I've concluded research and prepared a single purchase order for the components: http://www.wjarnold.com/images/gateway_quote_july_06.htm
Total cost approx $3k, plus 3 days of my time (to date). To my good fortune, each of the components on the shopping list are in Gateway's inventory, so I was able to get a single quote for everything, with prices better than OEM list prices to boot. The machine looks real good to me, and with the 3 year (max offer) replacement parts warranty, I figure it's good to go as a running 'server' for that long (proper backup procedure regularly exercised, of course). Toughest decision was the accounting package. It was between MS's SBA and QuickBooks. I finally came down on the side of QB after reading reviews of SBA and seeing that it's not yet ready for prime time. Perhaps it will catch up and overtake QB, but I don't want to expose the customer to it's trials and tribulations. And QB isn't going anywhere soon. On matching his accountant's system, he's 'between accountants', so will have to shop among QB users. Reviews on the camera were good, but if it's not good enough to satisfy customer requirements this one will be moved to a less important location and replaced with higher priced ($800) model (which Gateway also carries). A nice feature is that it can be remotely accessed over the net. An open question is whether the camera's software will support "wrap-around" so it doesn't stop when the drive capacity is filled. Oh, doubling the drive capacity (to 1TB) will cost an extra $600. A TB should support something like a month's worth of video, probably overkill. Thought I'd share this experience in case anyone might find it useful, and to solicit comments and criticism. It's not too late to change the purchase order. Bill _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
