Gosh, a wiki for ALE might be a great idea.<br><br><a href="http://tomshiro.org/twiki/view/ALE">http://tomshiro.org/twiki/view/ALE</a><br><br>There's even a discussion there about this very subject under 'CheapAtlantaHardware'. <br>
<br>-- CHS<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM, Daniel Howard <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dhhoward@comcast.net">dhhoward@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I've often found Fry's better on somethings and MicroCenter on others.<br>
To really answer this question we should come up with a simple list of<br>
basic stuff and perhaps even hard to find stuff and do an availability/<br>
price comparison, each of us noting best prices/brands of things on the<br>
list and comparing notes on this list? For example, here's the kind of<br>
typical stuff I usually get at Frys/Microcenter for all the donated<br>
stuff I refurbish for schools/community centers:<br>
<br>
Switches<br>
Gigabit NICs<br>
Flashdrives (when on sale)<br>
Optical drive replacements<br>
HDDs (SATA, PATA, desktop/notebook)<br>
Video cards<br>
RAM (desktop and notebook)<br>
Mice/Keyboards<br>
Power supplies<br>
<br>
and of course, cans of compressed air! If anyone sees other stuff to<br>
add, I'll be happy to note prices next time I'm there and report back,<br>
and maybe several of us could update the prices when we've been there.<br>
<br>
(This is where a good wiki for ALE might come in handy...)<br>
<br>
I always check price on NewEgg and see if the price plus shipping is<br>
significantly lower, and if so I just order from NewEgg. But lots of<br>
times the shipping puts the cost over what Microcenter charges, even<br>
with tax. For example, I needed 10 optical mice for our media center,<br>
and Newegg had them for $3 but with shipping they were $9. Microcenter<br>
had a bunch on sale for $3.99 each. It just depends.<br>
<br>
Also, for complete systems that you can specify motherboards, etc. for,<br>
PCUSA.com is in Norcross, and so far all the servers I bought there have<br>
been solid, and you can call them and order and pick up to avoid $40-50<br>
shipping charges. Downtown, GIM computers is still my favorite.<br>
<br>
The ultimate is of course to go in and ask every sales dude/dudette if<br>
they have Linux at home..that earns credit in my book for best Geek Store.<br>
<br>
Best, Daniel<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Daniel Howard<br>
President and CEO<br>
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation<br>
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