Well......
You get what you pay for in some cases. <G> In reality, the computer
business exists on razor-thin profit margins. The reason that the
eMachines product is so much cheaper is that they are using less-rigorously
quality tested parts. Most hardware manufacturers sell two to three
quality lines of the same product...chips, power supplies, switches,
etc. I stress that these parts are all from the same assembly line, all
the same product design. The difference is in the quality control. The
cheapest line is often not tested at all for quality, or only at a minimal
level, say 1 in 1000 tested. They will likely have a greater percentage of
faulty parts.. The mid-line price applies to the units that are checked at
a higher level, say one in every 100 units pulled and run thru testing, and
thus, fewer defectives get thru. The top of the line (and also top of the
price line) units may have 1 in 10 tested. Thus, the computer assembler
(like Dell, or Gateway, or Compaq, or eMachines) pays more for the greater
assurance that the units will work properly and therefore will not create
angry customers or the expense of warrantee work. If they are willing to
take a greater chance of having to repair the machine down the line, they
can save $ by installing parts from a less-tested batch that costs them
less to buy.
So a Pentium IV chip running at 2 gig in an eMachines unit is the same chip
as one running in a Dell unit, but its likely that the eMachines chip came
from a batch that was not quality tested or minimally tested, the Dell chip
was more likely to have tested. Put another way, the eMachines unit may
work fine for years, or it may fail within hours (ANY unit can do that, of
course). But the likelihood of failure is greater with the cheaper unit.
You trade the cheaper price for less certainty of quality.
That being said, the computer industry works on razor thin profit
margins. To say competitive, ANY way of cutting cost must be looked at,
and that means that formerly quality obsessed companies like Dell may be
tempted to use a mid-level priced chip, knowing that they (and the
customer) will be taking a greater chance of warrantee work/failure down
the road. One way to assess this is to look at the computer magazines that
rate computers (PC World is one)...check the section on user satisfaction
or frequency of repairs. Note that companies like Dell and Gateway that
used to be towards the top with fewest repairs are declining. Also, look
at the warrantee repair period. Does one company offer a longer
warrantee? If so, its likely they have greater confidence in their product
because of the level of quality parts that went into it.
Hope this helps!
At 09:47 AM 8/6/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>I'm looking to purchase a new computer this weekend, and I'm noticing
>eMachine brand computers in a lot of the ads. I checked out the web
>site and eMachines is a company owned now by Gateway. What I would
>like to know is if any of you have an eMachine brand computer and what
>you like or don't like about it.
Mark Williams
Consulting Librarian
Professional Services for Conferences, Districts, Workshops
markwilliams@makaw.net
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