Linux is a good choice for the Hot Rod: powerful, cool, and cheap.

A less elegant - and somewhat cheaper - choice is Sidewalker's, a pretty good imitation of a Maryland crab house.

Linux is a wonderful choice for the Budget Box: powerful, cool, and cheap.

Linux is a wonderful choice for the budget box: powerful, cool, and cheap.

For people who don't mind stringing wires to the rear speakers, there are cheaper choices for converting a television set into a home theater.

Also, a physician who might have hospitalized a woman for early labor - at $500 a day - now may have a cheaper choice.

A cheaper choice is a locker, which has space to store things and to change, but nowhere to hang out.

But cocaine, particularly crack, ranked second - before cheaper choices like glue and paint thinner.

Their spin: They've created a cheaper choice for buyers who may be skittish about paying at least $95 to see the Olympics without commercials.

For those willing to sometimes forgo speed - and put up with more limited hours - the local library is generally an excellent and cheap choice.