cheapskate

The Cheapskate FAQ

After more than four years writing the Cheapskate blog, I've been asked the same questions more often than I can count.

Alas, time doesn't always permit me to answer each reader's inquiry, so I've put together this FAQ page (at the ingenious suggestion of CNET's George Latourette).

The primary goal of the Cheapskate is to spotlight one killer deal (and maybe a bonus deal or two) every day of the week. I love cheap stuff, and I love sharing deals even more.

Think of me as your buddy who walks into the office every morning … Read more

I'm Rick "The Cheapskate" Broida, here to introduce CNET's new destination for insider information on the best gadget deals on the Internet, plus buying advice, price alerts, and more exciting developments we can't even tell you about yet.

Every day on CNET Marketplace you'll find not only my daily post, but also a mixture of additional deals (hand-picked by yours truly), shopping guides, and tips for scoring the best prices on everything under the tech sun.

Marketplace will also offer exclusive deals from companies CNET knows and trusts. (… Read more

Get a Blu-ray player for $78; Wireless for $120

Well, it's the Sunday before Christmas and we are entering the home stretch. Got someone on your list who is hard to ship for but still hasn't made the jump to a Blu-ray disc player? We'll, we have a couple of deals to help you out.

Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, Wal-Mart is once again offering the Magnavox MB500MG1F Blu-ray disc player for $78. Shipping adds 97 cents, but the store's Web site guarantees it will get the player to you in time for Christmas if you order by Sunday.

This no-frills player features your … Read more

Get a 40-inch LCD HDTV, Blu-ray player for $755

If you have been waiting on a great deal to make the leap to an LCD HDTV and Blu-ray player, your wait is over.

Best Buy is bundling a 40-inch 1080p Samsung LCD HD television with a BD-P1600 Blu-ray disc player for $755 with $1 shipping. That's almost $200 off the list price for the TV, and you get for free a Netflix-ready Blu-ray player that retails for $200. Just add each item to your shopping cart to get the discounts.

Best Buy's deal isn't limited to the 40-inch model; the company offers other Blu-ray bundling deals … Read more

Get a 5GB iRiver MP3 player with FM for $34

Looking for a feature-packed MP3 player without the iPod price?

Buy.com has the iRiver H10 5GB MP3 player (refurbished) for $33.99 with free shipping. The player works with Windows Media Player 10 and supports MP3 and WMA, as well as Secure WMA for online downloads and services.

The iRiver H10 is supersleek at 3.7 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches and 3.4 ounces. This model is a few years old but still has a 1.5-inch color LCD screen for viewing photos and a swappable battery that the company claims delivers about 12 hours of … Read more

Get a 10-inch Netbook for $199

This Sunday we have a pair of old-school Netbook deals for you.

First up is a 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One with a 1.6GHz Atom processor at Target for $199. It's listed at $289.99, but the price drops to $199 when you add it to your shopping cart. That's a savings of 28 percent.

It comes with a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM (expandable to 2GB), 802.11g, an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, a three-cell Lithium ion battery, and a built-in Webcam. This Netbook runs Windows XP Home (for those of you who are … Read more

Get a 46-inch Sony LCD for $800

If you had been waiting for a low price on a midlevel LCD to make the jump to a flat-panel set, Sony may have what you are looking for.

Sony Style has a refurbished 46-inch KDL-46V5100 for $799.99 with free shipping, a good $150 cheaper than the closest low price for a new unit. This 1080p (full HD) unit has a 120Hz refresh rate and a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000 to 1. This TV comes with plenty of connectivity, featuring four HDMI inputs, two component video inputs, and one PC input.

CNET's David Katzmaier gave this … Read more

Get a 16-inch Windows 7 laptop for $350

If you are in the market for an inexpensive laptop to make the jump to Windows 7, we may have just what you're looking for.

Office Depot has the Toshiba Satellite L455-S5980 15.6-inch widescreen notebook for $349.99 with free shipping, $130 off the list price and a good $100 cheaper than the closest deal we could find for this model.

Toshiba's laptop features an Intel 1.8GHz dual-core Celeron T3000, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm SATA hard drive, a SuperMulti DVD drive, 802.11g Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

The deal includes … Read more

Get 26-mile, two-way radios for $20

Looking for a cheap personal communications device for around the house, the neighborhood, or even the harbor?

Woot.com has the Midland GXT710 22-channel, 26-mile GMRS 2-way radio (pair) for $19.99 plus $5 shipping for Sunday only.

These two-way radios provide access to 22 GMRS/FRS (General Mobile Radio Service/Family Radio Service) UHF channels with 121 privacy codes, as well as access to all 10 weather channels supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The radios feature 5 watts of power and claim a maximum range of 26 miles in optimum conditions (but you will likely get … Read more

Get an 802.11n home router for $24.99

Looking for super-fast wireless router for your home at a low price?

Buy.com has the TrendNet TEW-632BRP for $24.99 with free shipping, a 64 percent savings off the $70 list price and a good $30 off the lowest closest retailer price we could find.

This four-port switch features 128-bit encryption, DMZ port, NAT support, 64-bit encryption, auto-uplink (auto MDI/MDI-X), dynamic DNS server, MAC address filtering, URL filtering, IP address filtering, MIMO technology, and virtual server support.

CNET hasn't reviewed this router, but Google product reviewers gave it 4 and a half stars out of 5, with … Read more