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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (80333)	5/2/1999 12:52:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Jim, is there any similarity to people buying E-Machines vs. buying Dell, IBM, Gateway, etc., and buying an RCA TV vs. Sony, Mitsubishi or Toshiba, or a Ford Escort vs. a Toyota Celica, Honda Accord or Ford Taurus? Another question: E-machines owns a monitor company? Which one? Tony

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (80333)	5/2/1999 6:59:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

<What el cheapo parts are you refering to? Have you ever opened up an e-machine?> No, I've never opened up an E-Machine. The el-cheapo parts I'm referring to are the ones I see on the shelves of Fry's Electronics. (I don't know if you've ever heard of Fry's; it's a West Coast chain.) For example, in the modem aisle, I find U.S. Robotics and Diamond Supra modems being sold at a moderate price. These are two names that I trust when it comes to modems. Then I find a ton of modems whose names I've never heard of, but whose prices are much lower. So if I'm building a system, do I bite the bullet and buy a modem from the reputable name, or will I take a chance and buy from the unknown name, knowing that driver support might be questionable? That's the kind of impression I get from E-Machines. Tony said it best when he draws a possible comparison between E-Machines and Packard Smell. Of course, I'll bet Packard Hell also committed a bunch of other mistakes besides using low-quality components. But it's very possible that E-Machines, in their quest to be the first high-volume boxmaker to hit the lowest price points, could end up making the same mistakes that Taco, er, Packard Bell did. <If you own the monitor company like e-machines, you can give a little on the box and make it up on the monitor as a marketing ploy. There's the $100 difference right there.> I'm not too fond of this tactic anyway. E-Machines is targeting the big group of people who never bought a computer, or whose last computer purchase was a "top-of-the-line" Zeos 486 (remember Zeos?). These are the kind of consumers who don't realize that the low, low prices that E-Machines (and the other boxmakers, too) don't include the price of the monitor, because they aren't necessarily very savvy computer buyers. Tenchusatsu