Shopping

Mugs, ties, shirts, sweaters… tired of giving those as gifts? Or does the recipient have just about everything you can think of? Not likely when you check out these sites with original and unique items.

I could spend hours on many of these sites. Instead, I forced myself to break away and post them here. This way, I have them all bookmarked in one place.

Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools isn’t a shop stop, but Kelly finds a lot of cool stuff. Kelly writes, “I am chiefly interested in stuff that is extraordinary, better than similar products, little-known, and reliably useful for an individual or small group.”

Etsy sells handmade gifts. You can shop by color, location (geolocator), time (time machine), material, tags, and category. Click on Sampler to get top sellers, top items, random sellers, random items, and recently sold items.

’80s tees brought on lots of memories from my child of the ’80s days.

Eco-Artware.com has artful, creative, and environmental-friendly gifts. Street signs have been recycled into keychains. Motherboards become coasters.

Surprise.com gives you gift ideas from all over the Web. Know someone who’s all stressed out? Loves to talk politics? Is socially-conscious? The site provides ideas for all of them and more.

t spheres help the overly stressed folks by combining massage and aromatherapy.

Turn Your Head makes an optical illusion of your profile into a three-dimensional visage.

Big Feet PJs sells grown up PJs with (drum roll) feet! If you or the recipient lives in a cold place, this might be the answer to warm nights (insert crack joke here).

Do you know someone who is slow to wake up? With this Puzzle Alarm Clock, he has to wake up and put the four-piece puzzle back together to shut up the clock.

For the traveler, Weekends Away has theme gift suitcases and gift cards so you can pick the right one to fit the occasion or the recipient’s personality.

Individual Icons recycles jewelry made out of objects like chainmail, grommets, and rulers.

Find unusual and lesser known games at US Games, which also carries tarot cards and has a Web museum of rare cards and games.

Satinbox.com carries a variety of original and unique lifestyle product gifts that you would normally find in different specialy stores and boutiques. With Satinbox.com you find products categorized by your recipient’s lifestyle. One of its bestsellers is the fashionable apron.

Wootini sells three-dimensional art from artists all around the world.

Uniting word fans and geeks with L33t tiles.

Have fun with strangers with Flapart Covers in which you put your real book inside these phony books and the titles will shock your friends and strangers who look at the cover to see what you’re reading. Sample titles: Do-It-Yourself Liposuction, Coroner by Correspondence, and How to Steal From Your Employer and Get Away With It.

Don’t know if your recipients have food allergies? Play it safe with Divvies, which sells good food that are free of nuts, milk, and eggs. The only thing is those with gluten allergies aren’t covered. The food is even Kosher.

For book lovers and book club friends, Overdue Media sells items that say things like “WWDD: What would Dewey do?” “What happens in the library stays in the library.”

Can’t find the right accessories for your iPod? Think Different Store is a real brick and mortar store that — of course — sells online. Sure glad it’s not located in my town. Heck, not even my side of the country as it’s in New York.

Give your flashlight some legs with Flashlight Friend. No more rolling off the table.

Elsewares carries products from independent designers like the Egglings and iPod flourish.

Museum of Useful Things is about beauty and function.

Pixelgirlshop has fine art and homemade items.

I heart NY, I heart TX. What do you heart? Show it off with jewelry from State of Mine. [Last few Links: Daily Candy]

StitchPixie sells vinly and jewelry pop art and retro novelties in bright colors.

Dora’s book from Nick Jr. Personalized Books was a slam dunk with my three-year-old, a big Dora fan. He took it to school and the staff loved it. He told his teacher, “Zachy book.” She thought he meant that it was his book; she looked closer and realized he was IN the book: name and face. Current offers are Dora and Blue. I’m sure it changes as different characters get popular with kids.

Four Idle Hands has devilishly good stuff. I loved their 6/06/06 contest and lucked out in coming in second place. I ordered insomnia bookmarks and they’re wonderful. Unlike a typical flat bookmark, these stay within the page nicely because of their thin string, which doesn’t slip considering both ends have an object.

Quirky Gift calls itself the “home of really unusual presents.” For the person who can’t quit smoking, you might consider the coughing ashtray — if you’re brave. For the hosts of the New Year’s party, a champagne parachute.

American Science and Surplus is passionate about “discovery and invention.” The site contains closeouts, surplus and overruns of eclectic products related to science or education. The business has been around since 1937 and you can learn more from the manifesto.

