This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Sometimes you have to pay full price. Oh well. :) These are the big distributors that supply and keep thousands of parts on stock!
Distributor Search Engines
FindChips.com If you know your part number, go here and search more than a dozen popular distributors at once! It's on my toolbar right next to Digikey and Google
Octopart.com A new type of engine where you actually type in the description. Has photos, but still in development!
China IC Mart If you are buying in sufficient quantity, this search engine allows you to find sellers with the ICs you want. Ed. note: These 'IC search' systems tend to be grade-A 100% nonsense
Smaller shops
This has been moved to Boutiques
Bigger shops
These places are massive, and stock pretty much everything!
Digikey The best in the business: gigantic collection of in-stock parts, reasonably low costs, amazing searchable website, will sell small quantities of most stuff, doesn't rip you off for shipping and (most importantly) ships your order within the hour. Yes, hour. Next day really means next day. Get their catalog & cuddle it before you go to bed…they're more dependable than your boyfriend ever will be.
Mouser Second only to DigiKey, Mouser is a hot-shot distributor with often-cheaper prices and if you place a large order they'll often upgrade your shipping from UPS ground to 2nd day!
Allied A so-so company, but tend to have a lot more things like switches, pots, etc. than the above.
Newark/InOne/MCM Nobody likes Newark, so use them as a last resort. They'll charge you $25 to ship a small cardboard box by UPS ground. Grrr.
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/ Their range is amazing but so are their prices. When I first saw them I thought I was dealing with a different currency.
