Intel Core 2 Duo - Best deal now!

With all the hype about the performance of the new Core 2 Duo we decided to get one. After assessing the major players (and a few of the fringe ones too) it was pretty clear that HP had the best combination of technology, price, performance available. Surprisingly, Dell was not terribly competitive - quoting shipment dates some 2 weeks after HP for a comparable system for $500 more! Plus HP includes (though they don't advertise) the new Intel 965 Broadwater chipset. Surprisingly, I had to call to confirm. Neither Dell or Gateway seem to have an 865 offering at the moment. The other requirement was the E6600 Core 2 Duo processor. It is the first processor that includes 4M of cache vs. only 2M for the lesser versions. HP through in a free "All-in-one printer" which we didn't really want but what the heck - we'll see what it can do besides consume expensive ink!

Here are the details of the system:
Your customized HP Pavilion d4600y CTO Desktop is estimated to be built by August 17, 2006.

Your customized PC includes:
- Genuine Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
- Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor E6600 (2.4GHz)
- 2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
- 250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
- LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
- 16x max. DVD-ROM
- 9-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, audio
- 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN PCI Card
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE, TV-Out, DVI, VGA
- Sound Blaster Audigy 4, 24-bit ADVANCED HD Audio
- HP Multimedia Keyboard, HP Optical Mouse
- Microsoft(R) Works 8.0/Money 2006/MSN Encarta Plus