Profgreg pointed out to me that our company has an employee discount program for Dell since it buys so many Dell computers. Unfortunatly they've changed the deal slightly from when he got his computer. It used to be a straight 10% discount, but now it ranges from 4% to 12% depending on how expensive the computer is and what kind of service plan you want to get. Since i'm planning on getting a cheap computer and the minimum service package i fall in the 4% range =P

I tried making a computer from their cheapest line and it came out to somewhat reasonably prices, about $1000 with a free LCD, however it didn't have an option for a graphics card. So i tired going up to the next level and picked almost exactly the same stuff and instead of being $100 more it came out to $1400 and something =P

Costco Compaq Presario SR1675C-B - $899.99

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1 GB PC3200 DDR RAM
250 GB 7200 RPM HD
17" LCD Monitor
Dual Layer DVD+-R/RW/CDRW
DVD-ROM
ATI Radeon 256 MB Shared
9 in 1 memory card reader
MS Windows XP Media Center Edition
56k modem
10/100 base T


Compaq SR1030-Z ($359.99 base price)
$759.98 (without LCD)
$699.98 (after rebates)

$1009.97 (with LCD)
$899.97 (after rebates)

Win XP Pro +$80
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ +$20
1 GB DDR-400MHz SDRAM (2x512) +$90
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA HD +$60
LightScribe DoubleLayer 16x max DVD+/-R/RW +$40
9 in 1 Card Reader, 3 USB +$10
no Monitor -$120.00
Compaq FP15 15" LCD +$79.99
NVIDIA GeForce 6200SE w/TurboCache 256MB support +$10
LinkSys Wireless-G USB Adapter +$49.99


Dell Dimension E310 ($599 base price)
$993 modified (with free LCD)

Intel Pentium 4 521 w/HT (2.8 GHz, 800FSB)
Windows XP Pro +$119
Win XP Pro CD +$10
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz 2DIMMs +$50
250 GB SATA HD 7200 RPM +$110
16x CD/DVD burner +$80
15" LCD (free bonus)
Integrated Intel GMA 900 (blech!)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy +$25
56k modem (included)


Dell Dimension E510 ($807 base price)
about $1500 modified =P (discounted LCD)

Intel Pentium 4 630 w/HT (3.0 GHz, 800FSB)
Windows XP Pro +$119
Win XP Pro CD +$10
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz (4x256M) +$60
250 GB SATA HD 7200 RPM +$110
16x CD/DVD burner +$50
17" LCD +$50 (free upgrade)
256MB PCI Expressx16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 +$90
Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1
56k modem (included)


Gateway S-5200D ($599.99 base price)
$909.98 (no LCD)

Win XP Pro (free upgrade)
Intel Pent4 521 (2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB 1MB cache)
1GB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM (2DIMMs) +$55
250GB SATA 7200RPM HD +$125
16x DVD+/-RW/CD-R/RW
ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR & TV Out +$45
(or NVIDIA GeForce 6600G with 128MB DVI, VGA, TV-Out +$110)
InkJet Printer +49.99 (but with $50 mail in rebate)


So the Compaq is still looking pretty tempting. And not that it's a deciding factor or anything, but the Compaq 9 in 1 memory card thing looks pretty cool, and it has two extra USB ports on it :)