Fear no more, Complete Package, ABS Inc.'s AIWS 3
Written: Oct 13 '99
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Pros: almost complete system, great value, great components, best Customer service
Cons: no CD-RW, no MS Office Suite, not a brand name
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| Shoeb's Full Review: ABS All-In-Wonder System 3 |
There are too many PC's out there. Too many configurations. Too many choices. Too many vendors. Too many sites. You get the point. So where does one go to look for the computer for the home that won't wind up as a garage space keeper after a few months of pressing keys and expressing displeasure?
Let me provide a quick disclaimer: if you are scared of the internet, e-commerce, or stores that do not feature ads in the Sunday circular, then do not read further. If one the other hand you are curious, want to make the best purchase for the price and want to be rewarded with an excellent product, fantastic customer service, and a computer that will survive Y2K and beyond, then please get your reading specs.
I am writing this mainly because not much information is out there on this great company (and no I don’t work for them). A quick briefing on the company: they are located in Whittier, CA and have been in business for the past 9 years. They deal primarily through the Internet (www.buyabs.com) and phone orders (800-876-8088). They are not just some hokey family run shack either (Facility Size: 75,000 SQFT, 10,000 units per month capacity, Hytrol Conveyor system, No of employees: 170, (38 sales, 24 technical, 12 research and development, 47 operations and assembly, 23 administration, 8 purchasing, 14 general management, 4 executive management). It was relatively hard trying to find information about the company on other sites doing research as they just don’t have the marketing blitz as other etailers like Dell, Gateway, or even Micron, but consider them the best kept etailer secret just waiting to get out. They have won their share of awards, but then so do many other PCs. The difference is that ABS has a great customer service support, makes the buying experience a real simple, and easy process, whether it be on the net or the phone. They also received numerous acclaims for this service by professional surveys.
You have to keep one thing in mind when shopping for a computer: its what’s inside the box that matters. Quality components, the organs of the computer, make it what it is. Sometimes with varying models, numbers, vendors, it’s really hard for a consumer to identify the good from the bad. Doing a little research I found that ABS uses the best components for the job and hence builds value right in. I was interested in a complete PC for whatever purpose I could think off so that I wouldn’t need to buy another one or upgrade mine for at least a few years. I narrowed my choices to two vendors after doing intense comparisons of my ideal PC. Then it came down to geographical location. One was Quantex located on the east coast in New Jersey, equally great product (maybe a slight edge) and the other was ABS located in California. Both offered systems you can configure on-line to match your needs.
I chose ABS because not only did it have more bells and whistles for the money, but also they had a smaller shipping charge being within California and they had an extremely fast delivery date (around 7 days, compared to 2-3 weeks by others). They also offered an online support section, 24/7 phone tech support; 3 year limited warranty and a friendly staff along the way.
Normally I don’t like to list specs because you can find the information readily at the vendor site, but you have got to try and say this all in one breath to appreciate the package. I chose their All in Wonder System 3 because of its bells (Pentium III 500 MHz processor; 128 MB PC-100 SDRAM; 15.2 GB Ultra ATA/66 Hard drive; Toshiba 3rd gen. DVD) and its whistles (expandable case, internal 100MB zip drive, USB Digital Color camera, Altec-Lansing 45.1 speakers; microphone, 56K modem, Sound Blaster Live! Value sound card, 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive, MS Intellimouse, enhanced internet-multimedia keyboard, and a decent software package with Win 98 plus goodies - they even offered a special game package because of the ATI card).
So where does the All in wonder get its name?…from the ATI All in Wonder 128Bit 2x AGP 16 MB video card that can do it all, (With Hardware DVD; TV IN, TV Out, TV Tuner and Video Capture).
Finally I could really do it all. Well almost all. You can watch TV record digital broadcasts, plug in your camcorder and edit movies, play DVD titles, create archives for everybody on the ZIP drive, video conference, send pics, play all the great games and not lose performance, with quick launching applications, you name it the AIWS 3 had it (ok so don’t say anything about a CD-RW drive the only drawback to this beautiful system).
Setup of the computer was intuitive with a great easy to follow diagram and color coded cables. The software and manuals could be packaged a bit better, but hey its a small price to pay. The computer has worked flawlessly till now and unless I tweak something I am not supposed to, I have faith in it.
Where the product really excelled was when I had to call Customer Service a couple of times for details on recording purposes. The first time I was able to talk to someone in a few minutes and he cleared up the question. The second time they were busy, so they did something unprecedented in Service land. They took my number and called me back. Wow...and I didn’t need to listen to any ads, or worse music. Although it took them around 20 minutes they did call, and they stayed on with me for about 30 minutes answering all of my tech/none tech questions.
My only quam about the system is that I don’t have enough time to use it. Damn the 50-hour work week and the commute. They only way to make this a better system would be to bundle MS Office in with the software and include a CD-RW drive. Additional peripherals you will need before the system is truly complete will be a printer, (see my epinion on the HP 880C) and a scanner (I am still deciding). You can get those added sure, just remember money talks. Too bad that at press time memory prices increased due to the Asian earthquakes causing dropping PC prices to halt, but hey there is always the holiday shopping competition to heat things up.
So if you are in the market for a great PC at the right price, and don’t want to sacrifice quality and great service do what I did: spend countless hours researching, nit picking on every detail, reading every customer, professional review, talking to vendors, etc., or plain and simply pick ABS and the AIWS-3. You'll be happy you did.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2030 (including tax, shipping)
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 401-500
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: Zip Drive
Hard Drive (GB): Over 12
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Epinions.com ID:
Shoeb
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Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 26 members
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