good local motherboard source?

[Bob Keyes]

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Rich Braun wrote:

> I thank my lucky stars to be living in a place like Cambridge, where two local
> suppliers are willing to go at it in a cut-throat competition on PC component
> prices.

Evidently you've never been to Fry's Electronics, the famed west coast
geek heaven.

> I have done business with each of them since they opened (PCs for Everyone is
> actually the reincarnation of Unitech, a 1980s PC-clone shop that wasn't as
> good).  They are both far better now than in the past, IMHO, and I haven't
> really had problems with them before.  The main improvement they've made the
> past few years is to make PC components available in a much broader and less
> expensive way.  Unless you were willing to compromise on quality, you simply
> couldn't build your own PC for less than a factory-built one until this
> competition arose.  Recently.

I recall that computer stores used to be more plentiful and better in the
boston area. I remember when ELI in Cambridge was worth going to,
especially if you liked old DEC and Sun stuff. I remember there being two
small, independant computer stores in Central Square that were happy to
sell you a motherboard, and had people you could actually ask questions.
But doing business in this city is expensive, and they're gone. Oh yes I
am glad that we have Microcenter, they have saved us from CompUSA and
Radio Shack, but I am continually looking for something better. For
iinstance MicroCenter does gouge on things like ethernet cables. Better
off going to Staples for stuff like that.

> It appears to be their way of forging a niche against the online competition
> and keep their doors open.

I asuume you mean pcs4every. Well good for them. But everytime I go in
there looking for components
they have to rummage around the back room, look disgruntled for having to
do so, and then don't have what I want and try to sell me a new system.

> But it can only happen in a place where there is a large customer base of
> teenagers who like to build their own.  I can't imagine going to a place like
> Hartford or Norfolk or even Fort Lauderdale and finding similar options.

I was in a place once, I think it was Albany NY, not a place you'd think
of as a tech mecca, where I wandered into a computer store that had a lot
of cheap stuff. It was one of those run by taiwanese immigrants.
Disorganized but I did appreciate it. I wish we had something like that
around here.

> * soapboax mode *
> Am I naive?  I can't believe someone's complaining about the sky-high $129
> price of an AMD **2400+** /with/ motherboard at a local company that's willing
> to accept returns no-questions-asked even if your dog gnawed the box and ate
> the receipt, and wink-wink it's been a tad over 30 days since the purchase.

motherboards are not a commodity item. I always do research before buying
one. the microcenter flyer indicated it is a shuttle ak38n that is cheap.
I don't know this board and will have to look it up.

This Microcenter deal doesn't seem to include heatsink/fan. I know that
many places will not warrantee a CPU unless you buy an approved fan. I
wonder how much microcenter wants for said fan? because the price isn't
listed. That may be where they hang you.

Online, this board goes for $50, and the processor for $70. I am not sure
what fan it needs so I can't price that. If MicroCenter doesn't charge an
arm and a leg for the proper fan, this deal they have would be pretty
good. Still, I was looking for a 2100 not a 2400, in order to save myself
about $50.

> (I do not work for either of these shops, but I'd find it very sad if either
> of them went bust because of, say, their overly-generous customer return
> policies.)

Agreed.