On Thu, May 07, 1998 at 10:39:00PM -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
In general, I don't buy branded PCs. I tend to go to places where I get to spec the motherboard, drives, power supply, case, etc. There are a bunch of vendors that will let you work this way. Typically you end up having to form a relationship with a particular guy at your vendor who you know will get you what you want. Paul Vixie turned me on to Billy Bath (who now works at Tesys) but there are lots of others. I've done some work with a place in NYC operated by an immigrant family, where I literally walk in and point and the parts in the glass cases of their tiny and crowded shop. "I want THAT motherboard, THAT case, THAT powersupply... I'll need two machines, by tomorrow afternoon."
Typically these places/guys are very cheap, but since I'm spec'ing every last bit of the thing I get pretty good control, since I end up knowing every detail of what I'm in for in advance. I don't believe in buying no-name stuff where I don't know what's in it, but its so easy to spec the whole thing these days that you *do* end up knowing what's in it.
Perry
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