World peace can wait
A funny story in the paper today, or sad depending on your sense of humor. More people want a computer for Christmas than peace and happiness, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. (Not that they're biased, or anything.) I'm sure you and I will take the high road - all we *really* want is a slip of paper saying a contribution to our favorite charity has been made, right? I hope everyone else will find this mini-guide to buying a cheap computer useful.
My techie husband, who has purchased many hardworking, capable computers for me, recommends looking at Dell computers for a good deal. Sign up for their email coupons by creating an account, but check deal Web sites for their best discounts. SlickDeals and Buy.com's Hot Deals are a good places to start. Pounce when you can combine a coupon with a sale. "If it's on sale and you have a 20% off coupon, buy two and maybe you can sell one," hubby says. Don't wait when you see a sale and have a 15% off coupon.
Finding a good price may be the easy part. Who know how much processing power or memory to buy? If all you do is toot around on the Internet, check email, and use Word and Excel occasionally, a low-end computer will probably be fine. (These days low-end machines come with a Pentium 4 processing chip that have a speed of 3 gigahertz.) Folks who want to play games will require higher-end computers, but I'm guessing they are more in touch with their inner-geek and know what they need.
Arstechnica.com has a cool guide to figuring out what type of computer you need. They divide the world into three categories: those who need a budget box (under $800), those who want a hot rod (usually under $1,600), and lastly, the wacks who sell the farm for a God box ($$$$$$). Every component is listed separately but is useful for setting parameters.
