[ARSCLIST] DAW computer

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's finally time to upgrade the studio PC. Believe it or not, I've done well for years with a 
simple Dell 4100 PIII-800 box, running a stripped-down version of Win2K. For 2-channel transfers, 
this has been a gem of a machine. It will continue to do service in the workshop/machine room.

But now I want to add some channels and get a new PC before I am forced to a Vista-only world (you 
can still get WinXP Pro from most suppliers). I looked at the options from Sweetwater and from Dell. 
It seems like the Dell workstations are a much better value (larger drives, built-in RAID, better 
video cards, built-in firewire as an option, etc) when you get into the $2000 range. Am I missing 
something about the Sweetwater boxes? What other PC options are there out there. Please, let's not 
get into a Mac jihad here, I'm invested in a PC-based studio and want to stick with it.

Thanks in advance for any/all advice and please excuse the cross-postings.

-- Tom Fine