Sam Ewalt wrote:
>My price point for computer buying is around two-hundred and
>fifty bucks. Six years ago I paid that for an XT. Checking the
>used computer prices in Detroit I see where I could now get a
>Dell Pentium 200 with 64mb a 2GBHD, CD, and a 17" monitor for
>$234.95 plus shipping.
True story. I was doing work for a large corporation about a year and a
half ago. They were buying a raft full of new computers from a major
manufacturer. The manufacturer ran an effort to help corporations dispose
of their old units. The theory was that the manufacturer would provide
certain necessary services (wiping the hard drive of anything but the
operating system, removing any corporate logos or inventory stickers, and
physically handling the sale of the units), and the corporation would be
paid a flat fee depending on the processor, size of the hard drive, etc.
And from the pricing in place at that time, any computer up to a 75mhz
Pentium got the corporation-- nothing. In fact, the manufacturer charged
$30 to haul the things off. And remember, that was a year and a half ago.
So, if you're standing in the right place at the right time today, you could
probably get a used 100-200 mhz Pentium handed to you for the effort of
hauling it off. Just don't call the corporation afterwards for technical
support; avoiding those phone calls is half the reason the companies don't
usually give the units away directly, and instead depend on third parties to
dispose of them.
