> I'm finally giving up shared custody of my husband's lap-top in exchange for a full-time desk-top unit for my own use. :-)
>
> Problem - I have never actually bought a computer before. I've always inherited them, or accessed someone else's (see above).
>
> Considerations for me include:
>
> 1. I won't always be able to access service quickly, as we're quite far from the nearest big centre.
>
> 2. I live in Canada, and must use Canadian sites for price quotes, etc.
>
> 3. I don't need a lot of fancy extras - I teach, (shockingly enough), and just really need a work horse.
>
> I don't know if I should go the retail route, or if shopping from the web is reliable. I do know that I want as much processing speed as I can afford. I mostly do word processing and simple numbers crunching (marks, etc.).
>
>
> Any advice and/or complaints would be greatly appreciated.
>
> te (really likes the Gateway cow boxes, but that's not enough on which to base a decision) ach

Gateway computers (at least the ones I've seen) are really expensive (as in overpriced). I don't know if all of Gateway's models are like that, though.

La"likes the cow boxes, too"Zorra