Finding the best computer deals can be difficult, but not when you know where and when to look. This article will highlight some of the best times to buy computers from brands like Apple, Samsung, ASUS, etc.

Before anything, it’s always a good idea to know what kind of computer you want—brand, operating system, CPU and storage configuration, etc. That’ll help you narrow down your search when searching for the best deals. You should check out some reputable online shopping sites renowned for selling laptops cheaply.

1. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Back-to-School Deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest holiday sales worldwide. These are equally the best periods to snap up deals on computers, gadgets, and accessories. If you’re serious about getting a laptop at a discounted price, keep a tab on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on popular shopping platforms.

Major PC manufacturers (Apple, HP, Lenovo, Asus, etc.) and retailers also host Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales on their official websites.

“Back-to-School” season is another good time to snag incredible discounts on laptop and computer purchases. Although this season varies across several countries and regions, back-to-school sales typically run between June and September. For instance, Apple’s 2021 back-to-school discount ran for over 3 months.

College students, parents, teachers, and other eligible participants got a $100 discount (and free AirPods) off select MacBook models. Some local retailers also offer laptops at discounted prices during this period. Make sure you exhaustively check multiple (online and offline) platforms and compare their discounts before deciding.

2. Capitalize on Clearance Sales

Many stores and eCommerce platforms host “Clearance” or “Closeout” sales to clear out inventory when closing for the year or going out of business. This is mostly during and after the holiday season, precisely before a calendar year runs out. Clearout items in a store’s inventory are sold at incredibly low prices. Your dream computer might just be in a store’s clearance sale catalog.

3. Buy When New Models Are Released

Computer manufacturers release new products throughout the year, particularly Windows devices. Apple hosts an annual event between September and October where it announces new Mac desktops and laptops. On the other hand, PC manufacturers usually introduce new devices at tech events, shows, conferences, etc.  

The best time to buy a computer cheap is when new models are announced or available in the market. The arrival of a new product line usually crashes the price of older generations/models—and for understandable reasons. People naturally rush to buy the latest products, lowering the demand for older generations.

Of course, decreasing demand (of older computer models) means lower prices. When everyone’s rushing to buy the latest laptop, you should do the opposite—especially if you’re budget-conscious. If a computer brand introduces a new line of devices, wait for some weeks or a month, and check the prices of the outgoing flagship model.

The arrival of a major CPU upgrade may also crash the price of computers with older processors. Performance-wise, devices with new technologies are better, but they always cost more. If the specifications of an old laptop model are satisfactory, and you aren’t willing to overspend on new features, then it’s a worthy investment.

Note that this trick mostly applies to Windows devices. The prices of Mac computers usually stay consistent months and years after new models launch. When the prices drop, the reductions are usually steep and might not be worth the wait.

4. Buy During Celebratory and Promotional Anniversaries

Businesses, brands, and shopping platforms often host sale events to celebrate festivities, special holidays, and corporate anniversaries and holidays (e.g., Amazon Prime Day). If your desired computer isn’t on sale at a discounted price, you could win coupons that chop some dollars off its original price.

Depending on your region or country, it’s common for electronic stores and computer brands to run sales promotions for religious events (e.g., Diwali, Ramadan, Easter, etc.) and national holidays (Independence Day deals, 4th of July sales, Labor Day discounts, etc.).

Monitor Prices With Tracking Tools

Finding the best laptop and computer deals takes time and effort. Plus, some sellers advertise fake deals and discounts. We recommend monitoring the price of your desired computer across several websites days or weeks before these promotional deals.

That’ll give an idea of the device’s initial price, promotional price, and how much discount you’re snatching up. You can automate and expedite this deal-hunting process using price-tracking software and price comparison websites.

These specialized tools help you find the best deals on specific products and shopping platforms. Price-tracking services will do all the hard work for you: monitor price fluctuations, check coupon availability, aggregate price history, and even compare prices.

You can also set custom alerts to get notifications of discounts and other price slashes. Check out these Amazon price-tracking tools and price comparison websites for more information. You’ll also find our tutorial on creating price alerts for holiday shopping deals beneficial.

