Desktop Computers

 

 

Computers for $400 - Today, the cost of a good desktop computer starts at around $400. You could pay more, and in many cases you should. However many CPAs seem to be completely unaware of how low prices have dropped for desktop computers. The worldwide market for computers is as follows (Number of computers shipped):

 

2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005 (est)
139.9 million	135.9 million	136.2 million	147.5 million	189 million	208 Million

Brands - There are 9 major computer manufacturers and a boat load of lesser-known clone manufacturers. The following table lists these companies in order of brand loyalty and customer satisfaction as determined by MetaFacts, Inc. Dell not only leads the brand loyalty ranking, but Dell also leads in worldwide sales with 16.9% market share compared to 15.6% for Hewlett Packard.

2003 PC Brand Loyalty Ranking (Previous Ranking)

Percentage of Installed PCs that were the same brand as the previously installed brand
when purchased new in 2002 and 2001

Source: http://www.metafactsusa.com/pages/info/tup_dates/tupan03_repurchase_brand_loyalty.htm

New for 2005

In 2005, PC manufacturers ABS, Alienware, Shuttle and Dell ranked highest on IDC's Willingnes To Recommend test for desktops, while Apple, Dell, IBM, and eMachines ranked highest for notebooks. The test gauges brand loyalty based on current customers willingness to recommend the brand.

Computer Features

When selecting a computer system, there are so many options (ram, drives, monitors, ports, etc) that the number of possible configurations run into the trillions. For our purposes, we will explore those computer features which are most important to the selection of a good computer system.

CPU – As discussed in the CPU section of this manual, the most important component in your computer is the processor chip or CPU (central processing unit). Your basic options are various models of the Pentium and Celeron chips from Intel, or various models of the Athlon chip from AMD. For the money, AMD is a great buy, but Intel’s chips are selected over the Athlon chip by a margin of 5 to 1. We recommend that you select either the Pentium chip or AMD chip model two steps below the latest technology available. (please refer to the chapter on CPUs for details).

RAM - More RAM translates to a faster computer. Here is what we want you to know about RAM:

1. Today’s new adage is you can’t be too rich, too thin, or have too much RAM.
2. Actually, at some point, more RAM does little, and actually increases overhead, thus slowing your computer a bit.
3. We recommend a minimum of 512 MB of ram in today’s computer.
4. Yes, you can add RAM to a computer by yourself, just turn off the computer and plug it in.
5. If the computer is more than 2 years old, don’t waste your money, buy a new computer instead.
6. The best place to shop for RAM is www.dealram.com where you can compare prices from hundreds of vendors.
7. Sample RAM Pricing (PC27000/333Mhz):
   1. 128MB – $10 to $25
   2. 256MB - $22 to $30
   3. 512MB - $41 to $100
   4. 1GB - $93 to $250
8. Some RAM is faster than other RAM, ranging from 266mhz to 533mhz. You can expect to pay almost double the price for the fastest RAM compared to the slowest RAM – is the extra speed worth the extra cost? Probably not. Purchasing 400MHz RAM for a 333MHz system bus or vice versa results in a great deal of wasted performance. Our recommendation is to buy value RAM, not high performance RAM.

New for 2005!

For those of you that have already purchased a new desktop or notebook in 2005, you probably already know about the newest memory standard DDR2. DDR2 is the next logical in memory technology providing great speed in a smaller package than DDR or older RAM standards, but the two are not compatible, so don't try it! Don't feel bad if you bought a new computer that uses older RAM, you can be special in other ways too. 

Hard Drive – No matter how big of a hard drive you buy today, chances are good that it will be too small within a few years. After all, that has been the case for the past 20 years and there is no reason to expect that this trend won’t continue. Here are some reasons why you should expect to need ever-increasing amounts of hard drive space in the future:

1. Applications continue to grow bigger
2. Volumes of documentation are now installed on you computer, rather than included as a printed manual.
3. Collecting music files has grown more popular, taking up several Gigs of hard drive space on a typical computer.
4. Many people are starting to collect videos and movies, each of which can require more than 1GB of hard drive space. These videos are not just entertainment movies, but instructional videos, sales videos, and even videos documenting movies and conferences.

 

Here are a few points that we want you to know about hard drives:

 

 

1. Size - Today hard drives come in sizes ranging from 20 to 300 gigabytes.
    

2. IDE SATA or SCSI - The most popular hard drives primarily come in two types of technologies, IDE or SCSI.  Over the years these two technologies have advanced and you will now hear terms such as Fast SCSI, Ultra2 Wide SCSI, Extended IDE, etc. The difference is how these drives connect to the computer – and since SCSI has the faster connection, it delivers the faster hard drive. The next generation of hard drives will feature Serial ATA connections and most new computers will come with SATA hard drives rather than the old IDE standard. These SATA drives interface faster and require less power than either SCSI or IDE drives. What’s more-the drives do away with cumbersome IDE ribbon cables instead transferring  data through thin ribbon connections smaller than a USB cable.
    

