In case anyone's interested, I just got a TigerDirect.com email announcing a bunch of what look like pretty cheap items or at least something to compare against if you're looking: Compaq Dual Xeon 2.4GHz PC w/512MB, Matrox G450 video, 36 GB Ultra160 SCSI, DVD/CD-RW combo, Soundblaster 128 audio, Intel Pro/100 Ethernet, XP or W2K installed - $1900 Sony Vaio P4-1.8GHz laptop w/256MB, 30 GB hard drive, 15" display w/ATI Mobilility Radeon 7500 video, DVD/CD-RW combo, Yamaha AC-XG audio, integrated NIC/Modem/Wireless, XP Home - $1400 HP Celeron 2GHz w/256MB, 60 GB disk, DVD/CD-RW combo, modem, 10/100 NIC, 64MB Intel video, integrated audio and speakers, XP Home installed - $450 5 Megapixel digital camera - $400 Recertified Dell 17" thin frame LCD display panel - $400 DVD+R/RW drive (Vivastar) - $270 (but you apparently you get a $80 mail in rebate coupon). And for those interested, they're apparently offering to spread payments over 4 months @ 0%.
I don't see any deal there! Freakin celerons??!! No thANKS! And that dual setup (as if you really need 1)... i can build one myself for 1/2 that price!! This beats that all to hell........... http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/20517 http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/offers/specials_3x_dimen_4550_mcrec.htm :-/
Got to say I'd prefer a Dell to a Compaq myself (never had good luck with Compaqs), but for those who don't care about maker, that Compaq config looks to be about $600 cheaper than the comparable Dell. Whether an individual "needs" a dual processor of course depends on what they're doing and that Compaq seems more like a server than a workstation config. I do use duals on a couple of my workstations. As far as Celeron goes - what do you want for $450? They're not my first pick either, but most people will never come close to exhausting a 2GHz Celeron-based machine. The recent Dell rebate deals are good, but they're for specific configs. The $359 machine is a good deal, but if you add more memory, DVD, more disk, better video, etc. like that HP config - you've pushed the price above $550. Still a good deal though. As far as building a box for 1/2 the price - of course you can. That goes without saying, but most people won't or can't do that. And even those who can, may simply decide that their time's more valuable than what they'd save. Personally, I have little desire to build another box just to save a few hundred bucks. I'd rather get close to everything I want pre-configured by Dell and maybe just do an addition/change once I get it (if I absolutely have to). The techbargains site you posted looks interesting.
AS I STATED, a similar sys can be EASILY built for 1/2 the price why pay twice as much!!?? What??! I just custom config'd a 2.66 P4 sys with 533MHz sys bus/512K L2 cache, (btw, MOBO has four PCI slots), 512 MB DDRSDRAM 333Mhz, 48X CDR, 30 GB disk for a little over $400. SCREW THAT FREAKIN CELERON DUDE!! Poppycock. Anyone can do it in about an hour. Simple. But you don't freakin need it unless you're a nitro trying to crunch 10 million symbols. (which he is full of total BS anyway!) :-/ @ about a thousand bucks an hour savings I'll spend that hour dude. Maybe you and bill gates wont.. :-/ More than simply "interesting". FREAKING UNBELIEVABLE!! SHOW ME WHERE *YOUR* DEAL IS BETTER!! OH YEAH PLEASE SHOW ME!!:-/
Longshot - have you always been such a self-rightous and obnoxious git or did you suffer a brain injury?? Just to be clear, since you don't seem to get it - the tigerdirect info I posted aint MY deal "dude". It was just some comparative info for whoever might be able to use it. You don't like it? Like anyone gives a flying F*** what some obnoxious twit thinks. So you're super technoweeney computer builder who can assemble all the hardware and install all the software in an hour (presumably while leaping tall buildings in a single bound)?? Great, your mother must be so proud - of course, installing and configuring all the software can take more than an hour by itself. If doing all that (and not even having a multi-year repair/replace warranty) is worth a few hundred bucks to you - knock yourself out - "dude".
i dunno ... what's your excuse? i compared it didn't i!!?? your deal SUKS!! you talkin to me ??? no, just a reasonably intelligent person. how bout you? uhhhh ... try a GRAND! and the component manufacturers warrant their parts (for NOTHING)..DUH! dude,
I just got a DELL: p4- 2.53ghz 40 G HD DVD-ROM 512MB ram Windows-XP PRO (not that home POS) all for $511 incl tax - shipping free For the $100 more and a legit OS, I'd rather have someone else build it for me and DELL updates their drivers. I should know, they still support my 7 year old Dell notebook with updated drivers! The trick is finding the good deals!
This is one of the very reasons that we are willing to give dell repeat business: servers and notebooks that we bought in 1998 are still supported by dell. One of our techs recently had a question about an old server that we still use and called dell: to his surprise they pulled the service tag up in the database and answered the service questions to help the tech. This is worth a few extra dollars up front..... Dell isn't always the cheapest in our experience ..
and if you just have a couple of minutes to get a laptop, ubid is the site http://www.ubid.com/cat/get_cat_page.asp?CatId=1001#3006