I shopped on line and in town, and decided that it was worth the tricial extra cost to not have to do so much myself, but buy at a big store and take it to them to replace stuff... I only do software, as in the old light bulb joke. It was basically a choice of laziness, not price. Price was better online. But when one boy destroyed my mouse, I had another in 15 mn, not the next day.

One thing I did do at the store was refuse any prepackaged deal. I shopped (read: bargained) for the monitor, the this, the that, and ended up with a free scanner and spike bar and other accoutrements by chatting up the salesguy and then calling in the manager for a sweet smile... Without that, it would have been even cheaper, by comparison, online.

Never be afraid to bargain just because prices are set, if you're dropping a respectable amount of cash.