3. Pricing - A quick check shows that IDE drives are basically priced between $60 to $1,800, while SCSI  drives cost about the same at $165 to $1,800.
    

4. Fibre - Fibre Channel hard drives connect to the computer using fiber optic connections, and these drives are even faster, and of course, more expensive. Fibre drives cost up to $3,500.
    

5. Removable - Removable hard drives such as microdrives and USB drives have emerged, and while these drives technologies are impressive, their price/performance does not match IDE, SCS or Fibre. These drives are priced form $180 to $500 for microdrives, and $20 to $300 for USB.
    

6. Rotation - The faster the hard drive platters turn or rotate, the more quickly and efficiently the heads can access the data and make it available to the system. Current rotational speeds for hard drives range from 5400rpm in ultra low cost systems, to 7200rpm in standard and some high-end setups, to speeds of 15,000 rpm used in only the most extreme desktops for enhanced program performance and gaming. Higher levels of heat and noise constitute the trade-offs associated with faster hard drives but precautions like damping and adequate ventilation can mitigate the side effects.
    

7. Buffer-size - Buffer-size makes up the other lesser known hard drive specification. The buffer basically serves as another source of RAM used for the contents of the hard drive. Data stored in Buffer RAM transfers faster than data read through the heads of the drive. Therefore a larger buffer yields a significantly faster hard drive and data access. Most consumer hard drives ship with 2MB buffers however faster more powerful models with 8MB buffers generally cost only a fraction more for considerably increased performance.
    

8. Hot Swappable – Some hard drives are hot swappable, which means that you can install and remove them without turning off the computer. This feat is achieved by making the length of the electrical prong longer than the other prongs. Thus when you plug in a hot swappable hard drive, it gets power first, and then the data connections are made. You only need this in mission critical situations where you don’t want to have to turn off the computer to replace the hard drive.
    

9. Raid – Raid arrays are a strategy in which data is written across 2 or more separate hard drives (aka data stripping). Check sums are calculated as data is written. In the future, if one drive goes bad, the system can compare the data on the other drives against the check sums, and figure out what data is missing on the damaged drive. In effect, the hard drive heals itself.
    

10. Disk Mirroring – You can insert two drives into a computer, and have them mirror one another. In the future, if one hard drive fails, the other drive kicks in automatically and on the fly - and the users are not affected by the hard drive failure.
     

11. Server Mirroring – Disk mirroring is not very popular because this technology does not protect against failure of other computer components. Instead, you can implement two identical servers, and have them mirror one another. In the future, if one server fails for any reason, the other server kicks in automatically and on the fly - and the users are not affected by the server failure. You can see why this is better than disk mirroring and the cost is not that much greater.
     

12. Optical drives - Optical drives such as CDs, RW-CDs, and DVDs offer the ability to record 700MB of data for CDs and nearly 5GB of data for DVDs. While this represents an immense breakthrough in data transfer and portability, optical drives are far too slow to compete with IDE or SCSI as a hard drive alternative. 
     

13. Two DVD Standards - A universal writing standard for DVDs does not presently exist (do you remember VHS versus Betamax?). Currently, two types of media and writing processes (+ and -) fight for the 1^st place slot though a clear victory is not in sight. To ensure maximum compatibility, the most effective and generally accepted solution requires the purchase of a dual format DVD writer which supports both the DVD+R and DVD-R formats.
     

14. Can you Install an internal Hard Drive Yourself? – RAM is easy to install, but internal hard drives represent different challenges. Replacing a hard drive is fairly straightforward, but adding a second drive is not. Most computers today do not offer the cable connections inside to support a new hard drive, and you must therefore figure out which type of cable you need, remove an old cable, install the new cable, and make the connections. You must also figure out and install the brackets as well. Yes, you could figure it out, but by the time you do figure it out, you will probably waste many hours. Our advice is to have an internal hard drive installed.

Graphics Cards

In addition to advances in memory, the last year has also seen advances in graphics card technology including the replacement of the AGP graphics standard with the newer PCI-Express or PCIE. While the new card standard can improve speed and performance for high-end applications like games or advanced multimedia, the average user has no need for such hardware. However, harkening back to the adage two is better than one, everyone can benefit from multiple monitors. Graphics cards with multiple monitor outputs are common place and can be had for as little as $40. Depending on your monitors connection, you may need to buy an adapter such as a DVI to VGA adapter for about $10 to use your cards DVI and VGA ports when you really have 2 VGA monitors. Why bother you ask? Well the productivity savings when multiple monitors are configured correctly, more than pay for the additional hardware cost.

