I recently started a job with the State of Illinois. I hear that most computer companies often offter employees of state agencies a discount. What I’m wondering is how I found out what kind of discount I’m entitled to. I’ve checked a lot of their websites, but find most stuff as very expensive. I’m not sure I’m even doing it right; I look under federal/state gov’t pc’s right? Or do I look elsewhere? I’m really confused here. 
Thanks for any help 
My experience is that your “employee discount” is generally only a markdown from “overpriced but nice equipment” to “somewhat competitively nice equipment”.
In other words, what you’re seeing is normal.
There is very little margin left in PC hardware. There hasn’t been since I’d say… 1997 or so, if not earlier.
When margins are low, the best deal you’re going to get after shopping a LOT and pulling strings is not substantially better than the worst deal you’re going to get if you do just a little shopping around and comparing prices.
I would email your IT department, they might have some info for you. For example, our IT department bought all of our computers from the same vendor, so this vendor offered us a small discount on PCs to all employees.
You did not give much info about your needs. If you just want to buy a brand new basic laptop to use as your primary computer, buy a Dell for $499 and buy the longest warranty available. Unless you’re in the military, which is a very specific program, I doubt you are going to get a better deal through any govt programs. Usually I am dead-set against extended warranties, but on a $499 Dell laptop, a three year warranty is gold at $60-90. Get a computer savvy friend to help set it up and call Dell if anything goes wrong with it. You might get three years of trouble free service out of it without a peep, or they might end up footing the bill for two new motherboards, either way, you’ll come out ahead.
If you need anything but a basic laptop, find out exactly what you need and buy that. Laptops are a dime a dozen, if you buy something with the idea of upgrading it, make sure you know how expensive it will be to upgrade. Ebay completed auctions is a great resource to get an idea for the “street price” of a given laptop; just make sure you are comparing equivalent setups.
Used laptops can be the best bargains, assuming you or a friend is at least slightly computer savvy. Expect to have to reinstall the OS, buy a new battery and a larger hard drive, and with a little luck and know-how you’ll be good to go. Keep in mind that new Dell and a warranty is only $599.
And remember that if you change the hardware in any way on a Dell PC, the copy of Windows that you pay for with it will no longer work and you’ll have to buy a new one should you ever choose to format.
I spent 3 years pirating Windows before finally buying it, feeling justified by the fact that I’d paid for it once before only to get screwed out of it because I wanted a new CPU.
No, that should only happen if you change the motherboard. The key that the special Dell Windows installer looks for is located in the system BIOS chip, so as long as you keep your motherboard it’s still recognized as a Dell system. That’s not much different than the retail version of XP, either. You have to buy a new license everytime you change motherboards. Boy is that a pain in the ass.
Wha? You are required to activate windows again if “substantial” modifications to your hardware have occured where substantial is 3 pieces of major hardware. If your motherboard has a lot of stuff built it, it’s concievable that a motherboard swap could trigger a re-activation. But reactivation is a 2 minute process online or a 5 minute process on the phone and completely free. I don’t know where your getting the buying a new license stuff from.
I just checked around and I think my warranty cost estimates might be too low. I still think the general advice is sound, though. One other thing I though of is that low end machines often come with XP home, so if you need some functionality that is only in XP pro, that is something to consider as well.
Well, after I upgraded my motherboard and CPU, I couldn’t just re-activate windows. I called and they told me I’d need a new license.
Hrmm… that’s very odd. I’ve never heard of anything like that. Did you buy a copy of windows from Microsoft or did it come from a vendor like Dell or HP?
That seems freaky - I have switched my motherboard three times with this WinXP license, and I didn’t have a single problem.
http://www.fatwallet.com/c/18/
If you need a deal on a laptop they’ll have the best prices, probably alot lower than you’d get with an employee discount.