I figured this crowd would appreciate the usefulness of this little Apple product buying guide.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

It basically gives you product cycle trends for Apple products and lets you know where each product is currently in its cycle. That way you can gauge whether or not you should hold out for a few more months when trying to decide whether or not to buy now. For instance, anyone following this, would have known not to buy an iPad in February 2012.

Bryan --

Thanks for posting this! I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation generated by your link, but I thought the info there is really helpful.

ER

Ditto that! I check that site all the time when I'm dreaming of spending money on new goodies. Thanks for sharing, Bryan!

It's also a good site to know when to SELL your Mac stuff :)  I sold my iPad shortly before the next version came out, and just a week later Apple had them refurbished for a hundred less. 

Thanks Bryan.  Sweet site!

Bryan, a big ";Thank you!";  I wish I had found this site sooner.  There's some great info on the site.

Here's something you may have heard about that I am enjoying right now:

http://www.gazelle.com/

They buy old smartphones -- including iPhones -- fix them up and sell them... somewhere... black market?

Anyhow, we've sold four of our old iPhones back and have made a couple hundred dollars on them. For instance, my iPhone 4 with awful screen crack still garnered $87. And my wife's old 3gs brought $75 (screen was good).

They give automatic quotes, will send you a box to ship it in for free (and free shipping back to them), then send the money via PayPal or check if you want.

Those four phones were effectively paperweights sitting in my desk not being used. Cash is better.

I second the Gazelle recommendation. Have used them several times, and it's super handy. It's a good way to offset the cost of a new iGoodie when new ones come out.

Very cool site/info, Eric.  Thanks for the tip!