Richard, I got a relativly cheap (under $600) Compaq for Christmas this year and I LOVE it.

It is incredibly fast (I used to think that this boards pages loaded too slow...it turned out it was my 4 year old computer) and I have yet to have any problems with it. My old computer used to freeze up twice a day, it is such a joy to not have that problem anymore.

Installation is a breeze, all the wires are color coded to the ports in the back of the pc.

Here is the one that I have:




Compaq Presario Destop Computer
•Pentium® 4 processor 515J
•160GB hard drive
•Dual-layer DVD+/-R/RW
•512MB of DDR2 SDRAM
•7 USB 2.0/2 FireWire ports
•9-in-1 memory card reader



You can find this pc at any Staples, Circuit City, etc. Circuit City is offering a $50 rebate, so this pc is going for $549 there.

It is so easy to set up, all you need to do is come home and start connecting the colored wires. If you are not computer friendly, I do suggest buying the whole package as I have had some annoying problems in the past with my old computer not recognizing hardware that didn't come with it. ( when I added a new mouse, keyboard and scanner, I never did get the scanner to work)