Ever hear of "free samples"? How about $0.00 for the part and $0.00 for shipping. So many chip manufacturers will send a few parts to whoever wants to order t

Ever hear of "free samples"? How about $0.00 for the part and $0.00 for shipping. So many chip manufacturers will send a few parts to whoever wants to order them. Atmel sample store: https://secure.atmel.com/forms/secure/verifylogin.aspx?target_url=samplestore https://secure.atmel.com/forms/secure/verifylogin.aspx?targe... For students on a budget, or anyone interested in electronics, you should be ordering free samples. May latest score is two ADXL362 chips, normally sell for ~$9 each in qty 1. I got them shipped express from asia, totally free. I've gotten tons of microcontroller chips, small graphic LCDs (as well as the associated touch-screens), even a laptop touchpad, all types of LEDs, and many other components. My workbench would make most EE labs blush, and a lot of it was totally FREE, including shipping.