From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: tor.general,ut.general
Subject: Re: Computer shops in Toronto --- opinions?
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:54:26 GMT
Organization: Somewhere just far enough out of Toronto

In article <713538707.9884@zooid.guild.org>
	vid@zooid.guild.org (David Mason) writes:

>>>buy from, I would like to find out about other people's experiences with
>>>Toronto's computer shops.  The things I am trying to find out are:
>>         [...stuff deleted...]
>>Shop around Future Shop when they have something on sale.
>
>I don't like Future Shop's stuff, because they are always trying to sell
>Brand" computers, which defeats the purpose of buying an IBM AT clone in the
>first place.

Is the main goal to have a good, solid working computer, or to insist
on a clone?

The marketplace for computers is getting more competitive and more
commodity oriented. If you can buy a reputable-name-brand computer for
the price of a clone, why bother with the clone?

I have totally given up on clone makers. Because of the nature of the
business, they generally belong to the motherboard-of-the-month club,
and next year when something goes wrong, they may not even have the
jumper-pin settings for the one you buy today, let alone know how to
service it.

Cheap clones also have been known to use flimsy^H^H^H^H^H^Hnovel
caching schemes which can break many versions of UNIX. And their bus
timings can be off in ways that are tolerated by DOS but cause memory
errors under UNIX.

These kinds of experience has happened to me at thee separate Mississauga
clone makers (some of whom came highly recommended), and have send me to the
low-end brands from the mainstream computer makers. The Everex Tempo,
AST Bravo, and ALR Flyer lines are designed explicitly to compete with
clones, and do a fair job of it. The name brand stuff has never given me
the headaches that the clones have, and my time spent on the clones more
than made up for their cheaper prices.

>You're much better off buying a true clone, one that can have
>it's parts swapped with other standard clone parts.

I consider this a bug, not a feature. If you feel good about buying your
computer from a clone shop where it's easier to swap a bad board than do
it right the first time, go ahead. I have better things to do with my time.

>Besides, most of the people who work at Future Shop don't really seem to know
>what they are talking about.

Who gives a damn?

Now that more computer shoppers know what they want and can buy stuff
without need for skilled salesmen, the commodity, low-markup shops can
be a good choice. I found a better price on my Laserjet at FutureShop
than at any "pure" computer store, even lower than the "dealer" pricing
I was given by some suppliers. I didn't need the salesman to do anything
more than draw up the invoice, the shopping for features had aleady been
done.

Some of the best places to buy hardware now are places you might least
expect. Price Club now sell Dell. If you know what you want, why spend
money on sales help you don't need? 

-- 
 Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software Ltd., located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
         evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!utzoo!telly!evan / (416) 452-0504
    Was "Trouble" (from the Broadway Show, Music Man) the first rap song?