Another way to shave more costs is to get an authorized refurbished switch from Cisco's refurb program. Tech Data is one of the three vendors under the authorized refurb program. I would recommend Catalyst 3524XL or 3548XL switches. I use alot of these and are very happy with them. I also buy alot of refurb stuff from Tech Data. The prices are much lower than new, the units are ready with both legally relicensed software and maintenance qualified status. The inventory varies day to day, so if they don't have what you need today, check a few days later and they will have different stuff.
The 3524XL and 3548XL are the switches that the 2950G's replaced. They are 24 or 48 ports of 10/100TX and have two GBIC slots. I recently got a 3524 for about $1000, so it may be in the same ballpark as the HP stuff.
I looked at the same HP switches awhile back. To be honest, they probably work just fine, but seem kind of cheesy and cheaply built. Cisco has probably the most extensive support structure I've ever seen. Back when I was looking at HP, I also looked at Extreme Networks, which has great prices, high quality products and beat HP hands down on every front. However, Extreme's support is pretty scant. I also really wonder with HP's chronic reorganizations how long they will stay in the networking business. Doesn't seem HP's core market is in networking. I'd rather stick with someone whose "nothing but net" and also has lots of support resources.
