OT: Mac and PC Dealers

[Evan Leibovitch]

Merv Curley wrote:

>I have been dealing with the Scarborough Store for quite a few years and it  has never changed,  But a new system I put together a while back didn't work  so back to the store.  Sure enough a Chinese XP,  CD went in and the bios was  updated for me.   Over the years the staff come and go regularly but I have exchanged MB's without question on two occasions.  The same for their cheapo  power supplies after a few months of use..  I have been happy with the money I have saved.
>  
>
I would go to a store like that for the very opposite reason -- to get 
not-cheap components. If it's cheap you want, buy Dell.

I go into a Canada Computer site wanting a specific case (pre-installed 
with its top-rated quiet, two-fan power supply), the motherboard for the 
CPU I want that rated best at Tom's Hardware, and suitable peripherals. 
For many components such as CPU, RAM and hard disks, there's a shifting 
"sweet spot" of the best bang-for-buck, and the person in the store is 
usually helpful at finding out where that sweet spot is at any given 
moment for each of the parts.

(Mind you, it's easy enough to figure that out by looking at their 
online inventory -- for example 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=007291&cid=CS.664 
even tells you how many of the alive Antec cases they have in each 
location.)

And often they will be candid and helpful in their suggestions for 
small-but-significant bits such as optical drives and CPU fans.

- Evan

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