cheap

Faced with a struggling economy, the best accessories in life are free

I hate buying accessories for my iPhone; it's totally counter-intuitive. You're saying that I need to buy OTHER stuff to make the phone I just bought more useful? It doesn't make sense to me, and it doesn't make sense to Jeff Staple of Staple Design either.

Check out this iPhone/iPod Touch cradle he made out of a simple binder clip that (let's be real here) you can easily liberate from your company's supply closet! It might take a bit of tweaking with pliers to get the wire to stand up on its own, but I'd rather do-it-myself than give away more of my hard earned money! Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, don't get one, I'm about to make these by the dozen and and sell them all on eBay; watch the first ones go up tonight. How does $10.99 + tax sound? Race you to the patent office!

More pics after the break.… Read more

Acer resurrects eMachines with $429 laptop

It's Halloween time, and I think I've seen a ghost: with the new eMD620-5777, Acer has resurrected the eMachines brand in the laptop space.

Of course, eMachines never completely went away--of late, the brand has been on desktops and monitors--but it's been some time since I've even seen an eMachines laptop, never mind received a press release about one. But the popularity of low-cost Netbooks, coupled with tough economic times, must have convinced the company that there was still market demand for cheap laptops.

At $429, the eMD620-5777 costs less than many of the best-equipped Netbooks, … Read more

eMachines budget PC struggles to beat competition

If you don't have a sack full of $100 bills to spend on a desktop computer, don't worry! All is not lost; the world of budget PCs are a great option for you. Vendors are champing at the bit to release round after round of sub-$500 PCs. After all, some people just want a computer for basic applications: MP3 playback, word processing, Internet surfing, etc.

The eMachines ET1161-03 is just one system in its budget line that won't break the bank. It features a 2.3GHz AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor, 3GB of RAM, an integrated … Read more

An ace in the entry-level laptop deck

Halloween has yet to arrive, but according to major retailers, the holiday shopping season is well under way. Head to your local big box electronics store, and you'll encounter new laptops that were granted shelf space at the beginning of the month.

We've lined up 20 such models for our holiday retail laptop review roundup. We're working our way up from the bottom, starting at a bargain basement $500 model and passing through many mainstream models on our way to a fully loaded $1,849 Sony Vaio. We've completed the entry-level quartet and have a clear favorite: the Acer Aspire 5735-4624.

Winner: When we reviewed the Aspire 5735 two weeks ago, Best Buy was running a promotion that knocked $100 off the price. Sadly, that discount is no longer offered, but this 15.6-inch laptop is still a bargain at its $499 list price. For starters, it offers similar specs and performance to models from Dell and Gateway that cost $150 more, and more muscle than an AMD-based Compaq that costs $50 more. And while it might not appeal to everyone, the extra-wide 16:9 aspect ratio screen makes movie viewing a treat.

Any entry-level laptop must cut some corners, and the Acer is no different. Still, we didn't find any deal breakers here. The plastic chassis flexes a bit, the screen resolution isn't as fine as that of some smaller displays, and the 16:9 aspect ratio display makes the laptop a bit of a wide body for daily travel. The mouse buttons are clacky, and the keyboard feels cramped because it must make room for a separate number pad. And some features commonly found on (admittedly more expensive) multimedia laptops had to be jettisoned, including discrete graphics, an HDMI port, and a Webcam. … Read more

Review: Acer's $399 Net, er, notebook

Our resident cheapskate spied the Acer Aspire 5735 earlier this week. I just finished reviewing this 15.6-inch laptop and have only minor quibbles with what amounts to a ridiculous deal. The Aspire 5735 lists for $499 but is currently selling at Best Buy for $399. I mean, how critical can one be of such a low-cost, fully featured laptop? With a cheap laptop, all you really need to know is that it is not terrible. And after banging on the Aspire 5735 this week, I can tell you that it is not terrible.

The plastic chassis flexes a bit, … Read more

Indecent Exposure 24: Incessant excuses?

Conquering the cheap (dSLR) camera conundrum and flash card mysteries demystified. Sort of.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 24

Pittsburgh's $3-a-pop vinyl treasure trove

I keep hearing about how the LP is having a comeback, and that's great, but Jerry's Records has been keeping the faith for more than thirty-three years selling used vinyl in Pittsburgh, PA. I spoke with Jerry (Weber) himself last week to learn more about his shop.

It's a big place, with 13,000 square feet filled with LPs and there's a 16,000 square foot off-site warehouse with even more stuff. Jerry says 70 to 80 percent of his inventory is priced around $3. So clearly, he's not dealing in the rarities or the … Read more

Are you a perpetrator of workplace printer abuse?

According to a new survey released today, about 60 percent of the Canadian workforce is making personal use of their office printer.

The survey, conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for Samsung Electronics revealed that a large majority of Canadians who work in offices with high volume laser printers aren't using them for memos and work-related e-mails, but rather for personal letters, color photos, and even *gasp* resumes! The study breaks down the percentage of people that print out random documents:

I think it's safe to assume that the reason for all this work-printer abuse is because of the … Read more

Portable speakers are small in size and price

As phones, MP3 players, and other media devices continue to cram in every imaginable feature, the hope for decent built-in speakers seems dim in the foreseeable future. That means external speakers will be around for awhile, though they too are understandably under pressure to stay as portable as possible.

In many cases, that means they need to do some type of contortions to fit in a pocket or purse, not to mention costing more money than most people want to pay. That's where Insten's travel speaker system comes in: Not only does it fold up to a compact … Read more