PC Deals You Better Shop Around

Prices are fantastic, but where should you buy your next PC? We went undercover to help you find the best merchants--and avoid the worst salespeople.

I'm standing in a Circuit City in coastal North Carolina; Richard--young, tan, and friendly in a falsely ingratiating way--is helping me buy a computer. Behind him, Christina Aguilera shimmies on a bank of video screens. Richard shows me a fully loaded 1-GHz Compaq Presario going for around $1000, not including a monitor. A truly terrific deal, but he doesn't appear to know that.

"These here are your drivers," he says, indicating the floppy, CD-Rewritable, and DVD-ROM drives, "and it comes with a 16-bit graphics card, which goes well with your NEC Mitsubishi monitor."

It's bad enough that Richard confuses the graphics card with the sound card and says "Mitsubishi" when he means "MultiSync," but then he commits the cardinal sin of lame computer salespeople: He presses the DVD drive's button, slides out the tray, and tells the coffee cup holder joke. His advice is as bad as his jokes, and when I walk out of the store with the Compaq, he seems almost as amazed at the sale as I am. But I have a good excuse for buying a new computer from Richard the annoying: I was on a mission from PC World.

Talking Shop

PC prices have fallen to new lows, but figuring out where to buy your next PC is still a challenge. So on one long weekend last May, we set out to find the best and worst places to purchase a computer. Five undercover shoppers in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Texas each visited

Eight retail stores: Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Costco, Gateway Country, Office Depot, Staples, and an independent retailer, also known as a mom-and-pop. We browsed the Web sites of six online merchants (Buy.com, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, PC Connection, and Polywell), then called each one's sales line to check out their phone sales force. We bought one computer from a representative mom-and-pop store and one from each other vendor (14 in all), plugged them in to make sure they worked, then returned them and waited for the refunds.

Our target PC was a 1-GHz system with 128MB of RAM, a 30GB hard drive, DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives, a V.90 modem, a 32MB NVidia graphics card, an office suite, and a 17-inch monitor. And our firm price limit was $1500, not including shipping. Last year it would have been impossible to get that configuration for that price; these days it's a cakewalk.

Along the way we rated the seller's computer selection and the sales staff's knowledge, courtesy, and efficiency. We tossed in red herrings--asking questions such as "Can I get this system with 200MB of memory?"--to see if they'd swallow the bait. We also rated the vendor's service when we returned the PCs, tracking how long it took each company to refund our money, and noting the lengths to which the vendor would go to keep the sale. Finally, we picked the best and worst channel--retail, phone, or Web--for price, selection, service, and more.

The best choice in nearly every category was the Web. And small wonder: Web shopping allows you to compare a broad selection of brands and systems, mix and match components, and get scads of information at any hour of the day or night. The benefits are so compelling that retail outlets have tried to duplicate them. Nearly every computer retailer we visited had a Web-based kiosk at which you could configure systems and have them shipped directly to you. (The Circuit City outlet we visited in North Carolina also had one, but the sales rep, Richard, could not figure out how to use it.)

Even the phone sales reps we talked to seemed to be clicking through the lists of specifications available on their company Web sites. Meanwhile, Gateway and HP have addressed one of the key drawbacks of Web shopping--the lack of human contact--by adding live chat capability to their online stores.

As in the past, Dell's site is best overall. It's easy to navigate, and the company offers highly configurable PCs and useful buying advice. But getting our refund from Dell took the longest--30 days.

With online stores like Dell's at your fingertips, why leave the house?

Best and Worst: The Shopping Experience

Sites and Sounds

Best: Web

Worst: Retail

Shopping for a PC is a sensory experience that can be good, bad, or (on occasion) surreal. One of our undercover PC shoppers, Sofia Martinez of Austin, Texas, observes that CompUSA is "bright, clean, and stinks of plastics." The same could be said for the megastores, from cavernous Costco warehouses to raucous consumer electronics shops such as Best Buy. The bigger stores often cram systems together on shelves, and provide little information about them beyond the stickers on the sides of the machines. Visiting a store can even prove dangerous. Reporter Tom Spring's visit to a Costco in Massachusetts resembled Hitchcock's The Birds, as he dodged chickadees dive-bombing from the rafters.

