Electronics and Toys

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Electronics and Entertainment Gifts

Electronics and entertainment items are popular holiday gifts that often cost a pretty penny. Our shopping cart for this category includes an HDTV, two gaming systems, several video games and DVDs, a Kindle, a laptop, a desktop computer, a digital photo frame, an iPad, and two bestselling books.

This is the category with the greatest number of identical gifts offered by both retailers. Prices are also identical, nearly to the penny. A 42-inch LG LCD HDTV with the same specs, for example, costs $498 at Walmart and $497.99 at Amazon. The Xbox 360 sells for $199 at both venues and the paperback edition of Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire is priced at $10.97 at Walmart and $10.85 at Amazon. On the other hand, Amazon's signature Kindle e-reader, equipped with a keyboard and Wi-Fi, carries a $99 price tag compared with $114 at Walmart. Amazon also sells cheaper and higher-end Kindle models, while the Walmart store we visited stocked just this one. We didn't find a digital photo frame with identical specs at Amazon and Walmart, but the cheapest and most similar eight-inch frame each retailer carries comes from Philips; the Walmart version includes a remote and sells for $69 compared with $69.95 on Amazon for a model without a remote. As one shopper advises on My3Cents, it's always a good idea to check the technical specs when comparison shopping because retailers such as Walmart try to keep a lid on prices by carrying models with fewer or different features than the competition.

Flatscreen televisions at Walmart.

For the other cheap gifts in this category, we found differences in price and/or shopping options. The two DVDs on our list, The Fighter and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, are cheaper at Amazon (by 50 percent for the Harry Potter DVD, which is priced at $7.49 compared with Walmart's $15). One of the two video games on our list, culled from a report in BetaNews about the best video games for the 2011 holiday season, is almost identically priced (Madden NFL 12 costs $39.96 at Walmart and $39.95 at Amazon) and the other differs by about $3 (Gears of War 3 costs $59.96 at Walmart and $56.99 at Amazon). One minor distinction between Walmart and Amazon in the video games segment concerns product availability. Many of the season's hottest video games will be released throughout the holiday shopping season. If hype and buzz propel a game into the popular stratosphere, it may be hard to snag in a store on release day, so preordering is a fail-safe strategy. With Amazon, you can preorder a copy to lock in the price and guarantee receipt, although not necessarily on the release date. Walmart.com boasts a pre-order option with a 97-cent shipping fee that ensures delivery on the release date.

Toys.

Toys, toys, and more toys -- perfect for any child on your cheap Christmas gift list this holiday season. As with video games, we sought expert advice about the hottest toys for the 2011 holiday shopping season and found a helpful list compiled by The Street. Of the 15 items mentioned, the Walmart store we visited carries six and Amazon, the online holiday shopping source, sells nine. For the toys carried by both retailers, prices are quite similar. The greatest price difference shows up in a 12-inch kid's bike by Huffy: Walmart sells an unnamed model with training wheels for $39.97 compared with $51.73 at Amazon for the Pro Thunder model, also with training wheels. Walmart is clearly the better deal, but not only for price: The bike comes fully assembled, at no extra charge. If you order this cheap Christmas gift from Amazon, you're on your own.

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Amazon

Amazon scores with a huge selection of items and brands and a positive overall user experience. Frugal shoppers appreciate the 24/7 stay-at-home convenience of shopping at Amazon, the low prices, and the free shipping options. The scale of the site makes navigating unwieldy for some, and others may have qualms about ordering items without first looking them over.

Walmart

Walmart shines in several areas, offering a return policy that's easy to understand and use, price-matching programs, and low prices. The in-store selections are somewhat limited, but Walmart.com expands shopping options. Some shoppers are put off by crowds and slow checkouts and the need to leave home to make a purchase.

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Products Mentioned in This Review

Amazon
Walmart

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