Decisions, decisions: what computers should you buy? (profiles of three school districts and their hardware selection process and the results)(includes related articles comparing the Intel 80286-based versus 80386-based microcomputers, increase of purchasing power in the last ten years, IBM's K-12 reorganization, varieties of Apple Macintosh computers and the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface)

"After analyzing where the computer hardware industry is right now, one of my counterparts in a neighboring district said that now is one of the best times he can remember for sitting on your hands. There is so much turmoil, the industry and the technology are in such a state of flux, that making long-range purchasing plans has become an exercise in dice throwing. I don't think we're had a similar degree of turbulence in the computer hardware arena since the days when CPM was being converted over to MS-DOS, and you had instances when companies that had been making computers for years were suddenly overnight goners."

B.R. Black, instructional computing supervisor of Polk County (Fla.) Schools

They could make a movie of it: The Loneliness of the School Hardware Buyer. If it's your job to purchase computers for you district or school today, you may fell like you're out there on your own.

The perpetual changes within the hardware industry-Apple layoffs, IBM reorganizing, more new Macs, 286 vs. 386, Windows vs. DOS 5.0 v.s Mcintosth--coupled with shrinking schools budgets don't exactly pave the way for easy decision-making.

Of course, technology purchases involve more than just buying what's hot--or safe--in hardware. So much of what you buy depends on how you plan to use computers, the network you want, what software you own (and would like to own), and how much money you can spend.

But it would help to have some guidance, some advice from the trenches, so to speak, and that's what we're giving you this month. Below we highlight three districts that have recently made significant computer purchases. We explain how and why they decided on a particular brand of computer. By reading about their decision-making process, you may find some sound ideas for your important buying decisions.

Before we visit those districts, let's see how Black, an advisor to Electronic Learning, has responded to the current state of the hardware industry.

In October 1991, Black sent a memo to his superintendent recommending changes in the way his district buys and supports computers. He stated: "Recent economic changes in the microcomputer industry, combined with severe cutbacks in state funding for educational technology, have motivated a…