find the best deal on electronics, allow me to define a deal for you. A deal is not simply going to the store (or online) and buying the cheapest thing that's on sale. It's also not buying the most quality-sounding brand name that fits in your price range. Either of these methods of buying will definitely put you in the sucker category. A true deal is a quality product that fits your needs at an awesome price.

Notice how I use the phrase "...that fits your needs..." A deal is not a deal if you spend more money than you should have because the product you bought has features that you don't need or could never take advantage of. So often in consumer technology, companies will market features on products that no one really needs, but consumers fall victim to the "if it's new, it must be better" fallacy. Because technology changes so quickly, there is a huge sweet spot in the market. The sweet spot contains the products that were new about six months ago. This is where you can find great products at great prices because they aren't marketed anymore because the newer (and supposedly better) products have superseded them.

OK, now that you've heard my philosophy, let's get to the procedure.

1. Get an idea of how much a good deal on your product costs

First, check the deal sites. Go to sites like Bensbargains.net, Techbargains.com, Dealnews.com, and xpgadgets.com. All that these sites do is find the best tech deals. They know of all the sales, the online coupon codes, and rebate deals at online and brick and mortar (B&M) stores. Scan the recent deals on these sites. If you've never been to one of these sites, I think you will be surprised at the kind of bargains you can find online. If the type of product you are looking for is not listed in a recent deal, do a search of the archives. This way you can get an idea of how much these products went for recently.

It would be my guess that the deal sites pick up on 90-95% of the great deals out there. Of course, they can't get everything. If you don't see any recently posted deals on your product, or if you're looking for a rather hard-to-find product, then it's time to do a manual search. Go to a price listings site like pricegrabber.com or shopping.com. Do a search on some of the models that you are considering. These sites will list dozens of online stores that carry your product. Beware of stores that seem to have great prices until they tack on exorbitant shipping or handling costs.

2. Research the products that fit in your price range

By now, there have probably been some models that have caught your eye. It's time to find out if these models really are great deals. This is when you do a Google search. Type in "review of name and model of the product." There will be hundreds of links. Most of them will be to price listing sites. Amazon will most likely have user reviews of the product you are looking for. Be careful with user reviews. User reviews are the topic of a future article, but keep these things in mind:

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