The basic rule of saving money when buying a PC or laptop is power appropriate to the operations we plan to perform. The power of computer hardware is the main criterion that determines its cost. If the computer is not gaming, then for office or educational tasks, home recreation and web surfing it is enough to take a modern device with average or relatively weak characteristics.
Assembling a PC with your own hands
Instead of buying a ready-made PC assembly in stores, it is better to assemble it yourself specifically for your user tasks. You do not need to be an experienced system integrator, for direct service connection of components in a system, you can contact a computer wizard or a service center.
In principle, the assembly under our personal order may be completed in the same store, where they sell ready-made PC assemblies. But if we are talking about the financial side of the issue, our amateurism can lead to some savings. Accessories for the PC, if you are more or less familiar with them, you can buy on your own. Something at a discount, something used, and something you can do without at first and buy it later.
Online shopping at
If you purchase components for your PC on your own, you should first look for them in online stores. The prices are usually lower than in conventional stores. Although a large role here still plays a huge choice: monitoring the various proposals in the network, we will be able to choose the most suitable performance and price iron. Whereas in a regular store we will be strictly tied to the available range.
Where what is cheaper to sell can be found out with the help of aggregator sites - services that specialize in collecting information about products and prices. These sites are equipped with systems filtering products according to their various parameters, which is very helpful when selecting accessories for your PC. These sites contain product specifications, and sometimes links to video and article reviews, as well as user reviews. But most importantly - aggregator sites collect prices of goods from various online stores. And, accordingly, allow us to choose the best option in terms of value for money.
Cashback, discounts, promotions
A PC or laptop is a worthwhile purchase, and here discounts, promotions and other types of offers from sellers should not be squeamish. Of course, provided that we are offered exactly what we need. If you take, for example, laptops, under the discounts and promotions may get trivial illiquid, assemblies with unsuccessful configuration - weak iron in a spectacular brand wrapper, strong characteristics on some components and weak, not allowing to reveal the potential of the device for others.
Buying iron or laptop in online stores, do not forget about the service-cashback. With their help, you can get back up to 10% of the purchase amount in the online store.
Iron is not a new generation
To save money on your PC, you do not need to fall for the marketing tricks of manufacturers and chase novelties. Everything new is expensive, but prices drop after a year or two. Previous generations of hardware on the market have a real price and demand.
Brands
Is it worth overpaying for a brand? In the case of components specifically, there is usually a rule of thumb: Intel is preferable to AMD, Nvidia is preferable to Radeon, with relatively the same specs. Is it worth overpaying for Intel or Nvidia - there is a lot of debate on this issue on the web, and here, of course, you need to understand each individual situation.
With laptop brands everything is clearer: it is not necessary to overpay for the assembly of a device from the famous companies Samsung, Sony, Panasonic or Xiaomi. Similar hardware on board laptops Asus, Acer or Lenovo will be cheaper. In this case, Asus and Acer can hardly be blamed for the poor build quality of the devices themselves.
Laptop
A used laptop is really the way out when you do not have money for a new one. On the secondary market a lot of proposals without any catch, because the laptop - a thing that is often, if you need more power, the device is easier to sell and buy a new one, than to bother with the upgrade. The sensible gaming bundles on the used market, of course, not much. But a device for office tasks or web surfing you can always choose from, if not limited by geography. And another important point: good laptops without any tricks their owners can sell because of an acute need for money. When buying a laptop, it is important to assess the degree of battery wear, to correlate with the price of the device possible costs in the future to buy a new battery.