My 10th grade computer literacy teacher wrote notes in shorthand. None of us could read it and it intrigued me. Shorthand classes are hard to find, but it’d be cool to know how to write in “code.” Shorthand Press attempts to revive the art of writing shortcuts with its products.

Don’t trash those special tees. Recycle them into quilts. I collected uniforms, shirts from shows, and others over the years and had them made into a quilt at Old Town Quilts. I love it. I want to add on to it, if I can as I’ve collected more.

Chopstick Art and Furniture.

Daydream Toy showcases original toys for all ages including a beanbag doll (Beanstalks) that can stand on its own feet.

Office Playground: Gifts for coworkers, bosses, and even yourself.

Pylones: Fish pens, crocodile staple removers, colorful sugar pots, whimsical umbrells are just of the few of ordinary items receiving a personality. One caveat, the site is difficult to browse but it’s worth it when you find the right thing.

TreasureKnit: Photo blankets, pillows, towels, tapestry.

Knock Knock: Greeting cards, stationery, organizers, and other fun stuff.

Grandma’s Chicken Soup: Winter… love it… hate it… we don’t want to think about it, but
people often get sick with a bad cold or G-d forbid, the flu. Of course, chicken soup is wonderful in the winter, not just when you’re ick.

Barbara K 30-piece signature tool kit: All the tool basics in one case along with instructions, which have a place in the case so they don’t get lost.

BeyondBookmarks: Know someone in college? Far away? Recovering? Send ‘em a fun care and gift package.

Wishingfish.com: “Eclectic mixture of styles: vintage and modern, funky and sophisticated, East meets West.”

See Jane Work: Stylish and useful tools to help working women manage their time and stay organized.

Toss Designs: Bags and designs that combine style and function.

Purseket: Switch purses in an instant and find everything.

Dynomighty: Recyclable goodies like wallets, tags, jewelry.

ModCloth carries affordable and trendy accessories and clothing.

day-lab stocks retro, vintage and eclectic jewelry, accessories, and knickknacks.

Modern Tribe has unusual Jewish gifts like No Limit Texas Dreidel.

Teramasu has the latest in fashion accessories. Cute stuff!

LittleSomething.com: Small gifts priced under $10. They will mail your gift with a message.

Fred Flare: Stay cute! I’d love to have half of these products.

PexagonTech: Personalize USB drives. Pick the color, storage size and content to personalize it.

Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild: Find unique gifts involving politics, philosophers, pillboxes and lots of other funny bedfellows.

Perpetual Kid: “Entertain your inner child.”

Foodzie: Etsy for foodies.

Updated: 30 December 2009

I’ve had three different experiences as a customer who had a problem with an order. I accept mistakes happen. As a perfectionist, I’ve made mistakes anyway and have learned to let go. If we keep reviewing our work, we’d miss deadlines and have unhappy clients. I think what’s important is how you handle the mistakes.

Personalization

I ordered a personalized Rubik’s Cube for Paul’s 40th birthday as a representative of the ’80s. This wasn’t an ordinary cube, but one that had pictures of the family on all the sides. Notice the picture shows hardly any black? Now look at what I got. Atrocious. The pictures should’ve taken up the full space like in the wedding photo that appears on the right square.

(click images to see larger image in a pop up window)

The site says, “1/4″ of the image will be trimmed on all sides – allow for that when uploading your image.” It didn’t say anything about what size the images should be to ensure they take up the full amount of available space. So I assumed the pictures would be cropped and fitted. Nope.

I emailed them twice in two to three weeks. No response. Finally, we called and got a response. The company is making and sending another one. If I don’t like it, I can send both back for a refund.

Ironically, Paul also ordered my birthday gift from the same company and it arrived with my name spelled “Merryill.” The order form had my name spelled correctly. The person doing the personalization must’ve been having a bad day. As a result, the gift that would’ve been on time had it been done right the first time… was late (no biggie — but for some people it’s a biggie).

Furthermore, there was a second part to the gift: a career sign. It’s a wooden wall hanging that looks weathered. As you can see, the form says to “specify any career.” There is no list of careers. The company called Paul (after they had already screwed up my name, which was ordered at the same time as the career sign) and said they can’t do “writer” or “journalist.” Specify any career, eh?

