1999

This is the original first build of the website, put together by Steve and some others in early 1999. At the time a 256MB PC100 stick of memory would run you $649! As far as systems go, in 1999 we were selling a 333MHz, 32MB RAM, 4.3GB Hard drive unit for $449 – and this was a barebones unit, no operating system or monitor! [...]

2000

It was the year 2000. We had just survived the infamous ‘y2k bug’ – and guess what, the world DIDN’T blow up! And on top of that most computers continued working just fine. Our “Weekly Special” on the website at this time listed a AMD K6/2 500MHz system, with a 100MHz FSB motherboard, 32MB RAM, 6.4GB hard drive, running Windows 98 – all this for “ONLY $599”….$749 if you wanted a 15inch CRT monitor with that. Nope sorry, no LCD monitors! This is a revision of the original site, put together by Ezra, with an updated look. Ezra: “The main reason for the rewrite is that the original version was made using FrontPage. It was horribly slow, taking about a minute or two to come in on 33.6 connections and not much quicker at 56k. I redid the site in straight HTML. All the graphics were hand-tuned to load quickly. When all was said and done, the new site loaded in about two seconds on a 56k.” Also notice that the “Flegal Computer Associates” name is still being used. [...]

early 2001

This is the second revision done by Ezra in early 2000 (March), and the last version built in house before Steve started hiring web design companies do to it through 2005. This version featured a slightly updated and much cleaner overall look. A high performance system at the time would consist of an Intel Pentium III 667 MHz Processor, 20GB hard drive, and 64MB RAM Memory. This included a monitor and would set you back $1099.00 [...]

2001

2001 brings a new web design with it for affordablecomp.com – not too clear what’s going on here. There are some buttons that read “Enable E-Commerce” and “Activate Site” which probably indicates that whoever Steve was paying to do the website at the time hadn’t quite finished it! The “Promotions” link doesn’t actually bring up any listings, however one of our advertisement flyers a customer brought in from 2001 shows we were selling a AMD Duron 700 MHz system. It had 128MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and was running Windows ME. This was a special that came with a 15inch CRT monitor and a color printer (printer cable not included!) – all for the low low price of $879! What is particularly interesting about this version of the website are the “Helpful Links” – complete with Personals & Horoscopes! [...]

2002

It’s 2002 and affordablecomp.com has changed its look again! At this point it’s looking a little bit more like a computers website. This time around you could get a “High Performance” PC for just $849. For that you would get a Pentium III 1.0 GHz, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, and (gasp!) a CDRW…a 12x CDRW! You got a choice between Windows 98 or Windows ME. But wait! There’s more! For only $599 you could get a used Dell Latitude CPi laptop! It included a Pentium II 300 MHz processor, 64MB RAM Memory, and a 4GB hard drive! Also an interesting point is the page now on the website warning customers about Microsoft’s ‘new’ Operating System, Windows ME, and suggesting that our customer stick with Windows 98SE… [...]

2003

Design-wise in 2003 the site pretty much looked the same. However the computer deals continue! In 2002 we were selling a use Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop with a Pentium II 366 MHz processor, 128MB RAM, and a 6.4GB hard drive. With Windows 98 pre-installed it was only $669! At this time we were also offering NEW “Jetbook” laptops. On the website we had a Jetbook 9300 with a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, 15 inch Display, and a CDRW/DVDROM combo drive….only $1741.00! This year you could also order laptops online through the website. [...]

2004

The site gets a new look again in 2004. We also continued offering laptops for sale online. This year in the “ONLINE CATALOG” you could get a used Dell Inspiron 4000. It had a Pentium III 600 MHz processor, 256MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and a CDRW. Only $649 with Windows 98SE. This year the website also had a whole page dedicated to a “FRAUD WARNING” trying to deter people from making fraudulent purchases from our website. If my memory serves me correctly, people tried to rip us off anyway… [...]

2005

Complete site overhaul in 2005, and also no more online sales. The homepage states “WE DO NOT PLAN TO OFFER ONLINE SHOPPING, as there are just too many problems related to online sales.” This year the website also had a “PC News” section, which was basically just the earliest version of our downloads page, with links to AVG, AdAware, & Spybot. In 2005 you could buy a new AMD Sempron 2600+ system (1.4 GHz I think), with 256MB RAM, a 40GB harddrive, and a CDRW/DVDROM for $479. A 15 inch LCD monitor would run you $200! [...]

2006

2006 was the first year we stopped paying companies to do our websites, and began doing it in house. Complete site redesign! This was the first version of the site to showcase both the Chattanooga store, and our new Fort Oglethorpe store. Although the site has gone through some major changes since 2006, it still pretty much retains this layout first used in 2006. This year we also added a section to the website for our show "The Computer Guys" and the famous "Staff" page. Our “Extreme Gamer System” at the time included a Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz processor with “Hyper-Threading Technology.” It had 1GB RAM, a 250GB SATA hard drive, and a DVDRW drive. It also included a 256MB PCI-Express video card and a wireless keyboard/mouse set. It sold for $1259. At the time our cheapest used laptop was $399 and had a Pentium II 366MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, and a 6GB hard drive. [...]

2007

In 2007 affordablecomp.com gets a new look, but retains the same overall layout. This new look is still used today and still done in house. Although 2007 wasn’t that long ago, at the time our starter new system was a lot different than it is now. For $499 you could get an AMD Sempron 2800+ (1.6 GHz), 512MB RAM, a 80GB hard drive, and a CDRW/DVDROM combo drive. [...]

2008

It 2008 right now silly! If you want to see what the website looks like go to www.affordablecomp.com - if you are too lazy, you can see by the picture the website looks the same as it did in 2007. For reference our starter new system is currently a AMD 64bit Sempron LE 1100+ running at 1.9 GHz. It comes with 1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive and a DVDRW. You also get a choice between Windows XP or Vista, although we don’t recommend the latter. All for only $449! Also you can pick up a 17 inch LCD monitor for $190. [...]