Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve never been to Costco (only Sam’s Club), but I constantly hear from friends and family about the store’s great offers on electronics–not to mention 30-packs of TP and prime rib. Of course, Costco isn’t the first store that comes to my mind when I want to buy a computer or a digital camera, but I have to admit that I’m a bit curious.

If you’re a Costco member, then you’ve probably already taken advantage of some of the discount warehouse’s electronics deals. If you’re not a member, you can still purchase items from Costco via Costco.com. However, non-members must pay a 5 percent surcharge over the posted product price. For example, if you want to buy a $99.99 MP3 player from Costco and don’t have a membership number, you would have to pay an extra $5 for your online order. That 5 percent surcharge, though, can definitely make or break a good deal, so I wanted to investigate.

In today’s TechSaver Test, I picked Costco.com’s summer savings on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi Digital SLR Camera (with 18-55mm IS Lens & 55-250mm IS Zoom Lens combo), the HP TouchSmart IQ546t 22″, the Creative ZEN MX 16GB portable media player, and the Mobile Edge Laptop Eco Messenger Bag. Find out if it’s better to be a Costco member or not, after the jump.