With all the price comparison sites available, I’m posting them all in one post because it’s just tough to keep up and remember them all. The first three places I go whenever I shop are Froogle, Pricegrabber, and ISBN.nu.

I don’t just buy from the place offering the best price. It also depends on the business’ reputation. If no ratings are available for the business, then I search elsewhere like the Better Business Bureau and BizRate. Offertrax lets you store, compare and receive price alerts.

Pronto is a Firefox shopping comparison plugin.

Another thing to consider is the best time of the year to shop for certain items. MSN Money lists the best times of the year for the following. Also, some of these have special notes.

• Air conditioners: winter
• Airline tickets: Varies
• Appliances: Ask stores about warehouses of returns and floor models in mint condition.
• Big appliances: September and October
• Bicycles and outdoor gear: January
• Boats: January, February and March
• Cars: September
• Cell phones: any time
• Computers: July and August
• Cookware: April and May; October and November
• Flooring: Wholesalers offer “buy direct” prices online to public for over 1,000 square feet.
• Furniture: January and July. Also find out if the store has an outlet or website that sells floor samples, discontinued styles or returned merchandise with deep discounts.
• Gas grills: winter
• Jewelry: Avoid the holidays, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day
• Linens and bedding: January
• Mattresses: year-round
• Real estate: spring
• Recreational vehicles: fall and winter
• Rugs: Department stores markup rugs big time so stick with wholesalers.
• Toys: October and November
• TVs and home theaters: winter holiday sales and January
• Vacuum cleaners: April and May
• Wedding: winter

Most Often Used

Froogle results look like typical search engine results. It also explores sites that often don’t appear in the comparison shopping site lists. I’ve found some great deals here.

Pricegrabber is the one I go to the most outside of Froogle. I think its comparison chart is the easiest to read and scan.

PriceScan is similar to Pricegrabber and easier to read than the ones listed further down.

ISBN.nu.

Books

AddAll does books, music, movie, and magazine.

Best Book Buys also compares book prices as well as music, videos, electronics, and bikes.

BooksPrice searches for lowest price on new and used books, CDs and DVDs. Also includes a feature for finding the best price when buying more than one book since shipping costs could be lower due to the combined order.

FetchBook

ISBN.nu does only price comparisons for books. While I find better deals through Amazon Marketplace or elsewhere, this is a great starting point.

Local Stores

8coupons: Coupons in your zip code.

SalesHound.com

ShopLocal

General Price Comparison Sites

The following sites are similar in how they produce their results and they don’t have a neat chart like Pricegrabber or MySimon. Their results are similar to Froogle, but I think Froogle provides better results. I recommend using a few sites when looking for a specific item as every site links to different stores.

CostHelper reports what people are paying.

DealTime

MySimon is one of the first price comparison sites I’ve used. Its site doesn’t look good in Firefox.

PriceComparison

SearchAllDeals searches all deals and coupon sites in one shot.

Shopzilla

SortPrice

Yahoo! Shopping

Coupons and Discounts

Most of these sites are junky or have a ton of popups, but I’ve found coupons here.

BigSavings

CoolSavings requires free registration.

CouponHaven

CouponSaver

CouponSurfer

CouponTweet: Coupon codes from twitter.

Current Codes

eCoupons

eDealFinder

FatWallet

Free Shipping

KeyCode Coupons

NaughtyCodes

Rather-Be-Shopping.com

RetailMeNot

ShipGooder: Compare shipping rates.

SmartSource – grocery coupons

Online Deals

These sites list bargains and big sale items. The best place is Woot, but it only shows one item per day. Once in a while, it’ll post a new item as soon as one sells out for a certain amount of time (usually 24-hours).

Alice: This is a little different. What you do is enter the products you normally buy. “For each product you add, you’ll get automatic coupons, reminders when you’re running low, and easy re-ordering tools so you never run out again.”

DealHunting

Deal of Day

Dealsea: Short-term deep discounts.

Hot Deals Club

ShopStyle: Enter your favorite brands and the site emails you when there’s a sale.

SlickDeals.net

ugenie provides discounts on bundled items.

Discounted Shopping Stores

American Science & Surplus – science bargains

Cheap Tickets – travel

Dawdle: Buy and sell new and used games

Deep Discount DVD for DVDs.

Expedia Travel – travel

Farecompare – travel

Farecast – travel

Free CD Software

Kayak – travel

Lowestfare.com – Travel

Overstock

Priceline – travel

SmartBargains

Updated: September 26, 2010

This list will grow as I add more categories. Of course, gadgets and geeky stuff will be included!

