Is it 1500 us or Canadian? Can anyone from canada chime in on what prices are there? It is useless to qoute american prices unless he is going to come down across the border to pick it up.
DE's are just as reliable as williams since the system 3 hardware was a system 11 clone. Sega (whitestar hardware) and Stern (whitestar and now Sam) are more reliable. Individual games will have their trouble areas, but overall it is moot.