Some retailers did offer a more comforting experience. The mom-and-pop Chicago Cyber Exchange, for instance, has "a coffeehouse feel with high ceilings and upbeat music," says undercover PC shopper Katharine Dvorak. And every Gateway Country store is like a mini-Ikea showroom, with workstations displayed to reflect different digital lifestyles.

By contrast, dealing with phone and Web-based vendors is much more sedate. Aside from differences in hold music and voice-mail menus, the phone-based merchants were nearly identical. But Web sites varied as widely as the retail outlets, from the uncluttered, well-organized sites of Dell, Gateway, and HP to the densely packed home page of Buy.com. Dell's site offers several handy features, including three ways to look at your system configuration (a page with drop-down menus for each component, a page that lists all your options at once, and a concise, printable summary page), as well as the ability to buy some of the items in your shopping cart but save others for later.

Unfortunately, Web shopping can be frustrating, too. Polywell's site, for example, contains more specs and acronyms than an engineering manual, making it a geek's paradise and a novice's nightmare. We found a bug in PC Connection's System Selector: Specify any hard disk size and only 10 percent of the vendor's desktops show up. (We notified the site of the error, but when we checked back more than a month later, it had yet to be fixed.) We also encountered temporary shopping cart glitches at both Gateway's and HP's sites. But minor annoyances aside, we still prefer the quiet, relatively pressure-free atmosphere of the Web.

Freedom of Choice

Best: Web

Worst: Retail

Retail outlets have historically offered the broadest selection of computer brands, but that's starting to change. The vast majority of desktops on store shelves bear the logos of Compaq and HP. Bigger chains, including CompUSA and Circuit City, carry some Sony and Apple computers, plus a smattering of older EMachines and MicronPC systems. Otherwise, nada.

The big Web- and phone-based merchants aren't much better. PC Connection and Buy.com offer a broader selection (including Acer, IBM, and NEC) than their brick-and-mortar rivals, but many of the systems have bare-bones features. At Buy.com, more than half the systems that met our criteria were out of stock. On the plus side, PC Connection provides a nifty chart that lets you compare specs side by side for up to five systems at a time.

Still, the Web takes this category hands down. It's the only channel that lets you easily compare a Dell PC, say, to a Gateway, a Compaq, or virtually any other PC. Even if you have to visit a dozen sites, it's a lot easier than schlepping from store to store, or calling half-a-dozen merchants.

Have It Your Way

Best: Web

Worst: Retail

If you're picky about the parts that go into your PC, you probably won't walk out of a retail store with the machine of your dreams. Most stores sell off-the-shelf systems as is--unless you buy a piece of hardware separately and have the store's service center install it the same day. But the retailers are starting to catch up to the flexibility of Web and phone vendors. Most chains feature "build-to-order" kiosks where you can custom-configure a Compaq and/or HP system and have it shipped to your home (shipping charges and taxes will likely apply). In most stores, it was the only way to get a PC with the graphics board we wanted.

But such kiosks offer no advantage over doing it yourself on the Web. At an Office Depot in Wilmington, North Carolina, a sales rep named Elton quickly realized that the system we wanted was not in his store, marched over to the Compaq kiosk, and configured a Presario 7000Z that matched our specs exactly. The price was $1394, plus shipping charge and sales tax ($65 and $87, respectively). Elton claimed customers get a better price through Office Depot's system than they can on the Web. But when we checked Compaq's site, we configured an identical Presario for the same base price.

Mom-and-pops and many phone-based vendors also build PCs to your specifications, but in both cases you're relying on the sales rep to present all your options.

