Wii at iBOOD, can you do better?

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that iBOOD had a Wii for sale this week and that it sold out in about 10 minutes. The price was €214.95 with shipping of €12.50 making a total of €227.45. Not bad, but you would have to had to be quick to grab this... very quick. Then there's the matter of the 2-5 weeks until iBOOD deliver.

So can you do better on the high street? Zavvi do reasonable deals and if you are in the UK you could pick one up for the equivalent of €230. For €240 in the republic, I believe they will throw in an extra game too (from an in-store list, not any recent or AAA game).

Reusing old SATA drives

So I was thinking about yesterdays media case and how you can upgrade the internal drive with a larger model. I was wondering what you do with the old hard drive when you upgrade when it occurred to me that I saw a very cool solution about a year ago. Working out at about €50 shipped, the Geekstuff4U HDD Stage Rack allows you to turn your old bare drives into high speed removable media.


As a bonus, it has a slot for 2.5" notebook drives too. Great for all you PS3 owners out there!

[Special Offer] A blast from the past (well, 2005)

I see expansys are doing some deals on portable PCs and "appliances". Some ok deals here, less popular PDAs and windows smartphones are marked down a bit, those awful OQOs and their diseased brethren are being wheeled out and... what's this? The Nokia 770? Wow, that takes me back. I didn't think these guys were still available! For those of you who don't know, the 770 was Nokia's first experiment into non-phones. Marketed as an "Internet Tablet", it was a linux powered, wifi connecting, touchscreen-ed, hackable and unfortunately slightly slow rectangular bundle of fun. It has since been succeeded by 3 better featured models, but for less than €80 this is one ace little toy! Great for weekend hackers and convergence freaks alike.

Games Consoles

So you've got a HD TV or projector, now what can you do to make the most of it? Modern consoles are more than just games playing machines. They can play music, videos, HD videos, photo slideshows, browse the internet, organise your life etcetera, etcetera. Games are of course a great way of showing it off, but you might also use it for watching near-cinema quality films with the added bonus of no chewing-gum riddled, spring loaded, popcorn-salt covered, tatty velour seats. Here is what is on offer:

Wii
Nintendo
Typical price: €270, comes with bundled Wii Sports game

The market leader. Does not play High Definition discs, or any other kind of disc. Does not output resolutions higher than 480p. No internal hard drive. Has wifi. Does play video from SD card. Backwards compatible with Gamecube games and controllers. Downloadable games and retro games. Popular with all ages despite non-HD graphics.

Xbox360
Microsoft
Typical price: €200 for Arcade model, €350 for Elite model

The number 2 console. Play High Definition discs, however only in the soon to be defunct HD-DVD format. Plays and upscales DVDs. Output resolutions up to 1080p. No wifi or internal hard drive on Arcade model. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some Xbox games. Downloadable games and videos from Xbox Live!. HD-DVD discs are being sold very cheaply.

Playstation 3
Sony
Typical price: €400 for 40GB model

Last place. Plays High Definition Blu-ray discs. Plays and upscales DVDs. Outputs resolutions up to 1080p. Has wifi and internal hard drive. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some PS1 games. Built in web browser. Downloadable games from Sony Store.

Print your own coupons and more

Want to get a little something back from your shopping? Fancy entering a few competitions? You can't go wrong with pigsback, the Irish and UK based shopping rewards website. You earn "piggypoints" by printing out and using discount coupons in shops, reading special offers or participating in short quizzes. You then spend these on a list of rewards which range from cdwow vouchers to phone credit to free flights!

Ps. They do have a referral system but it involves having to know the new customers email so I'm not going to bother :P Just enjoy!

Credit card management

In light of the tempting offer of free money when you sign up for a free credit card, I was thinking of doing a guide to how to manage your new credit card. Personally, I would use it once and then cancel before the renewal date next year. But if you want to use a new credit card the smart way, this guide from the thrifty scot should help.

VoIP: Talk for less (or nothing)

I'm sure you've heard of VoIP by now, I see another player has announced their intentions to move into this space today. In a nutshell it means taking your calls off the traditional lines, like landline and mobile, and pushing them onto smart devices like your PC and PDA/smartphone connected to your internet provider. There are a couple of ways you can benefit today, depending on your needs. If you want an irish geographic number you can try blueface, freespeech or skype. If you just want to make calls to other users and the occasional mobile/landline call, you mind find gizmo does the job with its free calls to friends deal.

And don't be suckered by others selling VoIP packages bundled with their broadband or tv. It saves them money, not you!

photo by Babak Fakhamzadeh

[Special Offer] €25 Executive Leather Chair from Viking Direct

Thinking of getting a decent computer chair for your home office or PC corner? You won't go wrong with this offer. I bought one of these the last time they came around and I absolutely love it. It's worth at least 2 to 3 times what you pay for it, shipping is free and FAST; mine arrived by DHL the next day! It's just brilliant.

www.vikingdirect.ie

Buy it.

