eMachines... Where's the value?
I think the low cost is illusionary. The savings does not amount
to much in reality... in fact, it can be argued the the eMachine
333i costs more than the Dell 333V would within the first week
of ownership.
For example the eM 333i costs $499 which is "(*System alone, after rebate. Rebate coupons are only available through participating authorized retailers ". The Dell 333V is $999. To approach
the eM configuration you must remove the Dell 15" monitor ($200),
Windows98 ($100), speakers ($25), extra 1G of HD space and a few
other Dell hardware niceties (that aren't important to bargain
hunters so we'll attach a value of ~$25). Now the cost of the
Dell box alone comes to about $659.
A whopping difference of $160. That's still too much many would
say. Well, look closer at the value equation.
Installing Windows98 and any software to the bare hard drive
on the eMachine is a pain-in-the-ass... almost impossible for
a first time buyer. How many hours will this take?
Service? 1.877.566.e4me (a long-distance charge maybe applied, depening on your calling area) (available from 8 am to midnight CST 7 days a week)15 days free telephone installation assistance (a long distance charge may be applied depending on your calling area)
For calls after 15 days, telephone support is charged at $20 per incident.
How much is Dell's 24/7 year round toll free support worth?
What if your machine breaks? Dell will send a technician personally
to your house to fix or replace any component for one year after
purchase. With eM, you can experience the joy of repacking your
system and sending it cross country. How long would you be without
a machine? Who wants to store those big boxes in their garage
for 2-3 years? What's that worth?
There are also many other subtle quality differences in chassis design, plastics, power delivery, keyboard, noise levels etc. that bargain hunters probably don't care about but they add up.
Can someone really save that much assembling their system piecewise
and foregoing the quality/support/warranties? Doubtful... you'd
have to be pretty lucky cause one hiccup and your penny wise
and pound foolish value equation winds up in the ditch.
I'm not necessarily saying the eMachines are bad or that they
won't have plenty of interested buyers. It's just that when
you do the math, they don't look like such a bargain anymore.
MEATHEAD |
