My laptop finally kicked the bucket!  It had a long and good life, and I’m sure going to miss it.

Before the tragedy I have been looking for a laptop computer for a while online, but what I wanted cost little more than what I was willing to pay.

So, after an extensive research I made my shopping list – noting what brand I wanted, what kind of memory and hardware I needed, what would be nice to have, and which stores to go first. 

Like most of you, I thought I would get the best deal at either Wal-Mart or Sam’s club — Boy, I was WRONG! 
Initially I thought, “Wow, close to $900 for a computer!” 

I was shocked (thought maybe the brick-and-mortar stores would have better price than their online stores), but still thought I need to stop at other stores and will probably have to come back to get the computer from them.

So, I went to Circuit City, and the HP model similar to the ones I found at Wal-Mart cost close to $950 – so, it was a no-no.

After CC, I went to Best Buy with very little expectations.  My shopping experiences (with the sales persons) were great, but I just didn’t care for the high prices. 

I was there for a while looking, checking, and comparing what I seen from other stores.  To my surprise, their computer was around $850. 

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.  I had this mental mindset that no one can beat Wal-Mart prices, but Best Buy sure proved me wrong!

To make sure I was buying a good product I called my friend who works at department stores selling electronic products. 

He told me that it’s better to go with Best Buy or Circuit City products rather than Wal-Mart (even though they were all selling same brand name products) because standards (quality or extra accessories/applications) and customer services are lower at Wal-Mart. 

I know … I didn’t know that either!

So, eliminate the mind set you are always going to get the best price at Wal-Mart.  Of course, I didn’t pay $850 for my laptop, and I’ll share my tricks with you on my next post.

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