This means those extravagant, expensive gifts such as televisions and laptops bought in previous years may be out of the question this holiday season. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still buy a gadget which will brighten the heart of any geek you have in your family. It’s all about choosing your gift wisely in order to remain under your budget.

Headphones & Speakers

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An expensive desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or MP3 player is pointless without the right audio equipment. Buying a set of headphones or speakers can make all the difference to the geek in your life. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to do so.

High-end speakers and headphones are fantastic, granted, but who has $100-and-up to spend on the latest ‘Beats by Dr. Dre’ or Altec Lansing speaker systems? Logitech and Creative are recommended for budget 2.1 systems, while capsule speakers outperform for their size and stature. Sony, Sennheiser, and JVC all come highly recommended for affordable but classy headphones.

Smartphone Cases & Covers

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You may not be able to afford to buy your loved ones the latest smartphone such as the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but you can help them deck their handset out in style. Covers for smartphones cost just a few dollars but can help make them stand out from the crowd in a big, bold way.

The options available are virtually limitless. Classic one-color designs which give a smartphone a classy look and glossy feel; pink, shiny, sequined affairs for the most glamorous girls; retro covers to make a modern-day phone look like it belongs in the 1980s; a design for the zeitgeist, from Angry Birds to fashion labels.

USB Flash Drives

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OK, so a USB flash drive isn’t exactly the most inspiring or exciting gift someone could open on Christmas day. But it beats socks and toiletries. It’s also an essential weapon in any computer user’s arsenal. Most people will be able to back up their most important data – photos, documents, bookmarks – to a flash drive without any problems. And doing so regularly could save a great deal of anguish should their hard drive ever fail.

Prices of USB flash drives have dropped so much that you now need only spend a few dollars to get 8GB, and doubling the price will pretty much double the amount of memory.

Tablet/eBook Reader Accessories

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An iPad or Android-based alternative is an expensive item by anyone’s standards. A Kindle or eBook Reader is more affordable, but still possibly out of range for most people in these times of austerity. Thankfully there are accessories aplenty available for this hardware. All of which cost just a few dollars but which make great gifts.

These range from covers and cases, through sleeves and skins, to reading lights and power adapters. Oh, and wireless keyboards which gives tablet owners the option of turning their device into a notebook. All completely unnecessary but desirable additions for these mobile form factors.

Video Games

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Gamers come in all shapes and sizes these days, and more importantly, in all age groups. Which makes video games a worthy purchase for all who like to spend time staring at a screen for hours at a time. Assuming they actually own a console or high-end PC, of course.

The latest releases on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii retail at anywhere between $30 and $60 from new. Which is relatively cheap for an item that can literally provide hours of entertainment. But there are bargains to be had by buying older games. All three home consoles have now matured, so there are classic games released around launch that can be picked up for just a few dollars. Or you can buy pre-owned software and lower the price even more.

Blu-rays

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Blu-ray players are still relatively expensive to buy. Unless you’re also a gamer and have the luxury of one being built into your PS3, which, incidentally, is one of the cheapest top-end Blu-ray players you can buy right now. But the actual Blu-ray movies themselves have come down in price considerably, meaning they’re a viable gift idea for anyone on a tight budget.

Even the latest Blu-ray releases are highly affordable, retailing at around $20. Box-sets can be more expensive, but classic and highly watchable series such as The Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are all available for under $100. Just check that the recipient actually has the hardware in place before you start updating their movie collection for them.

Conclusion

As you can see, you don’t have to spend a fortune in order to give someone a present from the technology category. So what if none of the above compete with a new 50-inch LED TV or iPad 2, I’d be ecstatic to receive any of them wrapped up and sitting under the Christmas tree. And your bank manager will stay nicely contented as well.

Image Credits: TheDarkThing, kaeru.my, emilydickinsonridesabmx, Nedko, bfishadow, Rad Jose, Michael_Spencer.

The post Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Shopping on a Budget Edition first appeared on Techerator.

We would love to be some assistance to you during your planning phase by highlighting some of the best consumer electronic and gadget deals that retail stores around the country have to offer.

We will be constantly updating this throughout the week all the way up to Black Friday Eve!

