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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Thursday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week - 12/13/2006 |
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Buying that Christmas computer
– have prices ever plummeted .... Dell
computers is #1
in the direct market channel, followed by Hewlett Packard. I
have more confidence in Dell. Dell is
offering a Bargain
Basement CPU C521 multimedia for $ 529. This is a complete computer and
Monitor and keyboard for this incredibly low price. It has an AMD processor, a little short on RAM at
only 512Mb, 15” Flat panel monitor, no speakers, no writable media
drive, just a regular cdrom or
dvd drive, and of course no floppy disk drive anymore. But it is a complete
system, 80 gig hard disk, and comes with Windows XP Home edition, a word
processor and a lot of other software, a modem, a network card, and would
actually be a nice gift under your tree with a few additions. But often
you can get much better value when you buy up just a little higher in
Dell’s specials. I think I’d look up to the next model - at
their C521 Enhanced Multimedia model for $ 679 – which comes
with a faster processor for more
horsepower, a 250 Gig hard disk, 17” flat panel monitor, a gig of RAM, a writeable cdrom/dvd drive, again
you’d need speakers for another $ 20 to hear all the internet sounds
and some more software. I think I’d
probably look at their next product level up – their XPS line –starting
at $ 999, which comes with a true
Pentium processor and more of everything all around. This puts it over $ 1000 but you
have a powerful computer and good software. On
Notebooks, Dell is offering a budget model E1505 at $749, which is a wide
screen with a true Pentium processor, a Gig of ram, 80 Gig hard disk, combo
cd/dvd burner, wireless card which is the best,
and again I’d add the
Microsoft office basic package for $ 149. This is a really nice
notebook computer for under $ 1000. And
remember, this has not been a particularly good year for PC sales, so vendors
will be offering great sale prices up to the end of the year, so shop wisely,
and remember to supersize everything. Remember
again that these don’t come with Windows Vista installed, and you’re
looking at an operating system upgrade immediately, and you might decide to
just wait a while. Prices always go down. And furthermore, vendors now are
constantly changing their prices and configurations – these Dell prices
and configurations have changed significantly since my last week’s show
about them. I hope Santa
leaves you that one computer item you’ve been hoping for – if
you’ve been good of course. For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2006 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
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