I think with the outrageous prices on some hardware, it pays more to shop around and try to find a good deal. Also, with the rapid progression in the computer industry, an upgraded piece of hardware is only considered fast for what seems to be a small amount of time (and is getting smaller yearly).
When the P300 was released, I thought to myself: who the heck needs a CPU that fast? Now, I have trouble using any machine that is slower than 800mhz (except for my G4 Macs - I never expect them to get faster than 500mhz).
The point is: it would be unwise to be financially care free since your top notch piece of hardware is going to be tomorrow's slow poke in less than a year. Unless, of course, you're making huge amounts of cash and are just itching to spend it on anything. Why not look for the best deal possible and not pay MSRP if you don't have to?