Forbes says buy an HDTV and a laptop computer now

Mitsubishi

According to a recent article on Forbes.com, Ten Things To Buy Before The Economy Improves, now is the time to buy a variety of products. While the article mentions 10 different categories of products, two of them will really be of interest to us, the consumer electronics fan.

 

The categories are TVs and laptop computers. Let’s see why:

 

Large Screen TVs. Historically TV prices over the years have only gone in one direction and that is down. Of late, the prices of large screen HDTVs have dropped around 9% according to the February Consumer Price Index. As more and more manufacturers get into the large screen arena, the tendency is for prices to go down. Also, right now, people are saving their money at a much higher rate than previously. In fact, personal savings in 2008 was nearly six times greater than in 2005. This reduces the disposable income that people will use for things like TVs. With less buyers in the market, and more manufacturers producing the TVs, it’s a simple case of supply and demand, less demand + more supply = lower prices! To my way of thinking, you can now find a very good quality, large, feature rich, LCD TV for under that magic $1000 price point. Now may be just the time to get off the fence and finally take the leap to a large screen HDTV.

Laptop computers. Computer prices dropped in the Consumer Price Index by 13% in February. While the CPI doesn’t break out laptop prices, it would make sense that the prices have dropped significantly. Laptop features continue to increase with each new model introduced even as the prices have dropped. Additionally, since there has been so much interest in netbooks, laptop sales have been declining. In fact, Paul Ryder, vice president of consumer electronics for Amazon.com has confirmed that this has been exactly the case at Amazon. Once again, the laws of supply and demand are in force, with less demand for laptops the price has declined.

 

In addition to all of the above, keep in mind a couple of other factors that point to purchasing now. If you don’t want to pay for your new toy in full, interest rates probably can’t go much lower. Also, I fear we will see inflation rear its ugly head. Generally speaking, inflation tends to pick up as a recession ends. I think inflation could be quite significant this time around, causing prices and interest rates to rise. Now seems like a very good time to buy.