If you’re in the market for a computer but don’t know where to begin looking, you’ve come to the right place. We have put together a step-by-step guide that explains everything from how much RAM you need to where to buy an iMac. Read more
Tuesday
I tried to access the Gateway site again, and got the same slow response and browser crashes. Finally feeling the jolting effects of the morning’s caffeine rush, I decided to try to access the site using Internet Explorer 4. Voila, the pages loaded quickly and faster than you can say Crazy Eddie, the bargain I’d been looking for appeared before me. The G6-333 with Home Essentials (do I get a kitchen table, too?) has everything we wanted, and throws in a 17-inch monitor, Microsoft Encarta, Works, and Money, plus a free upgrade to Windows 98 for $,364. Can this be true?
The details on the DVD-ROM drive, however, were incomplete, and the specifications didn’t list any USB ports, so I called up Gateway sales. “Al” told me, yes, USB ports are there, and that the DVD-ROM was a Toshiba second-generation model. He said the system does include an MPEG- playback card — so hold all calls, we’ve got a winner here! The only trade-off from the HP 880 is a smaller hard drive — only 6.4 GB instead of 8 GB, but the three-year warranty more than makes up for that.
I called Kristen, who gave me the OK, then I called back Al, (who, sensing the kill, had given me his direct line) and did the deal. He said the PC would be shipped within seven days, just in time for my trip to Pennsylvania to help them set it up and also buy a color printer.
(By the way, the last time I checked, the Gateway site still had problems with the 3.0 version browsers. I think it’s a problem with frames, which I’m sure is costing them some business.)
So there you have it. Mission accomplished. Did I wander through a bunch of computer mega stores? No, because I get very frustrated by the fact that I know more about the products than the salespeople, and we both usually walk away aggravated.
Did I flip through pages and pages of build-to-order vendors in the latest PC rags? Uh-uh. Could I have saved another 100 bucks or two by going off the rack? Maybe, but I don’t want to be responsible for the cries of frustrated – and 3-year-olds because mommy says the computer won’t work. I’m comfortable with the deal I got, and look forward to playing games with the kiddies when I’m in town next week. Don’t worry: If something’s wrong, you (and Gateway) will be hearing from me.
Monday
Sensing my rapidly approaching deadline, I resorted to calling HP’s PR firm to find out once and for all about the DVD playback. I realize that not everyone has the luxury/burden of working with high-tech PR, but I had a job to do, gosh darnit, and would use every resource at my disposal. The PR folks said they would call the product team and get back to me shortly. I received a message later in the day that yes, I was right, the DVD playback was software-only. This made me rethink my enthusiam about the 8280, but it wasn’t a reason to disqualify HP until I got the same data from the competition.
This brings up the larger point, ladies and gentleman, of being as sure as all get out as to what you want before you start shopping. Not surprisingly, sales folks have a policy similar to the military of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” If you don’t know the questions to ask that will make or break your decision, you’re certainly not going to hear it from those who are most anxious to climb inside your wallet and relieve you of your extra cash. Make a list, check it twice, and take it to the store or have it by the phone so you remember to ask about each and every detail. Now, back to our story. Read more
Sunday
I decided to see how far I could get by researching online exclusively (and besides, it was Sunday morning, what other crazy people are working?).
Here’s what I found on the Web:
Dell
Dell says it moves several million dollars a day in PCs over its website. The company has certainly reinvested some of that money into a useful configuration utility. I was shocked to end up with a $3,599 price tag for my desired PC. Dell must have consumer and corporate customers confused, so I won’t be adding to its hefty online transaction numbers.
NEC
An earlier model faired well in a review, and for $,578, the new SPL333 includes a 17-inch monitor. But in checking the specs closely, it doesn’t include a modem! Hello, did you guys ever hear of something called the Internet? It wasn’t a bad deal, but since they had no resellers located near my bro’s house, I decided to keep looking.
Gateway and Kingdom Computers
I tried to visit the Gateway site a few times, but each time I tried — to quote Mr. Fudd — the pages woaded vewy vewy swowy (eh eh eh), and eventually crashed my Navigator 3.0 browser. I also checked with Kingdom computer’s site, but it was generating funky database error messages. Figuring their sites were temporarily down, I moved on.
HP
I could hold back no longer — all along I was anxious to check out the latest HP Pavilions since I’ve been very happy with the HP desktops and laptops I have purchased in the past. Unfortunately, HP hasn’t put the same time and money into its website as other vendors, forcing me to to check out the specs for each model one at a time. I narrowed the list down to the 880 or 875 models with the only differences being a faster processor and more memory (333 MHz to 300, and 64 MB RAM to 48, respectively). The software bundle looked great, and the specifications of the peripherals such as the sound card and modem met our requirements.
I then jumped over to HP’s “Where to buy” page to find some HP dealers close to my brother’s suburban house. I came up with a list of five resellers within five miles. Not bad.
I called the Best Buy in Willow Grove, Penn., and quickly found that HP had listed the fax, not the phone number. So, I had to leave my protected T-1-driven universe, and call information to get the proper listing. The rather abrupt Best Buy salesman seemed disinterested in providing anything more than the minimum answers. I was quoted prices of $,400 for the 880, and $1,900 for the 875 (sans monitor on both).
I wanted to know if the DVD playback used hardware-assisted MPEG- playback or if it tied up the CPU with “software-only” DVD. Intel has stated that the faster Pentium II chips could handle high-quality DVD playback, but without verification, I wasn’t about to make guinea pigs out of my family members. I called two other area HP dealers, one of whom didn’t carry the models I wanted, and another that charged $100 more for each model. Alas, since the gentlemen retailers knew little of said DVD device, I said my farewells, and called HP’s 800 sales number to find out if it had more of a clue.
I was assigned to the friendlier and more knowledgeable Mike, who reaffirmed the differences between the HP models and answered another question that popped into mind about the modem: Yes, we would have to download the v.90 patch to upgrade the included modem to the 56K recent standard. (I guess having the vendors do that themselves is too much to ask.) Mike said that HP had a one-year warranty on parts and labor, not exactly the security blanket I was looking for.
Mike explained that the DVD-ROM is a Hitachi GD-000 that can read both sides of a DVD without having to flip it, another good question for y’all to keep in mind when considering DVD. But Mike couldn’t answer my query about software vs. hardware-assisted playback, so I set out to find the answers elsewhere. I read a review of the Hitachi GD-000 that described it as working well with several different MPEG playback cards. This wasn’t definitive enough for me, so I called Hitachi’s support line. I left a message and called it a day (it was Sunday, after all). My next call back from Hitachi will also be the first.