The end is coming

[TechZ]

I suppose every place has its own type of customer, here people wont go near Branded PC's, simply because the price as compared to a custome built machine is very different, a Branded will cost you much, much more over a custom pc. I guess its down to the cost for most people. I dont have a shop, so no inventory, just buy when I need

Large co's definately get huge discounts when they buy in thousands, basic economy of scale rule.

[arch0nmyc0n]

In my shop, we offer desktops and Acer laptops. I've had people come in and say "can you beat this price?" and show me an MDG advertisement for a system. I don't even bother look at the sheet I just hand it back to them and say no. They usually get curious as to why I didn't even look and ask why not. I've lucked out especially this year so far, they ask me the question and I point to my clearly visible waiting rack and there is usually a system or two from the company they're asking about. Then I say, " I build computers with parts I would use myself, not the parts that cost the least." or something like that.

Besides I like it when they buy other brand name computers. For example, take Future Shop. All my first hand experiences with them show me that they hire the people that are just happy to get a job and MAY know something about computers. I have never met a technician that actually knew what he was doing at that place. Well, that's not quite true there was one guy who knew what he was doing but he wasn't around long (He got hired on at another local computer store for more money). So then people with even the basic computer knowledge get upset with them pretty quick and the machine ends up on my bench, even ones with warranty still on them. So they sell them a cheap computer and I get the labour... sounds like a fair deal considering my markup on machines is pretty low to remain competative with other local shops.

A friend of mine lives in Toronto, the markup for the local shops is %1... It's not the hardware that pays my bills... it's the labour on everyone elses machines that pays my bills...