I am one of those who likes gadgets so I have to have the latest and greatest. As a result I get a new computer about once a year. The new machine is usually near the top of the line but exactly how near depends on current budget limitations.

We practice what we call trickle-down. When I get a new computer, my current one goes to my roommate, his becomes our server, and the old server goes to one of our friends who needs an upgrade. As part of this process the recipient must give us their old machine which we recycle and give to another friend who doesn't have a computer.

Several years ago I discovered a used computer store not too far away that is rather unusual. The company's primary function is computer maintenance for large corporations in the region. As the corporations get new computers, Computer Warehouse takes the old ones and pumps them out through their 2 stores. Most are only 3 years old, are just out of warranty, and are generally in good shape. The unbelievable part is the price. On May 20, 2005, I bought a new main server. A Quad Xeon Pentium 3, 550 Mhz with 2 gigs ram, for $300. I don't have an exact price but I estimate that machine sold new 5 years ago for around $12,000. I have now upgraded the machine with an 8 port IDE raid controller and 10 hard drives totaling over a terrabite of data storage.

All of the computers now in my server farm and used for webcams have come from this store. This sudden influx of machines has changed our trickle down somewhat. Now our friends are getting much newer and more powerful machines than was possible before.