Smart Tech Buy

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to do something that’s sort of a luxury for me, something that I do maybe 3-4 times a year (1 being on Thanksgiving).  I checked out the newspaper electronics ads!  What I saw startled me.  Computers and Laptops seemed an awfully lot cheaper than usual!  What used to be an expected $1,000/computer now seems to be down to about $600-$700.  Not only that, the specs on these computers sound good!  Dual processors, 2, even 3 GB of RAM installed, WOW!  Here’s one I saw on the Circuit City page:

Gateway M-1624
features AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60
• 2GB memory and 250GB hard drive
• Built-in wireless b/g
• Burns and plays DVDs and CDs
• Labelflash™ burns labels directly to disc
• Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1
• Built-in Webcam
• 15.4″ Ultrabright™ widescreen

 This laptop is going for a startling $579!  Click here to check it out, but hurry, the offer ends on 4/26/08!

While writing about several external hard drives in the past, we at SmartTechBuy have not focused much on Apple products.  Enter the Apple Time Capsule, so named as to back up a lifetime worth of your data!  At 1 TB worth of storage space, it’s true that the Time Capsule should be able to back up your present and future life, that is until we go entirely virtual.  What makes this external hard drive different however is that it is also a wireless router so you can network several computers to this for storage.

Windows users might find it interesting that they have the ability to use the Apple Time Capsule, although Mac users will obviously reap the greatest benefit via Leopard’s Time Machine feature.

At prices starting at around $498, the Time Capsule is very pricey for the amount of storage it offers, but hey, it’s an Apple.  Click here to find the cheapest deal on the Apple Time Capsule and if it’s what you have been searching for in your home office.

You can also find the Apple Time Capsule in a 500 GB version.

After several delays, the most anticipated video game to yet hit the Nintendo Wii has just been released, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  Since I don’t know a single person who has not played Super Smash Bros before (whether it be from the Nintendo 64 all the way through the Nintendo Wii), I will not go into detail what this game is about.  What people might want to know are the improvements from the previous games that will make this the most played Wii game yet.

 For starters, the game has expanded its roster to 35 playable characters!  This doesn’t even include many of the summonable non player characters that you can call upon similar to pokemon in the previous games.  The new characters include beloved ones from games long gone such as Kid Icharis and 2 of them are even 3rd party characters such as Snake from Metal Gear Solid and Sonic the Hedgehog (you can now get the aged question of who would beat who, Mario vs Sonic for the first time…and no, I am NOT counting Mario and Sonic at the Olympics).

Another addition to note is that Nintendo has programmed 4 different modes of control.  You can always use the Wii mote and nunchuck to play, but for those that prefer the more traditional controls, players can use the classic controller, Wii remote only, and even the old Gamecube control, in which the buttons remain entirely the same!

Finally, the biggest improvement in my mind is the addition to online multiplayer.  Nintendo has not been how do you say the pioneer in online gaming and it’s nice to see that they would open this particular title to the online community.  Hopefully this is a start to many more of their titles having an online mulitplayer option!

To get your copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl today, click here!

Now is your chance to get the Samsung Color Laser Printer for just $175 shipped after rebate. Prices on this printer range from $384.11-$431.92 so as you can see, this is a HUGE discount! It’s of Black Friday calibur! And just like Black Friday deals, there’s a little bit of homework you have to do for it. Don’t sweat it though, this stuff is easy as pie! Much less hassle than a day at work, for sure!

Here’s how to get your cheap color laser printer:

1. Go to eBay and purchase a Staples $30 off $150 coupon ( Search “staples 30 150″ )
2. Find the printer at Staples: Price is $399.98 shipped.
3. Apply $30 off $150 coupon
4. Apply Rebate Coupon - $200 (pictured below)

Read the full article for product details . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

If you love shopping at Best Buy as much as I do you’ll love this deal.
Shop in-store at Best Buy and get gift cards for your purchases with this coupon. Here’s how it breaks down:

- $10 card for spending $100
- $25 card for spending $250
- $50 card for spending $500

Coupon is valid from 2/20/08 through 2/29/08 so get your shopping today!

Here’s some of the top items people have been buying at Best Buy:

Plus, planning to make an online purchase from Best Buy? Don’t just forge the waters without reading what others had to say about them! Read Best Buys reviews.

If you bought Guitar Hero III for the Nintendo Wii, you could potentially get some money out Nintendo’s error! Here’s what Nintendo has to say:

“We are committed to providing our customers with quality game experiences and apologize for any audio output issues you may have experienced with the Wii version of Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock. Activision has worked with Nintendo to re-master the game and provide a replacement disc to consumers with Dolby digital surround sound and other consumers experiencing audio issues.”

To remedy the mono disc issue, Nintendo is offering two options.

1. Get a replacement disc. Fill in the online form and and you’ll get a disc replacement package that will have all the instructions on how to make the exchange. Pretty much you mail them your old game before August 31, 2008, and they will send you a replacement disc.

2. $132 Refund Offer. You’ll have to send back all your Guitar Hero III stuff including the game, guitar, etc. but this is where you can potentially make your profit off the game! Get your money and then just buy a new one. You can compare prices at different electronics stores and get a new one for $70-$80 here.

For more details, click here.

For those of you that don’t know, George Bush just recently passed a bill to get Americans to spend more and our economy back on track.  To do this, most tax payers will receive up to an additional $600 - $1,200 in their tax returns this year!  However in order to get this money, you’ll need to do your taxes first…

For those of you who think that doing their own taxes might be a little difficult, they have probably never tried using Turbo Taxbefore.  Granted my tax situation is not too difficult (I don’t own property or own a business), but using Turbo Tax makes doing your taxes a piece of cake!  What I love the most about this software is that it has a running total of how much you should expect to receive (or pay) from the government every time you input your data in.  So far in my 3 years I have used it, I have never had to pay yet!

Find the best price for Turbo Tax here:

Turbo Tax Deluxe - Federal + State
Turbo Tax Premier
Turbo Tax Home & Business

Well have no fear, here’s a few tech ways you can apologize to your sweetie.

Suggestion#1
(I call this the “Nothing says I’m sorry like giving her proof you screwed up so she can whip it out in the future for whatever argument to prove that you are, once again, wrong.”)

Suggestion#2
(The “I’m sorry and here’s something expensive that tells you just how sorry I am.” approach)

This is the strategy where you purchase her that kewl laptop she’s always wanted as a token of your love for her that she can take with her wherever she goes.

Of course, nothing will make this gesture quite as impressive as using your digital camera to take a self-portrait and using your favorite image editing program add a heart-felt message or poem — then setting it to be her default background. Or you could go with something a little less embarrassing and generic.

Here’s an example:

Suggestion#3
(The “that was the last straw so she left me, now I’m going going to get myself a consolation item.”)

As the old saying goes, pictures are worth a thousand words, so why not give your Valentine a digital photo album!  Remind your Valentine of the countless memories you have shared.