In the realm of customization, the Web is king: You can see your options and browse the online aisles for as long as you like. But not all sites are equally flexible. At Polywell.com you can specify everything but the type of screws they use to put the PC together. But you can't order it online; the company takes orders only via phone. At Gateway.com, on the other hand, you can specify options like memory or hard drive size, but you have to pick a preselected combination package for the graphics board, sound card, and network interface card. Buy.com and PC Connection offer you no way to customize systems online. (PC Connection can custom-configure a system if you order by phone.)

Help Is Hard to Find

Best: Web

Worst: Retail

Talk to enough computer salespeople and you start to question whether Darwin was right. Some folks we talked to, like the sales reps on Dell's and HP's phone lines, really knew their stuff. We wonder how others survived high school.

For example, when shopper Tom Spring asked a sales rep at the CompUSA in Cambridge, Massachusetts, if he could control a PC with his cell phone, the rep swallowed the hook. Sure, he said, you could use it "kinda like a wireless mouse." Tom asked salespeople at other Boston-area stores whether that was true. It turns out that sales staffers at Staples and the local store PCs for Everyone also subscribe to the cell-phone-as-mouse theory.

But staffers in retail stores had no monopoly on ignorance and questionable advice. When Tom called PC Connection, he was put on hold nine times while sales rep Jennifer hunted down answers to his questions. "You can only think about so many things at the same time before your brain can't process things anymore," she said.

A call to Gateway's 800 number was answered, in Spanish, by a salesperson named Sirena. (During peak times, calls roll over to Gateway's bilingual sales line.) She explained that her name meant "little mermaid"--but was quickly in over her head. She had no idea what DSL was, and when we asked about the difference between Intel and AMD, she put us on hold to find out (her answer: Intel spends more on advertising).

At the opposite extreme was Polywell's Ivy, The Woman Who Knew Too Much. Hopelessly geeky, she tried to outfit us with a hard disk mirroring system for our home office, blithely tossed around acronyms like RAID and DDR, and never asked what we wanted to do with the computer or how much we wanted to spend.

How to escape less-than-helpful salespeople? Your best bet is to politely get off the phone (or out of the store) and try your luck with another rep. But you'll get more--and more accurate--sales information on the better Web sites. On Gateway's system configuration page, you can click a button to make windows appear that contain information about each component. Dell goes one better with its Desktop Buying Guide, full of easy-to-understand advice and a godsend for anyone lost in a sea of acronyms. Gateway's and HP's Web sites offer live chat with salespeople. Gateway even e-mails you the transcript shortly after you log off. Our results were mixed: One shopper found the live chat helpful, the other did not. Still, the future looks promising for this kind of sales assistance.

Your best solution may be the Web/phone combo plate: Do your shopping online to get the exact configuration you want, and then call to make the final purchase. That way you get a chance to haggle and ask questions, as well as a rep's name and extension in case something goes wrong with your order.

Try Before You Buy

Best: Retail

Worst: Web and Phone

Only retail stores let you kick a PC's tires--or check out its monitor, keyboard, and speakers--before you drive it away. The best place to test-drive a system is Gateway Country, which offers sleek workstations complete with printers, groovy-looking (if uncomfortable) stools, and even live Internet connections. In a pinch, you could probably use the store as a second office--at least until the salespeople became suspicious. Still, it's just a showroom: There's no way to walk home with your favorite PC, and it took about ten days for us to get the system we ordered from Gateway's retail store.

Meanwhile, at Costco, the computers can double as babysitters. At the store in Durham, North Carolina, we found a freckle-faced, 12-year-old boy--who had escaped from his parents--merrily playing backgammon on a MicronPC. Other stores are less inviting, however. CompUSA, Office Depot, and Staples do offer free access to their PCs. But at CompUSA, the computers and monitors sit on different shelves, making it hard to figure out which display to look at. At Best Buy, you can run only the demo program they've installed on every system. Circuit City password-protects its PCs. If you want to test-drive one, you must first talk to a rep. At the bottom of this heap: mom-and-pop shops, most of which had little if anything to look at, let alone try out.

