I’ve been shopping all summer for a new family computer; old trusty is coming up on six or seven years of daily use and I imagine he/she’s getting tired. I almost took the plunge on a deal Dell is offering through the Employee Purchase Program this month, but ended up buying an HP at Sam’s Club. I’ve had good luck at home with HPs, and this one came with a lot of memory, extra goodies and a beautiful 22-inch LCD monitor. Sure enough, less than a week later, I saw what might be a even better deal on a similar PC. Prices seem to be going down again in anticipation of the next wave of new technology.
With PCs, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t ever win. Whatever you buy, in a month there’ll be a better model for less money. At some point, you have to jump in the river and hope what you land on carries you and your photos/music/links/files a nice long way. The next time I’m looking for a good value, I’m buying a toaster oven. It doesn’t need software or a wireless connection, won’t get hacked and does a dandy job with fish sticks.