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Do computer manufacturer produce different quality parts for different user, ie home vs industy? I'm at a Uni that has a contract with a big name company and they are over priced by over 500 dollars for the computer we want to buy. And the main arugment that I'm giving as to why we have to buy from this company is that we receive "special" industrial quailty computers instead of normal home computers. Is there anyting to this???
>Is there anyting to this???
It sounds like marketing BS to me. Did they give you details about this "industrial quality"?
If you use the same machine at home and at work (for the sake of argument) then the only differences I know of would be a discount for a larger number of machines and a better service contract. The price would balance out and be about the same.
>> they are over priced by over 500 dollars
as compared to what? if you look at the specs of their computer vs the one you've compared it to you should be able to see if they are the same components or not. If the components are the same then id have to agree with Prelude, marketing BS and not very good marketing BS fwiw.
The only time I can think of something like that being true is actually for scientific computers and Crays, where timing an performance are absolutely key. In those cases all the components would be held to the highest specifications. But a PC is a PC.
yeah man, industrial quality parts in a pc is crap, the only thing that would make a computer industrial is a steel case with great cooling and a monitor with scratch resistant coating.
yes, but most of the high performance, industrial computers use the same parts that home computers use(i.e. PPC or XEON for cpu, ECC memory,etc.) . I unfortunately think of Crapaq when I think "industrial" cause "industrial" == "OEM from offbrand" to me.Quote:
The only time I can think of something like that being true is actually for scientific computers and Crays, where timing an performance are absolutely key. In those cases all the components would be held to the highest specifications. But a PC is a PC.
A lot of organisations enter into frame agreements for purchasing PC's and other kinds of gear because it lowers risk and keeps administrative costs down. If every department/teacher/student goes out and orders what they consider to be required, someone somewhere is going to have to audit that and make sure it was right.
It may seem an expensive option when you are looking at an individual case, but when considering the bigger picture, the differences start to get quite small. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't do it. Money talks, not specs.
The "industrial quality" is probably some line they spin out to stop people asking further.
how big of a company is this? do you have an in-house IT dept. or do you contract other companies? If you have an in-house dept. would your staff be big enough to build the computers by themselves? How many units are we talking here.
He's at Uni, doesn't say where.
This is a large Uni, we do have our own IT department. I don't have a problem with the Uni. paying extra $$$ for computers. But, when research groups have a grant and have to pay extra dollars for a computer that isn't worth what their paying for it, funds don't travel too far. If you have a dozen people in your group that 6000 extra dollars that they have to flush down the drain because the Uni has a contract with gateway.
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But, when research groups have a grant and have to pay extra dollars for a computer that isn't worth what their paying for it, funds don't travel too far. If you have a dozen people in your group that 6000 extra dollars that they have to flush down the drain because the Uni has a contract with gateway.
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What you say is quite valid, and I suspect a correctly presented request may result in an off agreement purchase, depends on how tight the frame agreement is.
What you would need to be careful about though is any hidden costs in doing so, the costs of auditing the purchase might well, and very reasonably, be passed on to your group. There could also be maintenance or insurance etc. issues that would need to be explored, and probably costed to your budget. For small numbers of units, these things can be VERY expensive.
Generally, if you have a frame agreement in place, you work with it. To try to work around it, generally costs more in peoples time then you save by doing so.
My last employer in England had a frame agreement with Compaq. After some years trying, I finally gave up. The large scale economics were always loaded against me.