The catalogs are pouring in and filling up my mailbox. Stores have posted holiday decorations. Some places have Christmas lights up. One question: Did we forget about Thanksgiving?

It’s the time of year when some of us suffer from shopper’s anxiety. What do I get? How much should I spend?

For my family, it’s not just the holidays, but also the birthdays and anniversaries that come immediately before and after the holidays. This year is a special year as my parents celebrate their 50th anniversary on Thanksgiving. I had something in mind from them, but the lady who makes them is not returning my calls. There is no place else to go.

2006 kicks off with a biggie. Paul celebrates his 40th birthday in January. Here are ideas and suggestions for gifts starting with Surprise, which provides gift ideas from all over the web for the foodie, those with an unusual sense of humor, a person who is always cold, the socially conscious and more.

Old-fashioned gifts (Read: no batteries required!)

Books are almost always a winner. You can check my reviews on Amazon to see what I liked and didn’t like. Or just go through the book reviews here. A little self-promotion here, but my story is only one of 100 stories in Stories of Strength — I don’t get a penny as all of the proceeds go to charity. My favorite books for this year:

* The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life: My favorite book for 2005. Great for the book lover.

* Buzzmarketing: If you know someone passionate about marketing, this should be a pleaser.

* Get Clients Now!: May be a good gift for someone who just started her own business. Don’t think it is insulting to give this book.

* The Holy Man: This would make a wonderful gift.

* Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: Giving this as a gift might insult the receiver.

* Don’t Make Me Think 2nd Edition: For those involved with any aspect of Web design even if they’re in a marketing role. I don’t think giving this would be an insult.

* Sudoku books at Amazon: So technically these aren’t book books, but they’re great for travel.

Games are responsible for many fond memories when I was a kid and they continue to make memories in adulthood. I never get tired of Scrabble, Pictionary, and plain old cards.

I like to play these occasionally or my family does: Tri-Ominos, Cribbage, and Life. We play many others. It’s unbelievable how many games are getting a make over with cartoon characters. Operation with Homer Simpson (though this needs batteries, I’d say it’s a classic), Dora the Explorer Candy Land (my son’s favorite cartoon), and Clue with Disney’s Haunted Mansion. You get the idea.

Newer games worth checking out: 20 Questions Handheld Game (Okay, so it needs batteries, but it’s an old-fashioned game that allows you to play by yourself), Carcassonne (we have this, but have yet to play it), Settlers of Catan Board Game (ditto), and Fib or Not? (we’ve played this one and it’s a blast).

Got Cranium Hullabaloo, a cross between Twister and musical chairs. My six-year-old liked it. The 2 1/2-year-old can’t follow the directions, but he played with the set. Join the kids and get some energy.

My middle child and I played Guess Who? At first, I thought this game was a blow off and too easy for an adult to win. But then we played it a few more times and I finally saw how it could go either way for either adult or child. If you ask, “Does your person have blonde hair?”, you either get to put down a lot of characters or only a couple of them depending on the answer. A good one to play with kids around 1st grade.

Original and Unique Gifts – For the person who has everything or you’re out of ideas, sometimes going the original or unique route does the trick.

Second Term Edition Bush Cards are a cross between a book and a game. They’re targeted towards Bush non-fans, but they are funny enough that even Bush fans with a sense of humor could enjoy them. Even cabinet members that are subjects on the cards buy them.

While on political satire, a great gift for political fans are CDs from Capital Steps. I’ve heard they’re a riot.

Then these funky shirts from Sharp as Toast have funny political cartoons, sayings and other non-political stuff.

Knock Knock is another story with original gift ideas.

Miss a Kit is a pocketknife style gadget that has a flashlight, keychain, needle and thread, perfume bottle, mirror, pill box, knife and more. If you’re like me and don’t like cutesy pink, they’re available in other colors. Unfortunately, they all have a cutesy heart on them. But I’d love one of these anyway. There is one with a star, but it’s for men and has different tools than the Miss a Kit.

I ordered two and the pen doesn’t work. How many women do you know don’t mind breaking their nails? It’s easy to do that when you’re trying to open some of the tools (even the instructions say to use a fingernail). I prefer my Swiss Army Knife, but it doesn’t have some of the things the Miss A Kit has.

