Hey all! I figured I would post my qustion here since most of you have bought computers for networking. A friend of mine is running a small office. He wants a laptop and possibly two desktops. He will only be using Microsoft Office and maybe a few low end applications, nothing really huge. I don't believe he needs top of the line technology here. I'm looking at Dells and such. If you were buying in this situation what would you recommend. I want to keep cost low, but have relaible machines. Anyone out there running on 1Ghz or slower? Thanks Rex

you will do well with the base Dell Dim 4550. I would make sure it will allow for future upgrades and make sure your hd is big enough (You can never have to much space) and personally I would stay away from the celeron!

DELL bad. IBM good. dell has very poor support service compared to IBM and IBM is very versitile (sp?) i think IBM is a better choice over dell. also, if you are close to So Cal, check out www.sdiego.com for great deals on refurbished computers. i have bought 2 from them and all i have had to do to them is get new batteries. (and install my softwear) but their desktops are very nice and at a resonable price. the crappy ones start at $30 bucks but the highest the prices go are around $700 -so check them out, that might be the way to go...the refurb way!! good luck matt

First time I've heard anything bad about the Dells! But, I haven't researched the IBMs yet. Refurb would be good, and cheap, but I think he would like the quarantee of the service warranty, instead of having to call me to fix every problem. Thanks for the halp Rt and Matt. Rex