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The Perfect PC

Alan Stafford, senior editor

PCs are getting to be like automobiles. At some point, everyone must trade in an old clunker for a zippy new model. Like car salespeople, some PC vendors will say anything to close a deal: "You shouldn't buy anything smaller than a 100GB hard drive." Yeah, I need room for at least 2500 music CDs. "Buy now before we run out." More like, buy now so we can make room for faster, cheaper systems. We can't change how salespeople talk, but we can share a few shopping secrets.

>>TIP Home PCs differ from business PCs--usually. Home PCs typically offer the hottest new hardware and include applications that appeal to families, such as games. And they tend to have no-haggle prices; you probably can't negotiate. Business computers, such as HP's Vectra, Dell's OptiPlex, and Compaq's Evo, typically offer components that aren't cutting edge but are known for reliability and backward compatibility with older systems. Vendors often include software that allows an IT department to install applications and diagnose problems over a network. If you buy these PCs in bulk, you can probably negotiate a discount, but you may pay a premium for just one.

Some systems straddle the fence between home and business use. Dell's Dimension line, for instance, offers configurations and software suitable for either small-office or home users. Poking around a manufacturer's Web site can reveal deals on such PCs: For example, you may sometimes be able to get a PC for your home less expensively if you buy it from the small-office section of the site.

>>TIP Buy a system, not a processor. We won't--and can't--recommend a PC based solely on its CPU. While machines using AMD Athlon XP processors typically score higher on PC WorldBench 4 than systems with Pentium 4 processors, few vendors allow you to choose one CPU make or the other, and most name-brand vendors (notably, Dell, Gateway, and IBM) don't sell Athlon systems at all. Shop for a computer as you would shop for a car: Base your decision not only on top speed, but also on price, the overall mix of components, service options, and the manufacturer's reliability record.

>>TIP Clip coupons. You can trim up to several hundred dollars (but more typically, about $50) by applying a virtual online coupon. Web sites such as Dealnews track these coupons; you can usually add them on top of other offers. OfficeMax.com and OfficeDepot.com also provide coupons for PCs and peripherals, and you may find more by entering a term such as "HP coupon" in your favorite search engine.

>>TIP Spend 10 percent more on some components, 10 percent less on others. Sometimes you get more than your money's worth. When we shopped, stepping up from Gateway's standard 17-inch shadow-mask CRT monitor to a flat-screen 17-inch Diamondtron model cost $80 extra. That's a very reasonable premium for a product you'll stare at every day. But for RAM, we found it cheaper to do the upgrade ourselves. Gateway charged $180 more for a 700SE system with 512MB of RAM instead of 256MB. We found several third-party vendors selling the extra RAM for less than $100.

>>TIP The total cost of a new system may include the price of compatible new peripherals. Though you can order some business PCs with older operating systems, most new models come with Windows XP--and many older peripherals may lack drivers that work with the new OS. Find out ahead of time whether your older printer, scanner, or other peripheral will survive the upgrade by checking its manufacturer's Web site for XP-compatible drivers. --Ulrike Diehlmann, Test Center director

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