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  From: Andrew Reid <andrew.reid@plug.cx>
  To  : Andrew McDonnell <andymc73@yahoo.com.au>
  Date: 11 Jul 2001 09:07:12 +0930

Re: AMD Notebook Chips / Computer Shops in Adelaide / Auslinx

On 10 Jul 2001 17:58:08 +1000, Andrew McDonnell wrote:

> I guess that depends on the quality / ethics of
> whoever built it. I personally build about one PC a
> month, and am thus able to take the time to hand-craft
> them and test them, not to mention the time required
> to properly integrate all the Windoze device drivers
> (most of my clients require MS on the desktop I'm
> afraid) But then I am not competing with 25 clone
> shops and 5 multinational companies either.

The brand-name PCs almost always come preconfigured and ready to do,
with an emergency recovery CD for a rainy day. I've not seen one
Adelaide shop that does this. If it breaks, you're either on your own or
paying them $40/hour for assistance.

> I cant comment, other than the fact that I have
> installed couple of hundred brand name PCs for
> PC-newbies in the past, and apart from the shameless
> attempt by the manufacturers to lure "nusers" to their
> own websites by having unprogrammable Internet
> keyboards, dont seem to be any better or worse, unless
> you count fancier colour and shape of the casings and
> extra USB and audio connectors as a plus.

When you're in an environment where a broken workstation means lost
money, and your time is just too valuable, the brand-name PCs are almost
guaranteed to be more reliable. Why do banks -only- have Compaq, HP or
IBM machines at the teller's desk? Because they just -cannot- have any
down time and they can depend on the brand name.

I've picked up 7-year old Compaq 486 boxes from an Auction which still
run without hiccup. They're built well, reall well.

> Of course, then you get some brand name PCs which
> require "star" shaped screw drivers to open the back
> of the case, and others with hidden "secret catches"
> that require a degree in lateral thinking and the
> ability to think of new uses for tools to get open...

They can be a pain, but they've got a purpose. Apart from the obvious
("I can't open this darn thing... Time to pay someone to do it"), it's
also to prevent "Sleezy Joe's Computers" from "servicing" it. The hope
is that the owner will send it back to the vendor and have a qualified
technician look it over.

> And of course they try and get you to buy brand name
> memory upgrades when you can purchase standard SDRAM
> from anywhere at half the price

That's just wrong. I found a laptop in the cupboard the other day.
Asking compaq for the price of 64MB SODIM SDRAM left me in shock. Of
course, generic stuff from Leader can be picked up for a fraction of the
price.

> Of course, the only way to present that in a CV is to
> say "Experienced in internet protocols" and hope the
> HR person reading it knows what that means...

Or, "I have a solid knowledge of internet protocols and their
integration with popular client and server Operating Systems".

Whatever :-)

   - andrew

--
void signature () {
	cout << "Andrew Reid -- andrew.reid@plug.cx" << endl ;
	cout << "Cell: +61 401 946 813" << endl;
	cout << "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur" << endl;
}

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