People can get promoted by contributing to the site in other ways, too.  Like giving *constructive* criticism, *helping* other people, or posting lots of helpful comments on submissions.  It has nothing to do with how long you have been on the site.

And, Kona, about the comment of Tech Cat being exiled once, "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones".

Before buying a Sony Viao, I would suggest that you do some research on problems with them.  Every tech support case that we have had with them has been a nightmare.  They do funky things with their drivers (especially on their laptops).  It's just not right....

joetheblow,what your case looks like doesn't matter if you hide it under the desk   We have one of the Dell Optiplex PC's in the office.  Poor Kim (in accounting) gets to show it to everyone who comes in because Brad thinks it's cool. 

The only problem with them is that they only have integrated video t this time.

Of course the other cool PC option is the Shuttle PC.     You can get some lower systems pre-built. Or you can get them mainly built (add Ram and a Vid card) or build it for about the same as a tower PC.  They are about the size of a Game Cube.

One Word- Microsoft

Microsoft wants to make sure you are running legal software.  Dell wants to make sure that they stay Microsoft Certified.

I got my machine from Dell for pretty cheap.  I got it about a year ago.  It's a 2 gig processor, with 512 Ram, CDR and all that Jazz for less than $500 to the door.  I waited until they had cash back on stuff, free memory upgrade and free shipping (which they do right around Christmas).  I also got the base software and XP home (not Pro).  Haven't had even one issue with it, so I'm pretty happy with it.  I've put my machine at work through ell, and it's still doing well.  Part of what you pay for with Dell is the support, too, which has been great so far (but I disabled their instant help thing because it drove me nuts).  We used to buy machines at the office from the "little guy", but always seemed to have little issues with them all the time (which little issues are big when you rely on the machine to do work).  Things have gone much more smoothly since we switched to Dell.  As a bit of Trivia, has anyone wonder why we are name "Stardock Systems, Inc"?  It's because it started out selling hardware (yep, we started by building and selling PCs).  Do we do that now?  Nope, we buy them from Dell  

I like the shuttle.  There are a lot of reasons why they are worth it.  The main reason is connectivity.  They usually have tons of ports on them.  They were really designed to start moving people into using the PC as a central data source.  (Like start by hooking up you TV set up and Computer to it).  The other nice thing is that they are small and easy to access everything (all the ports, CD, etc.). They are easy to upgrade due to the way the box is made, and nobody can deny the coolness factor of them.  A couple of the guys at work have them, and love it.  One of them brought one in to work here.  I think in a few years when my PC is old I might have to look into getting one.  As with anything, I would research it first.  I don't know enough about them to say if they are worth it or not since I haven't owned one. They are mighty cool, though.......