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On a vaguely related note, one of my friend's family ordered a new computer in August from Dell. Dell kept pushing the shipping date later and later until his family gave up in mid October. Then they got one from Accessmicro (with windows ick). They don't seem to like Dell much anymore :P

Another one of my friends hates Dell. He's an anti-dell zealot if there ever was one (he says it has something to do with the fact that dell is trying to create a monopoly over desktop computers).

Someone else I know also noted the E in Dell is slanted in the same way as the Enron E

I don't think I really know anyone who likes dell. Odd. (And then there is this) :P

I've never tried them, and I don't even know whether they'd run linux, but I've seen "X-Book" laptops advertised at AccessMicro for under $1000 without an OS.

Here's a start. Doesn't anyone know how to use Google?

I recently built a system out of parts from Access Micro a month or so ago and was reasonably pleased. Their prices weren't too bad, it was easy to build a mb+proc+ram combo and they didn't jack the shipping way up.

Watch that on some companies... sometimes they will charge 10$ for each item that you add to the cart so the part looks really cheap but it's actually 5-6$ more than you thought compared to the shipping cost of another company.

I'm looking into building a PC myself, and have found that the cheapest way by far is to buy what's called a 'Barebones' system. On pricewatch they are initially listed as 'Kits' but after following the link you seem them called 'Barebones', as all the online super-deal-megastores do. The system will include at least a case, power supply, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and 3 1/2, and some flavor of a ROM drive. It can be configured with basically any standard hardware (and occasionally peripherals) that you want...but they never require you to order an M$ OS (or any OS).

With a barebones system, you get the best of all worlds: when you go to order one (at a quality site), you are linked to a form where you customize your barebones PC like you would a DELL, except with many more options.

All of this cuts down the price...plus, since they're building it for you, they get the deal on the hardware for buying bulk, which is passed onto you. Also, they do what's called 'burn-in', which is where they hook up their software-preloaded-testing-hard-drive and make sure it all works, and then as a guarantee they'll tack on a 1 or 2 year warranty (often upgradable). This way, you don't have to put it together yourself and wonder what's not working, and watch all the tech-support point fingers at each other yelling 'it's-not-me-it's-the-other-part'.

If you look a little, you can find a barebones package that can be configured with all the components you wanted anyway, and certainly with any processor. (Be careful though, the default choices on the form often are cheaper in make, but not in price).

I am personally using AccessMicro to build my system. I'm getting an Athlon XP 2100+, Gigabyte KT333 ATA133 RAID-enabled, 512MB DDR 333MHz DDRAM, plus CD-RW, DVD-ROM, 40GB hard drive, floppy, keyboard and mouse, and a sweet, sweet case for under a grand, easy (NOTE: IAN Affiliated). I couldn't have found but a couple parts I want cheaper, and I'll just install those myself...I'm telling you, this is the way to go, save yourself some time.

I'm looking into building a PC myself, and have found that the cheapest way by far is to buy what's called a 'Barebones' system. On pricewatch they are initially listed as 'Kits' but after following the link you seem them called 'Barebones', as all the online super-deal-megastores do. The system will include at least a case, power supply, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and 3 1/2, and some flavor of a ROM drive. It can be configured with basically any standard hardware (and occasionally peripherals) that you want...but they never require you to order an M$ OS (or any OS).

With a barebones system, you get the best of all worlds: when you go to order one (at a quality site), you are linked to a form where you customize your barebones PC like you would a DELL, except with many more options.

All of this cuts down the price...plus, since they're building it for you, they get the deal on the hardware for buying bulk, which is passed onto you. Also, they do what's called 'burn-in', which is where they hook up their software-preloaded-testing-hard-drive and make sure it all works, and then as a guarantee they'll tack on a 1 or 2 year warranty (often upgradable). This way, you don't have to put it together yourself and wonder what's not working, and watch all the tech-support point fingers at each other yelling 'it's-not-me-it's-the-other-part'.

If you look a little, you can find a barebones package that can be configured with all the components you wanted anyway, and certainly with any processor. (Be careful though, the default choices on the form often are cheaper in make, but not in price).

I am personally using AccessMicro to build my system. I'm getting an Athlon XP 2100+, Gigabyte KT333 ATA133 RAID-enabled, 512MB DDR 333MHz DDRAM, plus CD-RW, DVD-ROM, 40GB hard drive, floppy, keyboard and mouse, and a sweet, sweet case for under a grand, easy (NOTE: IAN Affiliated). I couldn't have found but a couple parts I want cheaper, and I'll just install those myself...I'm telling you, this is the way to go, save yourself some time.

