January 11, 2003

This price comparison is meant to show how much price difference there is between comparable desktop computer systems found at three different stores: one retailer, one direct order and one reseller. This is not meant to be taken as a continuous price comparison but more of a snapshot of the three based on prices gathered on the date listed above. Prices are the retail price in US dollars without any taxes or shipping as applicable and does not include a monitor.

For the retailer, I chose CompUSA and selected a common Hewlett-Packard prepackage desktop system configuration. This is a good example of a system that is available from a retail store. For the direct order company, I select Dell Computers and chose a customized mid-range home desktop system to match the configuration of the HP system as closely as possible. Finally, I selected Central Computers which is a local reseller in California that I have dealt with both locally and through mail order. The computer system from them was based on one of their preconfigured home systems that was customized to closely match the other two.

Here is a breakdown of the three systems:

All three systems fall in the same general price range different by only $80. Most of the components on the three are identical. The HP computer has a slightly faster processor, but most people won't notice this. The Central Computers Pro Home computer instead of 2 individual drives instead replaces it with a single combo drive that can read DVD discs and functions as a CD Burner. It is slower than the individual drives in the other two systems, but it only takes up a single drive slot. The big different between the three is the video processor.

The HP system uses an integrated Intel Extreme graphics processor. This is a fairly low-end video card that has limited 3D functionality. It will work fine for office work and web surfing but it is far from capable at playing at of the latest 3D games. The Dell offers a better nVidia GeForce 4 MX processor which is capable of 3D gaming, but it lacks many of the higher level detail functions. The Central Pro Home series comes with the ATI Radeon 9000 processor with 128 MB of video ram. While this is by no means the fastest video graphics processor on the market, it should be sufficient to run all current 3D games available for the PC.

So, as far as price goes where you buy a computer from is not going to cause much of a different in the price. It is more important to look at the components used in the computer systems and the extras that may come in the deal you are getting.

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