[geeks] Wow, PCs are cheap...

[Phil Stracchino]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> From: james <james at jdfogg.com> I've had luck with cheap Dells. I
>> don't know how whitebox vendors stay in business.
> 
> I only build a PC when I want to use a particular component (for some
> reason), otherwise I've sworn-off build-it yourself machines.

I only buy prebuilt if it's something I can't build myself, like a
laptop, a printer, a monitor or a switch.  If I buy a system from, say,
Dell, sure, it's cheap ... but it's cheap because every component was
supplied by the lowest bidder.  When I have to work on relatives' home
PCs bought from Dell, HP etc, I look inside them and I want to barf.

"We ship the machine with one RAM module installed.  Why would it need
more than one slot?  Sure, you have to take the entire machine apart to
swap out the power supply ... why, is that a problem?  ... Add a second
disk?  99% of our customers never need to do that.  Our service center
can replace the one disk there's room for with a larger one for only
twice what the disk would cost you retail, and we'll have the machine
back to you in three weeks or less.  ...Oops, sorry about your data."


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.