Chosen which micro to buy? Then lot John Lettice guide you on making that important purchase

How much should you pay for hardware? Countless articles tell you to choose a micro, but there'a lot less information on how to buy one. In some cases this doesn't matter - prices for a Spectrum or a BBC B, for example, tend to be very stable, but in many other cases the savings can be dramatic.

Printers are particularly prone to price variation. A straw poll of a recent issue of one of Britain's biggest microcomputer magazines showed the Shinwa CP80 retailing at between £263.35 and £374, and the Epson FX80 at £400-£498. For micros like the IBM PC, savings can be in the region of £500, or considerably more if you care to look at some of the PC-compatibles.

What is it that causes these vast differences in pricing? After all, in a supermarket you'd not expect the cost of a can of beans to vary by more than a few pence either way, so what is it that makes micros so different?

The short answer is that they're actually not all that different. If you've ever looked into the pricing of hi-fi equipment, you've probably run across the legend of the "incredible little shop that sells equipment at rock bottom prices." You'll also know all about the high street store that advertises huge savings based on a recommended retail price that everyone kissed goodbye to two months ago.

Both these shops exist - the former is still fairly legendary, but the latter can be seen every day of the week, if you care to look for it, and the thing is that nowadays both of them are selling micros on exactly the same basis. So although at the time of writing the going rate for a Commodore 64 is £199.95, you'll still find stores advertising this price as a considerable reduction. This is strictly true, but can still mislead the unwary.

There are a number of reasons for variations in price levels. Supply and demand have a considerable influence; there's no point in a shop cutting the price of something like the Electron when it can sell as many as it can get. Even with established machines a sudden Christmas rush can put paid to price cutting. The reverse side of the coin becomes most obvious in the cases of micros that are no longer being made, or whose manufacturers are in trouble.

The Acorn Atom had something of a consumer boom last year, and the TI99/4A apparently made a considerable splash as a stocking filler in the USA shortly after its official demise. Similarly, the Osborne 1 has made brief appearances in shops at prices greatly below the official level.

From the retailer's point of view, if, as is the case with the more out of the way stores, a shop is selling to an experienced public, competitive pricing is important. If the shop is well-placed it will tend to attract more drop-in trade, and if the shop is well-known to the general public as a place for buying micros, it is not actually necessary to offer the best deal in town. Bear in mind too that overheards will probably be higher, and that there's nothing criminal in selling goods at a higher price than the customer need pay.

So what can you do about it yourself? If you know what you want, it's a simple but tiresome task to plod through the advertising listing prices. Some of them will incldude VAT, so don't be taken in by a rock bottom price that is qualified by "all prices subject to 15% VAT" underneath.

Be on the lookout for special offers. Some of these won't be terribly special at all, but there is the odd gem to be found. Even the more expensive stores sometimes discount items, so don't assume that a shop that is expensive for one thing is never worth looking at.

Working through the prices, you may also notice slogans on the lines of 'best prices' and 'we will not be beaten on price.' In cases like this it's worth phoning up and saying you've seen the same item listed cheaper elsewhere, as the shop can quite often be persuaded to match the lower price. Of course, the shop is likely to want to do a bit of investigating first to make sure the offer is genuine.

In general, the bigger the system you're buying, the greater the savings - or indeed, mistakes - you can make. You'll probably pay around £2,400 for a PC, and i's unlikely that you'll get one for much without breaking out of IBM's dealer network. But is it a PC you want, or is it just a PC-style micro?

In the latter case, you can look at one of the IBM compatibles that are currently being sold. Dpepending on your requirements, however, this course can be fraught with difficulties. Absolute compatibility should allow you to take a disk out of an IBM PC and plug it into your own micro. You should also be able to plug in any IBM peripherals without any trouble.

But this is seldom possible, and the best you can reallly hope for is that a compatible will run most software and peripherals, perhaps with minor modification. So it makes sense to take a long hard look at what you want from a compatible, and at the kind of compatibility you need, before you buy one.

Compatibles haven't yet taken off in this country to anything like the extent they have in the States, but two new contenders - the Advance at around £1,200 for the disk version, and the Sanyo at around £900 should soon be cutting the cost of IBMing almost to home micro levels.

The other big mainstream manufacturer is, of course, Apple. Compatibles aren't all that thick on the ground here, as Apple takes a dim view of this particular cottage industry, but the Ram II, at £250 for a 48K machine, is one notable, even if Autorun's trading address does seem to be Jeddah. There are a few others around, but the most notable Apple compatible, the Franklin Ace, isn't nearly as common in this country as it is in the States.

Despite the dearth of compatibles in this country, it's still possible to get a fairly good deal with the Apple IIe Professional home computer pack, which gives you 64K memory, one disk drive, RF modulator and various vouchers for £998. But although this isn't bad for an Apple, it's not particularly enticing when you look at some of the other machines that are available today. Despite the dearth of compatibles in this country, it's still possible to get a fairly good deal with the Apple IIe Professional home computer pack, which gives you 64K memory, one disk drive, RF modulator and various vouchers for £998. But although this isn't bad for an Apple, it's not particularly enticing when you look at some of the other machines that are available today.

One of the biggest difficulties associated with buying hardware is working out what is actually a good deal. Banners saying "Sale" don't always mean cheapest; prices that look good may often be qualified by small print saying "all prices subject to 15 per cent of VAT". This table doesn't set out to be comprehensive, and the prices, although accurate at the time of writing, will be subject to variation. What it does try to go is to give an indication of the variations you may see, and to equip you with a target price on a few mins.

N.B All prices are inclusive of VAT. Note also that there will be considerable variation in the price of the more expensive hardware because of differences in specification and in the software included.

John Lettice