Please direct your media and public relations inquiries to: mediarelations@cdw.com 800-800-4CDW CDW Wins Three Computer Shopper Best Buy Awards VERNON HILLS, Ill. - November 19, 1998 - CDW Computer Centers, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDWC), a Fortune 1000 company, was honored on Tuesday with three Computer Shopper Best Buy Awards. Receiving more awards than any other company, CDW took home honors for the Best Place to Buy printers, monitors, and upgrade components and accessories. Known in the industry as the "Bible" for computer buyers, Computer Shopper announced its coveted Best Buy Awards at COMDEX, the annual computer industry trade show in Las Vegas. According to Computer Shopper, the Best Buy categories, voted on by readers, acknowledge general excellence in a distribution channel and represent an unequaled value in the eyes of Computer Shopper readers. "This recognition is especially meaningful because it comes from our customers," said CDW Chairman and CEO Michael Krasny. "We put our customer at the center of everything we do and they look to us for customized solutions of brand name products because we offer advice, technical support and competitive prices. These Best Buy Awards reinforce that CDW is the best place to buy computing solutions." CDW has a history of receiving Best Buy Awards, including past honors for the Best Place to Buy: monitors (1997, 1996), printers/scanners (1997, 1996, 1994), software (1997, 1996), notebooks (1997), and networking products (1996), along with receiving the Direct Channel Achievement Award for Peripherals (1996) and Best Vendor Web site honors (1997). "The Computer Shopper Best Buy Awards are designed to recognize those companies whose products offer technological excellence as well as superior value to the customer." said Al DiGuido, executive vice president and group publisher of Computer Shopper. "What makes these awards special is that the tech-savvy group that are Computer Shopper readers have themselves chosen these products as the best in their class." Computer Shopper's contributing writer M. David Stone said readers continue to choose CDW as the Best Place to Buy for its friendly and knowledgeable account managers, along with its competitive pricing and lifetime toll-free technical support. Stone also noted CDW's Web site is well designed, organized, and easy to search. Other recent honors for CDW include being named to PC Magazine's list of the industry's "100 Most Influential Companies" and InformationWeek's "InformationWeek 500," which recognized CDW as No. 60 in a list of the country's 500 most innovative corporate users of information technology. About CDW Recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the country's fastest-growing companies, CDW® (NASDAQ: CDWC) is the country's leading direct solutions provider, offering complete, customized computing solutions for businesses and consumers nationwide. With competitive prices on a selection of thousands of brand name computer products, CDW, a Fortune 1000 company, is the No. 1 authorized direct source of Compaq, Computer Associates, IBM, Microsoft, Toshiba and other top name brands. Founded in 1984 as a one-man, home-based business, CDW today employs more than 1,400 coworkers whose efforts generated net sales of $1.6 billion for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 1998. CDW's pioneering direct model offers personalized expertise through one-on-one relationships with highly-trained, knowledgeable account managers; telephone and online purchasing; custom configured solutions; next day shipping; and lifetime phone and online technical support, with more than to 60 factory-trained and A+ certified technicians on staff. More information About CDW is available on the company's award-winning e-commerce Web site at www.cdw.com or by calling 888-CDW-7040.