I'm looking into building a PC myself, and have found that the cheapest way by far is to buy what's called a 'Barebones' system. On pricewatch they are initially listed as 'Kits' but after following the link you seem them called 'Barebones', as all the online super-deal-megastores do. The system will include at least a case, power supply, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and 3 1/2, and some flavor of a ROM drive. It can be configured with basically any standard hardware (and occasionally peripherals) that you want...but they never require you to order an M$ OS (or any OS).

With a barebones system, you get the best of all worlds: when you go to order one (at a quality site), you are linked to a form where you customize your barebones PC like you would a DELL, except with many more options.

All of this cuts down the price...plus, since they're building it for you, they get the deal on the hardware for buying bulk, which is passed onto you. Also, they do what's called 'burn-in', which is where they hook up their software-preloaded-testing-hard-drive and make sure it all works, and then as a guarantee they'll tack on a 1 or 2 year warranty (often upgradable). This way, you don't have to put it together yourself and wonder what's not working, and watch all the tech-support point fingers at each other yelling 'it's-not-me-it's-the-other-part'.

If you look a little, you can find a barebones package that can be configured with all the components you wanted anyway, and certainly with any processor. (Be careful though, the default choices on the form often are cheaper in make, but not in price).

I am personally using AccessMicro to build my system. I'm getting an Athlon XP 2100+, Gigabyte KT333 ATA133 RAID-enabled, 512MB DDR 333MHz DDRAM, plus CD-RW, DVD-ROM, 40GB hard drive, floppy, keyboard and mouse, and a sweet, sweet case for under a grand, easy (NOTE: IAN Affiliated). I couldn't have found but a couple parts I want cheaper, and I'll just install those myself...I'm telling you, this is the way to go, save yourself some time.

• Thompsons computer warehouse -> they always contact me to verify my information, which delays ordering slightly, but they have great deals.
• Pc Progress - this site used to be butt ugly, but has gotten better. Regardless, they have great deals.
• Access Micro - they dont have the lowest prices, but they carry Everything.
• Directron - good selection and good prices.
• DV Direct - Hard to navigate (click on 'Manufacturer focus at the bottom of the page to find products easily), and they look like they specialize in video hardware, but in actually they carry some high quality PC parts, such as 3ware IDE raid controllers, you'll be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

accessmicro is a decent site...they put motherboard/cpu/memory combo's together, test and benchmark the system before shipping.

I'm not sure when you got these prices, but certainly not today. I just checked pricewatch right now and the prices aren't as low as when you supposedly checked:
$ 92.00 GeForce 3 Ti 200
$103.00 800 Mgz P3 (133Mhz FSB)
$ 29.00 Biostar M6VCF from compgeeks
$ 56.00 Maxtor 20.0GB from Inca City
$ 9.00 Realtek 8193 10/100BT from Microtech Computers
$ 30.00 SB Live! 5.1 a decent 3d sound card from Deal Sonic
$ 53.95 Afree 10x DVD-ROM from Access Micro
$ 12.00 64MB PC-133 house brand=generic from Alpha International Inc
Total: $384.95 (most prices include s/h) However, I believe the GF3 that is in the X-Box was specially designed for the X-Box but is similar to the GF3 Ti 500 than that Ti 200. Which means you have to add $64.00 on to the total: TOTAL: $384.95 + $64.00 = $448.95 That, however, doesn't even include an OS. So since what's in the X-Box is an NT5 (~= XP) you'd have to add about $180 on to that price. Then, you'd need at least one game pad which is $9.00 from compgeeks but wont be as good as MS's or Logitech's gamepads which are $20+. TOTAL: $448.95 + $180.00 + $9.00 = $637.95 I'd figure on $650.00 for an equivalent system, but you'd need a monitor to install everything initially and once XP is installed, you could switch it over to use the TV-out.

I appreciate your sentiments; Next time, please share them when you are actually correct, and the person you are sharing them with actually needs correction, unlike myself.

Don't buy more processor than you need; It's expensive. You can always upgrade the CPU later if you pick a good platform. You can do the whole thing for about $450-$500 for each box.

Incidentally, I picked the GF2MX because it has good drivers and VERY fast 2D. If you are doing cad or something, get something from matrox, they have a much better DAC. The 3D is just icing.

Access Micro has one on this page called the "AOC FINGER TRACKBALL" that seems kinda interesting.

Two buttons on the top near the trackball, and one "trigger-style" for your index finger. The trackball (and top buttons) are controlled with your thumb.

It doesn't seem like a good trackball for use at the desktop level, since you have to "fit" your hand around it. However, it seems perfect as a navigation tool for a virtual environment (may be good for Quake, too!). I bought one of these for just that purpose (VE nav, not Quake)...