Imagine being able to run multiple programs full screen without minimizing or switching applications. Shown below is a screenshot from a multiple monitor setup where one display is utilizing the tabbed browsing feature of Mozilla's Firefox and the other is displaying the users open Outlook Today Screen.

Better still, truly cumbersome applications can become easier to deal with using multiple monitors. Ever feel like you were scrolling through Excel for days? Multiple monitors can double your viewable area and allow you to see more of the screen at once. Some programs even offer increased functionality when used with multiple monitors. For example, Microsoft PowerPoint allows the user to view a slideshow on one display while editing and making changes to the presentation on the other. Check it out.

We recommend multiple monitors for increased productivity and lessened eye strain. Your computer may already have a graphics card which supports multiple monitors. If so all you may need is an adapter and a quick selection change in the Windows Display Properties. Check out our section on monitors at http://www.cpaadvisor.us/sub/2_monitors.htm for more info.

PC Buying Guide 2005

 

The best policy for buying a desktop PC or notebook is this:

1) Determine what system specs you want and what you might upgrade
2) Wait until you absolutely have to have it
3) Wait another month!

Sure I get it, the best deal is always the next deal right? No way! However, PC deals are constantly changing, and evolving, sometimes improving the price, sometimes enhancing the features, sometimes not. The key is not to be in a hurry, but to be ready when the ultimate deal comes along. I only purchase PCs when they are on sale and have combinable rebates. When you get stackable coupons (such as those from Dell or HP) in addition to a super deal, I like to call that "the jackpot".

 

Example Systems

PCs generally lean toward one of three financially based categories: Budget, Mainstream, and Power User (massive) systems. Accordingly, here are a few sample systems that we recommend (Compare the price of these newer setups to what the same amount would buy a year ago). These prices were all obtained direct from the manufacturer websites without any coupons or specials other than 1 standard rebate per system. We generally recommend buying direct rather than from a Brick and Mortar (BM) store because tremendous savings and multiple rebates are plentiful. However, the prices listed below are not even close to the savings/upgrades my staff or I would get, these are just starting points to work down from. For information on how to get even better deals, read our section "How to Buy Hardware and Software Cheap" and read our case study "How to get Insane Deals: The Ultimate Tech Challenge".

2005 Desktop Computer Pricing Comparison

Budget Computer $450 or less (Ideal for 2^nd PC or family computer)

HP Pavillion a1030e AMD Sempron(TM) 3000+ 1.8GHz 512 MB 400MHz RAM (free upgrade) 40GB/7200rpm HD Basic key/Scroll mouse 17” CRT (LCD is shown but not incl.) 48x CD-ROM (not CD burner) XP Home SP2, Works, Money, Encarta Integrated Video, Integrated Sound Card, Base Speakers $319 after $100 MIR	Dell Dimension 2400    2.4GHz Celeron, 400MHz BUS 512 MB 400MHz RAM (free upgrade) 40GB/7200rpm HD Basic key/Scroll mouse Refurbished 17” CRT 48x CD-ROM (not CD burner) XP Home, Corel Word Perfect Integrated Video, Integrated Sound Card, Base Speakers $419

Mainstream $600 - $1500 (Best All-Around, most recommended solution)

HP a1010y         2.93GHz Pentium 4 516 CPU 512MB DDR2 400Mhz RAM 80GB 7200rpm SATA HD 48xCDRW         17” LCD            XP Home, Works, Money, Encarta Integrated Video Integrated Audio Card, Base Speakers $659 after $100 rebate	Dell Dimension 4700 2.4GHz Pentium 4 533MHz BUS 512MB/ 333MHz RAM 80GB 7200rpm SATA HD 48xCDRW 17” LCD XP Home, Corel Word Perfect Integrated Video Integrated Audio Card, Base Speakers  $589 after $100 rebate

 

Power User $1,500 - $8,000 Sick Systems
Lottery Winners and Lawyers only, or anyone else who has too much money and not enough good ideas about what to do with it