A Buyer's Market

Best: A three-way tie

Worst: None

The good news: These days you can get an amazingly good deal on a PC. The bad news: It's hard to figure out which deal is really the best.

System specs vary from one model to the next, making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. The cheapest PC we ended up purchasing was EMachines' EMonster 1000B, which we snagged from Buy.com for a hair under $1100, including the monitor. But it lacked the DVD-ROM drive, the storage space, and the graphics card we wanted, and it's not a brand we'd recommend.

Otherwise, the systems and prices were remarkably uniform, ranging from about $1400 to $1600 no matter where we bought them. The differences often came down to shipping charges and sales tax. Most of the online and phone vendors that we visited collect tax in only a few states. Shipping costs may vary depending on where you live and the items that come with the system; freight charges ranged from HP's thrifty $35 to the $125 charged by Gateway.

If you're looking at buying a widely available system such as HP's Pavilion 7855--which is available via phone, Web, and brick-and-mortar stores--you might save a few bucks on shipping by buying it from a nearby store. Just be careful where you do so: We found that the same Pavilion cost $1099 (without monitor) in every store we visited but at a Circuit City in the Chicago suburb of Downer's Grove, Illinois, where it went for $1299.

All the salespeople we asked say the stores will match prices for equivalent systems, so it pays to shop around. And remember to play hardball. When PC World Associate Editor Grace Aquino declined the extended warranty at CompUSA in San Francisco, her sales rep, Alain, sweetened the deal so much that she ended up receiving unadvertised discounts on the PC, the monitor, and the extended warranty.

We found large price differences between monitors. Models sold by HP and Compaq were often $100 to $200 more expensive than equivalent displays sold by NEC, Samsung, and ViewSonic.

Even if you buy the computer online, though, getting the monitor locally will save you money because you won't have to pay to ship that big, heavy item.

The moral? Before you hand over the plastic, stop and do the math.

The Warranty Factor

Best: Web and Phone

Worst: Retail

Even the best PC manufacturers sometimes build a lemon; your surest protection is a solid warranty and good support policies. These days, most PCs come with one year of coverage for parts and labor and 24-hour, seven-day phone support. Gateway has the best standard warranty--three years of parts and labor and one year of on-site service. Polywell also offers a generous warranty: Most parts are covered for a year, except for the hard drive and the monitor, which are guaranteed for three years; labor is covered for a whopping five years, and Polywell includes a year of on-site service.

If your PC vendor can't match that, then you might consider ponying up for an extended warranty. Again, Gateway offers one of the best deals: $99 for three years of on-site service and around-the-clock phone support. Many stores will fix your PC only if you bring it in (so-called depot service); some, like Best Buy, offer a choice: three years of on-site service for $200 or three years of depot service for $150. And depot service may have a gotcha: If the store doesn't have a service center on the premises (many don't), you could be without your PC for weeks while it's shipped to and from a regional service center.

Because retailers can reap big profits from extended warranties, some sales reps push them aggressively. Prices for plans are usually based on the cost of the PC, and the warranties often come in a confusing matrix of options, so it pays to take your time before deciding.

And be wary of slick sales maneuvers. At Circuit City in Wilmington, North Carolina, for example, sales dude Richard automatically added $270 to the bill for a four-year extended warranty (apparently hoping we wouldn't notice), then whined when we asked him to remove it.

But that's better than shopper Sofia Martinez's experience with Jason, a persistent salesman at a Best Buy in Austin. First he led her into the service center, where technicians were conducting an autopsy on a dead PC. "Anything you see there is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty," he intoned (which, incidentally, was not true). When Sofia refused--for the umpteenth time--he marked "NO service plan" on her sales form.

A few minutes later Jason pulled her out of the checkout line and offered $40 of free labor for a graphics card upgrade if she purchased an extended warranty. Once again she said no. The clerk at the checkout counter said, "You don't want the service plan?" And when she went to the service center to have the techs plug in the PC to make sure it worked, she got another sales pitch: "You know, manufacturers only give out one-year warranties for a reason...."