Put in the Effort

You’ll find the best deals for computers and other gadgets in the second half of the calendar year. That’s because many promotional events and holidays fall within the last six months of the year. Another unwritten rule of saving money is to buy the older model of a new product—particularly if the specifications meet your needs.

Use price-tracking tools to monitor prices if you don’t have the time to keep tabs on the promotional deals. Consider buying a refurbished computer if you don’t find deals that match your budget. Check out some of the best places to buy refurbished laptops.

So what to do with old RAM sticks? In this article, we’re going to explore several options, including building a retro gaming computer and turning your RAM into art. There are many cool things you can do with old RAM, so don’t just throw it away.

1. Upgrade an Old Computer

The best use of old RAM modules is in an older system that could use an upgrade. Old computers can still be useful even if they’re too sluggish for the latest games, software development, or rendering. For example, you can turn an old PC into a streaming media center or even a NAS (network-attached storage).

Alternatively, you can upgrade someone else’s computer. Contact a local school or library and find out whether they could use a hardware upgrade. Most public computers are outdated or cheaply built, so your old RAM modules could mean a lot to anyone using them.

That said, you’ll have to figure out what sort of RAM sticks you have and whether they’re compatible with the old machine you want to upgrade. There are several types of RAM, and each one is compatible with certain motherboards and CPUs. Make sure to read our article on how to check the type of RAM before attempting to upgrade an old computer. 

2. Build a Retro Gaming PC

Hardware and operating systems have evolved a great deal since the early days of computer gaming. Modern CPUs have completely different architectures than 20-30 years ago, and there are radical differences even between relatively recent operating systems like Windows 7 and 8. 

If you’d try to play a classic DOS game or a game specifically developed for Windows 7 using your Windows 10 machine, you’re going to run into game-breaking compatibility issues. Most classic games won’t even work, and that’s sad considering the vast number of games developed in the past few decades.

This is where the retro gaming PC comes in, and your old RAM will help build it. The market for old computer parts is growing as more people want to replay their favorite childhood games. Good Old Games (GOG) is certainly helping with this trend as it’s making classic games easily accessible. This makes old RAM increasingly valuable, and there are growing retro gaming communities building retro systems.

If you want to revisit your favorite games and you want to recreate that 90s or 2000s atmosphere, save your old RAM, find an old motherboard and CPU that supports it, and go back in time.

Alternative: Build an Arcade Machine

If retro gaming PCs aren’t your thing and you grew up in the arcade days, you can save your RAM for an arcade machine instead. Read our comprehensive article on how to turn your old computer into an arcade machine and save your old RAM for an epic project.

3. Turn Your Old RAM Into Art or Decorations

If you have no use for your old RAM or it’s damaged, you can turn it into art. For example, you can make keychains or even Christmas tree decorations. All you need is keyrings and a cutting tool.

Desktop RAM chips might be a bit too long for a keychain, so cut them up to a desirable size. Then drill a hole (if there isn’t one) for the keyring, and you’re done. You can even skip the cutting part if you have laptop RAM modules since they’re already quite small.

4. Build a RAM Drive

Also known as a RAM disk, this device is a type of digital storage. It is much faster than hard drives and solid state drives. Random-access memory is the fastest type of memory and storing data in it means nearly instant loading times and high read/write times. 

You can use your old RAM modules to build a RAM drive; however, you’ll also need to purchase a DDR drive in which you can insert those modules.

The drive looks like a PCI card. All you need to do is insert your memory sticks in its slots and connect the device to your computer’s motherboard. But how does it work?

As you probably know, RAM is a type of volatile memory. Whenever you turn off your computer, the data stored on the RAM drive will be erased. This is the great disadvantage that made RAM drives fade into history as soon as SSDs emerged. You’d have to set up your computer to copy the files from the RAM drive to a hard drive before shutting down. Some RAM drives even came equipped with batteries to save the data for a while in case of a system crash.

That said, a RAM drive is great if you don’t need to save any files and you just want lightning-fast loading times.

5. Recycle

If your old RAM modules are damaged or no longer useful to anyone, you should consider recycling them. They still contain salvageable components and materials that you can use to create new RAM modules or different components. Look for a reputable company that recycles computer hardware properly without dumping everything in a landfill.

