>>Some are below $500. Some have Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro (maybe 10%). Many have a reasonable amount of memory, say 256K.
>>
>>I might want to upgrade soon and I can't spare a whole lot of money. I don't have many specific needs because it is for home and I don't work at home. If the price is low, I could afford to upgrade again in a year or two and make this one a Christmas present to someone.
>>
>>But I don't want to spend 3/4 the money for 1/2 the hardware. That can happen easily with used computers. Part of what you pay for with a new Dell is the ability to customize, which is not available with the refurbished systems. But that doesn't matter to me if I get a pro operating system and enough memory.
>
>Bret;
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>It is always nice to know what is out there and pricing information. The prices on the Dell refurbished systems seems high to me. I like to use local vendors and for the past 13 years I have used Central Computer at
>
>http://www.centralcomputer.com/PriceList/Systems/Intel/indexP4.htm
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>I mention this so you might compare prices and service with Dell and your nearest supplier. There is nothing like having a good local supplier!
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>We have another local supplier named Fry's whom I like to avoid. :)
>
>Tom

They seem to have complete Athlon systems with plenty of RAM and Win XP Pro for well under $1000. So too with www.mwave.com which was also suggested here. I didn't look at the sites long enough to determine what I might be giving up in the way of support by not buying Dell or another name brand machine. If it breaks soon, do I have to ship it back at my own expense?

Some say that Athlon CPUs are a better deal than the Pentium 4. Dell doesn't sell anything but Intel. I suppose they have an exclusive deal with them.

I don't know when I will actually buy something. It won't be right away. I wish I could remember or still had the link to the places suggested by Ed Rauh. But they were probably better for getting the best rather than the cheapest.