Get What you Pay For
Mar 21 '00 (Updated Jun 10 '00)
In choosing a category of prices for computers, you've said something about your buying habits. Most of us look to buy with specific dollar amounts, and all of us want the most bang for our buck.
When I began the hunt for my fourth computer, I knew I had not used any of my three earlier ones to anything near their full potential. Why then, was I looking to spend a bunch of money on a new one? The old one wore out? I needed an excuse to give it to my son? the color no longer matched my decor? None of the above. Simply speed and memory.
We know intellectually that even as we travel home with our new, exciting, up-to-date purchase, a truck is pulling up behind the store with a load of newer, more exciting computers. Still, we have a dream that given just a little more RAM and more Gigabytes, we will be happy with this hardware forever. Well, at least for the next few years. That's how naive non-professional computer users tend to be.
My tendency with a large purchase is to be scientific. I make a chart of rows of models and columns of significant features--prices, specs, guarantees. This shows graphically what is the best I can get for my hard-earned money. Most of the time it works the way it should. Then there's my latest investment.
Guarantee is a major consideration with any equipment. That usually boosts buying local to the top. But when a company, such as Tiger Direct, far and away the most computer for the money, offers on-site service, what could be better? I don't even get that locally. For a small additional sum, their guarantee was extended to three years. I opted for it, even though with my history, it was clear the computer would be long gone by then, no matter how thrilling it was.
True that shipping charges are added to out-of-town purchases, but they were less than the tax I'd saved buying out of state.
As to the components, we all know that neither Gateway nor Tiger manufacture their own parts. They simply choose and assemble them. It is more significant to look into which names are on the components.
Even though I'm not a true believer in "you get what you pay for," it's logical that to sell cheapest, a company has to buy cheaper. That's where our research logic ends. We don't have access to their accounts.
But my own computer history leaves Tiger suspect. Within a year and a half, the sound card, the CD ROM, and the monitor went out. What about the on-site service? It didn't happen until the first year was up and another company took over the extended warranty. That first year, I spent hours on the phone being instructed to open the computer case and remove the sound card. (Say what? Doesn't that usually void a warranty?) After much playing around and many phone calls, a new sound card was sent to me, and I had to install it and package and return the old one.
Mercifully, the CD ROM lasted more than a year. Within days a serviceman was in my office replacing it, with a better one, I might add. But the monitor I was without for a week, until the replacement came. With less optimism and more realism, I would have borrowed a temporary replacement.
What then would be my advice to someone buying by the price?
1. Research everything you can find about each company.
2. Be sure you are comparing like features.
3. If the saving is insignificant, buy from a local company with the best warranty.
4. If the saving is dramatic, ask: would the difference offset paying a technician if it came to that? As with so many things in life, it's all a gamble.
5. Since peripherals are the first to go, consider that you're likely to upgrade them before the computer is obsolete anyway.
And if you wonder if getting inside of a computer to change a sound card constitutes major surgery, it's a piece of cake. But not what I paid for.
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Epinions.com ID:
BLRosian
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Member: Betty Rosian
Location: Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 1 member
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