I recently ordered a computer from CyberPowerInc. It's a considerably better deal than from any of the big name companies. A general rule of thumb when buying computers is that any name-brand company will rip you off... big time. The only redeeming aspects of ordering from them (that I can think of) are: more reliable customer service, trade-in incentives, and greater assurance that the company won't go bankrupt and leave you with a worthless warranty. But anyways, I got (on back-to-school special) a: Athlon XP2200+, 512Mb DDR RAM, 80gig 7200 rpm hard drive, 64Mb Geforce4, 16X DVD, 40X12X48 cd-rw, SoundBlaster Live 5.1, Altec Lansing 3-piece speakers, and one hell of a cool case for a $898 subtotal. But man, shipping & handling is a bastard; $54 for a grand total of $952... suckage.

*(A comparable site is iBuyPower.)

**I didn't find out until after I ordered that it would take about 3 weeks to actually arrive, grrrrrrrr! Dang it, it might not get here by the time I leave for college, blehh...