Silver Jewelry Club has free jewelry where you only pay $5.99 per item for shipping. I’ve gotten stuff from the site and my daughter likes them. She thought they were fancy (for an 11-year-old). For me, I could get some specific colored jewelry and stones like Garnet and London Blue Topaz (no Sapphire here). I am stocking up on nice ones to give as gifts to girls. One item is on display for 15 minutes or until it’s sold out.

Know someone who is into herself or himself? Get them a mini-me from Microdwarf. The site has hundreds of themes from which to choose. Creative.

Found Objects has many creative and original gift items. For example, these push pins are a nice change from the boring thumb tacks.

Know a Howard Hughes or Adrian Monk? Perfect gift: Toothbrush Sanitizer and Storage System

Winter… love it… hate it… we don’t want to think about it, but people often get sick with a bad cold or G-d forbid, the flu. The best thing is chicken soup and you can order some from Grandma’s Chicken Soup. But of course, chicken soup is wonderful in the winter, not just when you’re sick. Have a happy and healthy year!

Barbara K 30-piece signature tool kit has all the tool basics in one case along with instructions, which have a place in the case so they don’t get lost. Toolkit includes: 7oz claw hammer, 6″ slip joint pliers, 8″ 2 in 1 level, 6 in 1 interchangeable screwdriver, 6″ adjustable wrench, 10′ measuring tape, 6 in 1 putty knife, 16 – hex key wrenches, fastener assortment, barbara k! how-to booklet, case with individual compartments embossed for placing tools exactly where they should go

Self-contained fish bowl requires no feeding, no filters and best of all, no water changes!

Know someone in college? Far away? Recovering? BeyondBookmarks has fun care and gift packages.

With Chronicles of Narnia recent movie release, what better time to try Turkish Delights?

Know a foodie? Someone who loves to watch Food Network? The Original Food Lover’s Trivia sounds like a winner.

Wishingfish.com has unusual gifts.

Alphabetsync has an assortment of classic toys from the ’50s and ’60s along with new items on the market including t-shirts, fine gifts, jewelry, wacky cards, and everything in between.

Geeky Stuff

I think the biggest thing I’d like to have is the JVC Everio GZ-MG70 2.12 MP 30 GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom. It comes with a built-in hard drive so it would make it easy and effortless to transfer it to the computer and burn to a CD. I could do it with my current camcorder, but I’d have to play the tape and capture it with another device. Too much time and set up.

They’re getting cheaper and bigger in capacity every minute. Flash drives a.k.a. thumb drives and USB drives make great gifts as they’re portable making it easy to move or carry files with you.

I love using a wireless mouse and keyboard as I’m not fighting with the cord that keeps pulling on the mouse. They have their problems especially if you have a wireless network and cordless phones that could interfere. I don’t have that problem with Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 2.0 or the Logitech I had in the past. The Microsoft one is wonderful. Its scroll wheels are smooth and go in different directions. I actually use its shortcuts unlike past products.

Get a second monitor and the recipient will love you for it. When I first started working with dual monitors, I found it weird and annoying. Now I can’t stand being without them! I’ll have to write up something about it in the future. All you need is a video card that can handle dual monitors like VisionTek VTKRAD7K64P Dual Monitor 7K 64MB and a second monitor.

Give Your iPod Character

Does your iPod scream for stylin’ clothes? Is she a princess or perhaps, a cowboy? Maybe she wants variety? iAttire has clothes for the iPod, Mini and Shuffle.

Prefer fur? Try Fluffpod. Not into dressing up objects? Maybe babies? Rather just have something simple like stars or lines? Sporty folks can make the iPod look sporty with a hoody.

Make it a guy, put it in tights, or removable wrappers. OK, OK, I’ll stop already.

Just about anything from ThinkGeek and lots of good stuff at Newegg.com.

Fossil Atari Watches. The games aren’t playable, but they’re animated. Perfect for the ’80s game fan. Comes with choices of Asteroids, Centipede, and Breakout.

Migo – USB thumb drive so you can take your data with you including Outlook, emails, contacts, and other stuff. Four versions available.

And what NOT to buy…

Wired News buying guide

Updated: December 8, 2005

A friend says the Casio EXILIM EX-Z750 is a superb camera. While I’m not in the market for a new camera, I keep my eyes open as I’m frustrated with my camera’s poor performance when I don’t use the flash. When the flash is off, the picture is blurry. A clear picture comes through in about one out of ten pictures. I know it’s awful, but there is no reason for me to go off and spend money on something like this.

