HANG OUT YOUR SHINGLE

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Why? You'll find that you become totally dependent of the machine. If it's down for more than a day you can be paralyzed. If you have failed to make backup copies of all the correspondence, billing information, and accounts that are stored in the computer's hard drive, a crash can really spoil your day. (Good repair people can salvage most of your data unless the computer self-destructs to the point of ignition-all the more reason to find reliable service before you need it.)

Most large computer centers and many mail-order suppliers service what they sell and will supply a loaner while working on yours (often as not, keeping you waiting for weeks for the correct parts to arrive.) You can load copies of software and data into the borrowed machine and be up-and-running in a few minutes.

But, if you buy your Apple Performa, Compaq Presario or other home/business PC from non-servicing mall retailers such as JC Penney, Sears or Kmart, you may repeat my problems with my first business computer back in the '80s. Manufacturers were jockeying for position, and small, thinly capitalized retailer stores were just beginning to appear in small towns. My DEC "Rainbow," an industrial-quality early eight-bit machine, came from a retailer in a distant town ...who promptly went out of business. No other local retailer/serviceman had so much of heard of a Rainbow 7, but for a while I could drive 65 miles to an industrial service center in a large city. Then the Rainbow was discontinued entirely when its manufacturer, Digital Equipment Co., was temporarily driven from the desktop computer business by the early success of the IBM PC. Parts and repairs for an "orphan" computer suddenly cost a fortune-but, unlike such gone-broke manufacturers as Commodore, Atari, and Osborne, DEC was still solvent and offered service for a reasonable time. But when a hard drive crashed, my replacement cost more than a new Apple-the first time that service problems forced me to buy a new computer. All this happened in less than a year.

The computer business is still volatile and retailers come and go. I suggest that you locate the sales/service outfit nearest to you that's been in business the longest and that shows greatest promise of being around when you need it. Reliable service is more important than the brand of hard or software you end up with.

Mail-Order?

If UPS comes to your valley, you can buy a computer and printer direct from most manufacturers, or from the mail order houses that advertise in the magazines. (Look in supermarkets and magazine racks for Computer Shopper, ZiffDavis's 600-plus-page monthly giant format tome of direct-mail sellers.)

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