It might be tempting to get the hot new gadget right now, but truthfully, it’s an awkward time to pick up a little techie something-something. If you’re smart, you’ll hold off on buying these electronics. We’ll tell you which ones, and why.
Televisions and Home Theatre Systems:
It’s best to wait until mid-2012 to pick up the very latest for your home theatre, May at the earliest. The 2012 TV lineups will be reviewed around then, and you’ll be able to see what cool new things Samsung will have to offer on their new line of plasma television sets. For now, the Panasonic ST50 is still at the top of the list on the top of the line range, better than last year’s bests, at the price of last year’s mid-range sets. The same goes for blu-ray players and receivers, which haven’t been reviewed this year.
The iPhone:
It’s very, very enticing, we know, but good things come to those who wait. The new one is mere months away from being released, and you don’t want to be stuck with a 4 model when everyone’s getting the follow-up to the series. If you really think about it, the 4S is just a variation on a design that’s about 2 years old at this point. A few months more won’t really hurt, will it?
Laptops:
Wait until the release of Windows 8 and the Ivy Bridge, coming in Fall and Late Spring of this year, respectively. Ivy Bridge is the name of Intel’s new chipset and it’s slated to be faster, more efficient, and have better onboard graphics capabilities. Laptops equipped with these new goodies should hit the market as soon as next month or the one after that, so hold off for a significantly better return on your investment, technology-wise, and more bang for your buck. The new laptops will also be equipped with USB 3.0 instead of USB 2.0, a significant change that will spell all the difference now that everyone’s upgrading to HD and multi megapixel files. The new chipset will also be better equipped to handle the heavier load of Windows 8 once it releases.
High-End Mirrorless Cameras:
DSLRs are all the rage right now, and they sure are fantastic, but not really worth it for people who only want something a little better than a simple point and shoot. Mirrorless cameras are a great new alternative for this market: they come with interchangeable lenses like DSLRs but in a body that’s light and convenient for carrying around. The best in this line has to be the Sony NEX-5N, which has a much better sensor quality than others from Olympus or Panasonic that use the Micro 4/3 format. While it’s far from perfect (lacking in solid manual controls and the lens selection still isn’t stellar), it’s still packing the equivalent image quality of a $1500 DSLR in a $700 gadget. It’s a phenomenal deal.
There you have it, the top 5 techie things it might be good to hold off on for a few more months. Cling to your wallet with both hands and don’t shell out the cash until the new releases have been unleashed onto the market. You’ll thank yourself later.
==== About the Author ====
George Shaw is a gadget freak and and a design consultant for Cardprinting.us, a provider of plastic cards and key tag printing services.
