big box stores ...

Look what happened with compusa. Half of its stores closed last month. Best buy is next on the chopping block .. Circuit city ? don't know.. i never go there...

I visited one of the compusa's the day before it was to close. Their memory cards ( XD Card 1 Gbyte . M version , not even the high speed version ) had a discount of 60% marked .. and they were still 3 dollar more expensive than Fry's regular price .... and people wonder why theyse guys go out of business.

The only real deals was their big pile of cables and power adapters. 1$ each.

i bought 20$ of power adapters worth well over 400$ ( heck, the power brick for my HP laptop alone is 100$ new. And there happened to be one in there. it's got a couple of scuff marks but works fine)

Dont get me wrong. Compusa used to be good .. 5 years ago ..

Best buy used to be good too...

You're better of buying from big trusted online merchants such as Newegg Tigerdirect, Adorama or B&H photo . And if you are lucky to have a Fry's in the neighbourhood ( ok it' mostly s the same dimwits that act as salespeople but at least the prices are good ). If you happen to live in 'The valley' go to Central Computer if you really need answers. They know what they are selling and their prices are typically less then fry's. I saved 80$ on a 400$ cpu last year... thats 20%.