Tech Spenders Turn Choosy

But penny-pinching corporations might find even more savings potential in VMware competitors like Microsoft(MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks), whose virtualization product, currently in beta testing, is free for companies who have already paid for the Microsoft Windows license.

Bargain Hunting

Betting on companies with the cheapest widgets is not necessarily a surefire investment strategy, cautions Bill Gorman, vice president of equity research at PNC Wealth Management.

If a lower price means lower quality, then corporate customers may not bite, even in a weak economy, he notes.

"From my experience in past downturns, companies would rather either defer or just cancel [a project]" rather than go with the low-cost provider, he adds.

Moreover, some low-priced technology comes from companies with too much other unsavory baggage.

Advanced Micro Devices'(AMD Quote - Cramer on AMD - Stock Picks) latest generation of server microprocessors are more or less comparable to Intel's(INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) (Intel's currently boast a faster clock speed), yet they sell at a discount -- a fact that might well endear AMD's chips to businesses looking to save a few bucks on server purchases.

But AMD has so many other problems, including more than $5 billion in debt and a long, murky path to profitability, that the stock needs more than a rebound in demand from corporate customers. As it is, AMD's stock is down roughly 60% from its 52-week high of $16.19.

Depending on how long the economic downturn lasts, troubled tech firms as well as healthy ones will face increasing pressure to lower their prices as customers push for deeper discounts and seek to play the sellers off each other. The resulting drop in profit margins, in addition to any shifts in market share, could turn out to be the real legacy of the current economic slowdown.

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