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Vendor Availability / Quality
With Windows machines, there
are hundreds of different vendors from which to purchase a computer.
This competition generally keeps prices down, while ensuring greater
quality in the production. There are a few notables in this
area. The best vendors are usually mail-order vendors, such
as Dell, Gateway, and Micron. Gateway has started selling
retail with it's chain of "Gateway Country" stores. These
vendors use top of the line components and do not use proprietary
components, except for some of the low end systems. This
allows you to replace everything in the box over time, if you
so desire. In the general retail market, there are some
relatively poor vendors as well: Packard-Bell uses cheap
components, has terrible tech. support and unreliable machines.
Acer falls under this category as well. Compaq machines
are mediocre. They are somewhat reliable, but often leave
little room for expansion. They also have horrible technical
support (spent over 1 hour on hold when the recording said it
would be 10 minutes.)
Macintosh machines are made by one vendor: Apple. While this ensures reliable performance in most cases, it also creates a higher price for the overall system cost. Apple has made great strides in lowering prices in the last few years. The iMac computer can sell below $999. This is cheap, but you can still get a faster PC with more stuff for the same amount of money. Tech support is fairly good, but almost all repairs must be done by a certified Apple dealer, which are sometimes hard to come by, and can cost a lot of moola. Advantage:Windows9x |