Re: Buying New PC

Mark,

Others have opined and, as always, YMMV.  I'm not a huge fan of Dell,
primarily because of proprietary mobos and support based in India.
Proprietary mobos are a no-no in my book, unless you *never* plan on
upgrading it.  Upgrading components on proprietary boards tends to be
costlier.  Others with experience may differ, but I've heard that Dells are
extremely finicky on RAM replacements.

1) Looking at your internet usage, I presume you're not using dial-up.  My
minimum requirements nowadays for broadband at home is a firewall/router.

2) As far as LCDs: LOOK FOR THE SALES!  Learn and pay attention to the
important attributes: contrast ratio, brightness(?), dead pixel policy,
speed (especially for games and video).  A good deal for a decent (on specs,
brand name) 19" LCD is just under $200.  Black Friday, IIRC, saw a Samsung
MultiSync 19" LCD for $170 AR.  17" obviously less expensive, and might be
the way to go for a first LCD.
CRTs?  I haven't noticed any sales on 'em lately, but I'm sure there are
some good deals out there.

3) Not sure you can even buy 60GB anymore!

4) Open Office 2.0

5) Again, I am seeing DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drives offered as standard optical
devices on a lot of systems now.

6) Almost always on the mobo nowadays.

7) I don't think you can buy a PC or mobo nowadays that doesn't have USB
ports.

And, this gives me a perfect opportunity to gloat. ;-)  But a lesson, too,
in patience and perseverence.  Back on July 1, CompUSA had one of their
Midnight Madness sales.  Went in to buy an eMachines T3882 for $99 after
MIR.  Didn't have 'em in stock and, in Michigan, they have to give you a
raincheck if the ad doesn't specify a quantity ("limited" doesn't count!).
Had to pay the full price up front ($419 + tax) and it took a few months (I
was *really* patient on this, Michigan allows retailers up to 90 days to
complete the deal) partly because the T3882 was a discontinued box, so I was
offered the next one up!  Twice as much memory (256MB vs. 512MB), 20GB more
on the HD.  Oh, and because it took so long, I only had to redeem the
eMachines $50 rebate, CompUSA refunded the balance that would have come with
their own rebate.  Moral of the story, if you have the patience you can find
some downright good deals.  (It helps to have no budget to replace a 10-year
old PC.)

BTW, per my "proprietary no-no" slant earlier, I should mention that the
eMachines T4010 has a generic Intel Hazelton mobo in it.  My mom took
advantage of the same sale, and she ended up with a T3104, an AMD-based box
with a mobo that is proprietary, but very VERY close to the name brand it
came from.  And besides, I doubt my mom will be upgrading her system.

To find some deals (sift through some chaff), check out
www.slickdeals.net(NOT .com!)

HTH,
Dan