Digital Fever –
Buying a desktop computer
by Mike Kroll
In
my last column I recommended against the purchase of a laptop computer for
college students. I made the point that a desktop computer was more economical,
far less fragile and less likely to be lost or stolen. It was also pointed out
that I build and sell desktop computers at my shop and some readers thought the
column to be little more than blatant flacking of my own business. The truth is
I would appreciate the patronage of Zephyr readers, that is why I advertise in
this paper. However, the bulk of my business is the repair of computers rather
than selling them because that is where the profit is found.
As
the price of personal computers has fallen in recent years so too has the
profitability for computer retailers, particularly small shops like mine.
Companies like Dell sell millions of computers each month and that kind of
volume allows them to profitably sell at a more competitive price than any
local computer dealer. They spend less for the components and can remain
profitable with far smaller margins. But the real secret to Dell's success is
that they rarely sell their computers at the unbelievably low price advertised.
Whether you buy from Dell on-line or by telephone their sales system makes it
damn difficult to buy a computer as advertised. Most buyers will upgrade their
Dell purchase to make it both more useful and hundreds of dollars more
expensive than the version advertised.
With
the upgrades most customers choose when they purchase a Dell system much of the
net savings over purchase of a comparable system from a local dealer is eroded.
The upgrades are much more profitable to Dell with perhaps their biggest profit
coming from the sale of extended warranties. It has been historically common
for computer systems to come standard with a one year warranty but most systems
now sold by Dell and Gateway include only a 90-day warranty and they work very
hard to sell you an extended warranty on top of that. Obviously, the longer the
included warranty the better but I have always advised my clients against
purchasing extended warranties due to the questionable real value they
typically offer.
For
the majority of my computer service customers the most typical point of
purchase was a big-box or discount store. We see large numbers of the ÒvalueÓ
PCs sold by Compaq, Hewlett Packard, eMachines, Gateway in addition to the
Dells. Due to corporate mergers Compaq Presarios and HP Pavillions are sold by
the same company, as are Gateway and eMachine models. While Dell only sells
direct you can find packages of any of the others at many Best Buys, Circuit
Cities, Staples, and even K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Target. These ÒvalueÓ computers
are made to sell for the lowest possible cost and their marketing assumes a na•ve
consumer. Both the manufacturers and the stores that sell them generally
consider such systems as Òdisposable.Ó Once they are out of warranty if
something breaks you are expected to throw the computer away and buy a new one!
If
you consider the costs (including aggravation) incurred after the sale these
so-called value computers often end up costing more than your alternatives.
Since most purchasers resist the notion that these are disposable commodities
these machines account for a substantial share of my hardware repair business.
From that perspective my local competitors and I should and do appreciate the
fact that the stores that retail these systems seldom offer local service.
While service calls for viruses and spyware can and do occur on all types of
computers my experience is that these value systems generate more frequent and
predictable out-of-warranty hardware repairs.
Perhaps
the most common such hardware failure is the upgrade-induced power supply
failure. Most of these value computers come standard with power supplies that
are barely sufficient to cover the demands of the components included. When a
buyer decides to upgrade to a DVD burner or higher-end video card the power
consumption of the system frequently exceeds the capacity of the power supply
and it overheats and eventually fails. To add insult to injury the very design
of many of these systems preclude replacement with standard sized power
supplies obliging the purchase of more expensive and less capable specialty
components.
Even
in a small city like Galesburg you can purchase a new computer from numerous
local dealers who not only service what they sell but must generate repeat
business in order to remain in business. While it may indeed be self-serving
for me to say this it is also my best advise: generally it is better to buy a
computer from a local dealer you know and trust than to buy it any other way.
You will most definitely pay a small premium up front for doing this but you
also get the confidence of a friendly face and local telephone call when you
encounter problems. And all the local dealers service what they sell in
addition to computers purchased elsewhere. I am never offended if a customer
comes in with a broken computer for service that was purchased from someone
other than myself; I appreciate and respect them for bringing there service
business to my shop and any reputable dealer I know feels the same way.
Mike
Kroll operates Dr. Mike Computer Therapist, a small computer shop in Galesburg
where he daily provides therapy to all sorts of computers. You can reach him by
e-mail at <Dr.Mike@Bizconnect.net>