Tuesday, December 09, 2003
...working on thesis, checking prices...
And thus it begins in earnest. I have allocated a budget of $300 with which to buy a hard drive, computer, and TV-in computer card. I will ask my in-laws for the TV-out video card, and that will bring me approximately to a $400 Digital PVR. Can it be done?
As I mentioned before, I already have the hard drive; the drive with shipping costs $88.69 against the cap, without paying taxes. Let's keep prices without taxes in figuring out this cap. This leaves $300.00 - $88.69 = $211.31 left for card and computer. This amount of money can be divided in one of three ways:
1) Spend $50 on a cheap TV in card, leaving $160 for the computer.
2) Spend $150 on an expensive TV in card, leaving $60 for the computer.
3) Variants within these two boundaries.
I am attempting something closer to #2 than to #1. I currently have two open bids on eBay totaling $151.01. One is for a 1 GHz no-name computer, the other for a used Haupptage PVR-250 TV-in card. The PVR-250 sells new at Circuit City locally for $150, and about $125 online if shipping is favorable. Therefore, the chances of coming away with one or both of these items for only $150.01 is unfavorable. But, having established a $211.31 cap on myself I feel free to keep pressing the opportunities for good deals. The hook to buying the 1 GHz machine is that it is available in Madison, WI where I technically still attend graduate school. I am defending my thesis there in January, and I should not build this computer until the thesis is defended...thus it is a good idea to buy this computer, and keep it away from myself as an external discipline.
The computer closes tomorrow, the PVR card in five days.
As I mentioned before, I already have the hard drive; the drive with shipping costs $88.69 against the cap, without paying taxes. Let's keep prices without taxes in figuring out this cap. This leaves $300.00 - $88.69 = $211.31 left for card and computer. This amount of money can be divided in one of three ways:
1) Spend $50 on a cheap TV in card, leaving $160 for the computer.
2) Spend $150 on an expensive TV in card, leaving $60 for the computer.
3) Variants within these two boundaries.
I am attempting something closer to #2 than to #1. I currently have two open bids on eBay totaling $151.01. One is for a 1 GHz no-name computer, the other for a used Haupptage PVR-250 TV-in card. The PVR-250 sells new at Circuit City locally for $150, and about $125 online if shipping is favorable. Therefore, the chances of coming away with one or both of these items for only $150.01 is unfavorable. But, having established a $211.31 cap on myself I feel free to keep pressing the opportunities for good deals. The hook to buying the 1 GHz machine is that it is available in Madison, WI where I technically still attend graduate school. I am defending my thesis there in January, and I should not build this computer until the thesis is defended...thus it is a good idea to buy this computer, and keep it away from myself as an external discipline.
The computer closes tomorrow, the PVR card in five days.