* = Doorbuster

Amazon.com

All phones (except the iPhone) from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T are on sale for a $0.01 with a new line of service. If you purchase a hotspot-ready smartphone and activate it, you get a $100 Amazon Gift Card.

Samsung 46-inch 1080p LED HDTV – $799

Walmart

Xbox 360 4GB Console with Gears of War 3, three months of Xbox Live, and a $50 Walmart Gift Card – $199

Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect, Kinect Adventures, and a $50 Walmart Gift Card – $199

PlayStation 3 160GB Console with Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, LittleBigPlanet 2, and three months of Plus membership – $199

Nintendo Wii Limited Edition Blue Console with MotionPlus and Nunchuck – $99

LG Blu-ray Disc Player – $49

HP DJ-3051A All-in-One Wireless Printer – $39

FujiFilm FinePix S3280 Digital Camera – $129

RadioShack

HP 15.6-inch Laptop with Intel Core i3-370M 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD – $349

Canon Powershot A2200 14.1 Megapixel 4x Optical Zoom Digital Camera with $10 Radioshack Gift Card – $89

Staples

Kindle Touch 3G + WiFi with $20 Staples Gift Card – $149

Kindle Touch WiFi with $20 Staples Gift Card – $99

Nook Color with $25 Staples Gift Card – $199

SanDisk Cruzer 64GB USB Flash Drive – $69

Best Buy

*Sharp 42-inch LCD 1080p HDTV – $199

*Dynex 24-inch LCD 1080p HDTV – $79

*Samsung 15.6-inch Laptop with Intel Pentium Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD – $299

8GB Apple iPod Touch 4th gen with $50 Best Buy Gift Card – $195

*HTC Thunderbolt w/ 2-year activation – Free

HTC EVO Shift 4G w/ 2-year activation – $1

HTC Incredible 2 w/ 2-year activation – $1

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 3TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive – $99

*Asus Eee Pad Transformer 10.1-inch Tablet – $249

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Docking Station – $99

Acer Iconia Tab A100 7-inch Tablet – $189

Toshiba Thrive 10.1-inch Tablet – $279

Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle with Fable III and Halo: Reach and 3 Months of Xbox Live – $199

Xbox Live 3 Month Gold Membership – $7.99

Playstation 3 160GB Console with LittleBigPlanet 2 and Ratchet & Clank – $199

Red Nintendo 3DS Bundle with Super Mario 3D Land – $179

Black Nintendo 3DS Bundle with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – $179

Assortment of DVDs as low as $0.99 and Blu-Rays as low as $4.99

Target

Xbox 360 4GB Console – $139

Amazon Kindle Keyboard – $85

Nikon L105 Digital Camera – $99

Sprint (All require new line activation with two-year commitment)

Samsung Nexus S 4G with $25 Google Wallet credit – Free

HTC EVO 3D – $99

HTC EVO View 4G – $249

Samsung Conquer 4G – $49

OfficeMax

Canon MX870 Color Inkjet Pixma Wireless All-in-One Printer – $79

HP Laserjet Pro Printer – $99

HP Color Inkjet Photosmart Premium Wireless e-All-in-One Printer – $79

Image Credit: LittleMissPip

The post 2011 Black Friday Shopping Guide first appeared on Techerator.

As I believe I’ve stated on most (if not all) of my past articles, I am kind of lazy. I did not line up at 2:30am on Black Friday in hopes of scoring huge deals. In addition to that, I am in college, therefore I am, let’s say, not as financially well off as I would like to be. An obvious fix for this would be to become less lazy and stand in line on Black Friday and get things for cheap. Or, I could just shop online.

Shopping online has made bargain shopping not only easy, but almost hard not to do. In the past you drove to Best Buy to look at a TV, and if it was in your price range you probably picked it up. You did this because Wal-Mart was on the other end of town and you didn’t want to risk going all the way there only to find it was more expensive and have to drive back. What a pain.

Or, you could wait until Sunday and compare sales ads. These babies told you what the hot deals were, but really nothing else. Sure that TV is only $400, but how many HDMI input ports does it have? Does it even have HDMI? Is it HD as in anything that’s not 480p or is it true 1080p HD?

