While America weans itself off of ‘irrational exuberance’ and its consumeristic tendencies, more and more people will be making purchases based primarily on cost. This goes doubly for college students. We get included on a few deals since we are in school– we get cheaper tickets for movies at the State Theatre and Bill Cosby performances in Eisenhower.

We also get access to Penn State’s Computer Store. They have locations in the HUB and Willard, in addition to their online storefront. But, are they any cheaper than the multitude of online merchants available through a simple Google Search? We think not.

We compared prices for a bunch of products that college students would be likely to purchase. Here’s what we found. (Disclaimer: this is as scientific as you should expect from a kid in the College of Liberal Arts. In other words, not at all.)

Item: MacBook Air (1.86Ghz 2GB 128GB SS Drive)
Penn State Price: $2,299.00
Apple Education Store Price: $2,299.00

Item: Ultrasharp Dell 20″ Widescreen Display
Penn State Price: $207.32
Dell Education Store Price: $199.00

Item: 500GB USB External Hard Drive by LaCie
Penn State Price: $89.59
Tiger Direct Price: $79.99

Item: Office 2008 for Mac
Penn State Price: $75.00
Amazon Price: $97.99

Item: Office Home & Student 2007 for PC
Penn State Price: $92.07
Tiger Direct Price: $79.95

Item: Dell Latitude E5400 Laptop (14.1inch 2.26GHz 2GB 250GB DVDRW)
Penn State Price: $1313.00
Dell Education Store Price: $1,349.00

There are a few things that the Penn State Computer store can sell at cheaper prices than the online merchants, but not many. It’s worth checking before you make a purchase, however it’s just not robust or cheap enough to be the only thing you check.