What did you do with your old ram sticks? Let us know in the comments below. 

Some people even fake their location just so they can cover up things that they’re up to or protect their privacy.

However, the most useful purpose of live location sharing is protecting your personal security. There are many situations where letting people know your location will help you stay safe and others informed of your immediate surroundings.

1. Walking in Public at Night

Your odds of being victimized while walking in public at night aren’t extremely high, but they may be higher than you expect.

According to the Bureau of Justice, men have a 37% chance and women have a 22% chance of getting robbed at least one or more times in their lifetime. Men have an 82% chance and women have a 62% chance of getting assaulted at least once in their lives.

These odds are even higher at night, when potential thieves feel like they use the cover of darkness.

By highlighting your location, you can get help sent to you much more quickly. Those few extra seconds can make the difference between life and death when you have someone standing in front of you holding a knife or a gun.

There are a few good ways to set up this kind of emergency location sharing.

On an iPhone, you can use the built-in Emergency SOS system to trigger a 911 call. The Emergency SOS app immediately texts all your emergency contacts with your current location. 

The Phone app that comes default on Android phones has a similar feature. When you use it to dial 911, your phone will display your address in text and on a map so you can read your location aloud to the 911 operator.

A couple of other apps that can do this include:

• SMS Text 911 (Android): See your location when you call 911, and automatically send a burst SMS to immediate family members with your GPS location.
• SirenGPS (Phone): Create an emergency profile so when you trigger the emergency call, first responders already know your contact details and your phone will provide your location.

It’s important to install these apps or prepare your phone ahead of time so you’re always ready to act immediately in an emergency any time you’re walking alone at night.

2. Never Go Lost While Hiking

Hiking is a fantastic pastime. It’s a great way to stay healthy, enjoy the great outdoors, and live in a spirit of exploration and adventure.

There’s much to see out in the wilderness. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most likely places where people get lost.

All it takes is stepping off a trail for just a very short distance, and it’s extremely easy to get turned around. Everything looks the same in every direction, and then the panic sets in.

The sad thing about this is that thanks to modern technology it’s extremely easy to use live location sharing to avoid getting lost or find your way back if you do get lost.

The following live location apps can help you stay on track, even when you feel like you’re completely lost in any forest.

• AllTrails: This app is by far the most useful whenever you’re going out in the wilderness. It’ll help you get information about hikes before you head out, but best of all it also lets you save maps to your phone for offline use. This is handy, especially when you may not have access to any mobile signals.
• FatMap: This app provides global 3D maps designed for outdoor adventurers. It’s one of the best maps for planning outdoor adventures, but best of all it features global offline access wherever you are.
• Hiking Project: This app was created for hikers. See your live location as a blue dot on the map. And even when you have no signal, you’ll still see your actual location. It’s about as close to a guarantee to not get lost as you can ask for.
• ViewRanger: This app offers a unique feature that lets you identify mountain peaks using augmented reality. This is a great way to use landmarks to identify your position. Best of all, it works offline with off-the-grid GPS technology.

The beauty of these and other live location apps is that they can tell you where you are even when you are clueless. They can also help emergency responders find you by letting you give your exact longitude and latitude coordinates if you still can’t find your way out.

3. Live Location Sharing During Business Trips

One of the most useful ways live location sharing comes in handy is putting your family at ease when you’re on a business trip. Help your spouse and children worry less by sharing your live location using the Google Maps app during the duration of your trip.

All they have to do is check their app using the link you’ve sent and they can see your current location at any time.

It can provide tremendous peace of mind for the rest of the family whenever any family member is traveling over a long distance. 

There are a lot of other ways apps can use your live location to help you during a business trip.

• Some receipt management apps integrate with your phone’s GPS sensor to log your location.
• Use mileage tracking apps to keep track of your mileage for your expense reports.
• Use Google Street View to get live and interactive walking navigation, especially if you’re trying to navigate a new city.

4. Keep Your Kids on a Digital Leash

There is nothing quite as terrifying as losing your small children in the middle of a crowd. This scenario is especially likely when you’re at certain locations like a festival or a theme park. It’s not only a scary experience for you, but also for your kids.