Importing: Duty & Tax

Before you see horrendously good deals online and splash out on a monster home cinema from America, bear the following in mind:

• Shipments sent from outside the EU may be liable for Customs Duty, Excise Duty and VAT
• VAT on goods is calculated using the rate the same goods sold in Ireland would use (21% for electronics)
  
• VAT is calculated on the total of the price of the goods, shipping, insurance, duty and other taxes
• Gifts from one private individual to another up to the value of €45 are exempt from Duty and VAT
• Commercial shipments up to €22 are exempt from VAT and Duty (note: this is set to rise to €150 on December 1st)
  
• Cigarettes, perfume and alcohol are never exempt, but we're not interested in them right now.
• For one off shipments where the value of the goods is less than €250 and the Import Duty due is less than €10 then an exemption from VAT and Duty may also be granted to customers who are VAT registered

Of course not every shipment is stopped and held by customs. All I can say is if you do decide to import, be VAT registered if it's less than €250 total. And if it's greater, start praying.

Note: I in NO WAY condone avoiding tax. But if you are not legally obliged to pay it, don't.

Sources
dhl.ie
revenue.ie

iBood

Internet's best offer online daily. Sometimes it's an exaggeration, sometimes it's not. Watching ibood is more for those of us who like to use the "I'm feeling lucky" button :)

http://www.ibood.com/


Shipping is €12.50 to Ireland for one item or two items, and €25 for three items or four items. 4 is the limit. Bad for small items, great for 50 inch tv's!

[Special Offer] €100 for new Halifax customers

Halifax are offering €100 to new customers signing up for a new credit card. Free is always a great bargain!

The deal is:

• Offer applies to new customers only.
• €100 will be lodged to your credit card account after the first purchase.
• Offer ends 31st July ’08.

And remember, government duty on credit cards is €30 per annum.

http://www.halifax.ie/

Buying a new PC

As I can somehow deduce, you occasionally use a computer. This means you are part of a greater cycle of updates, obsolescence and sometimes just plain old vanity. But do you know how to select the most appropriate source of your next purchase? Well, let's take a look at the options.

The High Street

Be it Tesco or PC World, you will pay well over the odds here. Sometimes you may see what appears to be a good deal (an iQon PC for example) but you can be sure it is either substandard equipment or old stock. The exception is a sale, but even these are highly variable. Avoid like the plague.

Dell

Ah, good old Dell. You can't open a sunday paper without having at least five brochures fall on your lap. The only thing worth buying from Dell is their budget offering. Anything else will be marked up at least twice as much as you would pay for the equivalent elsewhere. €400 laptop? €300 desktop with Monitor? €20 printer? OK. Anything else? No way.

eTailers

Assuming you want something other than a basic PC, you should look to the online shops such as komplett or dabs. They sell pre-made desktop PCs with better quality parts than Dell for a reasonable cost. Customisation options are also better. They sell big brand and more obscure laptops. Want that new ultra-thin postcard-size netbook? You'll find it here.

eBay

Getting a deal on eBay is a skill in itself. Recognising a good seller, minimising risk, understanding shipping rates are all skills the crafty buyer needs to acquire before venturing onto what could be described as the worlds biggest car boot sale. Sellers can sell directly or you can try and grab a bargain through an auction.

DIY

If you are confident, you can try a mixture of the above. A monitor from Dell, some components from ebay, a case from a dabs... its more an option for the hobbyist but by far the cheapest option for the best equipment.

Please allow me to introduce myself... I'm a man of whelks and snakes

First of all I'd like to congratulate you on your fine choice of reading material. I hope that Smart Consumer will be a useful and entertaining guide to your hedonistic purchasing lifestyle. Secondly I'd like to mock you mercilessly for choosing to read this introduction which actually contains not one single hint, bargain alert, factoid or nugget of information that will enrich your wallet or fill your life with the gadgets, gizmos or tinkertoys you so richly deserve.

What this introduction does do however is tell you what you can expect from Smart Consumer. Starting with the obvious, it's going to tell you where you can sniff out the best value for a wide range of techie stuff like cameras, phones, PCs & accessories, home entertainment. If I'm feeling ambitious I'll throw in few left fielders like restaurant reviews or gardening tools. I'm Irish, and have been for many years, so there's going to be a decidedly Irish flavor to the whole thing. By which I don't mean spiced shamrock boiled in Guinness, rather the issues that surround Irish pricing on the high street as well as taxation on imports and shipping costs. I'll keep these separate to the main content so you can easily ignore them if you're not fortunate enough to live in Ireland. When it's sunny. Lastly, I'm going to try to post one entry a day for the next two months at which point my backlog will definitely be depleted and I'll be forced to do some novel research. (Argh! That sounds like work!)

So, thanks for reading the ramblings, now go and enjoy the show!

Slán go fóil!