A 3-gigabyte hard drive for $200? A PCMCIA laptop modem for $35? How about a Pentium laptop to go with it for less than $1,000?
You probably won't find buys like these at the local computer store. But you can find them on a growing number of Web sites that are the virtual equivalent of factory outlets for computer equipment.
Whether you're a gadget-aholic or just a window shopper, these computer outlets can be lots of fun. Some offer online auctions, others use a price-cutting timer - see how low the prices go before inventory disappears!
Before we climb on the bus for the Web outlet shopping mall, I should offer this caveat: These online stores are for the adventurous and computer literate. Don't expect a friendly salesperson to help you install that no-name 2-gig drive you picked up for $99.
Also, many of the items are discontinued or close-outs. Cut-rate name-brand computer systems usually are refurbished - new units that were returned to the factory and repaired, and resold with a manufacturer's warranty. While the merchandise isn't new, it's better than used and often about half the price.
Take the outlet tour
Our first stop is Jem Computers of Cambridge, Mass. http://www.jemcomp.com/. Jem specializes in refurbished goods from top manufacturers such as NEC, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard.
The company has two areas: current inventory and a ''basement'' area http://www.jemcomp.com/basement/ where goods are marked down 10 percent a week (on Fridays) until they're sold out. Prices start so low that they're usually gone by the second week.
Here are some basement bargains as of last week: 24-bit color flatbed scanner for $143, a Compaq Presario P166 multimedia computer system for $1199.
The pages are updated daily. Inventory moves quickly; schools and businesses cruise these sites for bargains. Jem, like many of the outlet sites, will send you e-mail when new merchandise arrives.
Our next stop is Surplus Direct, a large computer mail-order operation based in Oregon http://www.surplusdirect.com
Surplus Direct sells discontinued or refurbished goods for incredible prices. I recently bought several 14.4 kbps PCMCIA modems for $35 each; they also have 28.8 kbps Boca internal modems for $25.
This well-organized site offers a range of hardware, software and computer systems. The software is usually not a best seller, or is a version or two old. Some examples: Area 51 (Win95 CD, GT Interactive) or Micrografx Windows Draw 4.0 (Win95 CD), $19.99; the Rand McNally 1996 Streetfinder CD, $12.99.
Surplus Direct also offers specials for Internet customers only, with prices about 10 percent less than those in the direct-mail catalog.
Online auction site
If you like auctions, let's swing by ONSALE http://www.onsale.com, which holds a 24-hour online auction of refurbished and discontinued computer systems.
It works like this: The computer goods (usually sold in small lots) are offered at a minimum bid in a ''Yankee Auction'' - the top bidders share the computer inventory when the auction closes at a pre-determined time.
Buyers e-mail their bids; you can watch the bidding on the site. On a recent visit, an Apple Performa 5300 system was going for $824, and an NEC P133 multimedia laptop was selling for $1,524.
Anyone who's spent any time on the Web knows that there are plenty of sites out there selling something. For a quick tour of some of the better shopping sites - for computer geeks and the rest of us - stop by the All-Internet Shopping Directory http://www.all-internet.com.
The directory has hundreds of links to online stores as well as monthly ratings of top shopping sites.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com Charles Brewer's columns can be found athttp://enquirer.com/columns/brewer