Make sure live location sharing is enabled on your children’s phone. You can either enable Google Maps live location sharing for the entire duration of the trip, or you can use one of the many other apps that let you track your children in real time. 

Connect and Protect Yourself

Mobile phones and apps get a lot of blame. But they can also be life saving devices. Making a call to let your loved ones know is an active way to give them peace of mind. You can take it a step further by using live location sharing to keep them in the loop. 

With just a few small tweaks, you’ll get much more from your Chromebook. These 12 tricks and tips should help get you started.

Learn The Keyboard Shortcuts

Chrome OS shares many keyboard shortcuts with Windows and macOS and adds a few completely new ones. Mastering these shortcuts will make your life easier, and help you navigate your Chromebook faster. 

For a handy reference to all of the shortcut keys available, press and hold Ctrl + Alt and press / (forward slash).

Make Better Use Of Screen Space

The ability to quickly split the screen between two different programs was traditionally a feature of Window Managers on Linux systems. Most operating systems offer window splitting and tiling, and Chrome OS is no different.

To bind a window to half the screen, hold Alt and press the [ key to bind to the left, and the ] key to bind it to the right. Where possible, the split point will be in the middle giving you a good view of both screens.

Need to see something full size for a moment? Holding Alt followed by = will maximize the focused window. When you are done, hit Alt + = to return it to its side.

Use Virtual Desks

Virtual desks are like extra monitors, each with their own layout. They allow you to separate out different screens for different tasks and cut down on cluttered, overcrowded digital workspaces.

To create a new desk, press the Show windows key (it looks like a rectangle with two lines to its right). Click the + New Desk button, and a new desk will be created at the top of your screen. Drag which windows you’d like to put on the new desk, and press the Show windows key again to exit. 

Now, when you hold the Search button and press ], you’ll move to your new virtual desk. You can move back by holding Search and pressing the [ key.

Phone Unlock

Since Chromebooks are tied to a Google account, you need to enter your Google password at login and when the screen is locked. You can avoid this with another useful Chromebook trick by using Android Smart Lock to unlock your Chromebook via Bluetooth whenever it’s nearby.

If you didn’t set up your phone when you created your Chromebook account, head to Settings > Connected Devices and click Set Up. Once your phone is connected, select your device, followed by Smart Lock to enable the feature.

Turn Web Pages Into Chrome Apps

One of the major frustrations with Chrome OS is poor support for some Android apps. Discord, Slack, Facebook, and WhatsApp all have issues, making them harder to use than their smartphone counterparts.

Applicationize Me solves this problem by allowing you to turn any web app into a Chrome App. After using the ‘Applicationizer,’ you can pin apps to the shelf and they will open in a new window when selected.

Change Downloads to Google Drive

While you can keep files locally on a Chromebook, it isn’t advised. The operating system is designed to free up space whenever the internal drive is almost full and will delete old files. If you need to Powerwash your Chromebook to return it to the factory settings you will also lose your data. 

A far safer way is to set your Chromebook’s download folder to your Google Drive, so you always have a copy of your work in the cloud. To activate this setting, open the Chrome browser, click the three dots in the top right corner, and select Settings.

On the left pane, select Advanced > Downloads, and under the section labeled Location, click Change. Choose your Google Drive folder as the default download location. 

Use Dropbox/OneDrive Instead

If you prefer to use Dropbox or OneDrive over Google Drive, a useful Chromebook tip is that you can add them to the Chromebook Files menu. Open the Files app, click on the three-dot menu in the top right of the window, and select Add New Service > Install New Service.

You’ll find both Dropbox and OneDrive on the list. Once installed, they’ll show as drives in the Files app’s left pane. You can combine this Chromebook tip with the previous one to have your Chromebook data sync to your preferred cloud platform.

Use Linux Features

To use the Linux Virtual Machine within Chrome OS, open Settings > Linux(beta). After selecting Turn On you’ll be prompted to follow a few steps. This can take a few minutes, but once it’s done you can open the Terminal by opening the Linux app in the application draw.

