Shopping Refubished Compters (Help!)

[Ink Noise]

Hey,

I'm looking for a refurbished computer to save me some money since it would be an offline computer for mid-range video editing under 500 dollars. I was looking at an hp a220n or a320n with these specs which I love the case that it has, the price is decent, and it saves me the trouble of building it myself.

Specifications:

AMD Athlon™ XP 2600+ Processor (a220n) or 2800+ Processor (a320n)
333MHz Front Side Bus
512MB DDR SDRAM Memory
120GB† Hard Drive
DVD Drive
CD RW Drive
1.44MB Floppy Drive
Nvidia GeForce4 MX 64MB Video
56K v.90 Modem
10/100Mbps Built-in Ethernet
USB 2.0 Interface Learn More
IEEE 1394 FireWire Interface
PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Scroll Mouse
Microsoft® Windows XP Home Edition
6 in 1 Media Card Reader

Motherboard Expansion
3 PCI Slots (2 open)
1 AGP 8x (available)
2 DDR DIMMs (both occupied)
Max. Memory: 1GB

Multimedia Drive Speeds
DVD read : 16x
CD write: 48x
CD re-write: 12x
CD read: 48x
CD-ROM read: 48x
Drive Bay Expansion
2 External 5.25" (0 open)
2 internal 3.5" (1 available)
1 External 3.5" (0 open)

External Ports
5 High Speed USB 2.0 (1 front) Learn More
2 IEEE 1394 FireWire (1 front) Learn More
Serial
Parallel
Audio In/Out/Mic
VGA Video
RJ11 (Modem)
RJ45 (Ethernet)
SD/MMC Reader
MS Reader
SM Reader
Compact Flash I/II Reader

* the only differences in the models is the processor speed *

But everytime I find a good place to buy it, it goes away. Insight had the a220n for 380.52 but it just disappeared and now the cheapest I can find it is 459.99. The a320n is 474 but tax and shipping but it at about 540.

I've tried DealTime, BizRate, MySimon, Pricegrabber, PriceWatch, and doing the Mfgr Part No. in Google.

Does anyone have any advice that might help me on my shopping quest? It also doesn't need to be this brand but just as long as it isn't eMachines. Also, I would need a firewire port.

Thanks!
*new member*

 

[raiden_nrl]

Very good computer for 540 that might be the cheapest you can find it.

 

[Ink Noise]

Is the difference of the Athlon XP 2600+ and 2800+ worth that much money?

 

[raiden_nrl]

Well the 2600 runs at about 1.9 ghz and the 2800 runs at about 2.1 ghz (about 200 mhz more) so no not that much of a difference might as well get 2600.

 

[Ink Noise]

Alright. And also, do you know of any shopping sites to look at or eShops? I know it's got to be somewhere cheaper since Insight had it at such a great price.