To borrow a line from a famous Texan: Read our lips.

Ultimately, whether to purchase an extended warranty depends on how good the manufacturer's standard warranty is, how long you plan to keep the PC, and how comfortable you are troubleshooting problems over the telephone. If you feel more secure bringing the computer to a service center, then a retail store's warranty is probably your best bet.

Refund Runaround

Best: None

Worst: Web and Phone

If you buy a system and change your mind later, it'll usually cost you, either in restocking fees (from 4 to 15 percent) or in shipping charges. Or, in Polywell's case, both--returning the PC cost us $467 (ouch!). At retail shops, we typically got our money back the same day, but with Web and phone vendors we had to wait weeks to get a refund. Dell was the worst, making us wait 30 days for our money. But some vendors will bend over backwards to get you to keep your PC, which can translate into a sweet deal.

A few retail outlets (such as CompUSA) didn't charge restocking fees even though their policies said they did; others tried to charge us when their policies said they didn't. For example, Best Buy charges restocking fees only for notebooks, not desktops. That was apparently news to the salespeople in Austin, who started to knock 15 percent off our refund until our shopper pointed to the sign posted above their heads with the policy clearly stated.

Some vendors quietly accepted our returns; others treated us like pariahs when we returned to the store. But nobody tried harder to keep our business than Gateway Country. When we called Gateway's customer service line, the clerk who answered made a half-hearted effort to get us to change our minds, then put us on hold. Five minutes later another clerk, Joseph, came on the line and asked what he could do to "help facilitate you keeping this system" and "address whatever needs you have in your life right now." Did we want to delay payments for a few months? Get a free printer or scanner? Knock $100 off the price? We said thanks, but no thanks. Okay, Joseph said, how about $300 off? Very tempting, we said, but no. Joseph put us back on hold. Four minutes later he returned with a final offer: $440 off the price--a 33 percent discount--if we kept it. Alas, we could not.

Equally astounding was Costco's return policy, which states you can return any item with a receipt at any time for a full refund. Refusing to believe this, we asked Costco clerks in three cities if this meant that we could buy a PC, use it for a year, then return it and get our money back. That's right, they all said, provided we returned it with all parts. (Yes, Virginia, apparently there is a Santa Claus.)

Some stores may be very resistant to returns. A mom-and-pop we visited in Chicago had no return policy at all. Joe at Chicago Cyber Exchange explained it this way: "If you walk out the door and drop the computer over some railroad tracks on your way home and something breaks...you own a very awkward paperweight."

Tops in Shops

Best: Web

Worst: Retail

At this point it's no surprise that we think the Web is the way to shop. It's convenient, it's open all night, and it's free of annoying salespeople like Richard and Jason. If you want to gauge how sharp a monitor looks or how mushy a keyboard is, thorough research will also involve a trip to a retail store. And if you're uncomfortable sending your personal information over the Net or you just want to resolve any lingering questions with a real person before you put down your money, use the Web to research your options, and then pick up the phone. That way you have the best of all possible worlds.

Contributing Editor Daniel Tynan is an avid PC shopper in Wilmington, North Carolina. Tom Spring is a senior reporter for PC World. Grace Aquino, Eric Dahl, Kalpana Narayanamurthi, Melissa J. Perenson, Alan Stafford, and Anush Yegyezarian are PC World editors. Katharine Dvorak and Sofia Martinez also contributed research for this article.

Tips: Guide to Savvy Shopping

1. Know what you want: Don't expect the salesperson to know more than you. Know what you want to do with your PC and how much you can spend.

2. Find the right staff: The quality of a merchant's sales staff can vary from store to store and from person to person. If you don't find your salesperson helpful, find another one.

3. Hunt for special deals: The vendor may be offering freebies or discounts the salesperson doesn't mention.

4. Buy the monitor separately: You may get a better deal if you buy a different brand's screen. Even if you order the PC online, buying the monitor locally will save shipping charges.