Add to all of this the fact the abysmal odds of two ads from different stores showing the exact same product on sale, and it’s pretty easy to see that shopping this way also had its drawbacks.

Then came the internet

(Insert angelic voices and rays of sunshine here)

Now, going to Best Buy only takes 5 seconds. Running over to Target to check their deals only takes another 5 seconds. In 15 minutes you have run all over town and checked out every deal available. All without having to put pants on.

This obviously has its advantages (seriously, who wants to put on pants on a Sunday?), but there’s more! Ever find it a bit coincidental that the floor salesman always recommends the most expensive of whatever you happen to be looking for and, that for whatever reason it is better from their place than it would be from another store? No more!

Probably one of the best things I like about shopping online is the customer reviews. I pay a lot of attention to customer reviews because they usually point out incredibly good aspects of the product I’m looking to buy, or some potential problems about them that I might otherwise miss. Some things I take into consideration are manufactures warranty and mail-in rebates. A website may list the price of an item as $20 off with mail in rebate, but if a look at the reviews informs me that getting said rebate is a hassle, I’ll try a different product.

Another way to save money is to take advantage of sites like Woot.com. If you haven’t Wooted yet, I would strongly recommend it. Woot sells one item a day (unless a Woot Off! is going on in which they sell a product until it runs out and then move to another one). This one item they sell is usually hugely discounted from what it normally runs.

The important thing to remember with Woot is that the only way you’re saving money is when you’re buying something that you would have had to buy anyway at a higher price. If you bought every good deal that was available on Woot.com you would probably make a purchase every day (and have about 394 Roombas). Another thing to note with Woot is that sometimes they will sell refurbished products (which accounts for a better-than-average deal). It is always stated on the product information if they are new or refurbished, so it might be worth checking if the warranty is still intact, etc.

Another great place to find deals is with Gizmodo’s Dealzmodo. Once a day, the Gizmodo team puts together a list of great deals from all around the internet. The deals come in all shapes and sizes: TV’s, game consoles, iPhone apps, etc.

Gain an advantage with research

One great, money-saving way to use the internet is to educate yourself. Exactly what about that laptop makes it so expensive? Maybe it’s because it has a dedicated graphics card and a quad-core processor. It doesn’t take a lot of research to figure out that you don’t need that if you’re just going on the internet and writing Techerator articles.

The same thing applies to almost any item. If you do some research, you can often find exactly what you need and not have to pay for extras you aren’t going to use.

Research can also let you in on some secrets such as how marked-up the prices of some products are in department stores.  For instance, talk to anyone that works at a Best Buy and ask them how much mark-up is added to cables and accessories. It’s ridiculous and might make you a bit nauseous. Online sites that make their own cables and sell them without ridiculous mark-ups can literally save you hundreds of dollars.

Last time I checked, the cheapest HDMI cable I could buy at my local Best Buy was around $25 (for a 6′ cable). I recently bought a 25’ HDMI cable to go from my Xbox 360 to my projector and paid $27 at www.monoprice.com. That same 6 foot cable you buy at Best Buy will cost you about $3 at monoprice.com.

Conclusion

The internet has saved my wallet over the years. I pride myself on getting good deals, especially on electronics, and I know I’ve saved hundreds of dollars just by buying all my cables online.

What are your online money-saving secrets? Do you have a site you like to frequent because of some great money-saving deals? Let us all know in the comments.

The post How I Used the Internet to Save Time and Money While Shopping first appeared on Techerator.

Microsoft recently announced free upgrades to Office 2010 if you purchase and activate an Office 2007 product between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010.

Several qualifying Office 2007 products are listed below, and you can check out the complete list at the end of this post.

• Office Home and Student 2007
• Office Small Business 2007
• Office Professional 2007
• Office Publisher 2007

Microsoft Office 2010 is looking very good so far, and if you want to try it out before it officially releases you can download and install the free Office 2010 beta.

For more information check out the official Office 2010 upgrade page and FAQ.

The post Great Deal: Buy Office 2007 Now, Get Free Upgrade to Office 2010 in June first appeared on Techerator.