Tech Yoda's Tip of the Week: Technology Purchases--Do Your Homework!

Looking to buy a new (fill in the blank technology item)?  Want to know what's good, what to avoid, and what the options are?  Check out these three sites for the best reviews on all things technology items:

1. Amazon.com – yes, they sell a lot more than technology, but that's a big reason they're so good.  Amazon has millions, maybe billions, of customers, and that's a lot of reviews by real people on the items you're interested in. Popular products will often have dozens of comments with some essentially being very well written product reviews. Products that have been out longer may have hundreds of comments and reviews. The web site is very easy to navigate and find the information you want on a huge number of products.
2. Newegg.com – focused strictly on tech products, this site provides great product selection with input from real techies. Geared a bit more towards technical users it’s a great site if you are looking for detailed info on items like graphics cards, hard disk drive, monitors and other hardware. Oh, and they have excellent prices also.
3. CNET Reviews – this site brings a different twist as CNET provides news and downloads in addition to product reviews. They have an editorial staff, but their product listings also include a substantial amount of user comment and input. Each product will generally include both an Editor’s rating as well as an Average User rating.  I never buy a laptop/cellphone/camera/tv/etc. without consulting CNET's experts.  Sometimes they've even got video of the product in use!

Don't ever buy a new electronic item without doing some research first!  Informed buyers get better deals on better items.