Annual Computer Recommendations

Time flies when you are having fun! Five years ago I wrote my annual computer recommendation column, which can be fairly characterized as quaint in the computer world of today. I said:

I suggest that you buy something towards the middle or low end of the price range, perhaps a Pentium 75mhz or a Pentium 90mhz. Make sure you get at least 8 megs of ram and 16 megs, if your budget allows. You are better off, I think, buying a slower processing chip like a Pentium 75mhz and spending the extra money on additional ram. You don't need to go beyond 16 megs so long as you have a standard name brand computer that will allow you to add additional ram at a later date without replacing other important parts inside the computer. Both the Hewlett Packard Pavilion and the Compaq Presario allow exactly that. I recommend as well that you buy a 17-inch high quality monitor. Modern multi-media software takes up a lot of screen space and for only a few hundred dollars difference you can take a quantum leap in usability. Make sure you get a high speed 28.8 modem, because whether you believe it or not, you will be out on the Internet before you know it. The difference in functionality of the Internet at 28.8 as opposed to the more common 14.4 baud modems is really dramatic and well worth the extra hundred dollars or so that it will cost. Make sure the machine you are buying has a 4x CD-Rom drive and at least 500 megabytes of hard drive space. Once again, for a few hundred dollars more you can get a gigabyte of hard drive space which ought to serve you well for the next couple of years. (LOC, February 1996, www.law.arizona.edu/it/court.html)

If you took my advice and still have that machine the time has come to replace it. Indeed, I still have that machine and it is virtually unusable with modern software. On the other hand, the last few years has seen the emergence of stable operating systems (Windows 2000 and XP) and the emergence solidly performing at relatively low and stable prices. One year ago I recommended a basic office computer as follows:

Here is what you can get today from Dell (www.dell.com) on a $30/month business lease: Dimension L machine with a Pentium III Processor at 933 MHz, 256MB of Ram, and a 20 Gigabyte hard drive. Compaq (www.compaq.com) has a Deskpro EXS Intel Pentium III Minitower (Millennium Edition) for a similar price. (LOC, June 2001, www.law.arizona.edu/it/court.html)

Today that recommendation would be for a similar machine with a 1.8 Pentium III chip and a 24x/10x/40x CD-RW Drive that would allow you to burn CD ROMs for storage and backup. That machine is a bit faster and nicer and the CD burner is a great tool. The cost is about the same but the lease price is only $19 a month. I still recommend that you buy the basic Dell office machine (4500s at $549) for most of your machines. And, BTW, keep your old wired network. Don’t let some techie sell you on a wireless network which will open the doors of your law office office to all who walk by with a laptop computer equipped with wireless connector.

I think, however, that every office needs one rocket ship and it is there that the free market processes have had their biggest impact. Let me tell you about the machine you can buy for under $2500 this year. It is the new Dimension® 8200 Series, with a Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.40GHz with 533MHz system bus/ 512K L2 Cache. You can get lots of upgrades for this machine but the basic model is a rocket ship. It has 512MB of RAM memory and an 80GB¹ Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive. It comes with a 15 in E151FP Flat Panel Display, a Graphics Card with TV-Out, a 16X Max Variable DVD-Rom Drive and a 40x/10x/40x CD-RW Drive. It comes with 56K⁵ PCI Telephony Modem. Even if you have DSL or a cable high speed Internet access you will still need the modem to cover you when the high-speed service is down, which is unfortunately not an uncommon event. You will also want to upgrade to Dell's Award-Winning service and support. Dell provides one day in home or office hardware phone support that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can extend the support period up to four years for a few hundred dollars.

The machine comes with Windows XP but it is worth the $99 to upgrade to Windows XP Professional. Finally, I suggest going for the full MS Office Professional suite, which will add $349 but gives almost every tool you need to create truly effective courtroom presentations. You might want to upgrade to a larger Flat Panel display or the 21 inch P1130 FD Trinitron® Monitor which is my personal favorite for $350. You could go hog wild and buy one of the new ultrasharp flat panel displays but they are pricey and no better than the 21” CRT model that I love. This the rocket ship for under $2500 and here is your shopping list:

Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.40GHz with 533MHz system bus/ 512K L2 Cache

512MB PC800 RDRAM

21 in (19.8 in viewable,.24AG) P1130 FD Trinitron® Monitor

80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

10/100 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC

56K PCI Telephony Modem

16X Max Variable DVD-Rom Drive

Microsoft® Office XP Professional

4 Year Limited Warranty plus 4 Year At-Home Service

If you call Dell on the phone you may be able to negotiate an even better deal. As for free shipping and other special offers they may be offering at the time they are always open to making a deal. And, if you belong to the ABA make sure you get the ABA discount that amounts to about 7%.

This is a machine that should last you for a very long time. Indeed, with modest upgrades along the way it could provide all of your law office computing needs for the next 10 years. As I have said before, we have reached a plateau where the basic hardware and software you need for the law office is just not likely to change much. Of course, it will get better by increments but unless you want to play video games or make movies this is as much machine as you need for at least 10 years. With a high-speed Internet connection and a digital camera you will be ready to enjoy all the benefits of modern office technology.