Get Linux App Store

Chrome OS supports a variety of Linux apps, which you can install from the Terminal. For a more convenient way of finding and installing software, use the Gnome Software Center.

Open the Linux app and enter the following:

sudo apt-get install gnome-software gnome-packagekit

Once installed, you’ll need to enter the following commands:

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get dist upgrade

When they finish, reboot your Chromebook, and you’ll find the Gnome Software Center in your application drawer.

Share your files with Linux

When you run Linux inside Chrome OS, the filesystems are separated by default. This can be overridden for files and folders you wish to share with Linux.

To enable file sharing, open the Files app, and navigate to the file or folder you wish to share with Linux. Right-click the file and select Share with Linux. Now you can open a Linux Terminal and type /mnt/chromeos to access the shared files.

Sync Your Linux Files with Google Drive

Backing up Linux files on a Chromebook takes more steps than on Chrome OS, but it’s possible. Both Rclone and Drive are command-line tools for synchronizing data with Google Drive. Once set up, you can choose how frequently your files are backed up, and which files and folders to ignore.

Install VS Code

Linux’s addition to Chrome OS turned Chromebooks into convenient development machines for web development and general programming. A good code editor is essential, but until recently, there weren’t many options.

Headmelted provides community builds of Visual Studio Code targeting almost every platform, including Chromebooks.

Chromebook: Upgraded

These Chromebook tips and tricks will take you from a casual Chromebook user to a Chrome OS and Linux dual-operating system power user. 

Don’t be scared to experiment to get the perfect setup for you, and remember that if everything goes wrong, you can always Powerwash your Chromebook and start again!

Many people seem to be in doubt when it comes to battery charging. There are plenty of myths and downright poor practices floating around, so we’ve decided to throw together a definitive guide to battery charging, so you can spend less time worrying about your batteries and more time enjoying your gadgets.

Battery Charging Chemistry

One of the most important things you need to know about batteries is that there are drastically different ways of making one. All batteries use chemicals to store electrical energy, but the specific chemistry at work determines what that battery’s characteristics are. 

For example, nickel-cadmium batteries can be charged relatively quickly, but suffer from the so-called “memory effect” where capacity seems to diminish if the battery isn’t completely discharged before recharging. Nickel metal hydride batteries have a higher capacity than nickel cadmium, but are sensitive to overcharging and can’t stand up to as many charge cycles.

For most modern electronics, the battery chemistry of choice is lithium ion. Specifically lithium polymer batteries. These batteries have the highest power to weight ratio, which makes them perfect for mobile phones, laptops and drones. This article is primarily about lithium ion batteries, because they are so common now. 

If you need to deal with charging batteries that use another chemistry, make a point of doing some homework on their respective quirks. An excellent place to start is the Battery University.

Battery Lifespan

Lithium polymer batteries have almost none of the drawbacks previous popular battery types have. There’s no memory effect, they charge pretty quickly these days and are very affordable. However, they do wear out every time you complete a full charge-discharge cycle. Each battery is rated for a certain number of these cycles, after which its maximum capacity starts to decline. Eventually the battery won’t hold a useful amount of charge and will have to be replaced.

These days, devices like phones, tablets and even some laptops don’t have batteries that can be removed. So replacing them usually requires an expensive visit to an authorized dealer.

The good news is that you can extend the useful life of a battery in a variety of ways. Check out our detailed guide on how to preserve your battery and keep it from needing replaced sooner than necessary.

A lot of this has to do with charging habits, such as allowing lithium batteries to discharge to 50% once or twice a month or taking certain devices off AC power once full. It’s a little more nuanced than that however, so be sure to give the aforementioned article a look if battery longevity is an issue that concerns you.

Using The Right Charger

Lithium batteries are actually pretty volatile, which is why regulations require that they have sophisticated protections to prevent flame outs, explosions and other dangerous events happening.

You may recall that imported electric scooters were responsible for burning down several people’s homes a few years ago. That’s because these devices lacked the safety features mandated by European and US authorities. So the lithium batteries inside received improper charging, causing a runaway reaction.