Alienware Aurora 7500 AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-57 Processor with HyperTransport Technology XP Pro SP2 2GB Ultra Low Latency DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 333MHz 4 x 512MB Dual NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX PCI Express 256MB DDR3 with NVIDIA SLI Technology 1TB (500GB x 2) Serial ATA-II 3Gb 7,200 RPM w/32MB Cache 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive Premium 52x32x52x CD-RW Drive Sound Blaster® Audigy® 4 Pro High Definition 7.1 Surround Sound with Dual Firewire (IEEE® 1394) Alienware® ALX 5.1 Home Theater System by Klipsch Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" Ultra Fast 4ms LCD Display - Black Secondary 17’ LCD monitor $7,190

Dell Dimension XPS Gen 5   Pentium® 4 Processor 670 with HT Technology (3.80GHz, 800 FSB) XP Pro SP2 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X850 XT PE 500GB Data Security RAID 1 (2 x 500GB SATA II HDDs) 48x CD-RW Drive 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable Sound Blaster Audigy™ 2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, IEEE 1394 capability Logitech Z5500 500 Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Speakers w/control pod UltraSharp™ 2405FPW Widescreen Digital LCD (Deity of all Monitors ) Secondary 17” LCD monitor $6,803

 

Additionally, none of the PCs listed here came with anything above the standard 1 year, or in some cases 90 day warranty. However, we recommend purchasing 2-3 years warranty coverage because systems go down. I don't care who you are, systems go down. I have had parts fail in many different computer brands and the saving grace was the warranty plan I purchased which covered the problem (sometimes more than once for the same part). Buy a warranty, but no need to buy longer than 3 years, your system can go to halftime duty, or retire by then. 'Nuff Said.

 

2004 Pricing Comparison

Budget Computer $450 or less

HP a400y          2.5GHz Celeron, 400MHz BUS 256MB/266Mhz RAM     40GB/5400rpm HD Basic key/Scroll mouse 17” CRT, XP Home, Works, Money Integrated Card, Base Speakers $434	Dell Dimension 2400    2.4GHz Celeron/, 400MHz BUS 128MB/266MHz RAM 40GB/5400rpm HD Basic key/Scroll mouse Refurbished 17” CRT, XP Home, Works, Money Integrated Card, Base Speakers  $438

Mainstream $600 - $1500

HP a410e         2.6GHz AMD Athlon XP 400MHz BUS 512MB/ 333Mhz RAM 80GB/7200rpm HD 48xCDRW         17” CRT            XP Home, Works, Money Integrated Card, Base Speakers $655	Dell Dimension 4600 2.4GHz Pentium 4 533MHz BUS 512MB/ 333MHz RAM 80GB/7200rpm HD 48xCDRW Refurb. 17” CRT XP Home, Works, Money Integrated Card, Base Speakers  $778

 

Power User $1,500 - $4,000 

Alienware Aurora 3.4GHz AMD 64bit FX-51 HT 800MHz BUS 1GB/ 400Mhz RAM 160GB/ 7200rpm + 74GB/ 10,000rpm HD      16xDVD + 8x DVD+RW     19” LCD 256MB Nvidia 5950 Ultra XP Pro, XP Office SB Audigy 2, Creative 500W THX 5.1 Speakers            $4,194	Dell Dimension XPS    3.4GHz Pentium4 HT Extreme/800MHz BUS 1GB/ 400MHz RAM 250GB/7200rpm Serial ATA HD  16xDVD +  8x DVD+RW     19” LCD 128MB ATI 9800 Pro XP Pro, XP Office SB Audigy 2, 5.1 Speakers     $3,706

 

Where to Buy

A little shopping around can easily save you $200, $300 or even $1,000 or more. You owe it to yourself to shop around. Here is our standard shopping approach to buying a computer for the lowest cost:

1. CDW - Start at CDW. Use this web site to get a feel for the brand, size, speed, and price of computer you want. This is a good site for comparing current systems. But don’t buy your computer here – it will typically cost more. www.cdw.com
    
1. Print – Print out each and every potential system you think might meet your needs. Staple the pages together for each system and stack them.
2. Eliminate – Compare and eliminate obvious poor choices by placing a big X over those features and systems that don’t measure up.
    

2. Pricescan – Take your selections to Pricescan and look for the best price/delivery deals you can find. www.pricescan.com
    
1. Print – Print out each and every potential system you think might meet your needs. Staple the pages together for each system and stack them.
2. Eliminate – Compare and eliminate obvious poor choices by placing a big X over those features and systems that don’t measure up.
    

3. Price Grabber - Take your selections to Pricegrabber and look for the best price/delivery deals you can find. www.pricegrabber.com
    
1. Print – Print out each and every potential system you think might meet your needs. Staple the pages together for each system and stack them.
2. Eliminate – Compare and eliminate obvious poor choices by placing a big X over those features and systems that don’t measure up.
    

