Hard Drives, Computers and Saving

I read the news this fall about the floods in Thailand with about the same level of interest that I suspect you all gave it. Natural disasters always make me sad for the victims, but unless I knew someone in the area it usually slips from my brain pretty quickly afterward. The thing that I failed to realize was that Thailand is a major manufacturing center for a lot of products that come straight here to the US to be sold.

There were some stories not long afterward about how the market for hard drives particularly had been affected by it. Hard drive prices went up by close to double in just a few short weeks after the floods happened there, and they show no signs of coming back down any time soon. Thailand's floods affected a major portion of their manufacturing capacity.

What this means for you, is that hard drives (for those of you who do your own computer work) and computers are all going up in price for a while. Most of the manufacturers expect this to be the case through most of 2012, as the market is simply short on hard drives. It was driven home the other day as I was helping my father find a good price on an external hard drive for backing up the two computers in his home.

There are a few things that you can do to save money in this tougher market as the deals start to fade. Because we all know that when you need a new computer, you need it right now, not next year.

My favorite site by far for this has been techbargains.com, an aggregate site that posts deals every day. I've found sale prices on everything there from laptops to memory to monitors. They tend to be time- or stock-limited, so check back periodically to see what they know. The right coupon code can save you a good 30% from other retail sites like Newegg. 

Woot.com is another one to look at. I tend to head there every day, once a day. For those of you who haven't found it yet, they post one product a day that they happen to have in stock--usually well below the retail price. It's not usually technology, but I replaced a rather large monitor there last year for less than the big-box store wanted on something half its size.

Finally, looking for manufacturer-refurbished products is another good practice to follow. Whether on an auction site, or through resellers, you can usually find a manufacturer's refurbished products for around 25-30% off the normal retail price of the item you're looking for. In the case of the hard drive I was looking for the other day, I found a refurbished model that came with a six month manufacturer's warranty for 30% off the retail price. Who cares if the package has been opened, so long as the maker rebuilt it and stands behind it.

It's going to be hard to find good prices for the next little while, but hopefully these tips will help you to keep a little change in your wallet when the time comes to replace that computer or hard drive.

Are you planning to upgrade your computer or get a new hard drive in the near future?  What steps will you take to make sure the price increases on hard drives doesn't take a bite out of your wallet?