Re: [LUG] Where to buy Mac hardware?

[Jonathan Melhuish <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sunday 28 July 2002 13:08, you wrote:
> Matt Lee wrote:
> > Anyone know of places to buy Mac hardware locally? (Exeter)
>
> PC World - unlikely as it seems, no idea on price.

<shudders>

To cut a (very) long story short, *never* buy anything from PC World.  Please!

A mate of my was bought a PC from the aforementioned by his aunt (who, quite 
evidently, knew nothing about computers).  When you included the 3 year 
"extended warranty", it was around double the price I would have paid for an 
identical machine.  The crunch came when his graphics card went faulty - they 
finally replaced it after 4 visits (which for us is was a 50 mile round 
trip).  Which means I could have replaced and upgraded the card for less than 
the petrol money and a darn sight quicker!

I guess it might be worth paying a little over the odds if you can be sure of 
good aftersales support, but otherwise I would suggest finding the cheapest 
retailer (which won't be PC World, I can assure you) and replacing (and 
probably upgrading) any hardware that goes wrong.

I always shudder when I hear somebody recommend buying a "good computer", as 
they obviously don't realise that all of the components are almost exactly 
the same in every machine!  To me a "good computer" is a cheap, fast one with 
your favourite distro of linux installed 8-)

Jon


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