5. Get the scoop on taxes: Some online or phone vendors may not collect sales tax in your state (though, legally, you are required to inform your state tax board about it).

6. Examine extended warranties: Most are profit centers for stores, and prices vary wildly. The best warranties are usually those that system manufacturers provide.

7. Browse while you gab: When shopping via phone, go to the company's Web site--it may have more options than the sales rep mentions.

8. Get the return policy in writing: Ask if the money-back period starts at the time of purchase or when the PC arrives. Ask about restocking fees. If you're buying through the mail, find out if you're liable for shipping costs one way or both ways.

9. Comparison shop: Most stores will match prices from other retailers (not necessarily Web sites). Know what other stores charge for the same PCs.

10. Play hardball: Ask the salesperson if there's anything she or he is willing to toss in to close the deal.

--Tom Spring and Daniel Tynan

Hardware Buying Guide: Cut Through the Jargon

CPU Memory

The Jargon

Athlon: AMD's high-end processor. Celeron: Intel's value processor. Double Data Rate SDRAM: Doubles the speed of SDRAM; competes with RDRAM. Duron: AMD's value processor. Gigahertz: One GHz equals 1 billion cycles per second. Microprocessors that run at 1 GHz or more, as most of the latest do, are ready to process data 1 billion or more times per second. Pentium 4: Intel's high-end processor. Rambus DRAM (RDRAM): Memory used in P4s; it can be speedier, but also more expensive, than SDRAM. Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM): The most common type of memory; plenty fast for most tasks. It comes in 100- and 133-MHz varieties.

Tips

Power users, gamers, and digital video buffs: Aim for the fastest CPU you can afford, with at least 128MB, preferably 256MB, of memory. If you do mostly word processing, e-mail, Web browsing, general spreadsheets, or presentations, nearly all processors currently on the market will suffice. If you buy a PC equipped with an Athlon CPU, look for one with 266-MHz DDR SDRAM memory, the fastest version. With P4 systems, get speedy PC800 RDRAM, not PC600.

See this month's Top 10 Power PCs, Top 10 Value PCs, and Top 15 Home PCs.

--Anush Yegyezarian

CD-RW Drive

The Jargon

24X/10X/40X: 24X is the speed writing to a CD-R, 10X is the speed writing to CD-Rewritable (CD-RW), and 40X is the speed reading CD-ROMs. Buffer underrun compensation: Prevents interruptions in data that can ruin disks; known by brand names Burn-Proof, JustLink, Seamless, SafeBurn. Double-Density: Standard used by Sony for writing up to 1.3GB of data per disc.

Tips

Pay the most attention to write speed. The state of the art is 24X to CD-R disks, but 16X is sufficient for most users. Most drives write to CD-RW disks at 8X or faster. If you want the latest and fastest drive, consider buying it separately from your computer. PC makers are often behind the curve. Get a drive with buffer underrun compensation technology to avoid "burning coasters." If you buy a drive that writes at 16X or higher, keep in mind that you'll need to buy CD-R discs that are rated for those speeds.

Read more in this month's roundup of CD-RW drives.

--Melissa J. Perenson

Graphics and Sound

The Jargon

Digital Video Interface (DVI): An alternative to the standard 15-pin analog graphics-out port that most cards include; usually used with LCDs. Dolby 5.1: The latest sound cards can handle this Surround Sound standard that supports five speakers and a subwoofer. Integrated graphics and sound: Many PCs ship with these tasks built into the motherboard, which is fine for most office applications. Video-in, Video-out (VIVO): Lets you capture analog video on your PC (Video-in) and run your PC's output to a TV (Video-out).

