I was listening to MPR's Future Tense this morning; the discussion was
about PCs at bargain prices because of light demand (due to a less than
accurate projection for PC demand).

Are there any mass market systems in the $800-$1000 range that are
really good deals?  (The systems need to be Linux compatible, of
course.)

It would be useful to know if these "deals" are really more cost-effective
than a system from local shops like General Nanosystems or Tran Micro
or from mail order places like Pogo LinuxBoxen VA Research, OpenBoxen,
Linux Computer Systems, etc. (or even Dell ;-)

David S. Cargo