The Cheapskate

Got storage? You can get a Cavalry 500GB external USB drive for a mere $79.99 shipped. Granted, you'll have to wait on a $15 mail-in rebate, but you can spend the time filling this half-terabyte drive with all your videos, MP3s, backup files, and so on.

The NTFS-formatted Cavalry drive spins at a peppy 7,200 rpm and supports both Mac and Windows systems. Plus, it's stackable, so you can build a tower of terabytes if that's your thing.

Having recently experienced a near-catastrophic hard drive failure, I can't recommend an external drive highly enough. … Read more

Magazine-subscription service TradePub is offering a free one-year subscription to PC Magazine. All you have to do is complete a form and wait up to 12 weeks for your first issue to arrive (assuming you meet the publisher's "demographic and geographic requirements," that is).

What's the catch? Well, you're divulging your personal information, of course, including your e-mail address, but TradePub says simply that "you are giving us permission to contact you via email about your subscription and concerning customer service requests." Sounds pretty harmless. Will you end up receiving newsletters, promotional offers, … Read more

It's rare enough to find a 22-inch LCD for $200, but $179.99? That's a steal. And that's TigerDirect's price on the refurbished Gateway FPD2275W. Best of all, there's no rebate: $179.99 is your out-the-door price (plus about $17 for shipping).

Spec-wise, the monitor seems pretty solid. It offers a native resolution of 1680x1050, a 5ms response time (important for games, movies, and other fast-moving video), VGA and HDCP-compliant DVI inputs, and even a 4-port USB hub. CNET rated the monitor pretty highly, but found fault with its short warranty.

Unfortunately, the warranty on … Read more

Creative is clearing out a mess of refurbished gear, including 1GB Zen Stone MP3 players for $13.99, 2GB Zen Stone Plus players for $21.99, and my personal favorite: the 4GB Zen for $64.99. All prices include shipping!

In case you're unfamiliar with it, the Zen is Creative's answer to the 3rd-gen iPod nano. It offers a 2.5-inch screen, an FM tuner, an SDHC slot (for adding up to 16GB of extra storage via cheapo memory cards), a voice recorder, and support for music-subscription services. You can also stock it with TV shows and movies … Read more

Sure, you can safeguard your PC with various freeware security apps, but there's something to be said for having a single program that protects you from viruses, spyware, phishing, hackers, and so on. Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is such a program, and Amazon has it on sale for $30--minus a $30 mail-in rebate. Shipping is free, bringing the grand total to zero dollars.

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (wow, what an embarrassingly bad name) combines real-time anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-phishing tools with a managed firewall, a data backup utility, and system optimization. You can protect … Read more

Remember the Samsung CLP-300 compact color laser printer from a couple months back? It was a refurbished unit for around $125. Now, Staples has the Samsung CLP-300 new for $99.98 shipped (after a $150 mail-in rebate).

Yeah, that's a pretty hefty rebate to wait on, though I think Staples has a pretty good reputation in that department (you can submit the form online, and you don't need to hassle with UPC stickers or anything like that). The bigger caveat is that the printer itself is just mediocre, according to CNET's review and the reviews of other Staples customers. … Read more

If you use your PC for games, music, movies, TV, or anything else involving your ears, nothing beats a set of surround-sound speakers. Buy.com has the Logitech X-540 5.1-channel speaker system on sale for $44.99 shipped (after a $20 mail-in rebate).

The X-540 includes four wall-mountable satellite speakers, a center speaker (which has a clip for attaching to flat-panel monitors), and a subwoofer--all of which combine to pump out 70 watts of audio power. The wired remote includes a headphone jack so you can plug in when the neighbors start complaining.

CNET never officially reviewed the X-540, … Read more

I've mentioned before my love--no, lurve--for high-def camcorders. Here's your chance to grab one for just about the lowest price I've seen: Vanns.com and WilloughBys are both offering the Canon HV10 for $499 shipped. (Actually, it's $499.98 at Vanns, so budget accordingly.) These are factory-refurbished units that include a manufacturer's warranty (though neither site specifies the duration; I'd ask before ordering).

The tape-based Canon HV10 captures full 1080i video and 2.7-megapixel still photos. It's chock full of advanced features, including optical image stabilization, a 10x optical zoom, and lots of … Read more

As I've mentioned in the past, wireless printers rock. No, they rawk. For the last couple months I've been beaming documents through the Wi-Fi ether to a Brother HL-2170W, and let me tell you: I'm through with USB. It's just so liberating to stick a printer wherever the heck you want instead of having it tethered to your desk.

The HL-2170W lists for $150 and sells on the e-street for around $130, but you can snag one from Newegg for $99.99 shipped. CNET rated the printer 7.3 out of 10, but three users gave … Read more