🚀 go-pugleaf

    speaking of PC clone bargains, i just finished skimming all the ads
in the latest Computer Shopper (whew; there's a lot of 'em!), and i'm
amazed at all the outfits selling the bits & pieces of PCs.  not just
the system unit here, keyboard there, monitor somewhere else; tho the
prices on those are pretty tempting (~$2K for minimal AT?).  i mean
unbundled cases, mother boards (with or without ICs), power supplies, etc.
some are rather intriguing, like the motherboard with 12 expansion slots
instead of 8 (my AT at work is FULL).  it seems a hacker type could assemble
a truly dynamite AT for less than the retail price of a big-name XT clone.
i feel almost embarrassed that my employer spent ~$4K for my enhanced AT
(and that was at a special ~30% discount!).

    at this point, my too-good-to-be-true reflex usually kicks in.  but
there are so many of these outfits!  can there really be enough fools to
keep that many sharp operators in biz?  (do i really need to ask?)

    anyone want to comment on the profit or loss in rolling your own PC?
(i'll summarize e-mail replies).

	wayne hamilton
	U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL
UUCP:	{ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!hamilton
ARPA:	hamilton%uiucuxc@a.cs.uiuc.edu	USMail:	Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801
CSNET:	hamilton%uiucuxc@uiuc.csnet	Phone:	(217)333-8703