The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The Perfectionsit Ray Beatty raybea@melbpc.org.au

First stop was New York. The commercial centre of the world- computers are cheap in the US and with duty free shopping I could get it for a song. 

Comparing prices in the magazine ads, the snazzy little 50 Mhz Dell looked nice. Oh but hang on, even at $1000 less than the Aussie price they'd still cost over $5000 fully configured. And when I added 8% NY State tax that made it nearly $5500 - way over budget. Better look for something cheaper. Though, of course the savings would be proportionately less. 

So then you start ploughing through the ads in the New York Times' equivalent of the Green Guide. Sure, plenty of bargains- in Bronx or Yonkers or by going to New Jersey where you don't pay NY tax. Only problem is, I am here on business and that's taking up an awful lot of my time, not to mention all the socialising, as our friends work to make our stay memorable by taking us to restaurants and Broadway and business dinners.

Flyblown stores

Sure enough, by the end of our week there all I'd managed was visits to a couple of flyblown computer shops in Manhattan backstreets, of the kind you find here a-plenty; and to a super-mega-mart where getting anything customised looked too hard, even if you did find an assistant. Oh and they don't have a duty-free system like we're used to here so you're still stuck with that tax. 

I gave up-but then, the next week we would be in London and surely that's got something to offer. 

Once again check the magazines. Yes the computers are a lot cheaper-but don't forget to add 17% VAT. Ali, that makes them not quite as cheap as I would have liked, in fact the saving would be about $300 on a comparable machine. I also had to find a store, which sounds easy except that our business activities had us stranded some 20K out of Cambridge. Great friends, lovely pubs, but not many computer shops.

Italy? Hong Kong!

By this stage I had developed a deep pessimism about the mission. Our next port of call was Italy. Well computers aren't that cheap there and I was a little fearful of my requirements getting lost in the translation - forget it. At least we were stopping over a night in Hong Kong, now surely there I'd find what I wanted, even if by then it would no longer have any use on this trip.

Now it's funny but after a day-long flight around the world at the end of three weeks' globe-trotting, arriving in Hong Kong at 8pm their time (you have no idea what the time is in "reality" any more), and your wife staggering into the hotel room with terminal exhaustion, shopping for computers is the last thing on your mind. Next day, too, we played robots, sinking into bus seats and gladly letting a tour guide do all the thinking and talking. That night we flew home.

Home Sweet Home: $500

A week later, back in Melbourne, I called in my company's usual computing supplier, told her what I was looking for, looked at a couple of models and chose the one which would match the requirements and price.

Now it cost me some $500 more than the cheapest machine of equivalent quality and configuration that I saw on my travels. On the other hand I consoled myself with the fact that this supplier does a lot of business with us and with associated companies. They bring stuff out to us. If there's a problem they're available on the phone and will come out in person in a matter of hours. If anything broke they'd fix it, and give me another computer in the meantime. And as they set up the office LAN, they made sure the new laptop plugs in snugly.

In fact if I'd made that decision before I set off I would have had a computer with me on my travels for writing and faxing; I would have got more work done and instead of hunting the mean streets of Manhattan for computer stores I might have seen more sights. So where's the bargain then?

Reprinted from the Jan / Feb 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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