I like computers; they're very useful, if used correctly. A few tips and links.

Bill Myers says it's a good time to buy a computer.

Best search engine for the best price on pretty much any computer part: PriceWatch.com

Note: You will find some awesome rock-bottom prices here, but, buyer beware, some places aren't as respected and well-established as others like NewEgg below. So, don't just look for the lowest prices, also look for the best price available from a business which has been with Pricewatch for a while( it lists their registration date on the bottom of their company advert beside each price quote ).

Special recommendation: NewEgg.com is a great place to shop; their prices are often the lowest or near lowest and their service is extremely good. Now, if you live within the state of CA or TN, you will have to pay sales tax on your purchases there; other than that, they're wonderful to deal with.

Now, of course, before you buy anything, if you have time, you'll look up reviews. I recently spent $10 more on a hard drive because I realized the model I was going to buy had received bad scores when compared to one $10 more expensive. Here are some excellent places to obtain reviews of hardware, especially gaming-oriented hardware:

Tom's Hardware
Hard OCP
Ars Technica
X-bit Labs

Also, a great indication of how well a product works is whether the fine folks over at Amazon like it. Just spend 5 minutes to make sure and put in a search for your item over there. Most of the time, they'll have at least a few reviews on what you're looking for and you'll learn pretty fast if it has any glaring problems with it. It pays to be careful, as electronics can consume a lot of your time if they don't work properly.

Are you good at typing? Perhaps you're not sure? Well, there's no better way to test your rate of keying than to do it for free online. In that way, if your scores are unbelievably low, you'll be able to just quickly shut down your computer, slide it into your backpack, load it into the back of your truck, and quietly dispose of it in the night without anybody knowing. Conversely, if your scores are unbelievably high, it's only a quick copy and paste to put that in bold type in your resume document.

So, get typing already! Here's an excellent free test. Feel free to leave your score(s) in the comments section.

I got 62 WPM with 3 mistakes while tired. That's quite an improvement, since the best I'd previously been able to do was 62 without mistakes with concentration. Now, if I could only combine the two.. I guess High School Typing has helped me some!

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