But out of curiosity, I look around and compare prices. The lowest one I could find without shopping costs included is from Stargate Photo. The lowest price I’ve found with shipping is $350. I add the camera to the cart (as I can’t find shipping costs after 10 minutes of searching), and it asks me to enter my login ID or Sign up.

Two problems. First, it doesn’t give me a way to check out without registering. Many carts are abandoned because of this. Second, on the sign up page (the first page you see after clicking sign up), it asks for credit card information and the submit button says, “Submit order.” Hey, I never got a shipping cost!

On the shopping cart page, there is a drop down for shipping with four choices. The first one displays, “UPS-Ground 6%.” I assume this means shipping is 6% of the subtotal of the products you buy. But it could easily be something else. If I am right, the form shouldn’t make the customer figure out the shipping cost.

I tried in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. No difference except the formatting is better in IE. Even if I wanted to buy a camera, I don’t think I would buy it from this business because it has no reputation or reviews yet.

Shopping for a laptop is overwhelming because of the numerous choices. No one can tell you what you need or don’t need, except maybe your spouse, parent, kid, local geek, or know-it-all who knows you. But it’s still good to know a few things about buying a laptop. An educated customer is a happy customer, right?

Most important question when starting this research: do you need a laptop? If you need a combo desktop / laptop, you can get a laptop with a docking station.

A common question is whether or not to get one with wireless. The question to you — are you going to use it? Will you have places to wirelessly connect with? Remember, when you have a wireless laptop, it has to connect to a hub or Wi-Fi (like Starbucks or a cell phone). Some hotels are starting to set up wireless and others requiring plugging in. If you buy a laptop without wireless and change your mind, you can add it later with a card. Only difference is it won’t be built-in. Not a big deal. Mine is not built-in.

FYI: Most laptops come with a 10/100 Ethernet NIC built-in.

For me, I have a cheap dial-up account with a national service. Good thing because I used it in the hospital. Not every place has wireless or free wireless (Starbucks isn’t free, or at least, not all locations from what I understand). So before I travel, I look up the service’s local numbers of where I am going so I’ll have them.

As for what model — you’ll get different answers from everyone. People love and hate Dells. Love and hate IBMs. What makes Dell different is that you can pick and choose what items you want on your laptop. IBM has a good reputation. Of course, Macs are nice, if you want to go the Apple way. Buying a refurbished laptop is cool. We have two of them in our house and we’re happy with ‘em. Saved a bit of money, too.

Screen. Picking the right screen is based on graphical need. I got a nice wide one, but my laptop be heavy, dude. I don’t travel much, so weight isn’t an issue. When I do travel, the weight of the laptop isn’t a big deal because I benefit from the video memory more than the weight.

The video card is built into the motherboard, just like a lot of desktops. What you have to watch with a laptop is make sure you get the video you want. If you are going to use graphic intensive programs, then go for more video memory. In the past laptops were not geared toward graphic intense applications. Then the DVD came along and changed that.

A screen is not as replaceable to interchangeable like a harddrive, a wireless card, or a DVD drive. I invest more in the screen so it lasts longer since everything else can be upgraded or replaced.

How often do you plan to lug it around? Believe me. No matter how light the laptop feels, it’s a bag of bricks when you’ve walked with it all day at a conference. That’s why I have a backpack case for my laptop. Much easier for long treks with the laptop. So weight didn’t get a priority with me.

A laptop is useless without an operating system and software. Before we get into details. There is a snag. If you are buying from a major reseller (IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq, etc.) It is going to come with an operating system, whether you like it or not. This is due to their licencing agreements with Microsoft. If this is not an issue, here are the considerations.

Do you want it to come with it or do you have licensed software you can load on it? When buying a computer with the operating system and bonus software, remember you don’t get books or separate CDs loaded with the applications. Some companies provide CDs for using when you have to reformat a computer and these programs will load back up. Some people don’t like this and prefer to buy the applications separately.

This is a suggested process for shopping for a laptop:

* Decide what you must have and write those down.
* Search for products that have these things.
* Search for and read reviews on the finalists.
* Narrow down the list as much as possible (one to three items) to the ones you will be happy with buying.
* Comparison shop for the best offer.