How to buy a computer at CompUSA or Best Buy without getting TOTALLY ripped off.

or, why a Dangerous Sandwich Computer may not be your best option.

  www.pricewatch.com: Pricewatch is a web site that vendors use to bid for the cheapest price for computer hardware (and increasingly software or consumer electronics.)  i have found pricewatch to be reliably cheaper than any other comparison shopping site out there.  beware, however, that cheapest is not always best.  while i have never had bad shopping experiences from the sites on pricewatch, many people have.  remember also, that while pricewatch does it's best to assure that the businesses using their services are not shady fraud-meisters, there is no way to be sure you are not going to get ripped off.

  while browsing pricewatch this evening, i found some really cheap (both in price and in quality) computers that one could realistically get for $400.  how do these internet-based computer makers get you such a cheap pc?  they SKIMP on EVERYTHING.  you get pitiful amounts of memory (32Megs - hahahaha) a small hard drive, a poor video card, and they will cheerfully install windows 95 for you.

  well, you gotta fix this foolishness, or just put up with it.

  Things to fix:

  • Memory:  Memory is dirt cheap right now, you can get 256Megs of PC133 ram for $40 or less.  Upgrading memory is something you should do.  your computer will be faster and run smoother.
     

  • Obsolete operating system:  Windows 95 costs something like $15.  And, it should be fine if all you want to do is use Notepad to write your term papers and Paint to make pretty drawings.  You should really upgrade to Windows ME or Windows XP.  XP costs around $100 (at Best Buy?), ME costs $50 online.  Pirated software, including Windows, is quite common, and if you want to go that route, i'm sure there are those that will help you out.  but actually buying it is more honest. 

  Things you don't need to fix:

  • A puny hard drive:  A bigger hard drive is certainly nice.  However, most users won't need a hundred million thousand gigabyte hard drive necessary.  Mind you, if you can't ever delete anything, and you really like Brittney Spears MP3's, you may fill up a 10Gig hard drive pretty fast.  most people don't fill their hard drives like that unless they do use their computers as a jukebox or VCR (like I do.)  so, putting up with a 10Gig hard drive shouldn't be a big problem.
     

  • Video Card:  A good video card is necessary if you want to play 3D games, games like you see on Sony Playstation or Nintendo 64 or Sega Dreamcast or Sony PS2.  The video cards that come with these cheap systems will have some limited 3D capacity, but it won't be very that smooth or good looking.  If you are like my wife and don't care about 3D action games, putting up with cheap video may be ok.  Windows applications (including graphics programs and DVD's) will look great, even on the cheapest video card out there.

  To Summarize:  You can get a box that barely qualifies as a "computer" for about $300 after shipping.  Another $50 after shipping should get you 256Megs of memory, and another $50 should get you a legal and usable copy of Windows. 

  I have personally decided to actually charge for upgrading computers now, $20 per upgrade, flat rate.  More memory or install Windows, same price.  so basically, I could get somebody a (NON Dangerous Sandwich) computer and get it tuned up (hardware and software) for less than $440, depending on what good deals can be gotten online.

Try and play the role and the whole crew will act up. (a neighborhood kid)

 

 

A couple future CYBERJOCKs

 

Where's Juanito?

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