A pair of holiday shopping tips

Computer Life column for 11/29/97 by
Richard Gordon

Yesterday was Black Friday. That used to be the beginning of the holiday shopping season. But for the past 2 weeks, I've been hearing Christmas Carols when I'm put on hold.

You've got some folks on your list who have a computer. What are you going to get them?

I'm hoping Santa brings me a Zip drive and a box of 100M Zip disks to make it easier for me to do back-ups and to cart large files around. New ink cartridges for my printer would be nice. Maybe a faster modem.

Ask what they want

Whatever you decide, I'd suggest that you not plan to "surprise" anybody with a computer present. Nothing is more frustrating than finding that the Jaz drive you bought for your daughter-in-law's computer has the wrong interface for her system, or that the music software you bought for your nephew's computer requires a memory upgrade, or that that game you received won't run under Windows 3.1.

Even though it might ruin the surprise of Holiday Gift Giving, find out what the recipient needs or wants before you make the purchase. At the very least, ask someone in his or her family what he or she needs and whether or not what you plan to buy will work.

Want to preserve the surprise? Then buy a gift certificate redeemable at whichever computer store the recipient prefers to shop.

Giving someone a surprise computer-related gift is not as bad as giving someone a surprise puppy at Christmas--ask anyone who works at an animal shelter how many young Dalmatian dogs have been turned in as a result of well-meaning parents giving their children cute Dalmatian puppies after seeing a certain movie last year. You'll just save someone the annoyance of exchanging that almost-right techno-gift if you check first or give a gift certificate.

Consider postponing a computer purchase

If your family wants a new computer, consider not buying it until the spring or summer.

If you don't have a computer but need one, by all means get one now. However, brace yourself for feeling that your computer is obsolete faster than you thought possible.

If you absolutely need a computer now, you can get a good system at a fair price. You can find a solid 166Mhz-200Mhz computer--including monitor and printer--for $1,600-$2,000. Big name makers like Dell, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Micron, IBM, Gateway, and Apple do have good systems available in that price range. And these computers are all more powerful than my $4,200, 1995-vintage system.

But if you have a working computer and want to upgrade it, put your money in the bank and wait.

This holiday season, more so than recent holiday seasons, the gap between what $2,000 will buy now and what $2,000 will buy next year looks very large. The home computer industry is poised to release really amazing new computers--next year.

When Intel, makers of the microprocessors for the vast majority of desktop and laptop computers sold, releases its 333-400Mhz chips next year, prices on 166-300Mhz systems will drop like an abandoned space station. Further, in an attempt to wrest business back from its competitors, Intel is probably going to cut prices on most of their sub-300Mhz Pentium II chips in the very near future, accelerating the price drop.

Apple will also be releasing new high-end systems next year, leading to a similar spring pricing frenzy for Mac fanciers.

Your patience will be rewarded

I don't have a crystal ball, but I'd predict that if you can wait until May or June to buy a system, you may be able to get a 233-275Mhz system for what you'd pay now for a 166-180Mhz system. That's a much larger "speed for the buck" differential than between what was available last Christmas and Memorial Day.

What it boils down to is this: You want a new computer. But do you need it now or can you afford to wait six months when the same money may buy something 50% faster?

Copyright © 1997, The News Journal Company

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