This is why it’s very important to only use battery charging equipment that conforms to the safety standards of the EU, the USA or the territory in which you live. Do not buy or use chargers or batteries that are not certified in this way. While devices such as smartphones themselves have safety features to prevent these types of catastrophic failures, they rely at least partly on the attached charger 

While safety is an important reason to use the correct charger, the other reason to match the right charger to your device is charging speed. Different devices may have different fast-charging standards. So if you use a charger and phone with mismatched fast charging standards, they’ll fall back to the standard lowest common denominator.

USB has a safe, but very slow basic charging speed. Qualcomm has “Quick Charge”, Samsung has “Adaptive Fast Charging” and USB 3.1 over USB-C has “Power Delivery”.

Most modern chargers support multiple fast charging modes, so it’s likely at least one of them will work with your device. However in almost all cases you’ll get the best results with a charger from the same manufacturer as the device.

Some power banks, such as this Romoss 30+ model support just about every connection type and both Quick Charge and USB-C Power Delivery. It can also fast charge itself, which makes a huge difference with a bank that large. 

Incidentally, if you want to know more about power banks, check out our detailed article on these handy portable power bricks.

Software Battery Charge Controls

Modern devices that contain lithium batteries such as smartphones or laptops usually have sophisticated battery charging software that helps manage the health of those batteries. They monitor the temperature and voltages, keeps detailed records of the battery history, and controls the charge level based on what the device is being used for.

For example, even if your phone shows that it’s at 100% charge, the truth is probably somewhere slightly lower than this. Because lithium batteries degrade more quickly if they are constantly kept at 100% capacity, the phone will discharge a little if left plugged in overnight, to prevent stress to the battery. 

The latest macOS devices also have this feature. If you mainly use your MacBook plugged in, the battery will discharge to 90% and stay there, drastically increasing the lifespan of the battery.

Long-term Battery Storage

This brings up another issue with battery charging: device storage. Lithium batteries will discharge at a slow rate all by themselves sitting on a shelf. If you leave them to drain completely, the battery may become permanently unusable. However, charging them to 100% and then storing them isn’t a great idea either, for the same reasons we just discussed above.

We can take a lesson from “intelligent” batteries such as those found in DJI’s drones. These batteries time how long it’s been since they’ve been used. Leave them on the shelf for too long and they’ll self discharge to about 60% capacity and then try to maintain that.

If you’re going to put a phone or other lithium device away over the long term, charge it up to around 60% before putting it away. Then check once a month to ensure the battery hasn’t gone below 30%. If it gets close to that figure charge it back up to 60%. This way the battery should still be fine when you need to use it again.

Lithium Battery Revival

Lithium batteries have a protection circuit in them that will put the battery to sleep if it gets discharged too much. In some cases it’s possible to bring these batteries back to life by using special chargers that have a “boost” mode.

This is not always successful and if the battery has been over-discharged for too long it can be dangerous to attempt this. If you have a battery that can’t simply be replaced, we recommend taking it to a specialist for an attempted revival.

Battery Charging Safety

As we noted earlier, Lithium batteries are pretty volatile. While modern lithium batteries have many safety features built in, they do still fail. One of the most sensitive times is during charging, so you need to be extra vigilant when juicing up your lithium-powered device.

Never charge a device with a puffy, swollen battery. While a bit of heat is normal when charging a lithium battery, a very hot device could be a sign of imminent failure.

Think carefully about where you charge your devices. Are they close to other objects that could burn up easily? It’s better to charge lithium devices in a designated area where battery failure can be contained. If you’re really concerned, consider getting a Lipo Guard. You can place charging devices or batteries inside it and, should they fail, the explosion and flame is contained within the special materials the bag is made of.

Replacement Batteries

No matter how well you treat your batteries, they will eventually need a replacement. Whether you do this yourself or have a professional handle the installation, be very careful of the batteries you choose. There are many counterfeit batteries or poor quality unauthorized replacement batteries on the market. 

They may seem attractive with the same on-paper specifications and capacity at a lower price. However, using such a battery significantly increases the chances of something going wrong. All those stories of people who get hurt from phones exploding in their faces or in their pockets more often than not made use of knockoff batteries. It’s just not worth it to save a few bucks.