4. Dell – Visit the Dell web site and look for systems comparable to the best ones you’ve already found. Be sure to look for rebates, online coupons and special deals as well. Also search for refurbished computer systems and consider these options. www.dell.com
    
1. Print – Print out each and every potential system you think might meet your needs. Staple the pages together for each system and stack them.
2. Eliminate – Compare and eliminate obvious poor choices by placing a big X over those features and systems that don’t measure up.
    

5. HP - Visit the HP web site and look for systems comparable to the best ones you’ve already found. Be sure to look for rebates, online coupons and special deals as well. Also search for refurbished computer systems and consider these options. www.hp.com
    
1. Print – Print out each and every potential system you think might meet your needs. Staple the pages together for each system and stack them.
2. Eliminate – Compare and eliminate obvious poor choices by placing a big X over those features and systems that don’t measure up.
    

6. Continue Shopping Online - Depending upon how much time and effort you want to expend, continue to identify potential systems and compare them to your list of printed options by also visiting IBM, eCOST,  The Nerds, Tech Bargains, Pricewatch, PC Connection,  Buy.com, Staples, etc.
    

7. Shop Stores - You are now armed with enough ammunition to shop a neighborhood store such as OfficeMax, Office Depot, or Staples. Sometimes (albeit rarely) these places have a deal that beats an internet price. Many stores, such as Circuit City, will match any advertised price, and that might be an avenue you want to take. SAM’s Club also provides some good deals from time to time.
    

8. Avoid Retail Computer Stores – It is a general rule that retail computer stores such as CompUSA are very overpriced. In all my years it has been my experience that buying from CompUSA and other retail computer stores will cost you at least 20% more, if not a great deal more. I have nothing against CompUSA and I visit their showrooms often just to see what’s out there. 
    

9. Seeking Advice - Several Internet sites such as CNET.com, Amazon.com, and even PCmag.com offer A-Lists, reviews, and user forums. I read these reviews for the information, but I sometimes have doubts about the systems they recommend most.
    

10. Advanced Web Shopping – I cannot stress this enough, the best deals come to those who wait and then pounce when the time is right. If you want to take some more time to search for those really fantastic bargains, we suggest you visit Tech Bargains and Fat Wallet. These two sites list hundreds of internet specials daily, but you need to be ready to react fast – these deals don’t hang around long (sometimes an hour or less) www.techbargains.com & www.fatwallet.com.

                                                              

 

                                            

Replacement Period

Many CPAs hold on to their computers far too long. We recommend that you retire your computer after 3 years for the following reasons:

• Older computers are slower, and hence your employees are not as efficient.
• Older computers are not designed to run newer operating systems and applications, and therefore they crash and hang far more often.
• The average cost of repairing a computer now exceeds the cost of a new computer.
• Computer warranties typically expire after 36 months.
   

Disposal

You can dispose of a computer by giving it to your employee to take home. Your employee may be very happy with this, and you won’t have to dispose of it otherwise. Data and software applications should be removed before disposal, formatting the hard drive is your best bet. Many charities no longer accept computer donations.

Conclusion

Computers have reshaped our world. Whole industries have fallen while others have emerged based solely on computers. Today, companies that don’t keep up, will most likely fail. You should make sure that you, and everyone of your employees is using a fast, solid, dependable computer. You should replace all computers at least every three years. You should buy computers that are about two steps below the top technologies. You can save a bundle by shopping computers on the Internet.

Recommendations

Reliable and fully functional home/office PCs today need:

q    Purchase a system with 80GB hard drive storage minimum, if in doubt-buy larger, extra space is cheap

q Add RAM until system contains 512MB RAM minimum

q Buy a system with a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP processor or better

q Decide whether you need basic Integrated graphics or an add-on 64MB -128MB graphics card for games/video

q Make sure that your system includes an Ethernet card

q Make sure you get 2 optical drives (preferred) or at least one writable drive: CDR/W or DVD-R/RW

q Count the USB 2.0 ports (data transfer and peripheral standard) front and back,  at least 2 front and 4 back

q Look for bundled specials like printers and digital cameras, but do not sacrifice system specs to get a “freebie”

q Read the fine print for hidden costs, especially where warranty options or "free" services are concerned.

Links 

PC configurations and prices - http://www.hp.com , http://www.dell.com , http://www.alienware.com
Desktop Specification Comparison - http://compreviews.about.com/cs/desktops/bb/aabybdesktops.htm
ABC’s of Desktops - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1159843,00.asp
PC market on the comeback trail, C/Net, - http://news.com.com/2100-1001_3-976295.html?tag=st_rn
Gateway ends "stupid" policies, C/Net - http://news.com.com/2100-1040-256522.html

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