Thanks to all who replied.

Before I went to Dell I checked out PCNut and found this SCSI system:

PCNUT CustomPRO Power SCSI System

Motherboard ASUS P2B-S 440 BX chipset w /U2W SCSI
Processor Intel Pentium III Processor 512K (P3-500)
Memory Corsair 128MB PC100 SDRAM Module
Video Card Matrox G400 AGP 32MB Dual Head OEM
Hard Drive IBM UltraStar 18LZX 9.1GB 10,000 RPM U2W SCSI
CD-ROM Plextor UltraPlex 17-40X SCSI CDROM Kit
Sound Card SoundBlaster Live! Value PCI Sound Card
Floppy Drive TEAC 1.44mb 3½"Drive
Keyboard Keytronics 104 Key PS /2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft Intellipoint PS /2 mouse with scroll wheel
Chassis PCNUT NutCase Jr. Midtower, 250 Watt PS
Custom CD Custom made containing latest drivers & utilities
Windows Microsoft Windows 98 OEM CD, full version
Warranty One Year Parts & Labor

Price $2,085


Not included:

Extra 128 MB memory
CD-RW drive
Windows 2000
Office 2000


Considering what I would still have to add that seems like a very expensive approach.


I went back to Dell again with the suggestions and came up this configuration.

OptiPlex GX100 Mini-Tower:
Intel Celeron® processor, 700MHz, 128K Cache & Integrated NIC
Memory: 192MB Non-ECC SDRAM (2DIMMS)
Keyboard: Performance (Mechanical)
First Hard Drive: 10GB EIDE Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Second Hard Drive: 10GB EIDE Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Floppy Drive: 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
First Removable Media Options: 20/48X CD-ROM
Second Removable Media Options: 8/4/32X CD-RW for Win2K use with a CD or DVD
Sound Card: Sound Blaster AudioPCI (64 Voice), use with CD, DVD or CD-RW
Speakers: harman kardon Speakers
Mouse: Dell Mouse
Network Card: Integrated 3Com® Etherlink 10/100 with ACPI and Remote Wake-up Only
Operating System: Windows® 2000 Professional with CD using FAT32, SP1
Microsoft® Office: Microsoft® Office 2000 Small Business Edition

Price $1504


Notes:

Model: My tech associate says the Optiplex is more industry standard than the Dimension series.

CPU & Memory: This configuration has a little faster CPU and a 64 MB less memory than the Dimension L model.

Video Card: I'm not a "gamer" (other than Freecell) so super graphics speed is not important.

Modem: No modem in this config. I'll use a USB modem or move to cable modem soon. Cable modem connects to the NIC, right?

First Hard Drive: This is a 7200 RPM drive per Sylvain and Alex.

Second Hard Drive: I've added a second IDE drive and dropped the ZIP drive per Ed. I would use a USB ZIP drive.

Network Card: I trust 3Com. It just needs to work. (I don't network much.)

Sound card: I added a better sound card per Sylvain.


Question: Do folks agree that having the CR-RW drive as a second drive (rather than replacing the CD-ROM) is a good idea?

Question: Al says Dell add-on RAM is expensive. I can buy SDRAM elsewhere, right?

Question: Any problems with using a USB tape drive? I can start it backing up and go to bed. So speed should not be a problem.

Question: If I were to go with a white box, how would you spec it?


Thanks for the previous help and any future help.

Peter