Tips

If you need 3D performance for graphics or games, and Surround Sound for games or music, integrated graphics and sound won't do. You'll need separate graphics and sound cards. Most graphics cards come with 32MB of DDR SDRAM. Serious gamers will want 64MB. Speakers are still the most important part of your sound system and worth spending money on if great sound is vital to you. The best advice: Listen before you buy. If you're using a monitor with a digital input port (usually LCDs), get a card with a DVI-out port. If you use two monitors, get a graphics board that has dual-monitor support. If you want to capture video, or send a DVD movie from a PC to a television, choose a graphics board with Video-in and Video-out support. If you want to watch TV on your PC, get a card with a TV tuner.

For more information, see this month's Top 10 Graphics Boards.

--Eric Dahl

Monitor

The Jargon

Aperture grille: A CRT monitor that uses thin vertical wires to focus the electron beam; best for graphics. CRT: Cathode Ray Tube, the technology in the cheapest and most common type of monitor. LCD: Liquid crystal displays, also known as flat panels; smaller than CRTs and more energy-efficient, but also more expensive. Shadow mask: A CRT monitor that uses a mask with holes to focus the electron beam; best for text. Resolution: The number of pixels horizontally and vertically on the screen. Resolution of 800 by 600 means 800 pixels on 600 lines. Viewing angle: The maximum angle at which you can see images on an LCD screen.

Tips

A 17-inch CRT is the best buy for Web surfing and simple word processing. If you edit images or video, opt for a 19- or 21-inch CRT for extra workspace. LCDs save space on cramped desktops and use 72 percent less energy. If you stare at your screen for hours, consider a flat CRT--you'll get brighter colors with less glare. Look for a model with a refresh rate of at least 70 Hz. At a lower rate, the image flickers.

See this month's Top 10 Monitors.

--Kalpana Narayanamurthi

Network Card

The Jargon

10Base-T, 100Base-T, and 1000Base-T: Maximum data throughput of 10 mbps, 100 mbps, and 1000 mbps, respectively. Auto Switching: The ability to recognize and work with networks of more than one speed. Fast Ethernet: Another term for 100Base-T. Full duplex: The ability to transmit and receive data at the same time. Gigabit Ethernet: Another name for 1000Base-T. RJ-45: The port on the card to which you connect a standard network cable. Wake-on-LAN: This feature allows an administrator to boot the system remotely over a network.

Tips

Auto-switching 10/100 mbps cards are the best buy for most users. Stick to PCI network expansion cards. ISA cards are slow and limited. Wake-on-LAN is useful for large offices or if you want to start your home PC from the office; otherwise, you don't need it. If you're installing a card to connect to someone else's equipment, say a university or a broadband provider, check with them first to see what brands they recommend (and support). If you're using Linux, make sure to get a card that operating system supports.

--Alan Stafford

Best and Worst Places to Buy a PC (chart)

