[BBLISA] more PC shopping

[Betsy Schwartz]

Since I got a lot of questions I will elaborate:

I'm looking for a desktop PC for myself for personal use. Harvard has a 
deal with IBM, but with IBM I don't get the whizbang features for the 
money. I think IBM's are absolutely great for servers and have great 
quality and stability and all that, and I am strongly recommending them for 
business use, but for my home I am feeling the lure of extra graphics and 
sound and firewire and all that for a lower price.

I've been looking at something along the lines of a 3.2G P4, 1G ram, 160G 
HD, DVD-RW, 48xCD, floppy, usb, firewire, 3D graphics with a good mboard 
slot etc, and a case with some expansion room. I already have a real, full, 
legal,  non-OEM,  XP Pro Corporate license and media. And I **really** want 
it all to work right out of the box, or almost all. (I'm a single mom with 
a long list of work-work projects and an old house,  don't want  a  DIY 
computer right now. ). I'd like to come in under or around $1000. Power 
consumption is also a big issue.

  I've been surprised to see that Dell and (shudder) Gateway seem to offer 
the most features for the price. PCs For Everyone box came in higher, 
although more customizable.  Have also been pointed to www.tigerdirect.com 
, www.newegg.com . (Computer Shopper has gotten so tiny!!!) Microcenter has 
a big DIY center now, too. Still haven't id'd any good local "white box" 
places.

Computer Cafe in Arlington are nice folks, but overpriced (probably because 
they give a lot of handholding  for the money)
PC's For Everyone: on a public list I'll just say that I  worked for them 
back when they were Unitech and I refuse to support them.

thanks Betsy
(now trying to figure which features are really important in a PC. SATA HD? 
Dual-channel DDR RAM? SiS? PCI Express?)


Betsy Schwartz                                                    email: 
betsys at gsd.harvard.edu
Unix Systems Administrator,CRG                           voice: 617-495-5947
Harvard Graduate School of Design                         fax:    617-496-5866