COLUMBIA, S.C. - When legislators returned to their desks this year, they found new laptops on their desks that cost $322,700.

The 175 new $1,844 Dell computers replaced more expensive laptops the state bought in 1998, Senate Clerk Jeffrey Gossett said.

"I'm totally shocked," House Minority Leader Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, said. "I have no guess on why we would have chosen to spend $322,000 on new laptops when we absolutely, in my opinion, did not need to and without having some type of input from the General Assembly."

"I would like to know why we replaced them with the other ones. I don't know," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said. He could not recall any discussion about the new notebooks.

The old laptops' operating system, Windows 95, was dated; they were slowing down the Legislature's computer network and were becoming more difficult to maintain, Gossett said.

The Legislative Printing, Information and Technology Systems office, overseen by Gossett and House Clerk Charles Reid, made the purchase. Half the cost was paid last summer and the rest will be paid this year.

Gossett said the state already has a contract with Dell and no bid was required.

As with the old laptops, legislators use the computers to check e-mail, look at bills and amendments and research history on laws. They also can surf the Legislature's internal intranet, but aren't allowed unlimited access to the Internet.

The computers stay in the legislative chambers. They help lawmakers cut the paper blizzard that once was a part of their routine.

Legislators said didn't know where they came from.

Some legislators joked that they may have come from businesses or lobbyists. "Mine says sponsored by 'Piggly Wiggly,' " Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said.

"Mine says sponsored by the Chamber" of Commerce, Senate Rules Committee Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens, joked.

Whatever the source, they are "a big improvement over what we had," Martin said.

"The ones we had were probably junk," he said. "What we had was very, very, very not up to speed."

The technology upgrade did not reach the governor's office, however.

"We're used to folks at other state agencies laughing at us because of our cheap cell phones and the fact that we don't have BlackBerries or laptops for everybody," said Will Folks, Gov. Mark Sanford's spokesman.