John Rumm wrote in message .. .
to the major OEMs. Which means PCs purchased from the smaller players
[ 100k units pa] have more chance of failing or causing compatibility
issues than from major suppliers [statistically] generally speaking.

Not sure about that - it does depend on the skill and experience of the
"white box" builder though - so there is more of an element of lottery
perhaps unless you know the small system builder by reputation.

Agreed that the *build quality* will depend on the experience of the
builder but there is more probability of compatibility & reliability
issues with these smaller white box builders.

Note also that some of the big OEMs can have quite frightening return
rates on some kit - Dell and laptops for example.

Agreed! - Like everything in life, there will always be mistakes made
or things overlooked. The better OEMs will learn from them and make
sure they don't make the same mistakes again.

In the sense of hardware optimisation etc you are right - I doubt even
the big OEMs would want to routinely go in for BIOS rewrites etc. The
areas where the smaller dealers will win are on service and attention to
detail.

Most major OEMs will have the BIOS re-written when the motherboards
are first introduced into their range, then slight modifications are
made as new technology is introduced. Firmware on things such as
optical drives, HDDs & modems are modified to increase reliability or
speed depending on the application of the units.

true - also as a home user looking for a top end system you are often
wanting to specify things that the big OEMs give you no control over at
all (like getting a case that makes good use of internal space - has
enough free internal drive bays - with good filtered air flow over them
etc).

Agreed, cases are one of the things that you will very rarely be able
to specify from major OEMs. This is due to the corp identity mainly
although alot of R&D work is carried out on the case design prior to
production.

Firmware updates etc are mostly produced by the components vendors - the
big OEM may package them and make them easy to find on their web site -
but that is normally the extent of the service.

This is true for the smaller players, the big OEMs have access to more
source code than you may imagine! Some employ teams of engineers
in-house others have contracts with external sources to
modify/optimise as necessary!

If you phone a big OEM for tech support you get routed to a call centre
staffed by a (relatively) non skilled person with a check list to
follow. This is usually a painful experience that is often a waste of
time, where you go over all the fault finding tests you have already
done, and try to ignore the instruction to "just re-install windows from
your recovery CD". Next time you phone you can't talk to the same person
again. It may take many calls (and hours in telephone queues) just
trying to get to talk to the "level 3" technical bod who you can
actually communicate with on equal terms!

Agreed, the difference is that a CC has the backup of the
manufacturers, developers, R&D labs etc whereas the smaller dealer has
access to a much lower level 'dealer line' at the manufacturers or the
same access as the public to their web sites.

Due to the 'mass production' aspect of the major OEMs, many problems
will have already been resolved before you actually notice they exist!

With the smaller dealer you may get to talk to the same person each time
- who remembers what you said in a phone call a couple of days ago and
can carry on with the diagnosis where you left off - not with the next
check list.

Most CCs will use some form of call logging software to track previous
calls from customers. Although not as good as speaking to the same
person again, should help them in continuing the diagnostics process.

As nearly all CCs actually cost the OEM/retailer to run (premium rate
lines nowhere near cover the cost of running a large CC!), it is in
their interest to *resolve your problem* in the shortest, most
efficent way possible.

The problems usually arrise when the staff don't have the same
commitment to their customers as the management does!

When you look at you nice new big OEM box it may work fine up until you
want to upgrade it. You open its nice corporate friendly "tool free"
chassis, ready to install a extra hard drive and find there are no spare
mounting bays, or the "value added" design of the "sleek low profile
case design with PCI riser" means the card if half an inch too tall!

I have not seen any major OEMs ship products with riser cards in for
years, the cost of R&D, production and warranty is too much to warrant
them!

They are usually only used now in specialised hardware or where a
specific design requirement exists.

A few years down the road you decide that the base computer is fine but
it is time for a motherboard, CPU and RAM upgrade. Then you find the big
OEM used a non standard motherboard layout, and the PSU connector is not
the same.

Again, see above!

Not knocking the big OEMs - much of their output is very well suited for
their main target market (i.e. businesses), just highlighting that the
things that can make a great supplier for business customers can also
work against the discerning home customer.

As businesses are very slow to upgrade their hardware, they also need
to cater for the home market! - A good percentage of most major OEMs
volume will be to the home user.

For a low cost PC, built to an exact specification, your local PC
builder is proberbly the best option if you have little experience.
Personally I would source the components online and D-I-Y it myself
:-) (had to get a reference to D-I-Y in somewhere! :-)


L.N.