Outlet type	Company	PC brands	Standard warranty: parts/labor/on-site (years)	One-way shipping cost1	Time from purchase to delivery1	Return policy2	Restocking fee	Wait for refund1, 3	Our verdict
Retail	Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com) 888/237-8289	Compaq, EMachines, HP, MicronPC, Sony	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	14 days	15%	Same day	Informative salespeople helped us find a PC within our budget. But some clerks gave a hard sell on the extended warranty.
Retail	Circuit City (www.circuitcity.com) 877/932-2225	Compaq, EMachines, HP, Sony	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	14 days	15%	Same day	The McDonald's of consumer electronics had a reasonable selection of PCs, but sales help ranged from mediocre to pathetic.
Retail	CompUSA (www.compusa.com) 800/251-2665	Compaq, CompUSA, EMachines, HP, Sony	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	14 days	15%	Same day	Big selection, good deals, and fairly knowledgeable sales reps--provided you can get their attention.
Retail	Costco (www.costco.com) 800/774-2678	Compaq, HP, MicronPC	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	Unlimited	None	Same day	Few PCs to choose from but great deals, and its 100 percent money-back guarantee can't be beat. $45 membership fee.
Retail	Best Buy Gateway Country (www.gateway.com) 800/846-4208	Gateway	3/3/14	$127	7 days	30 days	None	17 days	Tech-savvy sales team gladly showed us their PCs and peripherals. Expect to wait seven or more days for a system to arrive.
Retail	Office Depot (www.officedepot.com) 888/463-3768	Compaq, EMachines, HP	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	14 days	None	Same day	Returning a PC was a breeze, but sales help ranged from good to awful, and the store carried a limited selection of PCs.
Retail	Staples (www.pcsforeveryone.com) 800/378-2753	Compaq, HP, Toshiba	Varies by manufacturer	n/a	Same day	14 days	15%6	5 days	Great place to buy a gross of paper clips. But PC selection and sales help were ho-hum.
Phone/Web	Buy.com (www.buy.comBuy.com) 949/389-2000	Acer, Compaq, EMachines, HP, IBM, NEC, Sony	Varies by manufacturer	$44	6 days	30 days	None	3 days	Easy purchase and return procedures but a horrible selection of home PCs--most of which were out of stock.
Phone/Web	Best Buy Dell (www.dell.com) 800/915-3355	Dell	1/1/1	$95	12 days	30 days	None	30 days	Lots of component options; Web site and sales reps offer a wealth of information. But getting a refund took weeks.
Phone/Web	Gateway (www.gateway.com) 800/846-4208	Gateway	3/3/14	$132	9 days	30 days	None	15 days	Plenty of choices for components, plus generous three-year standard warranty. But we paid a premium for shipping.
Phone/Web	Hewlett-Packard (www.hpshopping.com) 888/999-4747	HP	1/1/1	$35	10 days	30 days	None	1 day	Helpful service and hassle-free returns (HP even paid for shipping a PC back), but shopping advice can be hard to find on the site.
Phone/Web	PC Connection (www.pcconnection.com) 800/800-0011	Acer, Compaq, Epiq PC, HP, IBM, NEC, Sony, Toshiba	Varies by manufacturer	$51	7 days	30 days	15%	12 days	PCs posted in its disorganized, buggy Web site were geared for business users. We received spotty service, too.
Phone/Web	Polywell (www.polywell.com) 800/999-1278	Polywell	3/5/1	$120	14 days	30 days	15%	24 days	Infinitely customizable systems marred by infinitely geeky site and sales help. Worse, we couldn't order online.

n/a = Not applicable1Based on our experience.2From date item was received.3On credit card payment. Refunds on cash or check payments may take several days.4Home PCs only. 5Independent PC retailer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which we purchased a PC for this article.6On built-to-order systems.

What a Difference a Year Makes (chart)

Computer prices are lower than ever. Nowadays, you can get a system with a faster CPU, double the hard drive capacity, and free Internet access to boot--all for about $500 less than what you would have paid last year.
	This year1	Last year2
System	HP Pavilion (custom)	HP Pavilion 9600A-700
CPU	AMD Athlon-1000	AMD Athlon-700
Memory	128MB of DDR SDRAM	128MB of SDRAM
Hard drive	40GB	20.4GB
DVD-ROM drive	12X	10X
CD-RW drive	8X/4X/32X	8X/4X/32X
Graphics board	NVidia GeForce2 MX with 32MB of SDRAM	Asus AGP-V6800 with 32MB of DDR SGRAM3
Operating system	Windows Me	Windows 98 SE
Monitor	17-inch HP V70	17-inch HP M70
Warranty	One year of parts and labor, no on-site service	One year of parts and labor, no on-site service
Freebies	One year of America Online	None
Price	$1235.16	$1699
Tax4	$101.90	$140.17
Shipping5	$34.95	$65
Total	$1372.01	$1904.17
Key differences	Fast CPU, big hard drive, fast DVD-ROM drive, free Web access for a year, cheaper shipping	Slower CPU, smaller hard drive, slower DVD-ROM drive, no Web access, pricier shipping

1Specs and prices as of June 5, 2001.2Specs and prices as of July 14, 2000.3Uses NVidia GeForce2 GTS. 4Based on California sales tax of 8.25 percent.5Flat rate, based on price of product, not location.