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Lately we've been getting quite a few of these
"Super Deal" computers in for repair and upgrades. Unfortunately for the customers in almost every case we've ended up having to give them the bad news that their super deal computer not only isn't
upgradeable, but in a lot of cases isn't even repairable.
The only way companies like Gateway can offer those super deals is by cutting
some major corner when it comes to the parts they use to assemble the
computers.
What we've found in these computers, and the major downfall of the machines are the motherboards they use. The motherboards are usually what's called an "All in one board", which means that the video, audio, network card, and modems are actually built into the motherboard.
Why is this a bad thing? These types of motherboard usually only have 1 expansion slot, if they have any, so if you have a something like your video go out, or you
want to upgrade your video so you can play games, there's no slots to plug new cards into.
Another big draw back we've found is with the quality if the peripherals like the hard drives used in the computers. The hard drives we buy from our vendors, and the one's you buy from a computer store come with a minimum of 3 year free exchange warranty. The hard drives (which
coincidently is the part we see fail the most) we've found in computers from IBM, Gateway, and Hewlett Packard only have a 1 year free exchange, and regardless of the brand, seem to be of a lesser quality which probably means they get them for a cheaper price.
To give an example, we've learned that Maxtor hard drives are made in a
multitude of countries, the Maxtor hard drives that you see
advertised on sale for those super prices, and the ones that have the highest documented failure rate,
are made in the Philippines.
Food for thought to consider before you make your next computer purchase!
The Walp's Electronics Team |