Re: [IUG] Rationale for "expensive" computers

[Kyle Banerjee <kyle dot banerjee at gmail dot com>]

Although cheap computers are better than they used to be, I think
going the Wal Mart route is penny wise and pound foolish. As has
already been mentioned, the cost of the machine is only a small part
of the total cost of ownership. Here's what you get for a little extra
money:

1) Better quality and support. Unless you don't pay your staff,
downtime is very expensive. We've seen hard drives, monitors, and
motherboards fail. With a decent vendor, you make a quick phone call
and can have the replacement in hand the next day. Also, good vendors
tend to build products that have fewer problems.

2) Easier to work on. There are a zillion ways to cut costs with
computers and one of the most common is to to jam and solder
everything in however it will fit and not bother much with leaving
room to add additional components. Good machines make it easy to
add/swap memory, cards, drives, etc.There are huge differences in how
easy different machines are to work with.

3) Most cheap computers are loaded with all kinds of demo programs,
thinly disguised adware, etc that consume significant memory and cpu
time. One way computers can be sold cheaply is when manufacturers
accept money to have certain software preinstalled. All you want is a
clean OS with nothing else except office software that you absolutely
know you will use.

4) Depending on your environment, you might not get the right OS. XP
Home (the cheaper OS that comes on cheap computers) does not have the
same network, security, or administration features as Pro does. For
example, if you use Active Directory for authentication, you won't be
able to log in with XP Home.

Just as there is a reason buying cars, tools, or anything else based
soley on price is asking for trouble, the same is true with computers.

If nothing else works, I'd ask the board member how many computer
professionals s/he can name who recommend buying cut rate computers
from a discount store. My guess is zero.

kyle
***********************************************
Kyle Banerjee
Oregon State Library
250 Winter ST
Salem, OR 97301-3950
(503)378-5387
kyle dot banerjee at state dot or dot us | http://alptown.com