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For all those who recommend a mail order co I offer these considerations.
First if you never have any trouble with your computer it doesn't matter who you get it from. The difference in computers is what happens if you have trouble. I recommend staying away from mail order if you rely on the computer. If you absolutely must have the computer running mail order is not for you.
I have a first hand example. An acquaintance of mine was enticed by Gateway in March of 1997 and bought a system from them. He now calls it his cow patty. It arrived not working. Keep in mind that he is a computer virgin. He called Gateway and they kept him on the line for over two hours trying to fix the computer. They wanted him to go inside the box and press all connections. This thought terrified him. Then they decided that it was a motherboard problem and they fedex him a motherboard with the instructions that he call them when he received it. He called them. At that time they made an appointment for someone to come out and fix the computer. Two days later the guy shows up and installs the motherboard. It doesn't fix the computer but the tech says his only responsibility is to install the part that Gateway sent and to send them the old part back. He would not troubleshoot the machine (I don't blame him, troubleshooting on-site is a bitch). Now this guy has had the machine a week and has yet to see a picture on the screen. He calls Gateway. They send a motherboard harddrive ram and video card to him and he makes an appointment to have them installed. keep in mind that the techs don't work at night so he has to take off work to let them work on the machine. They finally get it running (defective video card). This is where buying from a local computer store would have really paid off. To conclude this story the computer has been down twice since, once for 21 days. You cannot rely on mailorder if you can't fix the machine yourself. Even if you could in the case of a defective part you can spend hours on the phone diagnosing and days waiting for parts. Even if you wanted to pay someone to fix the machine for you having anyone else service it voids your warranty.
Second, you should really support the local guy. If they go under you will have no choice but to accept sh**ty service such as I described.
(off my soapbox)
Carl
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