Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Bobmon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: What's a good price on an IBM Clone?
Message-ID: <5319@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: 29 Dec 87 18:32:12 GMT
References: <2645@cbdkc1.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Bobmon)
Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington
Lines: 31
Keywords: Clone, inexperienced buyer

In article <2645@cbdkc1.ATT.COM> czei@cbdkc1.UUCP writes:
>
> [description of a salesman that would make McDonalds seem grease-free...]
>
>I'd appreciate any help finding a reputable mail order house,
>or reasonable price ranges for AT or XT clones.

Sounds like your first move should be to get Dad-in-law away from that store.
The price sounds poor, and the pitch sounded like pure PTBarnum ("There's a...
born every minute").  Suggestion: find a store that HAS some invoicing-type
software, or whatever Dad-in-law needs, and that is willing to let HIM play
with it on a machine in the store before any money comes out.  Another
suggestion:  if you/he goes with mail-order, consider who's gonna repair it,
install that nifty integrated software, figure out how to set up the hard-disk,
etc. etc.  Him?  You?  Mail-order is a Lot safer for people who already
know what they're doing (no offense; Macs and PCs aren't that similar.)

And now for a comment on prices:
There's a store in Indianapolis called SoftWarehouse, which may have a branch
in Columbus.  At any rate, I recently convinced a friend to take a (small)
chance on a system they were pushing, to wit:
	10MHz 8088 CPU
	30Meg Hard Drive, 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy
	EGA card, Samsung monitor
	1200bps modem
	640K
	package price: $2000 ($1995.95)

DISCLAIMER!:  I'm not recommending either the store or the machine especially,
but this suggests the kind of prices that can be found.  (For what it's worth,
the IUPUI purchasing agent was willing to deal with the store.)