(no subject)

[cellio]

Where should I buy a new computer quickly? My ideal machine will be here in a few days, will work out of the box (I don't have to install an OS and drivers and crap), and will come loaded with Win98 or Win2k but absolutely will not have been infected with XP. I probably also need some peripherals (printer, scanner, maybe USB hard drive), and if I buy all that stuff from the same place I want the configuration to have been done for me. It also, of course, has to come with an installed network card. Oh, and this is a desktop machine, not a portable.

I suspect that the OS requirement will prevent me from just going to Circuit City or whatever on Sunday.

Note that I haven't really mentioned price. It shouldn't be way out of whack, of course, but I'm willing to pay to (1) reduce my effort and (2) reduce my downtime. And I do not personally do any hardware installation that involves opening the case.

Suggestions?

Comments

inventory

[cellio]

Ok, I decided I should get a better handle on the scope of the software problem.

On a near-daily basis I use: Netscape, SSH, PC Pine, emacs.

In the last week (leading up to the power surge), I also used: FTP, Visual Thought, Rhapsody (music software), Kaluach (Hebrew calendar), Photo Impact (low-grade graphics program, kind of like Paint Shop Pro), and the software that talks to my digital camera (name temporarily forgotten).

In the last month, I also used: Word, Sim City, Internet Explorer (don't know which of these three should most embarrass me), Hebrew Now (language-learning software, appears to be Windows-only), and probably a couple other things that I can't remember right now.

I have a laser printer (HP LaserJet 5L), a SCSI scanner (older), a fairly-new external USB hard drive, and the aforementioned digital camera. All of these required special drivers or other software installations; I don't know which can talk to Macs.