Dear Mr. Bug,
I talked to the factory service rep. for Dell and GTW, same company for both DELL and GTW. I told him I was thinking about getting a computer and asked which would he recommend. He said they both run equally as well when they are working but the problem is parts. DELL Fed Ex's the parts next day delivery and GTW takes two weeks. How long do you want to be without your computer? He said DELL is a little easier to work on but thats probably just a personal preference.
Companies in the NYC area are offering huge discounts on PC's and a typical deal is $999 for a P166 MMX, 2.5 G drive, 12x CD, 15" monitor,
scanner, 32 modem, with a mountain bicycle add $50 shipping. Add $200 for a 17" monitor and $50 for a 56K modem.
All our office machines have been custom built by a local provider and they upgrade for a nominal fee. Our oldest machine is a 486 DX4 100 that they will upgrade to p133, more memory, new motherboard for $465.
We have done upgrades in the past but the problem is the drive is small and the video card is out of date. By the time I upgrade all the parts I am better off going for the $999 and junk the 486, and give the mountain bike to my wife.
I guess the point of all this is GTW will find it hard to compete with some of these providers. Comp USA is now offering custom machines also but the $999 machines are really all anyone needs except the nerd. I can see huge xmas sales of the low priced boxes. Wall Mart is in the computer business full swing and some of their stores have no competition from anyone. With the ease of use brought about by windows 95 their is little reason to shop the small stores just to get their support, the last three computers we bought were just plugged in and they have been running ever since without any service or support.
I can see problems for all the box makers who depend on big ticket boxes becuase the cheap boxes are so advanced now.
Sincerely yours,
Coz |
