Utahns who want to put the newest, fastest personal computer under the Christmas tree are going to be shopping for a 450 MHz Pentium II Xeon processor, a 16 gigabyte (GB) hard drive, flat panel display, a rewritable CD-ROM drive and built-in DVD. And they're going to spend close to $5,000 to get it.
The masses who just want to stay far enough ahead of the curve to get their new computer paid for before it is obsolete are expected to spend $1,200 to $1,500 to get features that were mostly top-of-the-line last year. And for those who already have a computer that isn't out of date (new enough that the monitor isn't dusty) there are plenty of jazzy accessories to spend money on.On the upside, there are more choices in a wider price range than ever. On the downside, more choices mean more shopping decisions.
Smart shoppers will save money and increase the life expectancy of their new computer by doing some homework before they load their wallet. "Consumer Reports" has a home computer buying guide in its December issue with stories available to subscribers at its Web site: http://www.consumerreports.org. "Newsweek" did a similar review with its reviews available free at its Web site: http://www.newsweek.com.
Book and grocery stores carry a dozen different personal computing magazines that regularly review the newest hardware and are packed with the kind of advertising that provides helpful comparison shopping. A quick look at the magazine covers tells what kind of product reviews are inside.
The top PC manufacturers all have Web sites featuring their entire product line and price lists for comparison or online shopping.
Reporters and industry insiders also get a look into the future at the annual COMDEX computer trade show in Las Vegas, which is held each year in November just ahead of the Christmas shopping season.
Here are the trends shoppers should be aware of:
Direct sellers are outselling retail outlets. It may seem ironic to suggest the best way to buy a computer is to use another computer as a shopping tool, but consider that more than half of the households in the country already have a PC (almost 65 percent in Salt Lake City), and manufacturers figure only one out of every four shoppers is looking for their first computer -- everybody else is shopping for upgrades or a complete replacement.
Two of the top five computer sellers, Dell and Gateway, sell all of their machines over the Internet or through phone or fax orders. The other manufacturers in the top five, Compaq, IBM and Hewlett-Packard, are also pushing Internet sales. These five manufacturers shipped just under half of the 22 million computers sold in the United States between July and September, according to research firm Dataquest.
Computer company Web sites also allow consumers to quickly mix hardware and software options to "build" the computer to best suit their needs. Even if the machine isn't bought on the Internet, price quotes featured at the Web sites are a great tool for comparison shopping at retail outlets.
Apple's iMac proves bigger isn't always the most popular. Apple has struggled to keep 15 percent of the personal computer market amid the dominating IBM compatibles, but Apple is catching buyers' attention with its new $1,299 iMac. The iMac features a simplified configuration with fewer cables, a unique white-and-teal color scheme in translucent plastic that almost lets you see its upgrade-limited components inside. It features a 233 MHz processor, 32 MB of SDRAM and a 4 GB hard drive. The standard model has a built-in CD-ROM drive but no floppy drive. Iomega offers an add-on 100 MB Zip drive for $199 and an external floppy/super floppy drive is also available for $199 as an add-on.
Who's buying iMacs and why? Apple's "MacHome Magazine" survey of iMac buyers showed 26 percent of iMac buyers are first-time Macintosh buyers, which matches the broader market of first-time computer buyers; 60 percent said they bought the iMac because of its looks while almost identical percentages said speed and ease of use attracted them to the iMac.
Laptops are thriving, as are their new sub-laptop rivals. Portable computers account for roughly a third of the PC market. Laptops have grown larger and heavier as manufacturers have worked to squeeze all of the components of the desktop PC into a box that can be slung into a briefcase. While laptops with 15-inch monitors and DVD drives are weighing in at eight and nine pounds, a number of manufacturers are introducing palm computers and other pocket-sized computers that cover all of the basic functions without the heft.
Sharp's Mobilon 4600, for example, weighs in at just over one pound. Running Windows CE and with a built-in 33.6 fax modem, the little wonder has a suite of essential software that includes a Web browser and scheduling software, and fax, e-mail capability. A PC slot accepts an add-on digital camera that can be used to create MPEG movies or still pictures.
The field of super floppies continues to grow. Many PCs include Iomega 100 MB Zip drives. Iomega has just announced a 250 MB Zip drive, but it is not yet available. Buyers shouldn't pay extra for the 100 MB Zip when the new model, initially priced at $199, is just around the corner.
Like the super floppy available as an add-on to the iMac, Imation and a Japanese consortium that includes Fuji and Sony are building floppy-drive replacements that will read and write to either a standard 1.44 MB floppy or a 120 MB super floppy. Not all of the brands are interchangeable. Imation drives and disks are currently on the market; the Japanese disks and drives aren't expected until early next year but may overrun Imation once they get here.
Flat bed scanners and color ink jet printers pair to turn any PC into a digital darkroom and color copier. Digital cameras make computer-aided photography sing, but cameras are still $600 or better for models with modest consumer features. For much less, a flat bed scanner in the $100-$200 range and a color ink-jet printer with photo enhancements in the $300-$400 range provides the hardware and included software to turn pictures into electronic images for Web posting, e-mail and printing. Software bundled with scanners also turns a flatbed into a fax input source and a color copier when paired with a color printer.
Flat panel PC monitors were the rage at COMDEX where style is king and price is no object. This season, flat panel LCD monitors in the 15-inch range are selling for $899, much higher than their TV-tube-style CRT counterparts. New CRT monitors are still being developed but the end of the road is in site for the space-hogging conventional monitor. Flat panels are much lighter and take one-fourth the space on the desktop. Their use in laptop computers is wide-spread, and prices for desktop flat-panel models are expected to tumble next year.
Recordable CD-ROM and DVD boost a computer's multimedia capabilities and PCs offering both are available from most major vendors. DVDs are best for watching movies right now, but their use as a recording medium for music and video is becoming more mainstream. Several DVD formats are available as technology makes its first showing for Christmas shoppers. Be advised that not all DVD variations are compatible with each other.