The Price of PC's...

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Okay, you probably all know that I am a die-hard mac fan.  I mean DIE HARD.  Like, if it doesn't have the Apple Logo on it, it doesn't go on my desktop (Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, etc...ALL have to be Apple).  Because my Printer, Scanner, Cable Modem, etc are not Apple, I have built a separate shelf for them to sit on AWAY from my precious G5 and other Apple Logo'd items.

So anyhow, I have recently found only ONE area where the Windows PC world beats us.  PRICE.

I had to buy a new computer for my office at work.  Because of the proprietary software, printers, and drivers I have to use, I had to get another Windows PC (YUK!).  But listen to what I bought and how much it cost the company:

Dell Dimension 4600 Tower, 3.0GHz Pentium 4 Processor with HT Technology Running with an 800MHz Front-Side Bus, 80GB Hard Drive (I opted for a smaller, but faster, Hard Drive), 512MB RAM, ATi Radeon 128MB Video Card, 48X CD-RW Drive (Don't need a DVD-ROM Drive at work, but if I wanted one it would be $50 more), Gigabit Ethernet Card, IEEE 1394 Card (FireWire), Dell Optical Mouse, Dell Keyboard, and a Free Dell Inkjet Printer.  Now that is not a bad set up at all (too bad I don't play games at work...I'm sure it would play AA just fine!).

So guess how much that computer cost....

$746

That is the price without a monitor (I'm buying one locally for about $100).

That is crazy cheap!!!  It also comes with a 2-YEAR on-site warranty (man, I wish Apple had that....well, not really....none of my macs have ever broken down.....lol).

Don't get me wrong....I would NEVER EVER even THINK of buying a PC to put in my home, but man those things are CHEAP!  lol

[BTs_Mysterio]

....but man those things are CHEAP!  lol

That sums it up GS, cheap in oh so many ways.

[BTs_FahQ2]

That is what you call the price of competition.  With so many companies making peripherals for the Windows PC world the competition is absolutely cut throat.  Basically, I work in the PC market so I can see how this works.  The market is no different than your average McDonald's concept:

Make something relatively useful and cheap.  Market the shit out of it.  Then sell for unbelievably low prices and make up for it on the gross margin when you move 1million pieces instead of making a profit off of say 1000 finely built pieces.  The downside of this, your dell is crammed with a buch of shit dell gets from the lowest bidder and glues there name on it.  None of it is made by dell, they just have a lot of screws, hands and people to play PC legos.  So this leads to way too many chances of poor quality, craftsmanshp and shitball parts.

This is what makes the PC's so futile compared to the lasting ability of an Apple.  Most of us have these old ass apples that still work fine.  I have to throw my PC away after every 3 years, goddamn thing just falls apart.

So as they say, you get what you pay for. Eat at Mc Donald's or have some sense and eat a goddamn steak.

[seth]

DELL is crap. period.

[crypt]

If I had to buy a PC, it would strictly be for games. When I wasn't playing it, it would be doing folds and collecting dust.

[BFG]

If I had to buy a PC, it would strictly be for games. When I wasn't playing it, it would be doing folds and collecting dust.

Yep, same here i guess.

[pc advo]

While the quality of Dell and computers from other popular retailers is questionable, one cannot discard the exceptional value of a custom built PC.  Although, this does require additional skill and knowledge on handling a processor and practicing correct ESD procedures.

For the fun of it, here is a PC from parts off www.newegg.com.

Note GhostSniper stated the HD is less but faster, newegg had 80GB HDs@7200RPM while a 120GB for the same RPM.

• IEE1394 - Zonet VIA IEEE 1394 3+1 port PCI Card , Model "ZFN2600" -RETAIL

$11.50

• Case - APEX SUPER CASE Mid Tower Case with 300W Power Supply, Model "PC-115" -RETAIL

$22.00 - Generic case, no fancy bs.

• CD-RW - Optorite IDE/ATAPI 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model CW5201, Retail

$28.00 - 52x... nice

• Arctic Cooling Copper Thermal Compound -RETAIL -

$3.99 - Crucial to transfer processor heat to the heatsink.

• HD - Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD1200BB, OEM Drive Only -

$83.00 - weak 80GB.
   

• Logitech Cordless Desktop Express w/keyboard - RETAIL

Mouse included: Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse

$41.00

• Memory 512MB DDR400  VIKING 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM  -

$82.00 - DDR400 is the fastest possible for the following motherboard.
   

• Motherboards - Intel

ASRock "P4S55FX" SiS655FX Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Intel Pentium 4/Celeron Processor
FSB: 800/533/400MHz
RAM: 4x DIMM support Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 up to 2GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS/2,1xCOM,1xLPT,1xLAN,8xUSB2.0(Rear 6),1xGame,Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: C-Media 5.1-Channel AC'97 Codec
Onboard LAN: 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet

$48.00

If you must...

• Network - Interface Cards

Zonet 10/100/1000Mbs Copper Gigabit PCI Ethernet Adapter, Model ZEN3300EGigabit

$15.99

• Processor

Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading
Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)

$215.00

• Video Card

ATI RADEON 9800PRO 128MB DDR, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/680MHz
BUS: AGP 2X/4X/8X
Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub) + TV-Out(S-Video/Composite Out) + DVI
Support 3D API: DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 2.0

$205.00 - latest and greatest
[/list]

Subtotal ? $755.48

No el cheapo Dell printer to go with this order, nor any licensed Microsoft OS(you can make the moral decision yourself) but definitely quality stuff for almost the same price.
Of course there's still shipping and taxes,  then a seperate purchase of some monitor, therefore the total would be slightly less than $1k.

To conclude, GhostSniper is another victim of the brutal, brutal PC world.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

To conclude, GhostSniper is another victim of the brutal, brutal PC world.

Not really....I was spending the dealerships money, not my own.  

[BTs_Mysterio]

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=aca3e78982a357e898389272fa5417b5&threadid=217075

There's the proof that in high end mac and PC are similarly priced... some PCs of lesser quality even more than the G5s.

Now if only apple could go low end.

[crypt]

Those Alienware sure are sexy though.

[BTs_Mysterio]

Those Alienware sure are sexy though.

Maybe to a person with the taste of a 10 year old who likes barney and still uses diapers.... like maniac... and yes you crypt.

[crypt]

LOL!